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 addresse shall be used, if the draft dosn\'t contain a
310 Header or the draft is not from the user.
317 Indicates aliases files for
322 (profile, no default)
328 Changes the default draft folder. Read the
330 man page for details. (profile, default: +drafts)
336 Changes the default folder for removed messages. Read the
338 man page for details.
339 (profile, default: +trash)
342 .BI digest\-issue\- list :
347 the last issue of the last volume sent for the digest
349 (context, no default)
352 .BI digest\-volume\- list :
357 the last volume sent for the digest
359 (context, no default)
367 your maildrop, if different from the default. This is
368 superseded by the environment variable
370 (profile, default: %mailspool%/$USER)
374 RAND MH System (agent: Marshall Rose)
378 your mail signature. This is superseded by the
383 is not set and this profile entry is not present, the `gcos' field of
384 the \fI/etc/passwd\fP file will be used.
385 Your signature will be added to the address
387 puts in the `From:' header; do not include an address in the
388 signature text. (profile, no default)
391 .SS "Process Profile Entries"
392 The following profile elements are used whenever an
394 program invokes some other program such as
396 The profile can be used to select alternate programs if the
397 user wishes. The default values are given in the examples.
403 This program is used to list the contents of a message in response
408 directive at the `What now?' prompt.
409 The absolute pathname of the message to list will be appended to
410 the command line given.
416 This is the program invoked by
422 to query about the disposition of a composed draft message.
425 .SS "Environment Variables"
428 and its commands it also controlled by the
429 presence of certain environment variables.
431 Many of these environment variables are used internally by the
432 `What now?' interface. It's amazing all the information
433 that has to get passed via environment variables to make the
434 `What now?' interface look squeaky clean to the
436 user, isn't it? The reason for all this is that the
444 one of the standard shells. As a result, it's not possible to pass
445 information via an argument list. The convention is that environment
446 variables whose names are all upper-case are user-settable; those
447 whose names are lower-case only are used internally by mmh and should
448 not generally be set by the user.
452 option was set during
455 if this environment variable is set, then if the commands
460 are not given any `msgs'
461 arguments, then they will default to using the file indicated by
463 This is useful for getting the default behavior
464 supplied by the default
469 With this environment variable, you can specify an alternative
470 mmh directory. Personal mmh configuration files are located relative to
472 Non-absolute values are relative to the home directory.
473 This is one of the very few exceptions in
475 where non-absolute pathnames are not considered relative to the user's
481 With this environment variable, you can specify a profile
483 .I $HOME/.mmh/profile
487 that you invoke. If the value of
489 is not absolute, it will be presumed to start from the mmh directory.
494 With this environment variable, you can specify a
495 context other than the normal context file (as specified in
496 the profile). As always, unless the value of
498 is absolute, it will be presumed to start from your mmh directory.
503 With this environment variable, you can specify
504 the native character set you are using. You must be able to display
505 this character set on your terminal.
507 This variable is checked to see if a RFC-2047 header field should be
520 be called, since showmimeproc will be called if a text message uses
521 a character set that doesn't match
526 for matches against the charset parameter
527 of text contents to decide it the text content can be displayed
528 without modifications to your terminal. This variable is checked by
530 to decide what character set to specify in the charset
531 parameter of text contents containing 8\-bit characters.
533 When decoding text in such an alternate character set,
535 must be able to determine which characters are alphabetic, which
536 are control characters, etc. For many operating systems, this
537 will require enabling the support for locales (such as setting
538 the environment variable
547 the default maildrop. This supersedes the `MailDrop' profile entry.
556 your mail signature. This supersedes the `Signature' profile entry.
561 This variable tells all
563 programs your home directory
570 the default shell to run
579 These variables (in descending priority) define the default editor to use.
586 These variables (in descending priority) define the default pager to use.
595 The environment variable
597 is also consulted. In particular,
602 how many columns wide your terminal is. They also tell
605 lines long your terminal screen is.
610 This is the path to the working draft.
620 which file to ask `What now?'
633 about an alternate message associated with the
634 draft (the message being distributed or replied to).
635 It is also set during edit sessions so you can peruse the
636 message being distributed or replied to.
637 This variable replaces the older
640 There used to be a link named `@' in the working directory, pointing
641 to the alternate message, there is no such link anymore.
651 that message re-distribution is occurring.
665 editor (unless overridden by
682 if annotations are to occur.
692 if annotations are to occur.
697 This is the folder containing the alternate message.
703 during edit sessions so you
704 can peruse other messages in the current folder besides the one being
705 distributed or replied to.
711 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName 'u
712 ^$HOME/.mmh~^The user's mmh directory
713 ^or $MMH~^Rather than the standard mmh directory
715 ^$HOME/.mmh/profile~^The user's profile
716 ^or $MMHP~^Rather than the standard profile
718 ^$HOME/.mmh/context~^The user's context
719 ^or $MMHC~^Rather than the standard context
721 ^<folder>/.mh_sequences~^Public sequences for <folder>
725 nmh(1), environ(5), mh-sequence(7)
729 .I $HOME/.mmh/profile
730 contains only static information, which
734 update. Changes in context are made to the
735 .I $HOME/.mmh/context
737 This includes, but is not limited to: the `Current\-Folder' entry
738 and all private sequence information. Public sequence information is
739 kept in each folder in the file determined by the `Mh\-Sequences'
740 profile entry (default is
741 .IR \&.mh_sequences ).
743 The profile may override the path of the
745 file, by specifying a `Context' entry.
746 As a result, you can actually have more than one set of
747 private sequences by using different context files.
750 The shell quoting conventions are not available in the profile.
751 Each token is separated by whitespace.
753 There is some question as to what kind of arguments should be placed
754 in the profile as options. In order to provide a clear answer, recall
755 command line semantics of all
757 programs: conflicting switches
762 may occur more than one time on the
763 command line, with the last switch taking effect. Other arguments, such
764 as message sequences, filenames and folders, are always remembered on
765 the invocation line and are not superseded by following arguments of
766 the same type. Hence, it is safe to place only switches (and their
767 arguments) in the profile.
771 program is being invoked again and again
772 with the same arguments, and those arguments aren't switches, then there
773 are a few possible solutions to this problem. The first is to create a
779 of your choice. By giving this link a different name, you can create
780 a new entry in your profile and use an alternate set of defaults for
783 command. Similarly, you could create a small shell script
786 program of your choice with an alternate set
787 of invocation line switches (using links and an alternate profile entry
788 is preferable to this solution).
792 user could create an alias for the command of the form:
795 alias cmd 'cmd arg1 arg2 ...'
798 In this way, the user can avoid lengthy type-in to the shell, and still
801 commands safely. (Recall that some
804 invoke others, and that in all cases, the profile is read, meaning that
805 aliases are disregarded beyond an initial command invocation)
projects / mmh / blob