mh_profile - User customization file for the MH message
system
Each user of MH is expected to have a file named .mh_profile
in his or her home directory. This file contains a
set of static user parameters used by some or all programs
in the the MH family. Each line of the file is in the
following format:
profile-component: value
In addition, MH keeps information about changes in context
(for example, the current folder and message) in the context
file, which is normally located in the user's Mail
directory. MH also consults a number of environment variables.
Both the context file entries and these environment
variables are described in this reference page.
Profile File Entries [Toc] [Back]
The possible profile components are described in the following
list. 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, mh-dir is used to indicate the
user's Mail directory. This is the directory given by the
Path entry in the user's profile, and is set up initially
by MH to be $HOME/Mail. 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 Mail in your home directory, and
adds the appropriate entry to the .mh_profile.
(no default)
Declares the location of the MH context file.
(default: mh-dir/context) 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
inc. The show 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: .mh_sequences) Defines the editor to be
used by the comp, dist, forw, and repl commands.
(default: prompter)
Defines octal protection bits for message files.
See chmod(1) for an explanation of the octal number.
(default: 0600) Defines protection bits for folder
directories. See chmod(1) for an explanation of
the octal number.
(default: 0700) Sets the options to be used whenever
an MH command is invoked. You should set up
only command options, not command arguments, in
your profile. Options correspond to settings made
through command line flags, which are usually preceded
by a dash - in the SYNOPSIS for the command.
You can override any options set up in your
.mh_profile by using a flag on the command line.
For example, you can override the Editor profile
component when replying to messages by entering the
following command:
% repl -editor /bin/ed
(no default) Defines the alias file to be used by
MH commands that take the -alias flag. The named
file must be in the correct format; see mhalias(4).
(no default) Names nexteditor to be the default
editor after using lasteditor. This takes effect
at the What now? level when using comp, dist, forw,
and repl. 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 inc to compose an
Emacs audit file in addition to other tasks performed
by the command.
(no default) Tells repl and scan which addresses
are really yours. In this way, 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
host names listed should be the official host names
for the mailboxes you indicate, as local nicknames
for hosts are not replaced by their official site
names. If a host is not given for an address, 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 comp, dist, forw,
and repl 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 +drafts.
(no default) Tells inc your maildrop, if itdifferent
from the default. This is superseded by the
$MAILDROP environment variable.
(default: /usr/spool/mail/$USER) Tells send your
mail signature. This is superseded by the $SIGNATURE
environment variable. The signature must be
enclosed in double quotes (" ").
(no default) Tells send the mail interchange codeset.
The send program can convert a message from
the user application codeset used for local message
display to the codeset used for mail interchange.
For more information on codeset conversion, see the
section on internationalization features in the
mh(1) reference page.
(no default) Provides a default locale when the
LANG or LC_ALL environment variable is not defined.
One field in this locale name indicates the user
application codeset, which is used for codeset conversion
of mail messages. For more information on
codeset conversion, see the section on internationalization
features in the mh(1) reference page.
(no default)
The profile elements in the following example are used
whenever an MH program invokes some other program, such as
more. The example shows the programs used by default.
You can specify alternative programs if you want.
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 [Toc] [Back]
Changes in context are made to the context file kept in
the user's Mail directory. This includes, but is not limited
to, the Current-Folder entry, and all private
sequence information. Information kept in the context
file is updated by MH programs as they are used; the
.mh_profile contains only static information, which MH
programs do not update.
The .mh_profile may override the path of the context file
by specifying a context entry (this must be in lowercase).
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 context file.
Public sequence information is kept in a file called
.mh_sequences in each folder.
The context file may contain the following components:
Keeps track of the current open folder.
(default: +inbox) Keeps track of the private
sequence called seq in the specified folder.
(no default) Specifies the contents of the folderstack
for the folder command.
(no default) Tells forw the last issue of the last
volume sent for the digest list.
(no default) Tells forw the last volume sent for
the digest list.
(no default)
Environment Variables [Toc] [Back]
In addition to the .mh_profile and context files, MH programs
consult a number of environment variables.
If you define the environment variable $MH, you can specify
a profile other than .mh_profile 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 nonabsolute
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 .mh_profile). 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 inc the default maildrop. This supersedes
the Maildrop profile entry. Tells send and post 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 scan and mhl how to clear your terminal and how many
columns wide your terminal is. These variables also tell
mhl how many lines long your terminal screen is.
The following environment variables are set by MH programs
for the whatnowproc program: The alternative message. Set
by dist and repl 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 current 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 comp,
dist, forw, and repl to tell the whatnowproc program which
file to ask What now? questions about. In addition, dist,
forw, and repl set $mhfolder, if appropriate. Set by dist
and repl to tell the whatnowproc program about an alternative
message associated with the draft (the message being
distributed or replied to). Set by dist to tell the whatnowproc
program that message redistribution is occurring.
Set to tell the whatnowproc program your choice of editor
(unless overridden by -noedit). May be set by comp. Set
by dist, forw, and repl if annotations are to occur. The
reason for setting these variables is so the MH user can
select any application, including one of the standard
shells, as the whatnowproc program. As a result, it is
not possible to pass information by using an argument
list. Specifies the folder containing the alternate message.
Set by dist and repl during edit sessions so you
can view other messages in the current folder, not just
the one being distributed or replied to. The $mhfolder
environment variable is also set by show, prev, and next
for use by mhl.
The shell quoting conventions are not available in
.mh_profile. Use white space to separate each token.
It is recommended that you set up in your .mh_profile only
those values that are associated with command line flags.
Do not include values, such as file names, folders, and
message sequences when these are independent command line
arguments. In the following example, +project is an independent
argument (that should not be set up in your
.mh_profile) and +drafts is an argument associated with a
flag (that can be set up in your .mh_profile):
% forw 3 +project -draftfolder +drafts
When conflicting options are given to MH commands, the
option specified on the command line supersedes the one
specified in .mh_profile. Therefore, you can always override
an option you have set up in your .mh_profile by
specifying a related flag on the command line. However,
any independent arguments set up in .mh_profile cannot be
superseded by using different arguments on the command
line.
If you find that an MH program is being invoked again and
again with the same arguments (and these are not values
associated with flags), you can use one of the following
methods to make command entry more efficient: Create a
symbolic link in your $HOME/bin 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. Create a
small shell script that calls the MH program of your
choice with a particular set of parameters. Using links
and an alternate profile entry is preferable to this solution.
If you are a csh user, you can create an alias for
the command as follows:
alias my_cmd /usr/bin/mh/cmd arg1 arg2 ..
You can then use the alias to avoid typing lengthy
commands to the shell and still enter MH commands
safely. Remember, however, that some MH commands
invoke others, and that in all cases, the profile
is read. Aliases are disregarded for commands that
are indirectly invoked by the one that you enter.
The user profile The user's context file Public sequences
for a particular folder
Commands: chmod(1), mh(1)
Variables: environ(5) delim off
mh_profile(4)
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