4 .TH MHBUILD %manext1% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
6 mhbuild \- translate MIME composition draft
12 .RB [ \-list " | " \-nolist ]
13 .RB [ \-realsize " | " \-norealsize ]
14 .RB [ \-headers " | " \-noheaders ]
15 .RB [ \-ebcdicsafe " | " \-noebcdicsafe ]
16 .RB [ \-rfc934mode " | " \-norfc934mode ]
17 .RB [ \-contentid " | " \-nocontentid ]
18 .RB [ \-verbose " | " \-noverbose ]
19 .RB [ \-check " | " \-nocheck ]
26 command will translate a MIME composition draft into
30 creates multi-media messages as specified in RFC\-2045
31 thru RFC\-2049. Currently
33 only supports encodings in
34 message bodies, and does not support the encoding of message headers as
35 specified in RFC\-2047.
37 If you specify the name of the composition file as \*(lq-\*(rq,
40 will accept the composition draft on the standard
41 input. If the translation of this input is successful,
43 will output the new MIME message to the standard output. This argument
44 must be the last argument on the command line.
46 Otherwise if the file argument to
48 is the name of a valid
49 composition file, and the translation is successful,
51 will replace the original file with the new MIME message. It will rename
52 the original file to start with the \*(lq,\*(rq character and end with the
53 string \*(lq.orig\*(rq, e.g., if you are editing the file \*(lqdraft\*(rq,
54 it will be renamed to \*(lq,draft.orig\*(rq. This allows you to easily
58 .SS "Listing the Contents"
63 to list the table of contents associated with the MIME message that is created.
68 that a one-line banner should be displayed above the listing. The
72 to evaluate the \*(lqnative\*(rq
73 (decoded) format of each content prior to listing. This provides an
74 accurate count at the expense of a small delay. If the
77 is present, then the listing will show any \*(lqextra\*(rq information
78 that is present in the message, such as comments in the
79 \*(lqContent-Type\*(rq header.
80 .SS "Translating the Composition File"
82 is essentially a filter to aid in the composition of MIME
87 \*(lqcomposition file\*(rq
88 into a valid MIME message. A
90 \*(lqcomposition file\*(rq
91 is just a file containing plain text that is interspersed
94 directives. When this file is processed
97 the various directives will be expanded to the
98 appropriate content, and will be encoded according to the MIME standards.
99 The resulting MIME message can then be sent by electronic mail.
101 The formal syntax for a
103 composition file is defined at the
104 end of this document, but the ideas behind this format are not complex.
105 Basically, the body contains one or more contents. A content consists of
106 either a directive, indicated with a \*(lq#\*(rq as the first character
107 of a line; or, plaintext (one or more lines of text). The continuation
108 character, \*(lq\\\*(lq, may be used to enter a single directive on more
114 /home/foobar/junk/picture.png
118 There are four kinds of directives: \*(lqtype\*(rq directives, which
119 name the type and subtype of the content; \*(lqexternal-type\*(rq
120 directives, which also name the type and subtype of the content; the
121 \*(lqmessage\*(rq directive (#forw), which is used to forward one or
122 more messages; and, the \*(lqbegin\*(rq directive (#begin), which is
123 used to create a multipart content.
125 The \*(lqtype\*(rq directive is used to directly specify the type and
126 subtype of a content. You may only specify discrete types in this manner
127 (can't specify the types multipart or message with this directive).
128 You may optionally specify the name of a file containing the contents
129 in \*(lqnative\*(rq (decoded) format. If this filename starts with the
130 \*(lq|\*(rq character, then it represents a command to execute whose
131 output is captured accordingly.
136 #audio/basic |raw2audio -F < /usr/lib/sound/giggle.au
140 If a filename is not given,
142 will look for information in the
143 user's profile to determine how the different contents should be composed.
144 This is accomplished by consulting a composition string, and executing
147 with the standard output set to the content.
152 will echo any commands that are used to create contents in this way.
154 The composition string may contain the following escapes:
159 %a Insert parameters from directive
160 %f Insert filename containing content
161 %F %f, and stdout is not re-directed
162 %s Insert content subtype
163 %% Insert character %
169 will look for an entry of the form:
172 mhbuild-compose-<type>/<subtype>
175 to determine the command to use to compose the content. If this isn't
178 will look for an entry of the form:
181 mhbuild-compose-<type>
184 to determine the composition command. If this isn't found,
188 An example entry might be:
191 mhbuild-compose-audio/basic: record | raw2audio -F
194 Because commands like these will vary, depending on the display
195 environment used for login, composition strings for different
196 contents should probably be put in the file specified by the
198 environment variable, instead of directly in your
201 The \*(lqexternal-type\*(rq directives are used to provide a MIME
202 reference to a content, rather than enclosing the contents itself
203 (for instance, by specifying an ftp site). Hence, instead of
204 providing a filename as with the type directives, external-parameters
205 are supplied. These look like regular parameters, so they must be
206 separated accordingly. For example,
210 #@application/octet-stream; \\
212 conversions=compress \\
213 [this is the nmh distribution] \\
214 {application; filename="nmh.tar.gz"} \\
215 name="nmh.tar.gz"; \\
216 directory="/pub/nmh"; \\
217 site="ftp.math.gatech.edu"; \\
218 access-type=anon-ftp; \\
223 You must give a description string to separate the content parameters
224 from the external-parameters (although this string may be empty).
225 This description string is specified by enclosing it within
226 \*(lq[]\*(rq. A disposition string, to appear in a
227 \*(lqContent-Disposition\*(rq header, may appear in the optional
230 These parameters are of the form:
234 .ta \w'access-type= 'u
235 access-type= usually \fIanon-ftp\fR or \fImail-server\fR
237 permission= read-only or read-write
239 directory= directoryname (optional)
240 mode= usually \fIascii\fR or \fIimage\fR (optional)
241 size= number of octets
243 subject= subject to send
244 body= command to send for retrieval
248 The \*(lqmessage\*(rq directive (#forw) is used to specify a message or
249 group of messages to include. You may optionally specify the name of
250 the folder and which messages are to be forwarded. If a folder is not
251 given, it defaults to the current folder. Similarly, if a message is not
252 given, it defaults to the current message. Hence, the message directive
255 command, except that the former uses
256 the MIME rules for encapsulation rather than those specified in RFC\-934.
261 #forw +inbox 42 43 99
265 If you include a single message, it will be included directly as a content
266 of type \*(lqmessage/rfc822\*(rq. If you include more than one message,
269 will add a content of type \*(lqmultipart/digest\*(rq
270 and include each message as a subpart of this content.
272 If you are using this directive to include more than one message, you
275 switch. This switch will indicate that
277 should attempt to utilize the MIME encapsulation rules
278 in such a way that the \*(lqmultipart/digest\*(rq that is created
279 is (mostly) compatible with the encapsulation specified in RFC\-934.
280 If given, then RFC\-934 compliant user-agents should be able to burst the
281 message on reception\0--\0providing that the messages being encapsulated
282 do not contain encapsulated messages themselves. The drawback of this
283 approach is that the encapsulations are generated by placing an extra
284 newline at the end of the body of each message.
286 The \*(lqbegin\*(rq directive is used to create a multipart content.
287 When using the \*(lqbegin\*(rq directive, you must specify at least one
288 content between the begin and end pairs.
293 This will be a multipart with only one part.
298 If you use multiple directives in a composition draft,
301 automatically encapsulate them inside a multipart content. Therefore the
302 \*(lqbegin\*(rq directive is only necessary if you wish to use nested
303 multiparts, or create a multipart message containing only one part.
305 For all of these directives, the user may include a brief description
306 of the content between the \*(lq[\*(rq character and the \*(lq]\*(rq
307 character. This description will be copied into the
308 \*(lqContent-Description\*(rq header when the directive is processed.
312 #forw [important mail from Bob] +bob 1 2 3 4 5
316 Similarly, a disposition string may optionally be provided between
317 \*(lq{\*(rq and \*(lq}\*(rq characters; it will be copied into the
318 \*(lqContent-Disposition\*(rq header when the directive is processed.
319 If a disposition string is provided that does not contain a filename
320 parameter, and a filename is provided in the directive, it will be
321 added to the \*(lqContent-Disposition\*(rq header. For example, the
326 #text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 <>{attachment} /tmp/summary.txt
330 creates these message part headers:
334 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
335 Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="summary.txt"
341 will generate a unique \*(lqContent-ID:\*(rq for each directive,
342 corresponding to each message part; however, the user may override
343 this by defining the ID using the \*(lq<\*(rq and \*(lq>\*(rq
346 switch suppresses creation of all \*(lqContent-ID:\*(rq headers,
347 even in the top level of the message.
349 In addition to the various directives, plaintext can be present.
350 Plaintext is gathered, until a directive is found or the draft is
351 exhausted, and this is made to form a text content. If the plaintext
352 must contain a \*(lq#\*(rq at the beginning of a line, simply double it,
356 ##when sent, this line will start with only one #
359 If you want to end the plaintext prior to a directive, e.g., to have two
360 plaintext contents adjacent, simply insert a line containing a single
361 \*(lq#\*(rq character, e.g.,
365 this is the first content
367 and this is the second
371 Finally, if the plaintext starts with a line of the form:
374 Content-Description: text
377 then this will be used to describe the plaintext content.
378 You MUST follow this line with a blank line before starting
381 By default, plaintext is captured as a text/plain content. You can
382 override this by starting the plaintext with \*(lq#<\*(rq followed by
383 a content-type specification. For example, e.g.,
388 this content will be tagged as text/enriched
390 and this content will be tagged as text/plain
392 #<application/x-patch [this is a patch]
393 and this content will be tagged as application/x-patch
397 Note that if you use the \*(lq#<\*(rq plaintext-form, then the
398 content-description must be on the same line which identifies the content
399 type of the plaintext.
401 When composing a text content, you may indicate the relevant character
402 set by adding the \*(lqcharset\*(rq parameter to the directive.
405 #<text/plain; charset=iso-8859-5
408 If a text content contains any 8\-bit characters (characters with the
409 high bit set) and the character set is not specified as above, then
411 will assume the character set is of the type given by the
412 environment variable MM_CHARSET. If this environment variable is not
413 set, then the character set will be labeled as \*(lqx-unknown\*(rq.
415 If a text content contains only 7\-bit characters and the character set
416 is not specified as above, then the character set will be labeled as
419 Putting this all together,
420 here is an example of a more complicated message draft. The
421 following draft will expand into a multipart/mixed message
422 containing five parts:
426 To: nobody@nowhere.org
428 Subject: Look and listen to me!
430 The first part will be text/plain
432 The second part will be text/enriched
434 This third part will be text/plain
435 #audio/basic [silly giggle] \\
436 |raw2audio -F < /usr/lib/sounds/giggle.au
437 #image/gif [photo of foobar] \\
438 /home/foobar/lib/picture.gif
441 .SS "Integrity Check"
446 switch, then it will also associate
447 an integrity check with each \*(lqleaf\*(rq content. This will add a
448 Content-MD5 header field to the content, along with the md5 sum of the
449 unencoded contents. This may be used by the receiver of the message to
450 verify that the contents of the message were not changed in transport.
452 .SS "Transfer Encodings"
455 constructs the new MIME message by parsing directives,
456 including files, etc., it scans the contents of the message to determine
457 which transfer encoding to use. It will check for 8bit data, long lines,
458 spaces at the end of lines, and clashes with multipart boundaries. It will
459 then choose a transfer encoding appropriate for each content type.
461 If an integrity check is being associated with each content by using
466 will encode each content with
467 a transfer encoding, even it the content contains only 7\-bit data. This
468 is to increase the likelihood that the content is not changed while in
476 the way in which it performs the \*(lqquoted-printable\*(rq transfer
477 encoding. Along with encoding 8\-bit characters, it will now also encode
478 certain common punctuation characters as well. This slightly reduces the
479 readability of the message, but allows the message to pass more reliably
480 through mail gateways which involve the EBCDIC character encoding.
482 .SS "Invoking mhbuild"
488 command will expect the body of the draft to be formatted as an
490 composition file. Once you have composed this input file
491 using a command such as
498 at the \*(lqWhat now\*(rq prompt with
504 prior to sending the draft. This will cause
508 to translate the composition file into MIME format.
510 It is also possible to have the
514 automatically when a message is sent. To do this, you must add the line
524 Finally, you should consider adding this line to your profile:
530 This way, if you decide to
540 will work as you expect.
542 .SS "User Environment"
543 Because the environment in which
545 operates may vary for a
548 will look for the environment variable
550 If present, this specifies the name of an additional user profile which
551 should be read. Hence, when a user logs in on a particular machine,
552 this environment variable should be set to refer to a file containing
553 definitions useful for that machine.
557 will attempt to consult a global
562 %etcdir%/mhn.defaults
567 .SS "Syntax of Composition Files"
568 The following is the formal syntax of a
570 \*(lqcomposition file\*(rq.
574 body ::= 1*(content | EOL)
576 content ::= directive | plaintext
578 directive ::= "#" type "/" subtype
579 0*(";" attribute "=" value)
582 [ "[" description "]" ]
583 [ "{" disposition "}" ]
587 | "#@" type "/" subtype
588 0*(";" attribute "=" value)
591 [ "[" description "]" ]
592 [ "{" disposition "}" ]
598 [ "[" description "]" ]
599 [ "{" disposition "}" ]
600 [ "+"folder ] [ 0*msg ]
605 [ "[" description "]" ]
606 [ "{" disposition "}" ]
614 plaintext ::= [ "Content-Description:"
615 description EOL EOL ]
619 | "#<" type "/" subtype
620 0*(";" attribute "=" value)
622 [ "[" description "]" ]
623 [ "{" disposition "}" ]
628 line ::= "##" text EOL
629 -- interpreted as "#"text EOL
638 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName 'u
639 ^$HOME/\&.mh\(ruprofile~^The user profile
640 ^$MHBUILD~^Additional profile entries
641 ^%etcdir%/mhn.defaults~^System default MIME profile entries
644 .SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
648 .ta \w'ExtraBigProfileName 'u
649 ^Path:~^To determine the user's nmh directory
650 ^Current\-Folder:~^To find the default current folder
651 ^mhbuild-compose-<type>*~^Template for composing contents
655 mhlist(1), mhshow(1), mhstore(1),
657 .I "Proposed Standard for Message Encapsulation"
660 .I "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies"
663 .I "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types"
666 .I "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text"
669 .I "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures"
672 .I "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Five: Conformance Criteria and Examples"
679 .RB ` \-norfc934mode '
682 .RB ` \-noebcdicsafe '
687 If a folder is given, it will become the current folder. The last
688 message selected will become the current message.
projects / mmh / blob