[mmh] / man / mmh-intro.man7

.\"
.\" %nmhwarning%
.\"
.TH NMH %manext7% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
.SH NAME
mmh \- Introduction to the Modern MH message system
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B mmh
is a powerful message handling system, based on
.BR nmh ,
which in turn bases on MH, the Rand Corporation's Message Handler.
.PP
Rather than
being a single comprehensive program,
.B mmh
consists of a collection
of fairly simple single-purpose programs to send, retrieve, organize,
and manipulate messages.
.PP
Unlike most other mail clients,
.B mmh
is not a closed system which
must be explicitly run, then exited when you wish to return to the shell.
Instead, you may freely intersperse
.B mmh
commands with other shell commands,
allowing you to read and answer your mail while you
search for a file or run programs as needed
to find the answer to someone's question before answering their mail.
.PP
The rest of this manual entry is a quick tutorial which will teach you
the basics of
.BR mmh .
You should read the manual entries for the
individual programs for complete documentation.
.PP
To get started using
.BR mmh ,
put the directory
.I %bindir%
on your
.BR $PATH .
This is best done in one of the files:
.IR \&.profile ,
.IR \&.login ,
.IR \&.bashrc ,
or
.I \&.cshrc
in your home directory.  (Check the
manual entry for the shell you use, in case you don't know how to
do this.)  Run the
.B mmh
command.  If you've never used
.B mmh
before, it will create the necessary default files and directories after
asking you if you wish it to do so.
.PP
.B inc
moves mail from your system maildrop into your
.B mmh
`+inbox' folder, converting it to the MH format (one file per message). 
It prints one line for each message it
processes, containing the date, from and subject fields.
It leaves the first message it processes as your current message.
You'll need to run
.B inc
each time you wish to incorporate new mail into your
.B mmh
mail storage.
.PP
.B scan
prints a list of the messages in your current folder.
.PP
The commands:
.BR show ,
.BR next ,
and
.B prev
are used to read
specific messages from the current folder.
.B show
displays the
current message, or a specific message, which may be specified by its
number, which you pass as an argument to
.BR show .
.B next
and
.B prev
display, respectively, the message numerically after or before
the current message.  In all cases, the message displayed becomes the
current message.  If there is no current message,
.B show
may be
called with an argument, or
.B next
may be used to advance to the
first message.
.PP
.B rmm
(remove message) deletes the current message.  It may be called
with message numbers passed as arguments, to delete specific messages.
.PP
.B repl
is used to respond to the current message (by default).
It places you in the editor with a prototype response form.  While you're
in the editor, you may peruse the item you're responding to by reading
the file
.IR @ .
After completing your response, type
.B l
to
.B list
(review) it, or
.B s
to
.B send
it.
.PP
.B comp
allows you to compose a message by putting you in the editor
on a prototype message form, and then lets you send it.
.PP
All the
.B mmh
commands may be run with the single argument:
.BR \-help ,
which causes them to print a list of the arguments they may be invoked
with and then exit.
.PP
Commands which take a message number as an argument (
.BR scan ,
.BR show ,
.BR repl ,
\&...)  also take one of the words: \*(lqfirst\*(rq,
\*(lqprev\*(rq, \*(lqcur\*(rq, \*(lqnext\*(rq, or \*(lqlast\*(rq to indicate
(respectively) the first, previous, current, next, or last message in
the current folder (assuming they are defined).

Commands which take a range of message numbers (
.BR rmm ,
.BR scan ,
.BR show ,
\&...)  also take any of the abbreviations:
.PP
.RS 5
.IP \fI<num1>\fR\-\fI<num2>\fR 15
Indicates all messages in the range <num1> to <num2>, inclusive. The range must be nonempty.
.IP \fI<num>\fR:+\fIN\fR 15
.IP \fI<num>\fR:\-\fIN\fR 15
Up to
.I N
messages beginning with (or ending with) message
.IR num .
.I Num
may be any of the pre-defined symbols:
.IR first ,
.IR prev ,
.IR cur ,
.I next
or
.IR last .
.IP first:\fIN\fR 15
.IP prev:\fIN\fR 15
.IP next:\fIN\fR 15
.IP last:\fIN\fR 15
The first, previous, next or last
messages, if they exist.
.RE
.PP
There are many other possibilities such as creating multiple folders
for different topics, and automatically refiling messages according to
subject, source, destination, or content.  These are beyond the scope
of this manual entry.
.PP
Following is a list of all the
.B mmh
commands:
.PP
.RS 5
.fc ^ ~
.nf
.ta 1.5i
^ali(1)~^\- list mail aliases
^anno(1)~^\- annotate messages
^burst(1)~^\- explode digests into messages
^comp(1)~^\- compose a message
^dist(1)~^\- redistribute a message to additional addresses
^flist(1)~^\- list folders with messages in given sequence(s)
^flists(1)~^\- list all folders with messages in given sequence(s)
^folder(1)~^\- set/list current folder/message
^folders(1)~^\- list all folders
^forw(1)~^\- forward messages
^inc(1)~^\- incorporate new mail
^mark(1)~^\- mark messages
^mhbuild(1)~^\- translate MIME composition draft
^mhl(1)~^\- produce formatted listings of mmh messages
^mhlist(1)~^\- list information about content of MIME messages
^mhmail(1)~^\- send mail (mailx replacement)
^mhparam(1)~^\- print mmh profile components
^mhpath(1)~^\- print full pathnames of mmh messages and folders
^mhstore(1)~^\- store contents of MIME messages into files
^mmh(1)~^\- initialize the mmh environment
^msgchk(1)~^\- check for messages
^next(1)~^\- show the next message
^packf(1)~^\- pack a folder into mbox format
^pick(1)~^\- select messages by content
^prev(1)~^\- show the previous message
^prompter(1)~^\- prompting editor front end
^rcvdist(1)~^\- asynchronously redistribute new mail
^rcvpack(1)~^\- asynchronously append a message to an mbox file
^rcvstore(1)~^\- asynchronously incorporate new mail
^refile(1)~^\- file messages in other folders
^repl(1)~^\- reply to a message
^rmf(1)~^\- remove folder
^rmm(1)~^\- remove messages
^scan(1)~^\- produce a one line per message scan listing
^send(1)~^\- send a message
^sendfiles(1)~^\- send multiple files and directories in MIME message
^show(1)~^\- display MIME messages
^slocal(1)~^\- asynchronously filter and deliver new mail
^sortm(1)~^\- sort messages
^whatnow(1)~^\- prompting front\-end for send
.sp
^ap(8)~^\- parse addresses 822\-style
^dp(8)~^\- parse dates 822\-style
^fmtdump(8)~^\- decode \fImmh\fP format files
^post(8)~^\- deliver a message
.fi
.RE
.PP
Theses are descriptions of files and concepts:
.PP
.RS 5
.fc ^ ~
.nf
.ta 1.5i
^mh\-alias(5)~^\- alias file for mmh message system
^mh\-format(5)~^\- format file for mmh message system
^mh\-mail(5)~^\- message format for mmh message system
^mh\-profile(5)~^\- user customization for mmh message system
^mh\-tailor(5)~^\- mail transport customization for mmh message system
.sp
^mmh(7)~^\- introduction to the mmh message system
^mh\-draft(7)~^\- draft folder facility
^mh\-sequence(7)~^\- sequence specification for mmh message system
.RE

.SH FILES
.fc ^ ~
.nf
.ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName  'u
^%bindir%~^contains \fImmh\fR commands
^%etcdir%~^contains \fImmh\fR format files
^%libdir%~^contains \fImmh\fR library commands
^$HOME/.mmh~^The user's mmh directory
^$HOME/.mmh/profile~^The user's profile
^$HOME/.mmh/context~^The user's context
^$HOME/Mail~^The user's mail storage
.fi

.SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
.fc ^ ~
.nf
.ta 2.4i
.ta \w'LongName  'u
^Path:~^To determine the user's mail storage
.fi

.SH HISTORY
.B mmh
is an experimental version of
.BR nmh ,
the New Mail Handler.
Its name ``mmh'' stands primarily for ``meillo's MH'',
but also for modern, minimalistic, and non-compatible Mail Handler.

.SH BUGS
If you encounter problems with an
.B mmh
program, please report them.
When doing this, include the version information, which you can obtain
by invoking the program with the
.B \-Version
switch.
.PP
Send bug reports and suggestions to
.IR "markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de>" ,
or (as a fall-back) to
.IR nmh-workers@nongnu.org .
.SH "SEE ALSO"
mh-chart(1)