.\"
.\" %nmhwarning%
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.TH MH-PROFILE %manext5% "%nmhdate%" MH.6.8 [%nmhversion%]
.SH NAME
mh-profile \- user profile customization for mmh message handler
.SH SYNOPSIS
.I $HOME/.mmh/profile
.br
.I $HOME/.mmh/context
.SH DESCRIPTION
Each user of
.B mmh
is expected to have a file named
.I $HOME/.mmh/profile
in his or her home directory.  This file contains
a set of user parameters used by some or all of the
.B mmh
family of programs.  Each entry in the file is of the format
.PP
.RS 5
.IR Profile\-Component ": " value
.RE
.PP
If the text of profile entry is long, you may extend it across several
real lines by indenting the continuation lines with leading spaces or tabs.

.SS "Standard Profile Entries"
The possible profile components are exemplified below.  The only mandatory
entry is `Path:'.  The others are optional; some have default values if
they are not present.  In the notation used below, (profile, default)
indicates whether the information is kept in the user's
.B mmh
profile or
.B mmh
context, and indicates what the default value is.
.PP
.BR Path :
Mail
.RS 5
Sets the user's mail storage to \*(lqMail\*(rq.  This is the
only mandatory profile entry.  (profile, no default)
.RE
.PP
.BR Context :
context
.RS 5
Declares the location of the
.B mmh
context file.  This is overridden by the environment variable
.BR $MMHC .
See the
.B HISTORY
section below.
(profile, default: $HOME/.mmh/context)
.RE
.PP
.BR Current\-Folder :
inbox
.RS 5
Keeps track of the current open folder.
(context, default: folder specified by \*(lqInbox\*(rq)
.RE
.PP
.BR Inbox :
inbox
.RS 5
Defines the name of your default inbox.
(profile, default: inbox)
.RE
.PP
.BR Previous\-Sequence :
.I pseq
.RS 5
Names the sequence or sequences which should be defined as the `msgs' or
`msg' argument given to any
.B mmh
command.  If not present or empty,
no such sequences are defined.  Otherwise, for each name given, the
sequence is first zero'd and then each message is added to the sequence.
Read the
.BR mh\-sequence (7)
man page for the details about this sequence. (profile, no default)
.RE
.PP
.BR Sequence\-Negation :
\&!
.RS 5
Defines the string which, when prefixed to a sequence name, negates
that sequence.  Hence, \*(lq!foo\*(rq means all those messages that
are not a member of the sequence \*(lqfoo\*(rq.
To deactivate this mechanism, define Sequence\-Negation to an empty value.
Read the
.BR mh\-sequence (7)
man page for the details.  (profile, default: !)
.RE
.PP
.BR Unseen\-Sequence :
u
.RS 5
Names the sequence or sequences which shall contain any unread messages.
The commands
.BR inc ,
.BR rcvstore ,
.BR mhshow ,
and
.B show
will add or remove messages from these
sequences when they are incorporated or read.  If defined with an empty
value, no such sequences are defined.  Otherwise, each message is
added to, or removed from, each sequence name given.  Read the
.BR mh\-sequence (7)
man page for the details about this sequence.
(profile, default: u)
.RE
.PP
.BR Mh\-Sequences :
\&.mh_sequences
.RS 5
The name of the file in each folder which defines public sequences.
To disable the use of public sequences, leave the value portion of this
entry blank.  (profile, default: \&.mh_sequences)
.RE
.PP
.BI atr\- seq \- folder :
172\0178\-181\0212
.RS 5
Keeps track of the private sequence called \*(lqseq\*(rq in the specified
folder.  Private sequences are generally used for read\-only folders.
See the
.BR mh\-sequence (7)
man page for details about private sequences.
(context, no default)
.RE
.PP
.BR Editor :
vi
.RS 5
Defines the editor to be used by the commands
.BR comp ,
.BR dist ,
.BR forw ,
and
.BR repl .
This profile entry overrides the $VISUAL and $EDITOR environment variables,
but gets overridden by the $MMHEDITOR environment variabel.
(profile, default: vi)
.RE
.PP
.BR Pager :
more
.RS 5
This is the program used by
.B mhl
to page the
.B mhl
formatted message when displaying to a terminal.  It is also the default
program used by
.B mhshow
to display message bodies (or message parts) of type text/plain.
This profile entry overrides the $PAGER environment variable, but gets
overridden by the $MMHPAGER environment variable.
(profile, default: more)
.RE
.PP
.BR Sendmail :
/usr/sbin/sendmail
.RS 5
The path name to the
.B sendmail
program, used by
.BR spost
to send mail.
(profile, default: %sendmailpath%)
.RE
.PP
.BR Backup-Prefix :
,
.RS 5
The prefix that is prepended to the name of message files when they
are ``removed'' by rmm. This should typically be `,' or `#'.
(profile, default: `,')
.RE
.PP
.BR AltMsg-Link :
@
.RS 5
Name of the link to the file to which you are replying or which you are
redistributing. See `$mhaltmsg' below.
(profile, default: `@')
.RE
.PP
.BR Attachment-Header :
Attach
.RS 5
The (pseudo) header in draft messages, that contains files to be attached
to the message on sending.
If you like to type a lot, name it `X-MH-Attachment'.
(profile, default: `Attach')
.RE
.PP
.BR Mime-Type-Query :
file \-b \-\-mime
.RS 5
A command that prints the MIME type of a file.
The file name gets appended to the command line.
Note: Older GNU versions of file(1) won't generate the desired
output. GNU file-4.26, for instance, omits a required semicolon.
GNU file-5.04 is known to work. Non-GNU version likely need different
options or don't provide this function at all. Alternatively, you can use
.BR print\-mimetype ,
which is part of mmh, but guesses MIME types by file name extensions only.
.RE
.PP
.BR Msg\-Protect :
644
.RS 5
An octal number which defines the permission bits for new message files.
See
.BR chmod (1)
for an explanation of the octal number.
(profile, default: 0644)
.RE
.PP
.BR Folder\-Protect :
750
.RS 5
An octal number which defines the permission bits for new folder
directories.  See
.BR chmod (1)
for an explanation of the octal number.
(profile, default: 700)
.RE
.PP
.IR program :
.I default switches
.RS 5
Sets default switches to be used whenever the mmh program
.I program
is invoked.  For example, one could override the \*(lqEditor:\*(rq profile
component when replying to messages by adding a component such as:
.PP
.RS 5
repl: \-editor /bin/ed
.RE
.PP
(profile, no defaults)
.RE
.PP
.IB lasteditor "-next:"
.I nexteditor
.RS 5
Names \*(lqnexteditor\*(rq to be the default editor after using
\*(lqlasteditor\*(rq.  This takes effect at \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt
in
.BR comp ,
.BR dist ,
.BR forw ,
and
.BR repl .
After editing
the draft with \*(lqlasteditor\*(rq, the default editor is set to be
\*(lqnexteditor\*(rq.  If the user types \*(lqedit\*(rq without any
arguments to \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq, then \*(lqnexteditor\*(rq is used.
(profile, no default)
.RE
.PP
.BR Folder\-Stack :
.I folders
.RS 5
The contents of the folder-stack for the
.B folder
command.
(context, no default)
.RE
.PP
.BR mhe :
.RS 5
If present, tells
.B inc
to compose an
.I MHE
auditfile in addition to its other tasks.
.I MHE
is Brian Reid's
.B emacs
front-end for
.BR mmh .
(profile, no default)
.RE
.PP
.BR Alternate\-Mailboxes :
mh@uci\-750a, bug-mh*
.RS 5
Tells
.B repl
and
.B scan
which addresses are really yours.
In this way,
.B repl
knows which addresses should be included in the
reply, and
scan
knows if the message really originated from you.
Addresses must be separated by a comma, and the hostnames listed should
be the \*(lqofficial\*(rq hostnames for the mailboxes you indicate, as
local nicknames for hosts are not replaced with their official site names.
For each address, if a host is not given, then that address on any host is
considered to be you.  In addition, an asterisk (`*') may appear at either
or both ends of the mailbox and host to indicate wild-card matching.
(profile, default: your user-id)
.RE
.PP
.BR Aliasfile :
aliases
.I other-alias
.RS 5
Indicates aliases files for
.BR ali
and
.BR send .
This may be used instead of the
.B \-alias
.I file
switch.  (profile, no default)
.RE
.PP
.BR Draft\-Folder :
drafts
.RS 5
Changes the default draft folder.  Read the
.BR mh\-draft (7)
man page for details. (profile, default: +drafts)
.RE
.PP
.BI digest\-issue\- list :
1
.RS 5
Tells
.B forw
the last issue of the last volume sent for the digest
.IR list .
(context, no default)
.RE
.PP
.BI digest\-volume\- list :
1
.RS 5
Tells
.B forw
the last volume sent for the digest
.IR list .
(context, no default)
.RE
.PP
.BR MailDrop :
\&.mail
.RS 5
Tells
.B inc
your maildrop, if different from the default.  This is
superseded by the environment variable
.BR $MAILDROP .
(profile, default: %mailspool%/$USER)
.RE
.PP
.BR Signature :
RAND MH System (agent: Marshall Rose)
.RS 5
Tells
.B send
your mail signature.  This is superseded by the
environment variable
.BR $SIGNATURE .
If
.B $SIGNATURE
is not set and this profile entry is not present, the \*(lqgcos\*(rq field of
the \fI/etc/passwd\fP file will be used.
Your signature will be added to the address
.B send
puts in the \*(lqFrom:\*(rq header; do not include an address in the
signature text.  (profile, no default)
.RE

.SS "Process Profile Entries"
The following profile elements are used whenever an
.B nmh
program invokes some other program such as
.BR more .
The profile can be used to select alternate programs if the
user wishes.  The default values are given in the examples.
.RE
.PP
.BR fileproc :
%bindir%/refile
.RS 5
This program is used to refile or link a message to another folder.
It is used by
.B post
to file a copy of a message into a folder given
by a \*(lqFcc:\*(rq field.  It is used by the draft folder facility in
.BR comp ,
.BR dist ,
.BR forw ,
and
.B repl
to refile a draft
message into another folder.  It is used to refile a draft message in
response to the
.B refile
directive at the \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt.
.RE
.PP
.BR listproc :
show \-file
.RS 5
This program is used to list the contents of a message in response
to the
.B list
and
.B display
directive at the \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt.
The absolute pathname of the message to list will be appended to
the command line given.
.RE
.PP
.BR mailproc :
mhmail
.RS 5
This is the program used to automatically mail various messages
and notifications.  It is used by
.B conflict
when using the
.B \-mail
option.  It is used by
.B send
to post failure notices.
It is used to retrieve an external-body with access-type `mail-server'
(such as when storing the body with
.BR mhstore ).
.RE
.PP
.BR mhlproc :
%bindir%/mhl
.RS 5
This is the program used to filter messages in various ways.  It
is used by
.B mhshow
to filter and display the message headers
of MIME messages.
Unless the
.B \-nofilter
option is used with
.BR repl ,
the
.I mhlproc
is used to filter the
message to which you are replying.
.RE
.PP
.BR postproc :
%bindir%/post
.RS 5
This is the program used by
.BR send ,
.BR mhmail ,
.BR rcvdist ,
and
.B viamail
(used by the
.B sendfiles
shell script) to
post a message to the mail transport system.
.RE
.PP
.BR rmmproc :
none
.RS 5
This is the program used by
.B rmm
and
.B refile
to delete a message from a folder.
.RE
.PP
.BR sendproc :
%bindir%/send
.RS 5
This is the program to use by
.B whatnow
to actually send the message
.RE
.PP
.BR showmimeproc :
%bindir%/mhshow
.RS 5
This is the program used by
.B show
to process and display non-text (MIME) messages.
.RE
.PP
.BR showproc :
%bindir%/mhl
.RS 5
This is the program used by
.B show
to filter and display text (non-MIME) messages.
.RE
.PP
.BR whatnowproc :
%bindir%/whatnow
.RS 5
This is the program invoked by
.BR comp ,
.BR forw ,
.BR dist ,
and
.B repl
to query about the disposition of a composed draft message.
.RE

.SS "Environment Variables"
The operation of
.B mmh
and its commands it also controlled by the
presence of certain environment variables.
.PP
Many of these environment variables are used internally by the
\*(lqWhat now?\*(rq interface.  It's amazing all the information
that has to get passed via environment variables to make the
\*(lqWhat now?\*(rq interface look squeaky clean to the
.B mmh
user, isn't it?  The reason for all this is that the
.B mmh
user
can select
.B any
program as the
.IR whatnowproc ,
including
one of the standard shells.  As a result, it's not possible to pass
information via an argument list. The convention is that environment
variables whose names are all upper-case are user-settable; those
whose names are lower-case only are used internally by mmh and should
not generally be set by the user.
.PP
If the
.B WHATNOW
option was set during
.B mmh
configuration, and
if this environment variable is set, then if the commands
.BR refile\ ,
.BR send
or
.BR show
are not given any `msgs'
arguments, then they will default to using the file indicated by
.BR mh\-draft (7).
This is useful for getting the default behavior
supplied by the default
.IR whatnowproc .
.PP
.B $MMH
.RS 5
With this environment variable, you can specify an alternative
mmh directory. Personal mmh configuration files are located relative to
the mmh directory.
Non-absolute values are relative to the home directory.
This is one of the very few exceptions in
.B mmh
where non-absolute pathnames are not considered relative to the user's
mmh directory.
.RE
.PP
.B $MMHP
.RS 5
With this environment variable, you can specify a profile
other than
.I $HOME/.mmh/profile
to be read by the
.B mmh
programs
that you invoke.  If the value of
.B $MMHP
is not absolute, it will be presumed to start from the mmh directory.
.RE
.PP
.B $MMHC
.RS 5
With this environment variable, you can specify a
context other than the normal context file (as specified in
the profile).  As always, unless the value of
.B $MMHC
is absolute, it will be presumed to start from your mmh directory.
.RE
.PP
.B $MM_CHARSET
.RS 5
With this environment variable, you can specify
the native character set you are using.  You must be able to display
this character set on your terminal.
.PP
This variable is checked to see if a RFC-2047 header field should be
decoded (in
.BR inc ,
.BR scan ,
.BR mhl ).
This variable is
checked by
.B show
to see if the
.I showproc
or
.I showmimeproc
should
be called, since showmimeproc will be called if a text message uses
a character set that doesn't match
.BR $MM_CHARSET .
This variable is
checked by
.B mhshow
for matches against the charset parameter
of text contents to decide it the text content can be displayed
without modifications to your terminal.  This variable is checked by
.B mhbuild
to decide what character set to specify in the charset
parameter of text contents containing 8\-bit characters.
.PP
When decoding text in such an alternate character set,
.B mmh
must be able to determine which characters are alphabetic, which
are control characters, etc.  For many operating systems, this
will require enabling the support for locales (such as setting
the environment variable
.B $LC_CTYPE
to iso_8859_1).
.RE
.PP
.B $MAILDROP
.RS 5
This variable tells
.B inc
the default maildrop. This supersedes the \*(lqMailDrop\*(rq profile entry.
.RE
.PP
.B $SIGNATURE
.RS 5
This variable tells
.B send
and
.B post
your mail signature. This supersedes the \*(lqSignature\*(rq profile entry.
.RE
.PP
.B $HOME
.RS 5
This variable tells all
.B mmh
programs your home directory
.RE
.PP
.B $SHELL
.RS 5
This variable tells
.B bbl
the default shell to run
.RE
.PP
.B $MMHEDITOR
.br
.B $VISUAL
.br
.B $EDITOR
.RS 5
These variables (in descending priority) define the default editor to use.
.RE
.PP
.B $MMHPAGER
.br
.B $PAGER
.RS 5
These variables (in descending priority) define the default pager to use.
.RE
.PP
.B $TERM
.RS 5
This variable tells
.B mmh
your terminal type.
.PP
The environment variable
.B $TERMCAP
is also consulted.  In particular,
these tell
.B scan
and
.B mhl
how many columns wide your terminal is.  They also tell
.B mhl
how many
lines long your terminal screen is.
.RE
.PP
.B $editalt
.RS 5
This is the alternate message.
.PP
This is set by
.B dist
and
.B repl
during edit sessions so you can peruse the message being distributed or
replied to.  The message is also available through a link called
\*(lq@\*(rq (if not changed by
.BR altmsg-link )
in the current directory if your current working directory
and the message's folder are on the same UNIX filesystem.
.RE
.PP
.B $mhdraft
.RS 5
This is the path to the working draft.
.PP
This is set by
.BR comp ,
.BR dist ,
.BR forw ,
and
.B repl
to tell the
.I whatnowproc
which file to ask \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq
questions about.
.RE
.PP
.B $mhfolder
.RS 5
This is set by
.BR dist ,
.BR forw ,
and
.BR repl ,
if appropriate.
.RE
.PP
.B $mhaltmsg
.RS 5
.B dist
and
.B repl
set
.B $mhaltmsg
to tell the
.I whatnowproc
about an alternate message associated with the
draft (the message being distributed or replied to).
.RE
.PP
.B $mhdist
.RS 5
.B dist
sets
.B $mhdist
to tell the
.I whatnowproc
that message re-distribution is occurring.
.RE
.PP
.B $mheditor
.RS 5
This is set by
.BR comp ,
.BR repl ,
.BR forw ,
and
.B dist
to tell the
.I whatnowproc
the user's choice of
editor (unless overridden by
.BR \-noedit ).
.RE
.PP
.B $mhuse
.RS 5
This may be set by
.BR comp .
.RE
.PP
.B $mhmessages
.RS 5
This is set by
.BR dist ,
.BR forw ,
and
.B repl
if annotations are to occur.
.RE
.PP
.B $mhannotate
.RS 5
This is set by
.BR dist ,
.BR forw ,
and
.B repl
if annotations are to occur.
.RE
.PP
.B $mhfolder
.RS 5
This is the folder containing the alternate message.
.PP
This is set by
.B dist
and
.B repl
during edit sessions so you
can peruse other messages in the current folder besides the one being
distributed or replied to.  The environment variable
.B $mhfolder
is also set by
.BR show ,
.BR prev ,
and
.B next
for use by
.BR mhl .
.RE

.SH FILES
.fc ^ ~
.nf
.ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName  'u
^$HOME/.mmh~^The user's mmh directory
^or $MMH~^Rather than the standard mmh directory
^$HOME/.mmh/profile~^The user's profile
^or $MMHP~^Rather than the standard profile
^$HOME/.mmh/context~^The user's context
^or $MMHC~^Rather than the standard context
^<folder>/.mh_sequences~^Public sequences for <folder>
.fi

.SH "SEE ALSO"
nmh(1), environ(5), mh-sequence(7)

.SH HISTORY
The
.I $HOME/.mmh/profile
contains only static information, which
.B mmh
programs will
.B NOT
update.  Changes in context are made to the
.I $HOME/.mmh/context
file.
This includes, but is not limited to: the \*(lqCurrent\-Folder\*(rq entry
and all private sequence information.  Public sequence information is
kept in each folder in the file determined by the \*(lqMh\-Sequences\*(rq
profile entry (default is
.IR \&.mh_sequences ).
.PP
The profile may override the path of the
.I context
file, by specifying a \*(lqContext\*(rq entry.
As a result, you can actually have more than one set of
private sequences by using different context files.

.SH BUGS
The shell quoting conventions are not available in the profile.
Each token is separated by whitespace.
.PP
There is some question as to what kind of arguments should be placed
in the profile as options.  In order to provide a clear answer, recall
command line semantics of all
.B mmh
programs: conflicting switches
(e.g.
.B \-header
and
.BR \-noheader )
may occur more than one time on the
command line, with the last switch taking effect.  Other arguments, such
as message sequences, filenames and folders, are always remembered on
the invocation line and are not superseded by following arguments of
the same type.  Hence, it is safe to place only switches (and their
arguments) in the profile.
.PP
If one finds that an
.B mmh
program is being invoked again and again
with the same arguments, and those arguments aren't switches, then there
are a few possible solutions to this problem.  The first is to create a
(soft) link in your
.I $HOME/bin
directory to the
.B mmh
program
of your choice.  By giving this link a different name, you can create
a new entry in your profile and use an alternate set of defaults for
the
.B mmh
command.  Similarly, you could create a small shell script
which called the
.B mmh
program of your choice with an alternate set
of invocation line switches (using links and an alternate profile entry
is preferable to this solution).
.PP
Finally, the
.B csh
user could create an alias for the command of the form:
.PP
.RS 5
alias cmd 'cmd arg1 arg2 ...'
.RE
.PP
In this way, the user can avoid lengthy type-in to the shell, and still
give
.B mmh
commands safely.  (Recall that some
.B mmh
commands
invoke others, and that in all cases, the profile is read, meaning that
aliases are disregarded beyond an initial command invocation)