mh_profile(5mh) mh_profile(5mh)
Name
mh_profile - user customization for MH message system
Description
Each user of MH is expected to have a file named in his or her home directory. This file contains a set of static user parameters used by
some or all of the MH family of programs. Each line of the file is in the format:
profile-component: value
In addition, MH keeps information about changes in context (for example, the current folder and message) in the file, which is normally
located in the user's Mail directory. MH also consults a number of environment variables. Both the file entries and these environment
variables are described in this reference page.
Profile File Entries
The possible profile components are described in the following table. Only Path is mandatory. The others are optional; some have default
values if they are not present. In the notation used below, the default value is given in parentheses ( ) at the end of each entry.
When giving path names, is used to indicate the user's Mail directory. This is the directory given by the Path entry in the user's pro-
file, and is set up initially by MH to be
Locates MH transactions in the named directory.
If the directory path name is not absolute (does not begin with a / ), it is assumed to begin in the user's home directory. When
you first use MH, it creates a directory called in your home directory, and adds the appropriate entry to the
(no default)
Declares the location of the MH context file.
(default:
Names the sequences which should be defined as the
msgs or msg argument given to the program. If not present, or empty, no sequences are defined. Otherwise, for each name given,
the sequence is first zeroed and then each message is added to the sequence.
(no default)
Defines the string which, when prefixed to a sequence name,
negates that sequence. Hence, the argument notseen means all those messages that are not a member of the sequence seen.
(no default)
Names the sequences which should be defined
as those messages recently incorporated by The command removes messages from this sequence once it thinks they have been seen.
If not present, or empty, no sequences are defined. Otherwise, for each name given, the sequence is first zeroed and then each
message is added to the sequence.
(no default)
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.
(default:
Defines editor to be used by
and
(default:
Defines octal protection bits for message files.
See for an explanation of the octal number.
(default: 0600)
Defines protection bits for folder directories.
See for an explanation of the octal number.
(default: 0700)
Sets options to be used
whenever an MH command is invoked. You should only set up options in your profile, not arguments (options are usually introduced
by a dash - ). You can override the options set up in the by giving an option on the command line. For example, you could over-
ride the Editor profile component when replying to messages by typing the command:
% repl -editor /bin/ed
(no default)
Defines the alias file to be used by MH commands
which take the -alias option. The named file must be in the correct format; see
(no default)
Names nexteditor to be the default editor
after using lasteditor. This takes effect at What now? level in and After editing the draft with lasteditor, the default editor
is set to be nexteditor. If the user types edit without any arguments at the What now? prompt, then nexteditor is used.
(no default)
If present, tells
to compose an Emacs audit file in addition to its other tasks.
(no default)
Tells and which addresses are really yours. In this way, knows which addresses should be included in the reply, and knows if the mes-
sage really originated from you. Addresses must be separated by a comma, and the host names listed should be the official host
names 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.
(default: your user-id)
Specifies the name of the draft folder.
This is used by and to construct draft messages in, and to store unsent draft messages. A draft folder allows you to have more
than one unsent draft at a time. The draft folder is conventionally called
(no default)
Tells your maildrop, if different from the default. This is superseded by the $MAILDROP environment variable.
(default: /usr/spool/mail/$USER)
Tells your mail signature. This is superseded by the $SIGNATURE environment variable. The signature must be enclosed in double quotes
(" ").
(no default)
The following profile elements are used whenever an MH program invokes some other program such as The can be used to select alternative
programs if the user wishes. The default values are as follows:
fileproc: /usr/bin/mh/refile
incproc: /usr/bin/mh/inc
installproc: /usr/lib/mh/install-mh
lproc: /usr/ucb/more
mailproc: /usr/bin/mh/mhmail
mhlproc: /usr/lib/mh/mhl
moreproc: /usr/ucb/more
mshproc: /usr/bin/mh/msh
packproc: /usr/bin/mh/packf
postproc: /usr/lib/mh/post
rmmproc: none
rmfproc: /usr/bin/mh/rmf
sendproc: /usr/bin/mh/send
showproc: /usr/ucb/more
whatnowproc: /usr/bin/mh/whatnow
whomproc: /usr/bin/mh/whom
Context File Entries
Changes in context are made to the file kept in the users Mail directory. This includes, but is not limited to, the Current-Folder entry,
and all private sequence information. Information kept in the file is updated by MH programs as they are used; the contains only static
information, which MH programs do not update.
The may override the path of the file by specifying a entry (this must be in lower-case). If the entry is not absolute (does not start
with then it is interpreted relative to the user's Mail directory.
Private sequence information is kept in the file. Public sequence information is kept in a file called in each folder.
The file may contain the following components:
Keeps track of the current open folder.
(default:
Keeps track of the private sequence called
in the specified folder.
(no default)
The contents of the folder-stack for the
command.
(no default)
Tells the last issue of the last volume sent for the digest
(no default)
Tells the last volume sent for the digest
(no default)
Environment Variables
In addition to the and files, MH programs consult a number of environment variables.
If you define the environment variable $MH, you can specify a profile other than to be read by the MH programs that you invoke. If the
value of $MH is not absolute, (that is, does not begin with / ), it will be presumed to start from the current working directory. This is
one of the very few exceptions in MH where non-absolute pathnames are not considered relative to the user's Mail directory.
Similarly, if you define the environment variable $MHCONTEXT, you can specify a context other than the normal context file (as specified in
the Unless the value of $MHCONTEXT is absolute, it will be presumed to start from your Mail directory.
MH programs also consult the following environment variables:
Tells the default maildrop. This supersedes the Maildrop profile entry.
Tells and your mail signature. This supersedes the Signature profile entry.
Tells all MH programs your home directory.
Tells MH your terminal type.
The $TERMCAP environment variable is also consulted. In particular, these two environment variables tell and how to clear your
terminal, and how many columns wide your terminal is. They also tell how many lines long your terminal screen is.
Some environment variables are set by MH programs for These are:
The alternative message.
Set by and during edit sessions so you can view the message being distributed or replied to. The message is also available
through a link called @ in the current directory, as long as your current working directory has write permission. If your cur-
rent working directory and the folder containing the message are on the same file system, this link is a hard link; otherwise, it
is a symbolic link.
The path to the working draft.
Set by and to tell the which file to ask What now? questions about. In addition, and set $mhfolder if appropriate.
Set by and to tell the about an alternative message associated with the draft (the message being distributed or replied to).
Set by to tell the that message redistribution is occurring.
Set to tell the
your choice of editor (unless overridden by -noedit).
May be set by
Set by and if annotations are to occur. The reason for this is that the MH user can select any program as the including one of the
standard shells. As a result, it is not possible to pass information via an argument list.
The folder containing the alternate message.
Set by and during edit sessions so you can view other messages in the current folder, besides the one being distributed or
replied to. The $mhfolder environment variable is also set by and for use by
Restrictions
The shell quoting conventions are not available in the Each token is separated by white space.
It is recommended that you only set up options to MH commands (and their values) in the Arguments such as file names, folders, and message
sequences should not be included in profile entries.
When conflicting options are given to MH commands, the last option takes effect; earlier options are discarded. This means that you can
override an option you have set up in your by giving a conflicting option at the command line. Other arguments, such as file names, fold-
ers, or message sequences, are always remembered, and are not superseded by later arguments of the same kind. Hence it is unwise to give
arguments of this kind in your (Files and folders can be included in the as values to options, for example, -draftfolder +drafts. They
should not be included when they stand as independent arguments to the command.)
If you find that an MH program is being invoked again and again with the same arguments (and these are not options), there are several pos-
sible solutions.
The first is to create a symbolic link in your directory to the MH 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 MH command.
Similarly, you could create a small shell script which calls the MH program of your choice with an alternate set of invocation line
switches. Using links and an alternate profile entry is preferable to this solution.
Finally, if you are a user, you could create an alias for the command of the form:
alias cmd /usr/bin/mh/cmd arg1 arg2 ...
In this way, you can avoid typing lengthy commands to the shell, and still give MH commands safely. Remember that some MH commands invoke
others, and that in all cases, the profile is read. This means that aliases are disregarded beyond an initial command invocation.
Files
The user profile.
The user's context file.
Public sequences for a particular folder.
See Also
chmod(1), mh(1mh), environ(5)
mh_profile(5mh)