815 lines
36 KiB
Text
815 lines
36 KiB
Text
<!-- $FreeBSD$ -->
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<!-- FreeBSD Documentation Project -->
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<!DOCTYPE ARTICLE PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//DTD DocBook V4.1-Based Extension//EN" [
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<!ENTITY % articles.ent PUBLIC "-//FreeBSD//ENTITIES DocBook FreeBSD Articles Entity Set//EN">
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%articles.ent;
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]>
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<article>
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<articleinfo>
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<title>An <application>MH</application> Primer</title>
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<authorgroup>
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<author>
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<firstname>Matt</firstname>
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<surname>Midboe</surname>
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<affiliation>
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<address>
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<email>matt@garply.com</email>
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</address>
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</affiliation>
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</author>
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</authorgroup>
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<pubdate>v1.0, 16 January 1996</pubdate>
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<legalnotice id="trademarks" role="trademarks">
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&tm-attrib.freebsd;
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&tm-attrib.opengroup;
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&tm-attrib.general;
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</legalnotice>
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<abstract>
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<para>This document contains an introduction to using
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<application>MH</application> on FreeBSD</para>
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</abstract>
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</articleinfo>
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<sect1 id="mhintro">
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<title>Introduction</title>
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<para><application>MH</application> started back in 1977 at the
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RAND Corporation, where the initial philosophies behind
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<application>MH</application> were
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developed. <application>MH</application> is not so much a
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monolithic email program but a philosophy about how best to
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develop tools for reading email. The
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<application>MH</application> developers have done a great job
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adhering to the <acronym>KISS</acronym> principle: Keep It
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Simple Stupid. Rather than have one large program for reading,
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sending and handling email they have written specialized
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programs for each part of your email life. One might liken
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<application>MH</application> to the specialization that one
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finds in insects and nature. Each tool in
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<application>MH</application> does one thing, and does it very
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well.</para>
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<para>Beyond just the various tools that one uses to handle their
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email <application>MH</application> has done an excellent job
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keeping the configuration of each of these tools consistent and
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uniform. In fact, if you are not quite sure how something is
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supposed to work or what the arguments for some command are
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supposed to be, then you can generally guess and be right. Each
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<application>MH</application> command is consistent about how it
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handles reading the configuration files and how it takes
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arguments on the command line. One useful thing to remember is
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that you can always add a <option>-help</option> to the command
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to have it display the options for that command.</para>
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<para>The first thing that you need to do is to make sure that you
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have installed the <application>MH</application> package on your
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FreeBSD machine. If you installed from CDROM you should be able
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to execute the following to load <application>MH</application>:
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<informalexample>
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<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>pkg_add /cdrom/packages/mh-6.8.3.tgz</userinput></screen>
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</informalexample>
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You will notice that it created a <filename>/usr/local/lib/mh</filename>
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directory for you as well as adding several binaries to the
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<filename>/usr/local/bin</filename> directory. If you would prefer to
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compile it yourself then you can anonymous ftp it from <ulink
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url="ftp://ftp.ics.uci.edu/">ftp.ics.uci.edu</ulink> or <ulink
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url="ftp://louie.udel.edu/">louie.udel.edu</ulink>.</para>
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<para>This primer is not a full comprehensive explanation of how
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<application>MH</application> works. This is just intended to
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get you started on the road to happier, faster mail reading. You
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should read the manual pages for the various commands. You might
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also want to read the <ulink
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url="news:comp.mail.mh">comp.mail.mh</ulink> newsgroup. Also you
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can read the <ulink
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url="http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mail/mh-faq/">FAQ for
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<application>MH</application></ulink>. The best resource for
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<application>MH</application> is <ulink
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url="http://www.ics.uci.edu/~mh/book/">Jerry Peek's
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<application>MH</application> & nmh: Email for Users &
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Programmers</ulink>.</para>
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</sect1>
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<sect1>
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<title>Reading Mail</title>
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<para>This section covers how to use <command>inc</command>,
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<command>show</command>, <command>scan</command>,
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<command>next</command>, <command>prev</command>,
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<command>rmm</command>, <command>rmf</command>, and
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<command>msgchk</command>. One of the best things about
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<application>MH</application> is the consistent interface
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between programs. One thing to keep in mind when using these
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commands is how to specify message lists. In the case of
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<command>inc</command> this does not really make any sense but
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with commands like <command>show</command> it is useful to
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know. </para>
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<para>A message list can consist of something like <parameter>23
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20 16</parameter> which will act on messages 23, 20 and
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16. This is fairly simple but you can do more useful things
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like <parameter>23-30</parameter> which will act on all the
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messages between 23 and 30. You can also specify something
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like <parameter>cur:10</parameter> which will act on the
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current message and the next 9 messages. The
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<parameter>cur</parameter>, <parameter>last</parameter>, and
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<parameter>first</parameter> messages are special messages
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that refer to the current, last or first message in the
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folder.</para>
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<sect2 id="inc">
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<title><command>inc</command>,
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<command>msgchk</command>—read in your new email or
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check it</title>
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<para>If you just type in <userinput>inc</userinput> and hit
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<keycap>return</keycap> you will be well on your way to
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getting started with <application>MH</application>. The first
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time you run <command>inc</command> it will set up your account
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to use all the <application>MH</application> defaults and ask
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you about creating a <filename>Mail</filename> directory under
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your HOME directory. If you have mail waiting to be downloaded
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you will see something that looks like:</para>
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<informalexample>
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<screen> 29 01/15 Doug White Re: Another Failed to boot problem<<On Mon, 15 J
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30 01/16 "Jordan K. Hubbar Re: FBSD 2.1<<> Do you want a library instead of
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31 01/16 Bruce Evans Re: location of bad144 table<<>> >It would appea
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32 01/16 "Jordan K. Hubbar Re: video is up<<> Anyway, mrouted won't run, ev
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33 01/16 Michael Smith Re: FBSD 2.1<<Nate Williams stands accused of sa</screen>
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</informalexample>
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<para>This is the same thing you will see from a
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<command>scan</command> (see <xref linkend="scan">). If you just run
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<command>inc</command> with no arguments it will look on your
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computer for email that is supposed to be coming to
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you.</para>
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<para>A lot of people like to use POP for grabbing their email.
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<application>MH</application> can do POP to grab your
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email. You will need to give <command>inc</command> a few
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command line arguments.</para>
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<informalexample>
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<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>inc -host mail.pop.org -user <replaceable>username</replaceable> -norpop</userinput></screen>
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</informalexample>
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<para>That tells <command>inc</command> to go to
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<parameter>mail.pop.org</parameter> to download your email,
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and that your username on their system is
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<replaceable>username</replaceable>. The
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<option>-norpop</option> option tells <command>inc</command>
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to use plain POP3 for downloading your
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email. <application>MH</application> has support for a few
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different dialects of POP. More than likely you will never
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ever need to use them though. While you can do more complex
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things with <command>inc</command> such as audit files and
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scan format files this will get you going.</para>
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<para>The <command>msgchk</command> command is used to get information
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on whether or not you have new email. <command>msgchk</command> takes
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the same <option>-host</option> and <option>-user</option>
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options that <command>inc</command> takes.</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2 id="show">
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<title><command>show</command>, <command>next</command> and
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<command>prev</command>—displaying and moving through
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email</title>
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<para><command>show</command> is to show a letter in your current
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folder. Like <command>inc</command>, <command>show</command> is a fairly
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straightforward command. If you just type <userinput>show</userinput>
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and hit <keycap>return</keycap> then it displays the current
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message. You can also give specific message numbers to
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show:</para>
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<informalexample>
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<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>show 32 45 56</userinput></screen>
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</informalexample>
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<para>This would display message numbers 32, 45 and 56 right
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after each other. Unless you change the default behavior
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<command>show</command> basically just does a <command>more</command> on the
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email message.</para>
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<para><command>next</command> is used to move onto the next message and
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<command>prev</command> will go to the previous message. Both
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commands have an implied <command>show</command> command so that when
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you go to the next message it automatically displays
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it.</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2 id="scan">
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<title><command>scan</command>—shows you a scan of your
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messages</title>
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<para><command>scan</command> will display a brief listing of the
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messages in your current folder. This is an example of what
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the <command>scan</command> command will give you.</para>
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<informalexample>
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<screen> 30+ 01/16 Jordan K. Hubbar Re: FBSD 2.1<<> Do you want a library instead of
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31 01/16 Bruce Evans Re: location of bad144 table<<>> >It would appea
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32 01/16 Jordan K. Hubbar Re: video is up<<> Anyway, mrouted won't run, ev
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33 01/16 Michael Smith Re: FBSD 2.1<<Nate Williams stands accused of sa</screen>
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</informalexample>
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<para>Like just about everything in <application>MH</application> this display is very
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configurable. This is the typical default display. It gives
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you the message number, the date on the email, the sender, the
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subject line, and a sentence fragment from the very beginning
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of the email if it can fit it. The <literal>+</literal> means that
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message is the current message, so if you do a
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<command>show</command> it will display that message.</para>
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<para>One useful option for scan is the
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<option>-reverse</option> option. This will list your messages
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with the highest message number first and lowest message
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number last. Another useful option with <command>scan</command> is to
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have it read from a file. If you want to scan your incoming
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mailbox on FreeBSD without having to <command>inc</command> it you
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can do <command>scan -file
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/var/mail/<replaceable>username</replaceable></command>. This can be used
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with any file that is in the <database>mbox</database> format.</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2 id="rmm">
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<title><command>rmm</command> and <command>rmf</command>—remove the
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current message or folder</title>
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<para><command>rmm</command> is used to remove a mail
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message. The default is typically to not actually remove the
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message but to rename the file to one that is ignored by the
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<application>MH</application> commands. You will periodically
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need to go through and physically delete the
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<quote>removed</quote> messages.</para>
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<para>The <command>rmf</command> command is used to remove folders.
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This does not just rename the files but actually removes the
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from the hard drive so you should be careful when you use this
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command.</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2 id="samplereading">
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<title>A typical session of reading with MH</title>
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<para>The first thing that you will want to do is
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<command>inc</command> your new mail. So at a shell prompt just type
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in <command>inc</command> and hit <keycap>return</keycap>.</para>
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<informalexample>
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<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>inc</userinput>
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Incorporating new mail into inbox...
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36+ 01/19 Stephen L. Lange Request...<<Please remove me as contact for pind
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37 01/19 Matt Thomas Re: kern/950: Two PCI bridge chips fail (multipl
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38 01/19 Amancio Hasty Jr Re: FreeBSD and VAT<<>>> Bill Fenner said: > In
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&prompt.user;</screen>
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</informalexample>
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<para>This shows you the new email that has been added to your
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mailbox. So the next thing to do is <command>show</command> the email
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and move around.</para>
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<informalexample>
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<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>show</userinput>
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Received: by sashimi.wwa.com (Smail3.1.29.1 #2)
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id m0tdMZ2-001W2UC; Fri, 19 Jan 96 13:33 CST
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Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 13:33:31 -0600 (CST)
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From: "Stephen L. Lange" <stvlange@wwa.com>
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To: matt@garply.com
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Subject: Request...
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Message-Id: <Pine.BSD.3.91.960119133211.824A-100000@sashimi.wwa.com>
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Mime-Version: 1.0
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Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
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Please remove me as contact for pindat.com
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&prompt.user; <userinput>rmm</userinput>
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&prompt.user; <userinput>next</userinput>
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Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by whydos.lkg.dec.com (8.6.11/8
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.6.9) with SMTP id RAA24416; Fri, 19 Jan 1996 17:56:48 GMT
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Message-Id: <199601191756.RAA24416@whydos.lkg.dec.com>
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X-Authentication-Warning: whydos.lkg.dec.com: Host localhost didn't use HELO pro
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tocol
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To: hsu@clinet.fi
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Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.org
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Subject: Re: kern/950: Two PCI bridge chips fail (multiple multiport ethernet
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boards)
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In-Reply-To: Your message of "Fri, 19 Jan 1996 00:18:36 +0100."
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<199601182318.AA11772@Sysiphos>
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X-Mailer: exmh version 1.5omega 10/6/94
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Date: Fri, 19 Jan 1996 17:56:40 +0000
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From: Matt Thomas <matt@lkg.dec.com>
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Sender: owner-hackers@FreeBSD.org
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Precedence: bulk
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This is due to a typo in pcireg.h (to
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which I am probably the guilty party).</screen>
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</informalexample>
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<para>The <command>rmm</command> removed the current message and the
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<command>next</command> command moved me on to the next message. Now
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if I wanted to look at ten most recent messages so I could
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read one of them here is what I would do:</para>
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<informalexample>
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<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>scan last:10</userinput>
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26 01/16 maddy Re: Testing some stuff<<yeah, well, Trinity has
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27 01/17 Automatic digest NET-HAPPENINGS Digest - 16 Jan 1996 to 17 Jan 19
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28 01/17 Evans A Criswell Re: Hey dude<<>From matt@tempest.garply.com Tue
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29 01/16 Karl Heuer need configure/make volunteers<<The FSF is looki
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30 01/18 Paul Stephanouk Re: [alt.religion.scientology] Raw Meat (humor)<
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31 01/18 Bill Lenherr Re: Linux NIS Solaris<<--- On Thu, 18 Jan 1996 1
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34 01/19 John Fieber Re: Stuff for the email section?<<On Fri, 19 Jan
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35 01/19 support@foo.garpl [garply.com #1138] parlor<<Hello. This is the Ne
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37+ 01/19 Matt Thomas Re: kern/950: Two PCI bridge chips fail (multipl
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38 01/19 Amancio Hasty Jr Re: FreeBSD and VAT<<>>> Bill Fenner said: > In
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&prompt.user;</screen>
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</informalexample>
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<para>Then if I wanted to read message number 27 I would do a
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<userinput>show 27</userinput> and it would be displayed. As
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you can probably tell from this sample session
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<application>MH</application> is pretty easy to use and
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looking through emails and displaying them is fairly intuitive
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and easy.</para>
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</sect2>
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</sect1>
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<sect1>
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<title>Folders and Mail Searching</title>
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<para>Anybody who gets lots of email definitely wants to be able
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to prioritize, stamp, brief, de-brief, and number their emails
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in a variety of different ways. <application>MH</application>
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can do this better than just about anything. One thing that we
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have not really talked about is the concept of folders. You have
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undoubtedly come across the folders concept using other email
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programs. <application>MH</application> has folders too.
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<application>MH</application> can even do sub-folders of a
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folder. One thing you should keep in mind with
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<application>MH</application> is that when you ran
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<command>inc</command> for the first time and it asked you if it
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could create a <filename>Mail</filename> directory it began
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storing everything in that directory. If you look at that
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directory you will find a directory named
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<filename>inbox</filename>. The <filename>inbox</filename>
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directory houses all of your incoming mail that has not been
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thrown anywhere else.</para>
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<para>Whenever you create a new folder a new directory is going to
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be created underneath your <application>MH</application>
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<filename>Mail</filename> directory, and messages in that folder
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are going to be stored in that directory. When a new email
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message comes, it is thrown into your <filename>inbox</filename>
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directory with a file name that is equivalent to the message
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number. So even if you did not have any of the
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<application>MH</application> tools to read your email you could
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still use standard &unix; commands to munge around in those
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directories and just more your files. It is this simplicity that
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really gives you a lot of power with what you can do with your
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email.</para>
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<para>Just as you can use message lists like <parameter>23 16
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42</parameter> with most <application>MH</application>
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commands there is a folder option you can specify with just
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about every <application>MH</application> command. If you do a
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<command>scan +freebsd</command> it will scan your
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<filename>freebsd</filename> folder, and your current folder
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will be changed to <filename>freebsd</filename>. If you do a
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<command>show +freebsd 23 16 42</command>,
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<command>show</command> is going to switch to your
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<filename>freebsd</filename> folder and display messages 23,
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16 and 42. So remember that
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<option>+<replaceable>folder</replaceable></option>
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syntax. You will need to make sure you use it to make commands
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process different folders. Remember you default folder for
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mail is <filename>inbox</filename> so doing a <command>folder
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+inbox</command> should always get you back to your mail. Of
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course, in <application>MH</application>'s infinite
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flexibility this can be changed but most places have probably
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left it as <command>inbox</command>.</para>
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<sect2>
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<title><command>pick</command>—search email that matches certain
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criteria</title>
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<para><command>pick</command> is one of the more complex commands in
|
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the <application>MH</application> system. So you might want to read the
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<citerefentry><refentrytitle>pick</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry> man
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page for a more thorough understanding. At its simplest level
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you can do something like</para>
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<informalexample>
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<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>pick -search pci</userinput>
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15
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42
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55
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56
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57</screen>
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</informalexample>
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<para>This will tell <command>pick</command> to look through every
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single line in every message in your current folder and tell
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you which message numbers it found the word <literal>pci</literal>
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in. You can then <command>show</command> those messages and read them
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if you wish or <command>rmm</command> them. You would have to specify
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something like <command>show 15 42 55-57</command> to display them
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though. A slightly more useful thing to do is this:</para>
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<informalexample>
|
|
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>pick -search pci -seq pick</userinput>
|
|
5 hits
|
|
&prompt.user; <userinput>show pick</userinput></screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
<para>This will show you the same messages you just did not have
|
|
to work as hard to do it. The <option>-seq</option> option is
|
|
really an abbreviation of <option>-sequence</option> and
|
|
<command>pick</command> is just a sequence which contains the
|
|
message numbers that matched. You can use sequences with just
|
|
about any <application>MH</application> command. So you could
|
|
have done an <command>rmm pick</command> and all those
|
|
messages would be removed instead. You sequence can be named
|
|
anything. If you run pick again it will overwrite the old
|
|
sequence if you use the same name.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>Doing a <command>pick -search</command> can be a bit more
|
|
time consuming than just searching for message from someone,
|
|
or to someone. So <command>pick</command> allows you to use the
|
|
following predefined search criteria:</para>
|
|
|
|
<variablelist>
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term><option>-to</option></term>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>search based upon who the message is to</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term><option>-cc</option></term>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>search based on who is in the <literal>Cc:</literal> list</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term><option>-from</option></term>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>search for who sent the message</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term><option>-subject</option></term>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>search for emails with this subject</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term><option>-date</option></term>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>find emails with a matching date</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
|
|
<varlistentry>
|
|
<term><option>--<replaceable>component</replaceable></option></term>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>search for any other component in the header. (i.e.
|
|
<option>--reply-to</option> to find all emails with a certain
|
|
reply-to in the header)</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</varlistentry>
|
|
</variablelist>
|
|
|
|
<para>This allows you to do things like
|
|
|
|
<informalexample>
|
|
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>pick -to freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.org -seq hackers</userinput></screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
to get a list of all the email send to the FreeBSD hackers
|
|
mailing list. <command>pick</command> also allows you to group these
|
|
criteria in different ways using the following options:</para>
|
|
|
|
<itemizedlist>
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>… <option>-and</option> …</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para>… <option>-or</option> …</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para><option>-not</option> …</para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
|
|
<listitem>
|
|
<para><option>-lbrace</option> …
|
|
<option>-rbrace</option></para>
|
|
</listitem>
|
|
</itemizedlist>
|
|
|
|
<para>These commands allow you to do things like</para>
|
|
|
|
<informalexample>
|
|
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>pick -to freebsd-hackers -or -cc freebsd-hackers</userinput></screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
<para>That will grab all the email in your <filename
|
|
role="directory">inbox</filename> that was sent to
|
|
freebsd-hackers or cc'd to that list. The brace options allow
|
|
you to group search criteria together. This is sometimes very
|
|
necessary as in the following example</para>
|
|
|
|
<informalexample>
|
|
<screen>&prompt.user; <userinput>pick -lbrace -to freebsd-hackers -and
|
|
-not -cc freebsd-questions -rbrace -and -subject pci</userinput></screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
<para>Basically this says <quote>pick (to freebsd-hackers and
|
|
not cc'd on freebsd-questions) and the subject is
|
|
pci</quote>. It should look through your folder and find
|
|
all messages sent to the freebsd-hackers list that are not cc'd
|
|
to the freebsd-questions list and contain <quote>pci</quote> in
|
|
the subject line. Ordinarily you might have to worry about
|
|
something called operator precedence. Remember in math how you
|
|
evaluate from left to right and you do multiplication and
|
|
division first and addition and subtraction second?
|
|
<application>MH</application> has the same type of rules for
|
|
<command>pick</command>. It is fairly complex so you might
|
|
want to study the manual page. This document is just to help
|
|
you get acquainted with <application>MH</application>.</para>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title><command>folder</command>, <command>folders</command>,
|
|
<command>refile</command>—three useful programs for folder
|
|
maintenance</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>There are three programs which are primarily just for
|
|
manipulating your folders. The <command>folder</command>
|
|
program is used to switch between folders, pack them, and list
|
|
them. At its simplest level you can do a <command>folder
|
|
+<replaceable>newfolder</replaceable></command> and you will
|
|
be switched into <replaceable>newfolder</replaceable>. From
|
|
there on out all your <application>MH</application> commands
|
|
like <command>comp</command>, <command>repl</command>,
|
|
<command>scan</command>, and <command>show</command> will act
|
|
on that <command>newfolder</command> folder.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>Sometimes when you are reading and deleting messages you
|
|
will develop <quote>holes</quote> in your folders. If you do a
|
|
<command>scan</command> you might just see messages 34, 35, 36, 43,
|
|
55, 56, 57, 80. If you do a <command>folder -pack</command>
|
|
this will renumber all your messages so that there are no
|
|
holes. It does not actually delete any messages though. So you
|
|
may need to periodically go through and physically delete
|
|
<command>rmm</command>'d messages.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>If you need statistics on your folders you can do a
|
|
<command>folders</command> or <command>folder -all</command> to list
|
|
all your folders, how many messages they have, what the
|
|
current message is in each one and so on. This line of stats
|
|
it displays for all your folders is the same one you get when
|
|
you change to a folder with <command>folder +foldername</command>. A
|
|
<command>folders</command> command looks like this:</para>
|
|
|
|
<informalexample>
|
|
<screen> Folder # of messages ( range ); cur msg (other files)
|
|
announce has 1 message ( 1- 1).
|
|
drafts has no messages.
|
|
f-hackers has 43 messages ( 1- 43).
|
|
f-questions has 16 messages ( 1- 16).
|
|
inbox+ has 35 messages ( 1- 38); cur= 37.
|
|
lists has 8 messages ( 1- 8).
|
|
netfuture has 1 message ( 1- 1).
|
|
out has 31 messages ( 1- 31).
|
|
personal has 6 messages ( 1- 6).
|
|
todo has 58 messages ( 1- 58); cur= 1.
|
|
|
|
TOTAL= 199 messages in 13 folders.</screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
<para>The <command>refile</command> command is what you use to move
|
|
messages between folders. When you do something like
|
|
<command>refile 23 +netfuture</command> message number 23 is moved
|
|
into the <filename>netfuture</filename> folder. You could also do
|
|
something like <command>refile 23 +netfuture/latest</command> which
|
|
would put message number 23 in a subfolder called
|
|
<filename>latest</filename> under the <filename>netfuture</filename> folder.
|
|
If you want to keep a message in the current folder and link
|
|
it you can do a <command>refile -link 23 +netfuture</command>
|
|
which would keep 23 in your current <filename>inbox</filename> but
|
|
also list in your <filename>netfuture</filename> folder. You are
|
|
probably beginning to realize some of the really powerful
|
|
things you can do with <application>MH</application>.</para>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
|
|
<sect1>
|
|
<title>Sending Mail</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>Email is a two way street for most people so you want to be
|
|
able to send something back. The way
|
|
<application>MH</application> handles sending mail can be a bit
|
|
difficult to follow at first, but it allows for incredible
|
|
flexibility. The first thing <application>MH</application> does
|
|
is to copy a components file into your outgoing email. A
|
|
components file is basically a skeleton email letter with stuff
|
|
like the <literal>To:</literal> and <literal>Subject:</literal>
|
|
headers already in it. You are then sent into your editor where
|
|
you fill in the header information and then type the body of
|
|
your message below the dashed lines in the message. When you
|
|
leave the editor, the <command>whatnow</command> program is run.
|
|
When you are at the <prompt>What now?</prompt> prompt you can
|
|
tell it to <command>send</command>, <command>list</command>,
|
|
<command>edit</command>, <command>push</command>, and
|
|
<command>quit</command>. Most of these commands are
|
|
self-explanatory. So the message sending process involves
|
|
copying a component file, editing your email, and then telling
|
|
the <command>whatnow</command> program what to do with your
|
|
email.</para>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title><command>comp</command>, <command>forw</command>,
|
|
<command>reply</command>—compose, forward or reply to a message
|
|
to someone</title>
|
|
|
|
<para>The <command>comp</command> program has a few useful command line
|
|
options. The most important one to know right now is the
|
|
<option>-editor</option> option. When <application>MH</application> is installed the
|
|
default editor is usually a program called
|
|
<command>prompter</command> which comes with <application>MH</application>. It is not a very
|
|
exciting editor and basically just gets the job done. So when
|
|
you go to compose a message to someone you might want to use
|
|
<command>comp -editor /usr/bin/vi</command> or <command>comp -editor
|
|
/usr/local/bin/pico</command> instead. Once you have run
|
|
<emphasis>comp</emphasis> you are in your editor and you see
|
|
something that looks like this:</para>
|
|
|
|
<informalexample>
|
|
<screen>To:
|
|
cc:
|
|
Subject:
|
|
--------</screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
<para>You need to put the person you are sending the mail to
|
|
after the <literal>To:</literal> line. It works the same way for the
|
|
other headers also, so you would need to put your subject
|
|
after the <literal>Subject:</literal> line. Then you would just put
|
|
the body of your message after the dashed lines. It may seem a
|
|
bit simplistic since a lot of email programs have special
|
|
requesters that ask you for this information but there really
|
|
is no point to that. Plus this really gives you excellent
|
|
flexibility.</para>
|
|
|
|
<informalexample>
|
|
<screen>To:<userinput>freebsd-rave@FreeBSD.org</userinput>
|
|
cc:
|
|
Subject:<userinput>And on the 8th day God created the FreeBSD core team</userinput>
|
|
--------
|
|
<userinput>Wow this is an amazing operating system. Thanks!</userinput></screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
<para>You can now save this message and exit your editor. You
|
|
will see the <prompt>What now?</prompt> prompt and you can type in
|
|
<userinput>send</userinput> or <userinput>s</userinput> and hit
|
|
<keycap>return</keycap>. Then the FreeBSD core team will receive
|
|
their just rewards. As I mentioned earlier, you can also use
|
|
other commands at the <prompt>What now?</prompt> prompt.
|
|
For example you can use <command>quit</command>, if you do not want
|
|
to send the message.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>The <command>forw</command> command is stunningly similar. The
|
|
big difference being that the message you are forwarding is
|
|
automatically included in the outgoing message. When you run
|
|
<command>forw</command> it will forward your current message. You can
|
|
always tell it to forward something else by doing something
|
|
like <command>forw 23</command> and then message number 23 will be
|
|
put in your outgoing message instead of the current message.
|
|
Beyond those small differences <command>forw</command> functions
|
|
exactly the same as <command>comp</command>. You go through the exact
|
|
same message sending process.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>The <command>repl</command> command will reply to the
|
|
current message, unless you give it a different message to
|
|
reply to. <command>repl</command> will do its best to go ahead
|
|
and fill in some of the email headers already. So you will
|
|
notice that the <literal>To:</literal> header already has the
|
|
address of the recipient in there. Also the
|
|
<literal>Subject:</literal> line will already be filled in.
|
|
You then go about the normal message composition process and
|
|
you are done. One useful command line option to know here is
|
|
the <option>-cc</option> option. You can use
|
|
<parameter>all</parameter>, <parameter>to</parameter>,
|
|
<parameter>cc</parameter>, <parameter>me</parameter> after the
|
|
<option>-cc</option> option to have <command>repl</command>
|
|
automatically add the various addresses to the
|
|
<literal>Cc:</literal> list in the message. You have probably
|
|
noticed that the original message is not included. This is
|
|
because most <application>MH</application> setups are
|
|
configured to do this from the start.</para>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
|
|
<sect2>
|
|
<title><filename>components</filename>, and
|
|
<filename>replcomps</filename>—components files for
|
|
<command>comp</command> and <command>repl</command></title>
|
|
|
|
<para>The <filename>components</filename> file is usually in
|
|
<filename>/usr/local/lib/mh</filename>. You can copy that file
|
|
into your <application>MH</application> Mail directory and
|
|
edit to contain what you want it to contain. It is a fairly
|
|
basic file. You have various email headers at the top, a
|
|
dashed line and then nothing. The <command>comp</command>
|
|
command just copies this <filename>components</filename> file
|
|
and then edits it. You can add any kind of valid RFC822 header
|
|
you want. For instance you could have something like this in
|
|
your <filename>components</filename> file:</para>
|
|
|
|
<informalexample>
|
|
<screen>To:
|
|
Fcc: out
|
|
Subject:
|
|
X-Mailer: MH 6.8.3
|
|
X-Home-Page: http://www.FreeBSD.org/
|
|
-------</screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
<para><application>MH</application> would then copy this
|
|
components file and throw you into your editor. The
|
|
<filename>components</filename> file is fairly simple. If you
|
|
wanted to have a signature on those messages you would just
|
|
put your signature in that <filename>components</filename>
|
|
file.</para>
|
|
|
|
<para>The <filename>replcomps</filename> file is a bit more complex. The
|
|
default <filename>replcomps</filename> looks like this:</para>
|
|
|
|
<informalexample>
|
|
<screen>%(lit)%(formataddr %<{reply-to}%?{from}%?{sender}%?{return-path}%>)\
|
|
%<(nonnull)%(void(width))%(putaddr To: )\n%>\
|
|
%(lit)%(formataddr{to})%(formataddr{cc})%(formataddr(me))\
|
|
%<(nonnull)%(void(width))%(putaddr cc: )\n%>\
|
|
%<{fcc}Fcc: %{fcc}\n%>\
|
|
%<{subject}Subject: Re: %{subject}\n%>\
|
|
%<{date}In-reply-to: Your message of "\
|
|
%<(nodate{date})%{date}%|%(pretty{date})%>."%<{message-id}
|
|
%{message-id}%>\n%>\
|
|
--------</screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
<para>It is in the same basic format as the
|
|
<filename>components</filename> file but it contains quite a few extra
|
|
formatting codes. The <literal>%(lit)</literal> command makes room
|
|
for the address. The <literal>%(formataddr)</literal> is a function
|
|
that returns a proper email address. The next part is
|
|
<literal>%<</literal> which means if and the
|
|
<literal>{reply-to}</literal> means the reply-to field in the
|
|
original message. So that might be translated this way:</para>
|
|
|
|
<informalexample>
|
|
<screen>%<<emphasis remap=bf>if</emphasis> {reply-to} <emphasis remap=bf>the original message has a reply-to</emphasis>
|
|
then give that to formataddr, %? <emphasis remap=bf>else</emphasis> {from} <emphasis remap=bf>take the
|
|
from address</emphasis>, %? <emphasis remap=bf>else</emphasis> {sender} <emphasis remap=bf>take the sender address</emphasis>, %?
|
|
<emphasis remap=bf>else</emphasis> {return-path} <emphasis remap=bf>take the return-path from the original
|
|
message</emphasis>, %> <emphasis remap=bf>endif</emphasis>.</screen>
|
|
</informalexample>
|
|
|
|
<para>As you can tell <application>MH</application> formatting
|
|
can get rather involved. You can probably decipher what most
|
|
of the other functions and variables mean. All of the
|
|
information on writing these format strings is in the
|
|
MH-Format manual page. The really nice thing is that once you
|
|
have built your customized <filename>replcomps</filename> file
|
|
you will not need to touch it again. No other email program
|
|
really gives you the power and flexibility that
|
|
<application>MH</application> gives you.</para>
|
|
</sect2>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
</article>
|