4 .TH MH-PROFILE %manext5% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
6 mh-profile \- user profile 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 .SS "Process Profile Entries"
393 The following profile elements are used whenever an
395 program invokes some other program such as
397 The profile can be used to select alternate programs if the
398 user wishes. The default values are given in the examples.
404 This program is used to list the contents of a message in response
409 directive at the `What now?' prompt.
410 The absolute pathname of the message to list will be appended to
411 the command line given.
417 This is the program invoked by
423 to query about the disposition of a composed draft message.
426 .SS "Environment Variables"
429 and its commands it also controlled by the
430 presence of certain environment variables.
432 Many of these environment variables are used internally by the
433 `What now?' interface. It's amazing all the information
434 that has to get passed via environment variables to make the
435 `What now?' interface look squeaky clean to the
437 user, isn't it? The reason for all this is that the
445 one of the standard shells. As a result, it's not possible to pass
446 information via an argument list. The convention is that environment
447 variables whose names are all upper-case are user-settable; those
448 whose names are lower-case only are used internally by mmh and should
449 not generally be set by the user.
453 option was set during
456 if this environment variable is set, then if the commands
461 are not given any `msgs'
462 arguments, then they will default to using the file indicated by
464 This is useful for getting the default behavior
465 supplied by the default
470 With this environment variable, you can specify an alternative
471 mmh directory. Personal mmh configuration files are located relative to
473 Non-absolute values are relative to the home directory.
474 This is one of the very few exceptions in
476 where non-absolute pathnames are not considered relative to the user's
482 With this environment variable, you can specify a profile
484 .I $HOME/.mmh/profile
488 that you invoke. If the value of
490 is not absolute, it will be presumed to start from the mmh directory.
495 With this environment variable, you can specify a
496 context other than the normal context file (as specified in
497 the profile). As always, unless the value of
499 is absolute, it will be presumed to start from your mmh directory.
504 With this environment variable, you can specify
505 the native character set you are using. You must be able to display
506 this character set on your terminal.
508 This variable is checked to see if a RFC-2047 header field should be
521 be called, since showmimeproc will be called if a text message uses
522 a character set that doesn't match
527 for matches against the charset parameter
528 of text contents to decide it the text content can be displayed
529 without modifications to your terminal. This variable is checked by
531 to decide what character set to specify in the charset
532 parameter of text contents containing 8\-bit characters.
534 When decoding text in such an alternate character set,
536 must be able to determine which characters are alphabetic, which
537 are control characters, etc. For many operating systems, this
538 will require enabling the support for locales (such as setting
539 the environment variable
548 the default maildrop. This supersedes the `MailDrop' profile entry.
557 your mail signature. This supersedes the `Signature' profile entry.
562 This variable tells all
564 programs your home directory
571 the default shell to run
580 These variables (in descending priority) define the default editor to use.
587 These variables (in descending priority) define the default pager to use.
596 The environment variable
598 is also consulted. In particular,
603 how many columns wide your terminal is. They also tell
606 lines long your terminal screen is.
611 This is the path to the working draft.
621 which file to ask `What now?'
634 about an alternate message associated with the
635 draft (the message being distributed or replied to).
636 It is also set during edit sessions so you can peruse the
637 message being distributed or replied to.
638 This variable replaces the older
641 There used to be a link named `@' in the working directory, pointing
642 to the alternate message, there is no such link anymore.
652 that message re-distribution is occurring.
666 editor (unless overridden by
683 if annotations are to occur.
693 if annotations are to occur.
698 This is the folder containing the alternate message.
704 during edit sessions so you
705 can peruse other messages in the current folder besides the one being
706 distributed or replied to.
712 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName 'u
713 ^$HOME/.mmh~^The user's mmh directory
714 ^or $MMH~^Rather than the standard mmh directory
716 ^$HOME/.mmh/profile~^The user's profile
717 ^or $MMHP~^Rather than the standard profile
719 ^$HOME/.mmh/context~^The user's context
720 ^or $MMHC~^Rather than the standard context
722 ^<folder>/.mh_sequences~^Public sequences for <folder>
726 nmh(1), environ(5), mh-sequence(7)
730 .I $HOME/.mmh/profile
731 contains only static information, which
735 update. Changes in context are made to the
736 .I $HOME/.mmh/context
738 This includes, but is not limited to: the `Current\-Folder' entry
739 and all private sequence information. Public sequence information is
740 kept in each folder in the file determined by the `Mh\-Sequences'
741 profile entry (default is
742 .IR \&.mh_sequences ).
744 The profile may override the path of the
746 file, by specifying a `Context' entry.
747 As a result, you can actually have more than one set of
748 private sequences by using different context files.
751 The shell quoting conventions are not available in the profile.
752 Each token is separated by whitespace.
754 There is some question as to what kind of arguments should be placed
755 in the profile as options. In order to provide a clear answer, recall
756 command line semantics of all
758 programs: conflicting switches
763 may occur more than one time on the
764 command line, with the last switch taking effect. Other arguments, such
765 as message sequences, filenames and folders, are always remembered on
766 the invocation line and are not superseded by following arguments of
767 the same type. Hence, it is safe to place only switches (and their
768 arguments) in the profile.
772 program is being invoked again and again
773 with the same arguments, and those arguments aren't switches, then there
774 are a few possible solutions to this problem. The first is to create a
780 of your choice. By giving this link a different name, you can create
781 a new entry in your profile and use an alternate set of defaults for
784 command. Similarly, you could create a small shell script
787 program of your choice with an alternate set
788 of invocation line switches (using links and an alternate profile entry
789 is preferable to this solution).
793 user could create an alias for the command of the form:
796 alias cmd 'cmd arg1 arg2 ...'
799 In this way, the user can avoid lengthy type-in to the shell, and still
802 commands safely. (Recall that some
805 invoke others, and that in all cases, the profile is read, meaning that
806 aliases are disregarded beyond an initial command invocation)
projects / mmh / blob