4 .TH MH-PROFILE %manext5% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
6 mh-profile \- user customization for the mmh message handler
10 is expected to have a file named
12 in his or her home directory. This file contains
13 a set of user parameters used by some or all of the
15 family of programs. Each entry in the file is of the format
18 .IR Profile\-Component ": " value
21 If the text of profile entry is long, you may extend it across several
22 real lines by indenting the continuation lines with leading spaces or tabs.
24 .SS "Standard Profile Entries"
25 The possible profile components are exemplified below. The only mandatory
26 entry is `Path:'. The others are optional; some have default values if
27 they are not present. In the notation used below, (profile, default)
28 indicates whether the information is kept in the user's
32 context, and indicates what the default value is.
37 Sets the user's mail storage to `Mail'. This is the
38 only mandatory profile entry. (profile, no default)
44 Declares the location of the
46 context file. This is overridden by the environment variable
51 (profile, default: $HOME/.mmh/context)
57 Keeps track of the current open folder.
58 (context, default: folder specified by `Inbox')
64 Defines the name of your default inbox.
65 (profile, default: inbox)
68 .BR Previous\-Sequence :
71 Names the sequence or sequences which should be defined as the `msgs' or
72 `msg' argument given to any
74 command. If not present or empty,
75 no such sequences are defined. Otherwise, for each name given, the
76 sequence is first zero'd and then each message is added to the sequence.
79 man page for the details about this sequence. (profile, no default)
82 .BR Sequence\-Negation :
85 Defines the string which, when prefixed to a sequence name, negates
86 that sequence. Hence, `!foo' means all those messages that
87 are not a member of the sequence `foo'.
88 To deactivate this mechanism, define Sequence\-Negation to an empty value.
91 man page for the details. (profile, default: !)
94 .BR Unseen\-Sequence :
97 Names the sequence or sequences which shall contain any unread messages.
103 will add or remove messages from these
104 sequences when they are incorporated or read. If defined with an empty
105 value, no such sequences are defined. Otherwise, each message is
106 added to, or removed from, each sequence name given. Read the
108 man page for the details about this sequence.
109 (profile, default: u)
115 The name of the file in each folder which defines public sequences.
116 To disable the use of public sequences, leave the value portion of this
117 entry blank. (profile, default: \&.mh_sequences)
120 .BI atr\- seq \- folder :
123 Keeps track of the private sequence called `seq' in the specified
124 folder. Private sequences are generally used for read\-only folders.
127 man page for details about private sequences.
128 (context, no default)
134 Defines the editor to be used by the commands
140 This profile entry overrides the $VISUAL and $EDITOR environment variables,
141 but gets overridden by the $MMHEDITOR environment variabel.
142 (profile, default: vi)
148 This is the program used by
152 formatted message when displaying to a terminal. It is also the default
155 to display message bodies (or message parts) of type text/plain.
156 This profile entry overrides the $PAGER environment variable, but gets
157 overridden by the $MMHPAGER environment variable.
158 (profile, default: more)
169 (profile, default: %sendmailpath%)
172 .BR Attachment-Header :
175 The (pseudo) header in draft messages, that contains files to be attached
176 to the message on sending.
177 If you like to type a lot, name it `X-MH-Attachment'.
178 (profile, default: `Attach')
184 The (pseudo) header in draft messages, that requests the message to be
185 signed automatically by
189 If you like to type a lot, name it `X-MH-Sign-This-Message'.
190 (profile, default: `Sign')
196 The (pseudo) header in draft messages, that requests the message to be
197 signed and encrypted by
201 If you like to type a lot, name it `X-MH-Encrypt-This-Message'.
202 (profile, default: `Enc')
205 .BR Mime-Type-Query :
208 A command that prints the MIME type of a given file.
209 The file name is appended to the command line.
210 Note: Older versions of file(1) won't generate the desired output.
211 file-4.26, for instance, omits a required semicolon.
212 file-5.04 is known to work.
213 Alternatively, you can use
214 .BR print\-mimetype ,
215 which is part of mmh, but guesses MIME types by file name extensions only.
221 An octal number which defines the permission bits for new message files.
224 for an explanation of the octal number.
225 (profile, default: 0600)
228 .BR Folder\-Protect :
231 An octal number which defines the permission bits for new folder
234 for an explanation of the octal number.
235 (profile, default: 0700)
241 Sets default switches to be used whenever the mmh program
243 is invoked. For example, one could override the `Editor:' profile
244 component when replying to messages by adding a component such as:
247 repl: \-editor /bin/ed
250 (profile, no defaults)
253 .IB lasteditor "-next:"
256 Names `nexteditor' to be the default editor after using
257 `lasteditor'. This takes effect at `What now?' prompt
265 the draft with `lasteditor', the default editor is set to be
266 `nexteditor'. If the user types `edit' without any
267 arguments to `What now?', then `nexteditor' is used.
268 (profile, no default)
274 The contents of the folder-stack for the
277 (context, no default)
280 .BR Alternate\-Mailboxes :
281 mh@uci\-750a, bug-mh*
287 which addresses are really yours.
290 knows which addresses should be included in the
293 knows if the message really originated from you.
294 Addresses must be separated by a comma, and the hostnames listed should
295 be the `official' hostnames for the mailboxes you indicate, as
296 local nicknames for hosts are not replaced with their official site names.
297 For each address, if a host is not given, then that address on any host is
298 considered to be you. In addition, an asterisk (`*') may appear at either
299 or both ends of the mailbox and host to indicate wild-card matching.
300 (profile, default: your user-id)
304 Philipp Takacs <philipp@bureaucracy.de>
308 which address to use, if the draft dosn't contain a
310 Header or the draft is not from the user.
311 (profile, no default)
318 Indicates aliases files for
323 (profile, no default)
329 Changes the default draft folder. Read the
331 man page for details. (profile, default: +drafts)
337 Changes the default folder for removed messages. Read the
339 man page for details.
340 (profile, default: +trash)
343 .BI digest\-issue\- list :
348 the last issue of the last volume sent for the digest
350 (context, no default)
353 .BI digest\-volume\- list :
358 the last volume sent for the digest
360 (context, no default)
368 your maildrop, if different from the default. This is
369 superseded by the environment variable
371 (profile, default: %mailspool%/$USER)
375 RAND MH System (agent: Marshall Rose)
379 your mail signature. This is superseded by the
384 is not set and this profile entry is not present, the `gcos' field of
385 the \fI/etc/passwd\fP file will be used.
386 Your signature will be added to the address
388 puts in the `From:' header; do not include an address in the
389 signature text. (profile, no default)
392 .BR Metafile-Extention :
395 This extions will be used to store meta information about a mail or a draft.
396 Currently only implemented by whatnow2. (profile, no default)
399 .SS "Process Profile Entries"
400 The following profile elements are used whenever an
402 program invokes some other program such as
404 The profile can be used to select alternate programs if the
405 user wishes. The default values are given in the examples.
411 This program is used to list the contents of a message in response
416 directive at the `What now?' prompt.
417 The absolute pathname of the message to list will be appended to
418 the command line given.
424 This is the program invoked by
430 to query about the disposition of a composed draft message.
433 .SS "Environment Variables"
436 and its commands it also controlled by the
437 presence of certain environment variables.
439 Many of these environment variables are used internally by the
440 `What now?' interface. It's amazing all the information
441 that has to get passed via environment variables to make the
442 `What now?' interface look squeaky clean to the
444 user, isn't it? The reason for all this is that the
452 one of the standard shells. As a result, it's not possible to pass
453 information via an argument list. The convention is that environment
454 variables whose names are all upper-case are user-settable; those
455 whose names are lower-case only are used internally by mmh and should
456 not generally be set by the user.
460 option was set during
463 if this environment variable is set, then if the commands
468 are not given any `msgs'
469 arguments, then they will default to using the file indicated by
471 This is useful for getting the default behavior
472 supplied by the default
477 With this environment variable, you can specify an alternative
478 mmh directory. Personal mmh configuration files are located relative to
480 Non-absolute values are relative to the home directory.
481 This is one of the very few exceptions in
483 where non-absolute pathnames are not considered relative to the user's
489 With this environment variable, you can specify a profile
491 .I $HOME/.mmh/profile
495 that you invoke. If the value of
497 is not absolute, it will be presumed to start from the mmh directory.
502 With this environment variable, you can specify a
503 context other than the normal context file (as specified in
504 the profile). As always, unless the value of
506 is absolute, it will be presumed to start from your mmh directory.
511 With this environment variable, you can specify
512 the native character set you are using. You must be able to display
513 this character set on your terminal.
515 This variable is checked to see if a RFC-2047 header field should be
528 be called, since showmimeproc will be called if a text message uses
529 a character set that doesn't match
534 for matches against the charset parameter
535 of text contents to decide it the text content can be displayed
536 without modifications to your terminal. This variable is checked by
538 to decide what character set to specify in the charset
539 parameter of text contents containing 8\-bit characters.
541 When decoding text in such an alternate character set,
543 must be able to determine which characters are alphabetic, which
544 are control characters, etc. For many operating systems, this
545 will require enabling the support for locales (such as setting
546 the environment variable
555 the default maildrop. This supersedes the `MailDrop' profile entry.
564 your mail signature. This supersedes the `Signature' profile entry.
569 This variable tells all
571 programs your home directory
578 the default shell to run
587 These variables (in descending priority) define the default editor to use.
594 These variables (in descending priority) define the default pager to use.
603 The environment variable
605 is also consulted. In particular,
610 how many columns wide your terminal is. They also tell
613 lines long your terminal screen is.
618 This is the path to the working draft.
628 which file to ask `What now?'
641 about an alternate message associated with the
642 draft (the message being distributed or replied to).
643 It is also set during edit sessions so you can peruse the
644 message being distributed or replied to.
645 This variable replaces the older
648 There used to be a link named `@' in the working directory, pointing
649 to the alternate message, there is no such link anymore.
659 that message re-distribution is occurring.
673 editor (unless overridden by
690 if annotations are to occur.
700 if annotations are to occur.
705 This is the folder containing the alternate message.
711 during edit sessions so you
712 can peruse other messages in the current folder besides the one being
713 distributed or replied to.
719 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName 'u
720 ^$HOME/.mmh~^The user's mmh directory
721 ^or $MMH~^Rather than the standard mmh directory
723 ^$HOME/.mmh/profile~^The user's profile
724 ^or $MMHP~^Rather than the standard profile
726 ^$HOME/.mmh/context~^The user's context
727 ^or $MMHC~^Rather than the standard context
729 ^<folder>/.mh_sequences~^Public sequences for <folder>
733 nmh(1), environ(5), mh-sequence(7)
737 .I $HOME/.mmh/profile
738 contains only static information, which
742 update. Changes in context are made to the
743 .I $HOME/.mmh/context
745 This includes, but is not limited to: the `Current\-Folder' entry
746 and all private sequence information. Public sequence information is
747 kept in each folder in the file determined by the `Mh\-Sequences'
748 profile entry (default is
749 .IR \&.mh_sequences ).
751 The profile may override the path of the
753 file, by specifying a `Context' entry.
754 As a result, you can actually have more than one set of
755 private sequences by using different context files.
758 The shell quoting conventions are not available in the profile.
759 Each token is separated by whitespace.
761 There is some question as to what kind of arguments should be placed
762 in the profile as options. In order to provide a clear answer, recall
763 command line semantics of all
765 programs: conflicting switches
770 may occur more than one time on the
771 command line, with the last switch taking effect. Other arguments, such
772 as message sequences, filenames and folders, are always remembered on
773 the invocation line and are not superseded by following arguments of
774 the same type. Hence, it is safe to place only switches (and their
775 arguments) in the profile.
779 program is being invoked again and again
780 with the same arguments, and those arguments aren't switches, then there
781 are a few possible solutions to this problem. The first is to create a
787 of your choice. By giving this link a different name, you can create
788 a new entry in your profile and use an alternate set of defaults for
791 command. Similarly, you could create a small shell script
794 program of your choice with an alternate set
795 of invocation line switches (using links and an alternate profile entry
796 is preferable to this solution).
800 user could create an alias for the command of the form:
803 alias cmd 'cmd arg1 arg2 ...'
806 In this way, the user can avoid lengthy type-in to the shell, and still
809 commands safely. (Recall that some
812 invoke others, and that in all cases, the profile is read, meaning that
813 aliases are disregarded beyond an initial command invocation)
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