5 .TH SLOCAL %manext1% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
7 slocal \- asynchronously filter and deliver new mail
11 [address\ info\ sender]
22 .\" \%[\-home\ homedir]
27 .RB [ \-verbose " | " \-noverbose ]
28 .RB [ \-suppressdup " | " \-nosuppressdup ]
34 is a program designed to allow you to have your inbound
35 mail processed according to a complex set of selection criteria.
36 You do not normally invoke
40 is invoked on your behalf by your system's Message Transfer Agent
43 when the message arrives.
45 The message selection criteria used by
46 .B slocal is specified
48 .RI \*(lq \&.maildelivery \*(rq
49 in the user's home directory.
50 You can specify an alternate file with the
53 option. The syntax of this file is specified below.
55 The message delivery address and message sender are determined from
56 the Message Transfer Agent envelope information, if possible.
59 the sender will obtained from the UUCP
60 \*(lqFrom:\*(rq line, if present. The user may override these
61 values with command line arguments, or arguments to the
67 The message is normally read from the standard input. The
69 switch sets the name of the file from which the message should be
70 read, instead of reading stdin. This is useful when debugging a
71 .RI \*(lq \&.maildelivery \*(rq
78 the name of the user for
79 whom it is delivering mail. The
83 the name of the user's maildrop file.
86 is able to detect and suppress duplicate messages.
87 To enable this, use the option
91 keep a database containing the Message-ID's of incoming messages,
92 in order to detect duplicates. Depending on your configuration,
93 this database will be in either ndbm or Berkeley db format.
97 switch may be used to pass an arbitrary argument to
100 may invoke on your behalf.
106 to give information on
107 stdout about its progress. The
110 verbose debugging output on stderr. These flags are useful when
111 creating and debugging your
112 .RI \*(lq \&.maildelivery \*(rq
114 allow you to see the decisions and actions that
116 is taking, as well as check for syntax errors in your
117 .RI \*(lq \&.maildelivery \*(rq
120 .SS "Message Transfer Agents"
123 you should include the line
126 \*(lq|\ %libdir%/slocal\ \-user\ username\*(rq
129 in your \&.forward file in your home directory. This will cause
133 on your behalf when a message arrives.
137 you should (symbolically) link
141 in your home directory. This will
146 on your behalf with the correct
147 .RI \*(lq "address\ info\ sender" \*(rq
152 then you should not use
154 An equivalent functionality is already provided by
160 .SS "The Maildelivery File"
162 .RI \*(lq \&.maildelivery \*(rq
166 incoming mail. Each line of this file consists of five fields, separated
167 by white-space or comma. Since double-quotes are honored, these
168 characters may be included in a single argument by enclosing the entire
169 argument in double-quotes. A double-quote can be included by preceding it
170 with a backslash. Lines beginning with `#' and blank lines are ignored.
172 The format of each line in the
173 .RI \*(lq \&.maildelivery \*(rq
177 .B header pattern action result string
182 The name of a header field (such as To, Cc, or From) that is to
183 be searched for a pattern. This is any field in the headers of
184 the message that might be present.
186 The following special fields are also defined:
189 the out-of-band sender information
192 the address that was used to cause delivery to the recipient
197 if the message hasn't been delivered yet
205 The sequence of characters to match in the specified header field.
206 Matching is case-insensitive, but does not use regular expressions.
211 The action to take to deliver the message. When a message is delivered,
212 a \*(lqDelivery\-Date:\ date\*(rq header is added which indicates the date
213 and time that message was delivered.
214 .TP \w'qpipezorztzzz'u
216 This action always succeeds.
217 .IR file ", " mbox ", or " >
218 Append the message to the file named by
221 appended to the file in mbox (uucp) format. This is the format used by most
222 other mail clients (such as mailx, elm). If the message can be appended to
223 the file, then this action succeeds.
224 .TP \w'qpipezorztzzz'u
228 but always appends the message using the MMDF mailbox format.
229 .TP \w'qpipezorztzzz'u
231 Pipe the message as the standard input to the command named by
233 using the Bourne shell
235 to interpret the string.
236 Prior to giving the string to the shell, it is expanded with the following
238 .RS \w'qpipezorztzzz'u
239 .TP \w'zzreplyztozaaa'u
241 the out-of-band sender information
242 .TP \w'zzreplyztozaaa'u
244 the address that was used to cause delivery to the recipient
245 .TP \w'zzreplyztozaaa'u
247 the size of the message in bytes
248 .TP \w'zzreplyztozaaa'u
250 either the \*(lqReply\-To:\*(rq or \*(lqFrom:\*(rq field of the message
251 .TP \w'zzreplyztozaaa'u
253 the out-of-band information specified
256 .TP \w'qpipezorztzzz'u
260 but executes the command
261 directly, after built-in variable expansion, without assistance from
262 the shell. This action can be used to avoid quoting special characters
263 which your shell might interpret.
264 .TP \w'qpipezorztzzz'u
266 Store the message in the
270 Currently this is handled by piping the message to the
274 although this may change in the future.
279 Indicates how the action should be performed:
282 Perform the action. If the action succeeds, then the message
283 is considered delivered.
286 Perform the action. Regardless of the outcome of the action,
287 the message is not considered delivered.
290 Perform the action only if the message has not been delivered.
291 If the action succeeds, then the message is considered delivered.
294 Perform the action only if the message has not been delivered
295 and the previous action succeeded. If this action succeeds, then the
296 message is considered delivered.
298 The delivery file is always read completely, so that several matches
299 can be made and several actions can be taken.
302 .SS "Security of Delivery Files"
303 In order to prevent security problems, the
304 .RI \*(lq \&.maildelivery \*(rq
305 file must be owned either by the user or by root, and must be
306 writable only by the owner. If this is not the case, the file is
310 .RI \*(lq \&.maildelivery \*(rq
311 file cannot be found, or does not
312 perform an action which delivers the message, then
314 will check for a global delivery file at
315 .IR %etcdir%/maildelivery .
316 This file is read according to the same rules. This file must be
317 owned by the root and must be writable only by the root.
319 If a global delivery file cannot be found or does not perform an
320 action which delivers the message, then standard delivery to the
321 user's maildrop is performed.
323 .SS "Example Delivery File"
324 To summarize, here's an example delivery file:
327 .ta \w'default 'u +\w'mh-workersxx 'uC +\w'destroy 'uC +\w'result 'u
329 # .maildelivery file for nmh's slocal
331 # Blank lines and lines beginning with a '#' are ignored
333 # FIELD PATTERN ACTION RESULT STRING
336 # File mail with foobar in the \*(lqTo:\*(rq line into file foobar.log
337 To foobar file A foobar.log
339 # Pipe messages from coleman to the program message-archive
340 From coleman pipe A /bin/message-archive
342 # Anything to the \*(lqnmh-workers\*(rq mailing list is put in
343 # its own folder, if not filed already
344 To nmh-workers folder ? nmh-workers
346 # Anything with Unix in the subject is put into
348 Subject unix file A unix-mail
350 # I don't want to read mail from Steve, so destroy it
351 From steve destroy A \-
353 # Put anything not matched yet into mailbox
354 default \- file ? mailbox
357 * \- pipe R /nmh/lib/rcvtty
360 .SS "Sub-process environment"
361 When a process is invoked, its environment is: the user/group-ids are
362 set to recipient's ids; the working directory is the recipient's home
363 directory; the umask is 0077; the process has no /dev/tty; the standard
364 input is set to the message; the standard output and diagnostic output are
365 set to /dev/null; all other file-descriptors are closed; the environment
370 are set appropriately, and no other environment variables exist.
372 The process is given a certain amount of time to execute. If the process
373 does not exit within this limit, the process will be terminated with
374 extreme prejudice. The amount of time is calculated as ((size / 60) +
375 300) seconds, where size is the number of bytes in the message (with
376 30 minutes the maximum time allowed).
378 The exit status of the process is consulted in determining the success
379 of the action. An exit status of zero means that the action succeeded.
380 Any other exit status (or abnormal termination) means that the action
383 In order to avoid any time limitations, you might implement a process
386 The parent would return the appropriate
387 value immediately, and the child could continue on, doing whatever it
388 wanted for as long as it wanted. This approach is somewhat risky if
389 the parent is going to return an exit status of zero. If the parent is
390 going to return a non-zero exit status, then this approach can lead to
391 quicker delivery into your maildrop.
396 .ta \w'/usr/local/nmh/etc/ExtraBigFileName 'u
397 ^%etcdir%/mts.conf~^nmh mts configuration file
398 ^$HOME/\&.maildelivery~^The file controlling local delivery
399 ^%etcdir%/maildelivery~^Rather than the standard file
400 ^%mailspool%/$USER~^The default maildrop
404 rcvdist(1), rcvpack(1), rcvstore(1), rcvtty(1), mh\-format(5)
409 .RB ` \-nosuppressdup '
410 .RB ` \-maildelivery "' defaults to $HOME/\&.maildelivery"
411 .RB ` \-mailbox "' deaults to %mailspool%/$USER"
412 .RB ` \-file "' defaults to stdin"
413 .RB ` \-user "' defaults to the current user"
421 was originally designed to be backward-compatible with
427 .RI \*(lq \&.maildelivery \*(rq
428 file syntax is somewhat limited. But
430 has been modified and extended, so that is it no longer compatible with
433 In addition to an exit status of zero, the
439 (9) mean that the message has been fully delivered.
440 Any other non-zero exit status, including abnormal termination, is
446 \*(lquse an alternate route\*(rq (deliver the message to the maildrop).
449 Only two return codes are meaningful, others should be.
452 was originally designed to be backwards-compatible with the
454 functionality provided by