4 .TH MH-PROFILE %manext5% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
6 mh-profile \- user profile customization for mmh message handler
14 is expected to have a file named
16 in his or her home directory. This file contains
17 a set of user parameters used by some or all of the
19 family of programs. Each entry in the file is of the format
22 .IR Profile\-Component ": " value
25 If the text of profile entry is long, you may extend it across several
26 real lines by indenting the continuation lines with leading spaces or tabs.
28 .SS "Standard Profile Entries"
29 The possible profile components are exemplified below. The only mandatory
30 entry is `Path:'. The others are optional; some have default values if
31 they are not present. In the notation used below, (profile, default)
32 indicates whether the information is kept in the user's
36 context, and indicates what the default value is.
41 Sets the user's mail storage to `Mail'. This is the
42 only mandatory profile entry. (profile, no default)
48 Declares the location of the
50 context file. This is overridden by the environment variable
55 (profile, default: $HOME/.mmh/context)
61 Keeps track of the current open folder.
62 (context, default: folder specified by `Inbox')
68 Defines the name of your default inbox.
69 (profile, default: inbox)
72 .BR Previous\-Sequence :
75 Names the sequence or sequences which should be defined as the `msgs' or
76 `msg' argument given to any
78 command. If not present or empty,
79 no such sequences are defined. Otherwise, for each name given, the
80 sequence is first zero'd and then each message is added to the sequence.
83 man page for the details about this sequence. (profile, no default)
86 .BR Sequence\-Negation :
89 Defines the string which, when prefixed to a sequence name, negates
90 that sequence. Hence, `!foo' means all those messages that
91 are not a member of the sequence `foo'.
92 To deactivate this mechanism, define Sequence\-Negation to an empty value.
95 man page for the details. (profile, default: !)
98 .BR Unseen\-Sequence :
101 Names the sequence or sequences which shall contain any unread messages.
107 will add or remove messages from these
108 sequences when they are incorporated or read. If defined with an empty
109 value, no such sequences are defined. Otherwise, each message is
110 added to, or removed from, each sequence name given. Read the
112 man page for the details about this sequence.
113 (profile, default: u)
119 The name of the file in each folder which defines public sequences.
120 To disable the use of public sequences, leave the value portion of this
121 entry blank. (profile, default: \&.mh_sequences)
124 .BI atr\- seq \- folder :
127 Keeps track of the private sequence called `seq' in the specified
128 folder. Private sequences are generally used for read\-only folders.
131 man page for details about private sequences.
132 (context, no default)
138 Defines the editor to be used by the commands
144 This profile entry overrides the $VISUAL and $EDITOR environment variables,
145 but gets overridden by the $MMHEDITOR environment variabel.
146 (profile, default: vi)
152 This is the program used by
156 formatted message when displaying to a terminal. It is also the default
159 to display message bodies (or message parts) of type text/plain.
160 This profile entry overrides the $PAGER environment variable, but gets
161 overridden by the $MMHPAGER environment variable.
162 (profile, default: more)
173 (profile, default: %sendmailpath%)
176 .BR Attachment-Header :
179 The (pseudo) header in draft messages, that contains files to be attached
180 to the message on sending.
181 If you like to type a lot, name it `X-MH-Attachment'.
182 (profile, default: `Attach')
188 The (pseudo) header in draft messages, that requests the message to be
189 signed automatically by
193 If you like to type a lot, name it `X-MH-Sign-This-Message'.
194 (profile, default: `Sign')
200 The (pseudo) header in draft messages, that requests the message to be
201 signed and encrypted by
205 If you like to type a lot, name it `X-MH-Encrypt-This-Message'.
206 (profile, default: `Enc')
209 .BR Mime-Type-Query :
212 A command that prints the MIME type of a given file.
213 The file name is appended to the command line.
214 Note: Older versions of file(1) won't generate the desired output.
215 file-4.26, for instance, omits a required semicolon.
216 file-5.04 is known to work.
217 Alternatively, you can use
218 .BR print\-mimetype ,
219 which is part of mmh, but guesses MIME types by file name extensions only.
225 An octal number which defines the permission bits for new message files.
228 for an explanation of the octal number.
229 (profile, default: 0600)
232 .BR Folder\-Protect :
235 An octal number which defines the permission bits for new folder
238 for an explanation of the octal number.
239 (profile, default: 0700)
245 Sets default switches to be used whenever the mmh program
247 is invoked. For example, one could override the `Editor:' profile
248 component when replying to messages by adding a component such as:
251 repl: \-editor /bin/ed
254 (profile, no defaults)
257 .IB lasteditor "-next:"
260 Names `nexteditor' to be the default editor after using
261 `lasteditor'. This takes effect at `What now?' prompt
269 the draft with `lasteditor', the default editor is set to be
270 `nexteditor'. If the user types `edit' without any
271 arguments to `What now?', then `nexteditor' is used.
272 (profile, no default)
278 The contents of the folder-stack for the
281 (context, no default)
284 .BR Alternate\-Mailboxes :
285 mh@uci\-750a, bug-mh*
291 which addresses are really yours.
294 knows which addresses should be included in the
297 knows if the message really originated from you.
298 Addresses must be separated by a comma, and the hostnames listed should
299 be the `official' hostnames for the mailboxes you indicate, as
300 local nicknames for hosts are not replaced with their official site names.
301 For each address, if a host is not given, then that address on any host is
302 considered to be you. In addition, an asterisk (`*') may appear at either
303 or both ends of the mailbox and host to indicate wild-card matching.
304 (profile, default: your user-id)
308 Philipp Takacs <philipp@bureaucracy.de>
312 which addresse shall be used, if the draft dosn\'t contain a
314 Header or the draft is not from the user.
321 Indicates aliases files for
326 (profile, no default)
332 Changes the default draft folder. Read the
334 man page for details. (profile, default: +drafts)
340 Changes the default folder for removed messages. Read the
342 man page for details.
343 (profile, default: +trash)
346 .BI digest\-issue\- list :
351 the last issue of the last volume sent for the digest
353 (context, no default)
356 .BI digest\-volume\- list :
361 the last volume sent for the digest
363 (context, no default)
371 your maildrop, if different from the default. This is
372 superseded by the environment variable
374 (profile, default: %mailspool%/$USER)
378 RAND MH System (agent: Marshall Rose)
382 your mail signature. This is superseded by the
387 is not set and this profile entry is not present, the `gcos' field of
388 the \fI/etc/passwd\fP file will be used.
389 Your signature will be added to the address
391 puts in the `From:' header; do not include an address in the
392 signature text. (profile, no default)
395 .SS "Process Profile Entries"
396 The following profile elements are used whenever an
398 program invokes some other program such as
400 The profile can be used to select alternate programs if the
401 user wishes. The default values are given in the examples.
407 This program is used to list the contents of a message in response
412 directive at the `What now?' prompt.
413 The absolute pathname of the message to list will be appended to
414 the command line given.
420 This is the program invoked by
426 to query about the disposition of a composed draft message.
429 .SS "Environment Variables"
432 and its commands it also controlled by the
433 presence of certain environment variables.
435 Many of these environment variables are used internally by the
436 `What now?' interface. It's amazing all the information
437 that has to get passed via environment variables to make the
438 `What now?' interface look squeaky clean to the
440 user, isn't it? The reason for all this is that the
448 one of the standard shells. As a result, it's not possible to pass
449 information via an argument list. The convention is that environment
450 variables whose names are all upper-case are user-settable; those
451 whose names are lower-case only are used internally by mmh and should
452 not generally be set by the user.
456 option was set during
459 if this environment variable is set, then if the commands
464 are not given any `msgs'
465 arguments, then they will default to using the file indicated by
467 This is useful for getting the default behavior
468 supplied by the default
473 With this environment variable, you can specify an alternative
474 mmh directory. Personal mmh configuration files are located relative to
476 Non-absolute values are relative to the home directory.
477 This is one of the very few exceptions in
479 where non-absolute pathnames are not considered relative to the user's
485 With this environment variable, you can specify a profile
487 .I $HOME/.mmh/profile
491 that you invoke. If the value of
493 is not absolute, it will be presumed to start from the mmh directory.
498 With this environment variable, you can specify a
499 context other than the normal context file (as specified in
500 the profile). As always, unless the value of
502 is absolute, it will be presumed to start from your mmh directory.
507 With this environment variable, you can specify
508 the native character set you are using. You must be able to display
509 this character set on your terminal.
511 This variable is checked to see if a RFC-2047 header field should be
524 be called, since showmimeproc will be called if a text message uses
525 a character set that doesn't match
530 for matches against the charset parameter
531 of text contents to decide it the text content can be displayed
532 without modifications to your terminal. This variable is checked by
534 to decide what character set to specify in the charset
535 parameter of text contents containing 8\-bit characters.
537 When decoding text in such an alternate character set,
539 must be able to determine which characters are alphabetic, which
540 are control characters, etc. For many operating systems, this
541 will require enabling the support for locales (such as setting
542 the environment variable
551 the default maildrop. This supersedes the `MailDrop' profile entry.
560 your mail signature. This supersedes the `Signature' profile entry.
565 This variable tells all
567 programs your home directory
574 the default shell to run
583 These variables (in descending priority) define the default editor to use.
590 These variables (in descending priority) define the default pager to use.
599 The environment variable
601 is also consulted. In particular,
606 how many columns wide your terminal is. They also tell
609 lines long your terminal screen is.
614 This is the path to the working draft.
624 which file to ask `What now?'
637 about an alternate message associated with the
638 draft (the message being distributed or replied to).
639 It is also set during edit sessions so you can peruse the
640 message being distributed or replied to.
641 This variable replaces the older
644 There used to be a link named `@' in the working directory, pointing
645 to the alternate message, there is no such link anymore.
655 that message re-distribution is occurring.
669 editor (unless overridden by
686 if annotations are to occur.
696 if annotations are to occur.
701 This is the folder containing the alternate message.
707 during edit sessions so you
708 can peruse other messages in the current folder besides the one being
709 distributed or replied to.
715 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName 'u
716 ^$HOME/.mmh~^The user's mmh directory
717 ^or $MMH~^Rather than the standard mmh directory
718 ^$HOME/.mmh/profile~^The user's profile
719 ^or $MMHP~^Rather than the standard profile
720 ^$HOME/.mmh/context~^The user's context
721 ^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