BURST(1)                                                             [nmh-1.5]                                                            BURST(1)

NAME

       burst - explode digests into messages

SYNOPSIS

       burst [+folder] [msgs] [-inplace | -noinplace] [-quiet | -noquiet] [-verbose | -noverbose] [-version] [-help]

DESCRIPTION

       Burst considers the specified messages in the named folder to be Internet digests, and explodes them in that folder.

       If  -inplace  is  given,  each  digest  is replaced by the "table of contents" for the digest (the original digest is removed).  Burst then
       renumbers all of the messages following the digest in the folder to make room for each of the messages contained within the digest.   These
       messages are placed immediately after the digest.

       If -noinplace is given, each digest is preserved, no table of contents is produced, and the messages contained within the digest are placed
       at the end of the folder.  Other messages are not tampered with in any way.

       The -quiet switch directs burst to be silent about reporting messages that are not in digest format.

       The -verbose switch directs burst to tell the user the general actions that it is taking to explode the digest.

       It turns out that burst works equally well on forwarded messages and blind-carbon-copies as on Internet digests, provided that  the  former
       two were generated by forw or send.

FILES

       $HOME/.mh_profile          The user profile

PROFILE COMPONENTS

       Path:                To determine the user's nmh directory
       Current-Folder:      To find the default current folder
       Msg-Protect:         To set mode when creating a new message

SEE ALSO

       inc(1), msh(1), pack(1), Proposed Standard for Message Encapsulation (RFC-934)

DEFAULTS

       `+folder' defaults to the current folder
       `msgs' defaults to cur
       `-noinplace'
       `-noquiet'
       `-noverbose'

CONTEXT

       If  a  folder is given, it will become the current folder.  If -inplace is given, then the first message burst becomes the current message.
       This leaves the context ready for a show of the table of contents of the digest, and a next to see the first  message  of  the  digest.  If
       -noinplace  is given, then the first message extracted from the first digest burst becomes the current message.  This leaves the context in
       a similar, but not identical, state to the context achieved when using -inplace.

BUGS

       The burst program enforces a limit on the number of messages which may be burst from a single message.  This number is on the order of 1000
       messages.  There is usually no limit on the number of messages which may reside in the folder after the bursting.

       Although  burst  uses  a  sophisticated algorithm to determine where one encapsulated message ends and another begins, not all digestifying
       programs use an encapsulation algorithm.  In degenerate cases, this usually results in burst finding an encapsulation boundary  prematurely
       and splitting a single encapsulated message into two or more messages.  These erroneous digestifying programs should be fixed.

       Furthermore,  any  text  which  appears  after  the last encapsulated message is not placed in a separate message by burst.  In the case of
       digestified messages, this text is usually an "End of digest" string.  As a result of this possibly un-friendly behavior  on  the  part  of
       burst,  note that when the -inplace option is used, this trailing information is lost.  In practice, this is not a problem since correspon-
       dents usually place remarks in text prior to the first encapsulated message, and this information is not lost.

MH.6.8                                                             11 June 2012                                                           BURST(1)