Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!unido!sapwdf!wohler From: wohler@sapwdf.UUCP (Bill Wohler) Newsgroups: comp.mail.mh Subject: MH Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) with Answers Message-ID: <2766@sapwdf.UUCP> Date: 3 May 91 10:46:41 GMT Expires: 1 Jun 91 05:00:00 GMT Reply-To: Bill Wohler Organization: SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany Lines: 522 Last update: $Date: 91/05/03 11:45:31 $ $Revision: 91.5 $ This is a living list of frequently asked questions on MH. The point of this is to circulate existing information, and avoid rehashing old answers. Better to build on top than start again. This article is posted monthly. If it has already expired and you're not reading this, feel free to request copies directly from me ;-). When someone posts a frequently-asked question, I will mail them a copy of this posting, and point out that the answer is there to ensure that everybody gets their question answered, and to reduce redundant answers. Your comments, additions and fixes to this list are welcome: please send them to Bill Wohler . Answers should be tested by first creating a .mh_profile file with a path entry pointing to a temporary directory. This directory and .mh_profile should then be filled with the minimum necessary to get the feature to work. When I have time, I try to be a fairly picky editor, so complete, accurate and grammatically correct answers are appreciated. Table of Contents (+ new, - deleted, ! changed) Introductory 1. Why should I use MH? !2. Where can I get MH? !3. What references exist for MH? !4. How should I report bugs? 5. How can I convert from my mailer to MH? !6. What kind of applications are built upon MH? Building MH 7. How do I build MH? !8. What options should I use? !9. Fixing "post: problem initializing server; [BHST] no servers available" Using MH 10. Where can I read about slocal and the format of the .maildelivery file? !11. How do I include messages in repl with or without ">"? 12. How can I eliminate duplicate copies of letters to myself? 13. How would one go about reading usenet with MH? 14. Can I append MH messages (ie. +inbox/1) to a unix mailbox format file? Xmh +15. How can I get it to use Emacs as the editor? Viewing This Article If you are using GNU Emacs, type "M-2 C-X $" to get an overview of just the questions. Use "C-X $" to display the text again ("M-0 C-l C-x $" ensures that the current cursor location remains on the screen). To skip to a particular question numbered xx, in Emacs type "M-C-s ^.xx\.", (or C-r to search backwards), followed by ESC to end the search. Or, use "/^.xx\." with other pagers. To skip to new or changed questions, use "M-C-s ^[!+]" in Emacs and "^[!+]" in other pagers. Contributer's E-Mail addresses can be found at the bottom of this article. . Questions and Answers . Introductory 1. Why should I use MH? The MH message handling system is a set of electronic mail programs in the public domain. If your computer runs UNIX, it can probably run MH. The big difference between MH and most other "mail user agents" is that you can use MH from a UNIX shell prompt. In MH, each command is a separate program, and the shell is used as an interpreter. So, all the power of UNIX shells (pipes, redirection, history, aliases, and so on) works with MH--you don't have to learn a new interface. other mail agents have their own command interpreter for their individual mail commands (although the mush mail agent simulates a UNIX shell). Because MH commands aren't part of a monolithic mail system, you can use them at any time; you don't have to start or quit the mail agent. Because you use them from a shell prompt, you can use all the power of the shell. If your shell has time-saving aliases or functions (and most do), you'll be able to use them with MH, of course. And because MH isn't a monolithic mail agent, you can use MH commands in UNIX shell scripts, or call them from programs in high-level languages like C. Unlike most mail agents, MH keeps each message in a separate file. the filename is the message number. To rearrange the messages, MH just changes the filenames. MH can use standard UNIX filesystem operations such as removing, copying and linking on it messages. The message files are grouped into one or more folders, which are actually UNIX directories. MH is free, powerful, flexible--and the basics are easy to learn. --Jerry Peek !2. Where can I get MH? The current version of MH is 6.7.1. via anonymous ftp: ics.uci.edu [128.195.1.1] pub/mh/mh-6.7.tar.z 1.6 m louie.udel.edu [128.175.1.3] portal/mh-6.7.tar.z 1.6 m via anonymous uucp: [i'd like to put something here. anyone?] via U.S. mail: Send a check for $75.00 drawn on U.S. funds made out to the "Regents of the University of California" to: Computing Support Group ATTN: MH Distribution Department of Information and Computer Science University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92717 714-856-7554 This covers the cost of a 6250 bpi 9-track magtape, handling, and shipping. In addition, you'll get a laser-printed hard-copy of the entire MH documentation set. Be sure to include your USPS address with your check. It's also a good idea (though not mandatory) to send a computer mail message to "Bug-MH@ics.uci.edu" when you send your check via usps to ensure minimal turn-around time. Sadly, if you just want the hard-copies of the documentation, you still have to pay the $75.00. The tar image has the documentation source (the manual is in roff format, but the rest are in tex format). Postscript formatted versions of the TeX papers are available, as are crude tty-conversions of those papers. other MH software: [which hosts is xmh available on? can someone (john?) offer the improved vmail, etc. via anonymous ftp? please contact james perkins.] xmh: hostname [ip] file size m] mh-e: primost.cs.wisc.edu:pub/mh-e.el.z vmail (original version): uunet.uu.net [192.48.96.2] comp.sources.unix/volume12/vmail/part0x.z (x= 1,2,3) vmail (enhanced): mail requests to James Perkins. vmailtool: mail requests to James Perkins. !3. What references exist for MH? Book: MH & xmh. Jerry Peek. ISBN 0-937175-63-3. $27.95. 550 pages. O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 90 Sherman Street, Cambridge, MA 02140; 617-354-5800 Book Orders: 632 Petaluma Ave, Sebastopol, CA 95472 800-DEV-NUTS (that's 800-338-6887) Fax 707-829-0104 To get a list of foreign distributors, send a note to nuts@ora.com. Usenet: comp.mail.mh (gatewayed to MH-users) Mailing list: MH-users@ics.uci.edu (gatewayed to comp.mail.mh) Please use mh-users-request to request an addition or deletion. MH-users archives: ics.uci.edu[128.195.1.1]:pub/mh/mh-users/*. The files are in packf(1) format, compressed with compress(1). To get them, use anonymous ftp and set "binary" transfer mode. Even though I stripped out "Received" lines and etc., some files are pretty big: mh-users.86.z 8.5m mh-users.87.z 55.4m mh-users.88.z 182.8m mh-users.89.z 89.1m mh-users.90.z 402.4m There are directions in the README file. Basically, you can use "inc -file" to get the messages into a folder, then use "scan", "pick", "show", and so on (or your favorite commands in xmh, mh-e, etc.). --Jerry Peek !4. How should I report bugs? Mail them to Bug-MH@ics.uci.edu and be sure to include the output of the -help option as well as what hardware and operating system you are using. 5. How can I convert from my mailer to MH? [anyone?] !6. What kind of applications are built upon MH? These programs provide a simple means of browsing through an index of messages and quickly using the features of MH without typing verbose commands at a shell prompt. vmh Vmh is designed for people using the bulletin-board features of MH, where mail is stored in packed (single-file) folders. As a result, use of this program cannot be mixed with the use of normal MH commands. Vmh is a part of the official MH distribution. --James Perkins xmh Xmh is a X11 mouse-based MH browsing tool. It is very powerful and feature-filled and thus comes with a moderate learning curve. Its dependence on the X11 environment makes it very reconfigurable, but only by people well-versed in X applications programming. Its message reply built-in-editor interface is not always popular among those used to having MH bring up the editor of their choice. --James Perkins mh-e Mh-e is the GNU Emacs front end for MH. It offers all the functionality of MH, the visual orientation and simplicity of use of xmh, and full integration with Emacs, including thorough configurability. The command set is similar to that of rmail (the Emacs front end for BSD mail) and BSD mail itself. On-line help is available. Mh-e allows one to read and process mail very quickly: commands are single characters and completion and defaults are available for file and folder names. During a reply, the original message is displayed simultaneously in another window for easy reference where a mh-e command can quickly incorporate and format this text into your reply. With mh-e you compose outgoing messages in Emacs. This is a big plus for Emacs users, but it has been known for non-Emacs users to be able use mh-e after only learning the most basic cursor motion commands. Mh-e is easily configured via the Emacs edit-options menu, and people familiar with Emacs Lisp will be able to further reconfigure mh-e beyond recognition. --Stephen Gildea vmail Vmail is a curses-based, vi-like message browser which calls on MH programs to manipulate mail. It can be used on almost any terminal. It organizes mail folders into index pages, from which a message can be selected to be shown, replied-to, forwarded, refiled, deleted, and so on. The vi-like interface and command keystrokes are comfortable to less-experienced UNIX users, and it is a small, compact program, unlike the mh-e Emacs package. This version of vmail has been bugfixed and enhanced from the original vmail published on the net in 1987 by J. Zobel. --James Perkins vmailtool If you have a Sun workstation, vmailtool may be for you. It is a button gadget panel for the above-mentioned vmail program. It brings vmail into the windows era where people no longer need to memorize specific command keystrokes. It also provides a mail icon with the flag that pops up when new mail arrives. Again, this is a compact, simple tool, unlike the powerful xmh program. Still, it's a welcome alternative for many people who are running SunView or OpenWindows. --James Perkins . Building MH 7. How do I build MH? [this will basically be a reference to the READ-ME file in the distribution. however, perhaps we should include tricks on how to compile MH on different machines that is not discussed in the installation instructions. comments?] !8. What options should I use? BERK: Do NOT include the BERK option (in versions 6.7 or later)! BERK breaks the mh-format functions that take apart address lines, for example mbox, from, and friendly. This would really put a crimp on my replcomps file. LOCKF: if you have NFS, you need to lock your mailbox with lockf() so the lock will be honored by all machines on the local network. If you have the lockf() system call, include LOCKF. JQ Johnson makes the point that one should use this option carefully since it requires a roboust lockf() call. For example, this option caused serious problems on his SunOS 4.1.1. He suggested using LOK_BELL instead, and adding "lockstyle: 1" to mtstailor instead. ATZ: makes your timezones print like "EST" instead of "-0500". Much prettier. However, Tony Landells replies: "Yes; very pretty. How unfortunate that timezone names are so ambiguous, so that EST can be interpreted, at a minimum, as (American) Eastern Standard Time, (Australian) Eastern Standard Time, or (Australian) Eastern Summer Time (and yes, I think it's dumb having the same acronym for both normal and Summer time, but that's a different problem). While the numeric timezones may not look as nice, they are, at least, reasonably unambiguous. I would urge anyone who ever intends/hopes/expects to use e-mail outside the U.S. to NOT use ATZ (sorry Stephen)." --Stephen Gildea !9. Fixing "post: problem initializing server; [BHST] no servers available" The error message itself is essentially correct. However, what this really means is: MH's post cannot connect to a running sendmail over an SMTP port (MH configured with SMTP and SENDMTS). The potential problems: 1) Your mtstailor file has its "servers:" pointing to a non-existant machine or a machine which is a) not reachable or b) not running the sendmail daemon. 2) You use BIND and your local nameserver is not responding. --anonymous . Using MH 10. Where can I read about slocal and the format of the .maildelivery file? In the distribution, this information is provided in the mhook man page. Wasn't this obvious? One can actually specify slocal or .maildelivery with IBM's AIX man. Here is brief example of a .maildelivery file that stores messages to mh-users in a folder and the system mailbox, stores babble in a folder but not the system mailbox, and puts the rest in the system mailbox. to mh-users | A "/usr/local/lib/mh/rcvstore -create +lists/mh-users" cc mh-users | A "/usr/local/lib/mh/rcvstore -create +lists/mh-users" to babble | R "/usr/local/lib/mh/rcvstore -create +lists/babble" cc babble | R "/usr/local/lib/mh/rcvstore -create +lists/babble" default - > ? /usr/spool/mail/wohler Your .forward file may look like (quotes necessary): "| /usr/local/lib/mh/slocal -user your_login" In some implentations, the "-user your_login" is not needed. If not, manually running slocal with the flag will produce an error. --Bill Wohler !11. How do I include messages in repl with or without ">"? When making a reply, specify a filter file on the command line: repl -filter repl.format This filter file must be in your MH mail directory (usually "Mail", in your home directory). Here are a couple of example repl.format files: overflowtext="",overflowoffset=0 message-id:nocomponent,formatfield=\ "In message %{text}you write:" body:component=">",overflowtext=">",overflowoffset=0 or overflowtext="",overflowoffset=0 date:component="Your message dated",formatfield=\ "%<(nodate{text})%{text}%|%(pretty{text})%>" body:component=">",overflowtext=">",overflowoffset=0 Setting overflowoffset to 0 keeps MH from doing anything to extra-long lines in the headers. In the body, however, this behavior is overridden so that long lines are automatically broken and a ">" is inserted before every line. You could put almost whatever you want between those quotes, although the "standard" ">" makes it easier to read notes that have been included several times. The examples differ with the descriptive text that is inserted before the included body. It is suggested not to use the "prompter" editor in this case, since it is likely that you'll not want to use all of the included message. Indeed, it is proper etiquette to edit out all unnecessary Also note that this might not work in versions prior to 6.7. --Alan Thew, Mike Schwager, James T Perkins 12. How can I eliminate duplicate copies of letters to myself? Add these two lines to your MH profile file: Alternate-Mailboxes: user@host1, user@host2, ... repl: -nocc me To get one copy, you can either: - Take out the "-nocc me"... then you'll get exactly one copy of your replies (assuming all your addresses are listed in Alternate-Mailboxes), or - Add an "Fcc: foldername" to the headers of messages you send. That will drop a copy of the message in the folder "foldername". You can do this for *all* MH messages you send (not just with repl) by putting an "Fcc:" entry in your personal copy of the files "components", "replcomps", and "forwcomps" in your MH directory. (If you make a "distcomps" file, it needs "Resent-Fcc:".) For more info, see the man pages comp(1), repl(1), forw(1), dist(1) and mh-mail(5). --Jerry Peek The Alternate-Mailboxes also tells scan which messages are really from you so that it can place the recipient in the scan line instead of the sender. --Bill Wohler 13. How would one go about reading Usenet with MH? The news readers are better interfaces for reading news. However, you can save articles in the news readers for later perusal with MH. First, create a symbolic link from your mail directory (ie. usenet) to your news directory (ie. "ln -s ~/News ~/Mail/usenet"). You can then treat your news directory as a mail folder. Thus, to select a news group, use "folder +usenet/comp/mail/mh". To set the default save location correctly in rn, use: rn -M -/ or in your nn presentation sequence: news.announce. +$F/$N comp.mail.mh + . . --Bill Wohler 14. Can I append MH messages (ie. +inbox/1) to a UNIX mailbox format file? [could someone send me that wonderful awk "From " reconstruction script?] . Xmh +15. How can I get it to use Emacs as the editor? The short answer is that, unfortunately, you can't do it. The code simply doesn't support it. An adventurous hacker would probably not find it too difficult, however. --Win Treese . Glossary [any good acronyms we can put here?] . Acknowledgements I'd like to thank the following people for providing ideas on the layout of this article: Joe Wells Richard M. Stallman David Elliott Tom Christiansen Eugene N. Miya We are also grateful to the following individuals that have provided answers. The actual list is undoubtedly larger. Stephen Gildea Jerry Peek James Perkins Alan Thew Mike Schwager Vick Khera Andy Y.A. Kuo John Romine Tony Landells Win Treese JQ Johnson No Warranty: Because this article is provided free of charge as a service to comp.mail.mh readers, we provide absolutely no warranty, to the extent permitted by applicable state law. This article is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Should the information prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. -- --bw ----- Bill Wohler Heidelberg Red Barons Ultimate Frisbee Team