1 .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
2 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
4 .\" Gunnar Ritter. All rights reserved.
5 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2014 Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso <sdaoden@users.sf.net>.
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17 .\" This product includes software developed by the University of
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19 .\" This product includes software developed by Gunnar Ritter
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37 .\" S-nail(1): v14.7.6 / 2014-08-15
49 .\" If not ~/.mailrc, it breaks POSIX compatibility. And adjust main.c.
54 .ds OU [no v15-compat]
59 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
66 .Op Fl a Ar attachment
69 .Op Fl q Ar quote-file
71 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
77 .Op Fl - Ar mta-option ...
84 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
90 .Op Fl - Ar mta-option ...
96 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
99 .Op Fl - Ar mta-option ...
105 .Sh "TABLE OF CONTENTS"
110 . Sx USAGE INTRODUCTION
114 . Sx SPECIFYING MESSAGES
116 . Sx URL SYNTAX AND CREDENTIAL LOOKUP
120 . Sx COMMAND LINE EDITOR
126 . Sx VARIABLE OPTIONS
132 . Sx THE mime.types FILES
140 . Sx IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
147 .\" .Sh DESCRIPTION {{{
149 .Bd -filled -offset indent -compact
150 .Sy Compatibility note:
151 \*(UA and part of its configuration syntax will change in v15.0.
152 Until then there will exist a partial but growing number of
153 backward and forward compatibility configuration options.
154 To choose the new syntax and behaviour already today, the binary option
157 The manual will refer to it via \*(IN and \*(OU as necessary.
160 \*(UA is a mail processing system with a command syntax reminiscent of
162 with lines replaced by messages.
163 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
165 command and offers (mostly optional) extensions for line editing, IDNA,
166 MIME, S/MIME, SMTP and POP3 (and IMAP).
167 It is usable as a mail batch language.
169 In the following list of supported command line options,
177 are implemented by means of setting the respective option, as via
180 .Op Ar mta-option ...
182 arguments that are given at the end of the command line after an `--'
183 separator persist for an entire (interactive) session and will be passed
184 through unchanged to the mail-transfer-agent (MTA).
185 Additional MTA arguments can be specified via the option
186 .Va sendmail-arguments .
187 All of these are ignored when mail is send via SMTP data transfer.
189 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl A Ar account"
193 command (see below) for
195 after the startup files have been read.
197 Attach the given file to the message.
198 The same filename conventions as described in the section
202 Make standard input and standard output line-buffered.
204 Send blind carbon copies to the given list of addresses.
206 below goes into more detail on that.
208 Send carbon copies to the given list of addresses.
216 variable, which enables debug messages and disables message delivery.
217 Note that this is not a real `sandbox' mode.
221 variable and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
222 This is useful for sending messages from scripts.
224 Just check if mail is present in the system mailbox.
225 If yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
227 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
228 first recipient's address.
230 Read in the contents of the user's
232 (or the specified file) for processing;
233 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file.
234 Some special conventions are recognized for the string
236 which are documented for the
241 is not a direct argument to the flag
243 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
246 Print a header summary of all messages and exit.
247 A configurable summary view is available via the
253 variable to ignore tty interrupt signals.
254 .It Fl L Ar spec-list
255 Print a header summary of only those messages that match the given
259 .Sx "Specifying messages"
264 option has been given in addition to
266 then printing of the header summary is suppressed,
267 and \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status wether
269 matched any messages (`0') or not (`1');
270 note that messages are forcefully suppressed, then, and unless verbosity
271 is explicitly enabled (e.g., by using the
277 variable and thus inhibits the initial display of message headers when
278 reading mail or editing a mail folder.
280 Inhibits reading \*(UR upon startup.
281 This option should be activated for \*(UA scripts that are invoked on
282 more than one machine, because the contents of that file may differ
284 (The same behaviour can be achieved by setting the
285 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
286 environment variable.)
288 Start the message with the contents of the specified file.
289 May be given in send mode only.
291 Opens any folders read-only.
293 Sets the envelope sender address by passing an
296 option to the MTA when a message is send.
299 argument is given it'll be checked for validity and then fixated to
300 the given value, but otherwise the content of the variable
302 will be used for that purpose \(en i.e., it'll be passed through to
305 option whenever a message is send.
306 A valid non-empty value will also be set as if an additional
307 .Ns ` Ns Li "-Sfrom=VALUE" Ns '
308 option had been used and therefore affect sending of messages via SMTP
309 (as a consideration for `From:').
310 .It Fl S Ar variable Ns Op = Ns value
311 Sets the internal option
313 and, in case of a value option, assigns
316 Even though options set via
318 may be overwritten from within resource files,
319 the command line setting will be reestablished after all resources have
322 Specify the subject on the command line
323 (be careful to quote subjects containing spaces).
325 The message to be sent is expected to contain a message header with
326 `To:', `Cc:', or `Bcc:' fields giving its recipients and `Subject:'
327 giving the subject of the message.
328 Recipients and subject specified on the command line are ignored.
330 Read the system mailbox of
332 (appropriate privileges presumed), and `assume to be'
334 in some aspects, e.g. in respect to expansions of `%' etc.
338 Print \*(UA's version and exit.
342 option causes some verbosity (like printing of certificate chains).
343 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
347 even if not in interactive mode.
349 This sets multiple options to prepare \*(UA for working in batch mode
350 (most likely in non-interactive mode):
362 it also enables processing of
363 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
364 E.g., the following should send an email message to `alias'.
366 .Dl printf 'm alias\en~s Subject\enBody\en.\enx\en' | \
367 MAILRC=/dev/null s-nail -n -#
371 .\" .Sh "USAGE INTRODUCTION" {{{
372 .Sh "USAGE INTRODUCTION"
374 .\" .Ss "A starter" {{{
376 The following sections will give a short usage introduction.
377 Because \*(UA strives for compliance with POSIX
379 it is likely that some configuration settings have to be adjusted before
380 using it is a smooth experience.
381 The default global \*(UR file already bends those standard settings
382 a bit towards more user friendliness and safety, e.g., it sets the
384 option in order to suppress the automatic moving of messages to
386 that otherwise would occur (see
392 to not remove empty files in order not to mangle file permissions when
393 files eventually get recreated.
396 option so that by default file grouping (via the `+' prefix as
402 contains some further suggestions.
405 .\" .Ss "Sending mail" {{{
407 To send a message to one or more people,
408 \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to
409 whom the mail will be sent, e.g., it can be as simple as
410 .Bd -literal -offset indent
411 $ \*(ua bill@host1.x1 bob@host2.y1
412 # But... try it in an almost dry-run mode first
413 $ \*(ua -dvv bill@host1.x1 bob@host2.y1
416 The user is then expected to type in the message contents.
417 In this compose mode \*(UA treats lines beginning with the character `~'
418 specially \(en these are so-called
420 which can be used to read in files, process shell commands, add and edit
421 attachments and more; e.g., the tilde escape `~e' will start the text
422 editor to revise the message in it's current state and `~h' allows
423 editing of the message recipients.
424 Typing `control-D' (`^D') at the beginning of an empty line leaves
425 compose mode and causes the message to be send, whereas typing
426 `control-C' (`^C') twice will abort the current letter (saving the
427 contents which yet have been collected in
430 A number of options can be used to alter default behavior; e.g.,
432 will automatically startup a text editor when compose mode is entered,
434 will cause the user to be prompted actively for carbon-copy recipients
437 option will allow leaving compose mode by writing a line consisting
438 solely of a dot (`.').
439 Very importantly, though, is to define which
441 may be used when sending messages, usually by setting the option
444 Saving a copy of the sent messages in a
446 may also be desireable \(en as for most mailbox file targets some
447 special conventions are recognized, see the
449 command for the documentation.
452 contains an example configuration for sending messages via some of the
453 well-known public mail providers.
455 Message recipients (as specified in `To:', `Cc:' or `Bcc:') may not only
456 be email addressees but can also be names of mailboxes and even
457 complete pipe-command specifications.
458 Proper quoting may be necessary, e.g., to embed whitespace characters.
460 Any name which starts with a `|' (vertical bar) character
461 specifies a pipe \(en the command string following the `|' is executed
462 and the message is sent to its standard input;
463 Any other name which contains a `@' (at sign) character is treated as
465 Any other name which starts with a `+' (plus sign) character specifies
467 Any other name which contains a `/' (slash) character but no `!'
468 (exclamation mark) or `%' (percent sign) character before also specifies
470 What remains is treated as a network address (see
472 for a description of mail addresses).
474 It is possible to create personal distribution lists via the
476 command so that, for instance, the user can send mail to `cohorts'
477 and have it go to a group of people:
479 .Dl alias cohorts bill jkf mark kridle@ucbcory ~/mail/cohorts.mbox
481 Please note that this mechanism has nothing in common with the system
482 wide aliases that may be used by the local MTA (mail-transfer-agent)
483 and are often tracked in a file
490 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent.
491 They are a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
495 .\" .Ss "Reading mail" {{{
497 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
499 When used like that \*(UA checks mail out of the user's system mailbox,
500 then prints out a one line header of each message found.
503 option is set \*(UA will only print a notification message and exit if
504 the mailbox is empty.
510 will give a listing of all available commands and
512 will give a summary of the most useful ones.
513 If the \*(OPal documentation strings are available one can type `?X'
514 to see to which command `X' expands to and what it's purpose is,
515 i.e., commands can be abbreviated (note that POSIX defines some
516 abbreviations, so that the alphabetical order of commands doesn't
517 necessarily relate to the abbreviations; it is possible to define
522 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
523 messages; the current message \(en the dot \(en will either be the first
524 new message, or the first unread message, or the first message of the
527 will reverse this behaviour by instead making the last respective
528 message the initial dot.
530 Messages can be printed with the
532 command, or short: `p'.
533 By default the current message (dot) is printed, but just like many
534 other commands it is possible to specify lists of messages, as is
536 .Sx "SPECIFYING MESSAGES" ;
537 e.g., `p:u' will display all unread messages, `p.' will print the dot,
538 `p 1 5' will print the messages 1 and 5 and `p-' and `p+' will print the
539 last and the next message, respectively.
540 Dependent upon the configuration a
541 .Sx "Command line editor"
542 aims at making user experience with the many
545 When reading the system mailbox or when
549 specified a mailbox explicitly prefixed with the special `%:' modifier
550 then messages which have been read will be moved to the user's
552 file automatically when the mailbox is left, either by changing the
553 active mailbox or by quitting \*(UA (also see
554 .Sx "MESSAGE STATES" Ns ) Ns .
556 After examining a message the user can also
562 (`R') to exclusively to it's originator.
563 Deletion causes the \*(UA program to forget about the message.
564 This is not irreversible;
567 (`u') the message by giving its number,
568 or the \*(UA session can be ended by giving the
571 Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen
574 To end a mail processing session one may either issue
576 (`q') to cause a full program exit, which includes the possible
577 automatic move of read messages to
579 as well as updating the \*(OPal command line editor history file,
580 or perform the command
582 (`x') instead, which will not perform any of these actions.
585 .\" .Ss "Viewing HTML mail and MIME attachments" {{{
586 .Ss "Viewing HTML mail and MIME attachments"
587 Messages which are HTML-only get more and more common and of course many
588 messages come bundled with a bouquet of MIME attachments.
589 \*(UA can't deal with any of these itself, but instead programs need to
590 become registered to deal with specific MIME types or file extensions;
591 these programs may either prepare a plain text version of its input,
592 i.e., in order to enable \*(UA to display the content on the terminal
593 (or, as necessary and desired, through
595 ), or display the content themselves, for example in a graphical window.
596 The latter type of programs by default "blocks" \*(UA until the external
597 viewer has terminated, but asynchronous side-by-side execution is also
598 possible, in which case \*(UA will continue to display the message and
601 To install an external handler program for a specific MIME type set an
603 .Va pipe-CONTENT/SUBCONTENT
605 To define a handler for a specific file extension set the respective
607 variable \(en these handlers take precedence.
609 .Va mime-counter-evidence
610 can be set to improve dealing with faulty MIME part declarations as are
611 often seen in real-life messages.
612 E.g., to display a HTML message inline (that is, converted to plain
613 text) with either of the text-mode browsers
617 to view shell scripts as plain text
618 and to open PDF attachments in an external PDF viewer, asynchronously:
619 .Bd -literal -offset indent
620 #set pipe-text/html="elinks -force-html -dump 1"
621 set pipe-text/html="lynx -stdin -dump -force_html"
622 set pipe-application/x-sh=@
623 set pipe-application/pdf="@&cat > \e"/tmp/${NAIL_FILENAME}\e";\e
624 acroread \e"/tmp/${NAIL_FILENAME}\e";\e
625 rm \e"/tmp/${NAIL_FILENAME}\e""
628 Note: special care must be taken when using such commands as mail
629 viruses may be distributed by this method;
630 if messages of type `application/x-sh' or files with the extensions `sh'
631 were blindly filtered through the shell, for example, a message sender
632 could easily execute arbitrary code on the system \*(UA is running on.
633 For more on MIME, also in respect to sending of messages, see the
635 .Sx "THE mime.types FILES"
640 .\" }}} (Usage introduction)
642 .\" .Sh "MESSAGE STATES" {{{
644 \*(UA differentiates in between the following message states:
645 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar preserved"
647 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state.
648 Such messages are retained even in the system mailbox.
650 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state, but the
651 message was present already when the mailbox has been opened last:
652 Such messages are retained even in the system mailbox.
654 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
674 commands may also cause the next message to be marked as read, depending
678 Messages that are in the system mailbox or in mailboxes which were
679 opened with the special `%:' prefix and are in read state when the
680 mailbox is left (except when the
682 command is used) will be saved in
688 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
694 can be used to access such messages.
696 The message has been processed by a
698 command and it will be retained in its current location.
700 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
704 Messages that are in the system mailbox or in mailboxes which were
705 opened with the special `%:' prefix and are in saved state when the
706 mailbox is left (except when the
708 command is used) will be deleted; they will be saved in
716 .\" .Sh "SPECIFYING MESSAGES" {{{
717 .Sh "SPECIFYING MESSAGES"
722 can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
725 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1 2" Ns '
726 deletes messages 1 and 2,
728 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1-5" Ns '
729 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
730 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
735 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1-5" Ns '
736 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
737 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
739 The following special message names exist:
741 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar :n:u"
745 All old messages (any not in state read or new).
749 All deleted messages (for the
755 All `flagged' messages.
757 All answered messages
762 All messages marked as draft.
764 \*(OP All messages classified as spam.
768 The message that was previously the current message.
770 The parent message of the current message,
771 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the `In-Reply-To:' field
772 or the last entry of the `References:' field of the current message.
774 The next previous undeleted message,
775 or the next previous deleted message for the
778 In sorted/threaded mode,
779 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
781 The next undeleted message,
782 or the next deleted message for the
785 In sorted/threaded mode,
786 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
788 The first undeleted message,
789 or the first deleted message for the
792 In sorted/threaded mode,
793 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
796 In sorted/threaded mode,
797 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
800 selects the message addressed with
804 is any other message specification,
805 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
806 Otherwise it is identical to
811 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
815 All messages that were included in the message list for the previous
817 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
818 All messages that contain
820 in the subject field (case ignored).
827 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
828 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
831 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
833 ession; if the \*(OPal regular expression (see
837 will be interpreted as one if any of the `magic'al regular expression
840 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
841 part is missing, the search is restricted to the subject field body,
844 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, as in
846 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
848 The special name `header' (or `<') can be used to search in the header
849 of the message, and the special names `body' (or `>') and `text' (or `=')
850 can be used to perform full text searches \(en whereas the former
851 searches only the body, the latter also searches the message header.
852 In order to search for a string that includes a `@' (commercial at)
855 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
859 By default, this is a case-sensitive search for the complete email
864 only the local part of the addresses is evaluated for the comparison.
868 a case-sensitive search for the complete real name of a sender is
871 .Ns ` Ns Li "(from address)" Ns '
872 expression can be used instead if substring matches are desired.
876 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
877 This addressing mode is available with all types of folders;
878 for folders not located on IMAP servers,
879 or for servers unable to execute the SEARCH command,
880 \*(UA will perform the search locally.
881 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes `"' in their entirety
882 if they contain white space or parentheses;
884 only backslash `\e' is recognized as an escape character.
885 All string searches are case-insensitive.
886 When the description indicates that the `envelope' representation of an
887 address field is used,
888 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
891 .Dl ( \*q Ns name Ns \*q \*q Ns source Ns \*q \*q Ns \
892 local-part Ns \*q \*q Ns domain-part Ns \*q )
895 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
896 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
898 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar :n:u"
900 All messages that satisfy the given
902 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
903 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
904 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
905 All messages that satisfy either
910 To connect more than two criteria using `or',
911 (or) specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
913 .Ns ` Ns Li "(or a (or b c))" Ns ',
915 .Ns ` Ns Li "(or a b c)" Ns '
917 .Ns ` Ns Li "((a or b) and c)" Ns '.
918 For a simple `or' operation of independent criteria on the lowest
920 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
922 .Ns ` Ns Li "(a) (b) (c)" Ns '.
923 .It Ar ( not criterion )
924 All messages that do not satisfy
926 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
927 All messages that contain
929 in the `envelope' representation of the `Bcc:' field.
930 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
931 All messages that contain
933 in the `envelope' representation of the `Cc:' field.
934 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
935 All messages that contain
937 in the `envelope' representation of the `From:' field.
938 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
939 All messages that contain
941 in the `Subject:' field.
942 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
943 All messages that contain
945 in the `envelope' representation of the `To:' field.
946 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
947 All messages that contain
952 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
953 All messages that contain
956 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
957 All messages that contain
959 in their header or body.
960 .It Ar ( larger size )
961 All messages that are larger than
964 .It Ar ( smaller size )
965 All messages that are smaller than
968 .It Ar ( before date )
969 All messages that were received before
971 which must be in the form
972 .Li "d[d]-mon-yyyy" ,
973 where `d' denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
974 `mon' is the name of the month \(en one of
975 `Jan', `Feb', `Mar', `Apr', `May', `Jun',
976 `Jul', `Aug', `Sep', `Oct', `Nov', or `Dec',
977 and `yyyy' is the year as four digits, e.g., "28-Dec-2012".
979 All messages that were received on the specified date.
980 .It Ar ( since date )
981 All messages that were received since the specified date.
982 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
983 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
984 .It Ar ( senton date )
985 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
986 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
987 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
989 The same criterion as for the previous search.
990 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
991 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
992 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
996 .\" .Sh URL SYNTAX AND CREDENTIAL LOOKUP {{{
997 .Sh URL SYNTAX AND CREDENTIAL LOOKUP
998 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources, like an IMAP mailbox,
999 usage of compact and standardized Uniform Resource Locators
1000 (URL, RFC 1738) has become omnipresent.
1001 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
1002 parts in brackets `[]' denote optional parts, optional either because
1003 there also exist other ways to define the information in question or
1004 because support of the part is protocol-specific \(en
1005 e.g., `/path' is used by the IMAP protocol but not by POP3.
1007 .Dl PROTOCOL://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
1009 If `USER' and `PASSWORD' are specified as part of an URL they must be
1010 given in URL percent encoded (RFC 3986) form \(en the command
1012 can be used to perform the encoding and show the encoded value.
1013 (This doesn't really conform to any standard, but for one it isn't
1014 used for any data exchange over the internet, and second it's easier for
1015 users to simply call
1017 on a string and use that instead of having to deal with several
1018 different standards.)
1019 On the other hand, values given in variables are expected not to be URL
1022 Many variable options of \*(UA exist in multiple versions, called
1023 variable-chains for the rest of this document: the plain `variable' as
1024 well as `variable-HOST' and `variable-USER@HOST'.
1025 Here `HOST' indeed means `server:port' if a `port' had been specified in
1026 the respective URL, otherwise it refers to the plain `server'.
1027 Also, `USER' isn't truly the `USER' that had been found when doing the
1028 user chain lookup as is described below, i.e., this `USER' will never be
1029 in URL percent encoded form, wether it came from an URL or not.
1031 E.g., wether an hypothetic URL `smtp://hey%3Ayou@our.house' had been
1032 given that includes a user, or wether the URL was `smtp://our.house' and
1033 the user had been found differently, to lookup the variable chain
1034 .Va smtp-use-starttls
1035 \*(UA first looks for wether `smtp-use-starttls-hey:you@our.house'
1036 is defined, then wether `smtp-use-starttls-our.house' exists before
1037 finally ending up looking at the plain variable itself.
1039 \*(UA adheres to the following logic scheme when dealing with the
1040 necessary credential informations of an account:
1041 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
1043 If no `USER' is given the variables
1047 are looked up; if no such variable(s) can be found then \*(UA will,
1048 when enforced by the \*(OPal variables
1049 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST
1054 file for a `HOST' specific entry which provides a `login' name.
1056 If there is still no `USER' then \*(UA will fall back to the user who is
1057 supposed to run \*(UA: either the name that has been given with the
1059 command line option (or, equivalent, but with less precedence, the
1060 environment variable
1062 or `getpwuid(getuid())' a.k.a. the current user.
1063 The identity of this user has been fixated during \*(UA startup and is
1064 known to be a valid user on the current host.
1066 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will lookup the
1067 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-USER@HOST ,
1068 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-HOST ,
1070 variable chain, falling back to a protocol-specific default should this
1073 If no `PASSWORD' has been given in the URL \(en it should be noted once
1074 that specifying the password in the URL is only syntactic sugar for the
1075 user, it'll never be part of an URL that \*(UA uses itself \(en,
1076 then if the `USER' has been found through the \*(OPal
1078 then that may have already provided the password, too.
1079 Otherwise the variable chain
1080 .Va password-USER@HOST ,
1085 \*(OP Then if any of the variables of the chain
1086 .Va agent-shell-lookup-USER@HOST ,
1087 .Va agent-shell-lookup-HOST
1089 .Va agent-shell-lookup
1090 is set the shell command specified therein is run and the output (less
1091 newline characters) will be used as the password.
1092 It is perfectly valid for such an agent to simply not return any data,
1093 in which case the password lookup is continued somewhere else;
1094 Any command failure is treated as a hard error, however.
1096 The next variable chain that is inspected is the \*(OPal
1097 .Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST ,
1098 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST ,
1100 but this time looking only for the password (multiple user accounts
1101 for a single machine may exist as well as a fallback entry without
1102 user but with a password).
1104 If at that point there is still no password available, but the
1105 (protocols') chosen authentication type requires a password, then in
1106 interactive mode the user will be prompted on the terminal.
1110 For SMTP the rules are a bit more complicated, since \*(UA will always
1113 instead of a given SMTP account in respect to S/MIME
1114 .Ns ( Va smime-sign ,
1117 .Va smime-sign-include-certs )
1118 \(en this is because S/MIME verification works relative to the values
1119 found in `From:' (or `Sender:').
1120 In unusual cases multiple and different `USER' and `HOST' combinations
1121 may therefore be involved when looking up values that make up an SMTP
1122 account; on the other hand those unusual cases become possible.
1123 The usual case may be as short as:
1125 .Dl set smtp=USER:PASS@HOST smtp-auth=plain smtp-use-starttls \e
1126 .Dl \ \ \ \ smime-sign smime-sign-cert=+smime.pair
1129 .\" .Sh CHARACTER SETS {{{
1131 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
1132 mechanisms that are controlled by the
1137 should give an overview); the \*(UA internal variable
1139 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly
1140 and will thus show up in the output of the command
1143 However, a user supplied
1145 value is not overwritten by this detection mechanism;
1146 this feature must be used if the detection doesn't work properly,
1147 and it may be used to adjust the name of the locale character set.
1148 E.g., on BSD systems one may use a locale with the character set
1149 `ISO8859-1', which is not a valid name for this character set;
1150 to be on the safe side, one may set
1152 to the correct name, `ISO-8859-1'.
1154 Note that changing the value doesn't mean much beside that,
1155 since several aspects of the real character set are implied by the
1156 locale environment of the system,
1157 and that stays unaffected by the content of an overwritten
1160 (This is mostly an issue when interactively using \*(UA, though.
1161 It is actually possible to send mail in a completely "faked" locale
1164 If no character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into
1167 library has been found), then
1169 will be the only supported character set,
1170 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8 bit messages,
1171 and the rest of this section does not apply;
1172 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
1173 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to `ISO-8859-1'.
1175 When reading messages, their text is converted into
1177 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
1178 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
1179 and replaced by proper substitution characters
1180 (unless the variable
1182 was set once \*(UA was started).
1184 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
1185 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
1186 appear to be binary data,
1187 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
1188 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
1189 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
1190 Permissible values for character sets can be declared using the
1194 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
1195 implicitly appended to the list of character-sets in
1198 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
1199 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
1200 If none of the tried (8 bit) character sets is capable to represent the
1201 content of the part or attachment,
1202 then the message will not be sent and its text will be saved to
1204 In general, if the message `Cannot convert from a to b' appears, either
1205 some characters are not appropriate for the currently selected
1206 (terminal) character set,
1207 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
1208 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate `LC_CTYPE'
1209 locale and/or the variable
1212 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
1213 locale on a UTF-8 capable terminal,
1214 in which case the full Unicode spectrum of characters is available.
1215 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
1216 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
1217 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
1220 .\" .Sh COMMAND LINE EDITOR {{{
1221 .Sh COMMAND LINE EDITOR
1222 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a command line editor and
1223 command history lists which are saved in between sessions.
1224 One may link against fully-fledged external libraries
1225 .Ns ( Ns Xr readline 3 ,
1227 ) or use \*(UA's own command line editor NCL (nail-command-line)
1228 instead, which should work in all environments which comply to ISO
1229 C (ISO/IEC 9899:1990/Amendment 1:1995).
1230 When an external library is used, interactive behaviour of \*(UA relies
1231 on that library and may not correspond one-to-one to what is described
1234 Regardless of the actually used command line editor history entries
1235 will be created for lines entered in command mode only, and creation of
1236 such an entry can be forcefully suppressed by starting the line with
1238 Note that history handling is by itself an optional feature and may
1239 therefore not be available.
1240 For more information see the documentation of the options
1243 .Va line-editor-disable ,
1248 The builtin \*(UA command line editor supports the following operations;
1249 the notation `^-character' stands for the combination of the `control'
1250 key plus the mentioned character, e.g., `^A' means "hold control key
1251 while adding an A key on top of it":
1252 .Bl -tag -width "^M^"
1254 Go to the start of the line.
1256 Move the cursor backward one character.
1258 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
1259 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line, unless the
1263 Go to the end of the line.
1265 Move the cursor forward one character.
1267 Cancel current operation, full reset.
1268 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
1269 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
1270 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case.
1271 In all cases \*(UA will reset a possibly used multibyte character input
1274 The same as `backspace': backward delete one character.
1276 \*(OP The same as `horizontal tabulator': try to expand the "word"
1278 Here "expansion" refers to the \*(UA expansion, as documented for
1280 and thus includes shell word expansion (as a last step).
1281 I.e., this is \*(UA "expansion", not what one usually expects from
1284 The same as `ENTER': complete this line of input.
1286 Delete all characters from the cursor to the end of the line.
1290 \*(OP Go to the next history entry.
1295 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry.
1297 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining older) history entries.
1299 The same as `^A' followed by `^K'.
1301 Delete the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
1304 Move the cursor forward one word boundary.
1306 Move the cursor backward one word boundary.
1309 If problems with commands that are based upon rightwise movement are
1310 encountered, adjustments of the option
1311 .Va line-editor-cursor-right
1312 may solve the problem, as documented for it.
1314 If the terminal produces key sequences which are compatible with
1316 then the left and right cursor keys will map to `^B' and `^F',
1317 respectively, the up and down cursor keys will map to `^P' and `^N',
1318 and the Home/End/PgUp/PgDown keys will call the
1320 command with the respective arguments `0', `$', `-' and `+'
1321 (i.e., perform scrolling through the header summary list).
1324 .\" .Ss "Coloured message display" {{{
1325 .Ss "Coloured message display"
1326 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support coloured message display.
1327 Colours are used only when the
1329 environment variable is set and the terminal type can be found in
1331 (or includes the string "color").
1332 On top of that the binary option
1334 defines wether ANSI colour sequences are generated when the output
1335 of a command needs to go through the
1339 ); this is not enabled by default.
1341 "Coloured message display" can be configured through font attributes
1342 (`ft=' \(en `bold', `invers' and `underline'), foreground (`fg=') and
1343 background (`bg=') colours (`black', `blue', `green', `red', `brown',
1344 `magenta', `cyan' and `white').
1345 Multiple specifications can be joined in a comma separated list, as in
1347 .Dl set colour-msginfo="ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan"
1349 Options to be set are
1350 .Va colour-msginfo ,
1351 .Va colour-partinfo ,
1355 .Va colour-uheader ,
1357 .Va colour-user-headers ,
1358 which is a list of headers to be colourized via
1360 instead of the default
1362 To forcefully disable colours, set
1363 .Va colour-disable .
1366 .\" .Sh "COMMANDS" {{{
1368 Each command is typed on a line by itself,
1369 and may take arguments following the command word.
1370 The command need not be typed in its entirety \(en
1371 the first command which matches the typed prefix is used.
1374 prints a sorted list of available commands, and the command
1376 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
1378 .Ns ` Ns Ic ? Ns Ar unc Ns ' ;
1379 documentation strings are however \*(OP.)
1381 For commands which take message lists as arguments,
1382 if no message list is given,
1383 then the next message forward which satisfies the command's requirements
1385 If there are no messages forward of the current message,
1386 the search proceeds backwards,
1387 and if there are no good messages at all,
1388 \*(UA types `no applicable messages' and aborts the command.
1389 If the command begins with a `#' (number sign) character,
1390 the line is ignored.
1392 The arguments to commands can be quoted, using the following methods:
1393 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
1395 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes `"argument"' or
1396 single-quotes `'argument'';
1397 any white space, shell word expansion, or backslash characters (except
1398 as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as part of
1400 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
1402 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
1403 used nonetheless by escaping it with a backslash `\\', as in
1406 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
1407 contain space characters if those spaces are backslash-escaped.
1409 A backslash outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
1410 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
1412 An unquoted backslash at the end of a command line is discarded and the
1413 next line continues the command.
1416 Filenames, where expected, are subsequently subjected to the following
1417 transformations, in sequence:
1418 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
1420 If the filename begins with an unquoted plus sign, and the
1422 variable is defined,
1423 the plus sign will be replaced by the value of the
1425 variable followed by a slash.
1428 variable is unset or is set to null, the filename will be unchanged.
1430 Shell word expansions are applied to the filename.
1431 If more than a single pathname results from this expansion and the
1432 command is expecting one file, an error results.
1436 The following commands are available:
1437 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic account"
1439 This is the comment-command and causes the entire line to be ignored.
1440 Note: since it is a normal command you cannot have trailing comments in
1441 lines from resource files etc.
1443 Interprets the remainder of the word as a macro name and passes it
1447 .Ns ` Ns Ic ~ Ns Ar mymacro Ns '
1448 is a shorter synonym for
1449 .Ns ` Ns Ic call Ar mymacro Ns ' .
1451 Print out the preceding message.
1452 If given a numeric argument n,
1453 goes to the n'th previous message and prints it.
1455 Prints a brief summary of commands.
1456 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
1458 note it is possible to abbreviate the command and see the expansion
1459 \(en try, e.g., `?h', `?hel' and `?help' and see how the display changes.
1461 Executes the shell (see
1465 ) command which follows.
1471 (ac) Creates, selects or lists an email account.
1472 An account is formed by a group of commands,
1473 primarily of those to set variables.
1475 of which the second is a `{',
1476 the first argument gives an account name,
1477 and the following lines create a group of commands for that account
1478 until a line containing a single `}' appears.
1479 With one argument the previously created group of commands for the
1480 account name is executed, and a
1482 command is executed for the system mailbox or inbox of that account.
1483 Without arguments the list of accounts and their contents are printed.
1485 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1487 set folder=imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example
1489 set from="myname@myisp.example (My Name)"
1490 set smtp=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
1494 creates an account named `myisp' which can later be selected by
1495 specifying `account myisp'.
1496 The special account `null' (case-insensitive) always exists.
1498 can be used to localize account settings.
1499 Accounts can be deleted via
1502 (a) With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases.
1503 With one argument, prints out that alias.
1504 With more than one argument,
1505 creates a new alias or changes an old one.
1507 can be used to delete aliases.
1509 (alt) The alternates command is useful if the user has accounts on
1511 It can be used to inform \*(UA that the listed addresses all belong to
1513 When replying to messages \*(UA will not send a copy of the message
1514 to any of the addresses listed on the alternates list.
1515 If the alternates command is given with no argument,
1516 the current set of alternate names is displayed.
1518 (ans) Takes a message list and marks each message as having been
1520 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1521 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
1522 and makes them specially addressable.
1524 \*(OP Only applicable to cached IMAP mailboxes;
1525 takes a message list and reads the specified messages into the IMAP
1528 Calls a macro (see the
1535 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
1536 Takes a message list and a file name and saves the certificates
1537 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
1538 human-readable and PEM format.
1539 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
1540 respective message senders by setting
1541 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
1544 (ch) Changes the user's working directory to the specified one,
1545 or to the user's login directory, if none was given.
1548 Only applicable to threaded mode.
1549 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
1550 in header summaries,
1551 unless they are in state `new'.
1553 \*(OP (conn) If operating in disconnected mode on an IMAP mailbox,
1554 switch to online mode and connect to the mail server while retaining the
1556 See the description of the
1558 variable for more information.
1560 (c) The copy command does the same thing that
1562 does except that it does not mark the given messages for deletion when
1564 Compressed files and IMAP mailboxes are handled as described for the
1570 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1571 sender address of the first message.
1573 Print the current working directory.
1575 \*(OP (dec) For unencrypted messages,
1576 this command is identical to
1578 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
1580 \*(OP (Dec) Similar to
1582 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1583 sender address of the first message.
1585 (def) Without arguments the current list of macros, including their
1586 content, is printed.
1587 If arguments are given this command defines a macro.
1588 A macro definition is a sequence of commands in the following form:
1589 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1598 A defined macro can be explicitly invoked using
1602 or it can be implicitly invoked by setting the
1605 .Va folder-hook-fullname
1607 Macros can be deleted via
1610 (d) Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted.
1611 Deleted messages will not be saved in
1613 nor will they be available for most other commands.
1618 \*(OP (disco) If operating in online mode on an IMAP mailbox,
1619 switch to disconnected mode while retaining the mailbox status.
1620 See the description of the
1623 A list of messages may optionally be given as argument;
1624 the respective messages are then read into the cache before the
1625 connection is closed.
1626 Thus `disco *' makes the entire mailbox available for disconnected use.
1627 .It Ic dp Ns \ or Ic dt
1628 Deletes the current message and prints the next message.
1629 If there is no next message, \*(UA says `at EOF'.
1631 Takes a message list and marks each given message as a draft.
1632 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1633 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
1634 and makes them specially addressable.
1636 Echoes its arguments,
1637 resolving special names as documented for the command
1639 The escape sequences `\ea', `\eb', `\ec', `\ef', `\en', `\er', `\et',
1640 `\ev', `\e\e', and `\e0octal-num\fR' are interpreted just as they are by
1642 (proper quoting provided).
1644 (e) Point the text editor at each message from the given list in turn.
1645 Modified contents are discarded unless the
1654 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceeding
1656 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
1657 if it evaluates true.
1664 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceeding
1668 commands was true, the
1677 conditional execution block.
1679 (ex or x) Effects an immediate return to the Shell without modifying the
1680 user's system mailbox, his
1682 file, or his edit file in
1684 as well as a possibly tracked command line editor history file.
1686 Print the list of features that have been compiled into \*(UA.
1690 but open the mailbox readonly.
1692 (fi) The file command switches to a new mailbox.
1693 With no arguments, it tells the user which mailbox is the active one.
1694 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
1695 the user has made and open a new mailbox.
1696 Some special conventions are recognized for the
1699 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ar %:filespec"
1701 (number sign) means the previous file,
1703 (percent sign) means the invoking user's system mailbox
1708 means the system mailbox of `user'
1709 (and never the value of
1711 regardless of its actual setting),
1713 (ampersand) means the invoking user's
1717 means a `file' in the
1721 expands to the same value as `filespec',
1722 but the file is handled as a system mailbox by, e.g., the
1726 commands, meaning that messages that have been read in the current
1727 session will be moved to the
1729 mailbox instead of simply being flagged as read.
1732 If the name matches one of the strings defined with the command
1734 it is replaced by its long form and expanded.
1735 If the name ends with `.gz', `.bz2' or `.xz' it is treated as being
1741 respectively, and transparently handled through an intermediate
1742 (un)compression step (using a temporary file) with the respective
1743 utility, which thus must be available in the path.
1744 Likewise, if the named file doesn't exist, but a file with one of the
1745 mentioned compression extensions does, then the name is automatically
1746 expanded and the compressed file is used.
1747 If `name' refers to a directory with the subdirectories `tmp', `new',
1748 and `cur', then it is treated as a folder in `maildir' format.
1751 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
1752 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
1754 is taken as an Internet mailbox specification.
1755 The \*(OPally supported protocols are `imap' (IMAP v4r1), `imaps'
1756 (IMAP with SSL/TLS encrypted transport), `pop3' (POP3) and `pop3s' (POP3
1757 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport).
1758 The `[/path]' part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to `INBOX'.
1759 Also see the section
1760 .Sx "URL SYNTAX AND CREDENTIAL LOOKUP" .
1762 \*(OU If `user' contains special characters, in particular `/' or `%',
1763 they must be escaped in URL notation \(en the command
1765 can be used to show the necessary conversion.
1766 The optional `path' part applies to IMAP only;
1767 if it is omitted, the default `INBOX' is used.
1769 If \*(UA is connected to an IMAP server,
1770 a name of the form `@mailbox' refers to the `mailbox' on that server,
1771 but otherwise a `@' prefix has no special meaning.
1773 (fl) Takes a message list and marks the messages as `flagged' for
1774 urgent/special attention.
1775 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1776 it just causes messages to be highlighted in the header summary,
1777 and makes them specially addressable.
1782 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
1783 With an existing folder as an argument,
1784 lists the names of folders below the named folder;
1785 e.\|g. the command `folders @' lists the folders on the base level of
1786 the current IMAP server.
1787 See also the variable
1788 .Va imap-list-depth .
1792 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1793 recipient's address.
1797 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1798 recipient's address.
1802 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
1807 .It Ic followupsender
1810 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
1816 (fwd) Takes a message and the address of a recipient
1817 and forwards the message to him.
1818 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
1819 with the value of the
1821 variable printed before.
1826 commands specify which header fields are included in the new message.
1827 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless the
1828 .Va forward-as-attachment
1833 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
1834 recipient's address.
1836 (f) Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers,
1837 piped through the pager if the output does not fit on the screen.
1839 Specifies which header fields are to be ignored with the command
1841 This command has no effect when the
1842 .Va forward-as-attachment
1845 Specifies which header fields are to be retained with the command
1850 This command has no effect when the
1851 .Va forward-as-attachment
1854 Without arguments it lists all currently defined command aliases,
1856 With two arguments it defines a new command alias: the first argument is
1857 the name under which the second should be accessible.
1858 The content of the second argument can be just about anything.
1859 A ghost can be used everywhere a normal command can be used, but always
1860 takes precedence; any arguments that are given to the command alias are
1861 joined onto the alias content, and the resulting string forms the
1862 command line that is, in effect, executed.
1866 .Dl ? ghost ls '!ls -latro'
1869 (h) Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group.
1870 If a `+' argument is given the next 18-message group is printed,
1871 likewise the previous is printed if the argument was `-'.
1880 the list of history entries;
1883 argument selects and shows the respective history entry \(en
1884 press `ENTER' to accept it, and the history entry will become the new
1886 The default mode if no arguments are given is
1889 (ho, also preserve) Takes a message list and marks each message therein
1890 to be saved in the user's system mailbox instead of in
1892 Does not override the
1895 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
1898 command issued after
1900 will display the following message, not the current one.
1902 Part of the nestable
1907 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is false
1908 execute the following block.
1909 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1917 Note that POSIX only supports the conditions `[Rr]eceive', `[Ss]end'
1918 and `[Tt]erm' (execute if standard input is a tty).
1919 Extensions are `0' (never execute) and `1' (always execute);
1920 it is also possible to conditionalize upon wether an option is set,
1921 or set to a specific value, by using the `$' conditional trigger, e.g.:
1922 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1926 if $encoding == "UTF-8"
1929 if $encoding != "UTF-8"
1934 The first form simply checks wether an option is set, the other two also
1935 perform value content comparison (equality and non-equality,
1936 respectively); an unset value is treated as the empty string, then.
1937 The \*(OPal regular expression support adds `=~' and `!~' tests, which
1938 treat the right hand side as a regular expression that is matched
1939 case-insensitively, e.g., `^UTF.*' (see
1943 Add the list of header fields named to the ignored list.
1944 Header fields in the ignore list are not printed on the terminal when
1945 a message is printed.
1946 This command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated
1952 commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including
1954 It lists the current set of ignored fields if no arguments were given.
1956 \*(OP Sends command strings directly to the current IMAP server.
1957 \*(UA operates always in IMAP `selected state' on the current mailbox;
1958 commands that change this will produce undesirable results and should be
1960 Useful IMAP commands are:
1961 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ic getquotearoot"
1963 Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument and creates it.
1965 (RFC 2087) Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument
1966 and prints the quotas that apply to the mailbox.
1967 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
1969 (RFC 2342) Takes no arguments and prints the Personal Namespaces,
1970 the Other User's Namespaces and the Shared Namespaces.
1971 Each namespace type is printed in parentheses;
1972 if there are multiple namespaces of the same type,
1973 inner parentheses separate them.
1974 For each namespace a prefix and a hierarchy separator is listed.
1975 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
1981 Prints the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
1983 Can only be used inside of a macro definition block introduced by
1987 and is interpreted as a boolean (value `0' means false, everything
1989 Any option that had been set while `localopts' was in effect will be
1990 reverted to its former value once the block is left / the `account'
1992 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1993 define temporary_settings {
2003 Note that these options stack upon each other, i.e., if macro1 sets
2004 `localopts' and calls macro2, which explicitly resets `localopts', then
2005 any values set within macro2 will still be cleaned up by macro1.
2009 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
2010 recipient's address.
2012 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
2013 or asks on standard input if none were given;
2014 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
2016 The given message list is to be sent to `mbox' when \*(UA is quit.
2017 This is the default action unless the
2020 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command, as a
2022 command issued after
2024 will display the following message, not the current one.
2033 In the former case all sources are loaded first as necessary.
2035 .Va mimetypes-load-control
2036 option can be used to fine-tune which sources are loaded.
2040 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
2043 Takes a message list and invokes the
2045 on that list, printing a form-feed (`\\f') in between messages.
2049 but also prints ignored header fields and all MIME parts.
2053 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
2054 sender address of the first message.
2062 cache, loading the file first as necessary in the former case.
2063 Note that \*(UA will try to read the file only once, use `netrc clear'
2064 to unlock the next attempt.
2068 .Sx "URL SYNTAX AND CREDENTIAL LOOKUP" ;
2071 documents the file format in detail.
2073 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
2075 If new mail is present, a message is printed.
2079 the headers of each new message are also printed.
2081 (n) (like `+' or `ENTER') Goes to the next message in sequence
2083 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
2091 If the current folder is located on an IMAP or POP3 server,
2092 a `NOOP' command is sent.
2093 Otherwise, no operation is performed.
2097 but also pipes ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
2098 `multipart/alternative' messages.
2100 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
2101 and pipes the messages through the command.
2102 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
2109 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
2116 but also prints out ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
2117 `multipart/alternative' messages.
2124 (p) Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's
2126 If the message is a MIME multipart message,
2127 all parts with a content type of `text' or `message' are shown,
2128 the other are hidden except for their headers.
2129 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
2132 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
2135 preserving all messages marked with
2139 or never referenced in his system mailbox,
2140 and removing all other messages from his system mailbox.
2141 If new mail has arrived during the session,
2142 the message `You have new mail' is given.
2143 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line flag
2145 then the edit file is rewritten.
2146 A return to the shell is effected,
2147 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
2148 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
2156 (rem) Removes the named folders.
2157 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
2159 (ren) Takes the name of an existing folder
2160 and the name for the new folder
2161 and renames the first to the second one.
2162 Both folders must be of the same type
2163 and must be located on the current server for IMAP.
2165 (R) Reply to originator.
2166 Does not reply to other recipients of the original message.
2168 (r) Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all recipients
2169 of the specified messages.
2170 The default message must not be deleted.
2174 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
2182 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
2190 but does not add any header lines.
2191 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
2192 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
2194 Takes a list of messages and a user name
2195 and sends each message to the named user.
2196 `Resent-From:' and related header fields are prepended to the new copy
2207 .It Ic respondsender
2211 Add the list of header fields named to the retained list.
2212 Only the header fields in the retain list are shown on the terminal when
2213 a message is printed, all other header fields are suppressed.
2218 commands can be used to print a message in its entirety.
2219 The current set of retained fields is shown if
2221 is used without arguments.
2223 Without arguments this prints informations about the current mailbox,
2224 otherwise it switches to a new mailbox and makes it readonly; also see
2232 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
2233 sender of the first message instead of taking a filename argument.
2235 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
2236 to the end of the file.
2237 If no filename is given, the
2240 The filename in quotes, followed by the line count and character count
2241 is echoed on the user's terminal.
2242 If editing a system mailbox the messages are marked for deletion.
2243 Compressed files and IMAP mailboxes are handled as described for the
2245 command line option above.
2258 Header fields thus marked are filtered out when saving a message by
2260 or when automatically saving to
2262 This command should only be applied to header fields that do not contain
2263 information needed to decode the message,
2264 as MIME content fields do.
2265 If saving messages on an IMAP account ignoring fields makes it
2266 impossible to copy the data directly on the server,
2267 thus operation usually becomes much slower.
2277 Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved with a message when
2280 or when automatically saving to
2285 The use of this command is strongly discouraged since it may strip
2286 header fields that are needed to decode the message correctly.
2288 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
2290 (se) With no arguments, prints all variable values.
2291 Otherwise, sets an option.
2292 Arguments are of the form `option=value' (no space before or after `='),
2293 or plain `option' if there is no value.
2294 Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment
2295 statement to quote blanks or tabs, e.g.,
2297 .Dl set indentprefix="->"
2299 If an argument begins with `no', as in `set nosave',
2300 the effect is the same as invoking the
2302 command with the remaining part of the variable (`unset save').
2306 except that the options are also exported into the program environment;
2307 since this task requires native host support the command will always
2308 report error if that is not available (but still act like
2311 This operation is a no-op unless all resource files have been loaded.
2315 (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
2317 Defines a shortcut name and its string for expansion,
2318 as described for the
2321 If used without arguments the currently defined shortcuts are printed.
2325 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption so that the raw
2326 message text is shown.
2328 Print the size in characters of each message of the given message-list.
2330 Create a sorted representation of the current folder,
2333 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
2335 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
2339 a header summary in the new order is also printed.
2340 Possible sorting criteria are:
2341 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width "subject"
2343 Sort the messages by their `Date:' field,
2344 that is by the time they were sent.
2346 Sort messages by the value of their `From:' field,
2347 that is by the address of the sender.
2351 the sender's real name (if any) is used.
2353 Sort the messages by their size.
2355 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified via
2359 Sort the messages by their message status (new, read, old, etc.).
2361 Sort the messages by their subject.
2363 Create a threaded order,
2367 Sort messages by the value of their `To:' field,
2368 that is by the address of the recipient.
2372 the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
2375 If no argument is given,
2376 the current sorting criterion is printed.
2378 The source command reads commands from a file.
2380 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their `is-spam' flag.
2382 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and forces the spam detector to forget it
2383 has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter, wether as `ham' or
2386 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and teaches them to the spam detector as
2388 This also clears the `is-spam' flag of the messages in question.
2390 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured spam
2391 detector, setting their `is-spam' flag as appropriate.
2392 Note that the messages are not modified, and due to that the rating will
2393 get lost once the mailbox is left.
2394 Refer to the manual section
2396 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
2398 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their `is-spam' flag.
2400 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and teaches them to the spam detector as
2402 This also sets the `is-spam' flag of the messages in question.
2404 (th) Create a threaded representation of the current folder,
2405 i.\|e. indent messages that are replies to other messages in the header
2406 display and change the
2408 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
2410 Message numbers are the same as in unthreaded mode.
2414 a header summary in threaded order is also printed.
2416 Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each.
2417 The number of lines printed is controlled by the variable
2419 and defaults to five.
2421 Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in
2423 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
2426 command issued after `touch' will display the following message instead
2429 (T) Identical to the
2436 Delete all given accounts.
2437 An error message is printed if a given account is not defined.
2438 Attempts to delete the currently active account are rejected.
2440 Takes a list of names defined by alias commands
2441 and discards the remembered groups of users.
2443 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been answered.
2445 (unc) Only applicable to threaded mode.
2446 Takes a message list and makes the message and all replies to it visible
2447 in header summaries again.
2448 When a message becomes the current message,
2449 it is automatically made visible.
2450 Also when a message with collapsed replies is printed,
2451 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
2453 Undefine all given macros.
2454 An error message is printed if a given macro is not defined.
2456 (u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
2458 Takes a message list and
2459 .Ns un Ns Ic draft Ns
2462 Takes a message list and marks each message as not being
2465 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for the
2468 The special name `*' will remove all fields.
2470 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for the
2473 The special name `*' will remove all fields.
2475 Remove an existing command
2478 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields.
2479 The special name `*' will remove all fields.
2484 (U) Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
2486 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields.
2487 The special name `*' will remove all fields.
2489 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for
2491 The special name `*' will remove all fields.
2493 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for
2495 The special name `*' will remove all fields.
2497 Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values;
2503 except that the options are also removed from the program environment;
2504 since this task requires native host support the command will always
2505 report error if that is not available (but still act like
2508 This operation is a no-op unless all resource files have been loaded.
2512 Deletes the shortcut names given as arguments.
2514 Disable sorted or threaded mode
2520 return to normal message order and,
2524 print a header summary.
2529 Decode the given URL-encoded string arguments and show the results.
2531 URL-encode the given arguments and show the results.
2533 Edit the values of the given variable(s) in the
2535 Binary variables, as well as variables which are not currently set are
2538 Show information about all given options.
2540 \*(OP (verif) Takes a message list and verifies each message.
2541 If a message is not an S/MIME signed message,
2542 verification will fail for it.
2543 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
2545 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
2546 within the certificate,
2547 and if the message content has been altered.
2549 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
2550 Modified contents are discarded unless the
2554 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
2555 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
2556 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
2557 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
2558 the specified file as for conventional messages,
2559 and the user is asked for a filename to save each other part.
2560 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty value;
2561 the same result can also be achieved by writing it to
2563 For the second and subsequent parts a leading `|' character causes the
2564 part to be piped to the remainder of the user input interpreted as
2566 otherwise the user input is expanded as usually for folders,
2567 e.g., tilde expansion is performed.
2568 In non-interactive mode, only the parts of the multipart message
2569 that have a filename given in the part header are written,
2570 the others are discarded.
2571 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
2574 the contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
2576 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
2581 \*(UA presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the
2584 This command scrolls to the next window of messages.
2585 If an argument is given,
2586 it specifies the window to use.
2587 A number prefixed by `+' or `\-' indicates
2588 that the window is calculated in relation to the current position.
2589 A number without a prefix specifies an absolute window number,
2590 and a `$' lets \*(UA scroll to the last window of messages.
2594 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
2595 new or `flagged' message.
2599 .\" .Sh "TILDE ESCAPES" {{{
2601 Here is a summary of the tilde escapes,
2602 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
2603 Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines.
2604 The name `tilde escape' is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual
2605 escape character can be set by the option
2607 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic ~< filename"
2609 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single `~'.
2610 (If the escape character has been changed,
2611 that character must be doubled
2612 in order to send it at the beginning of a line.)
2613 .It Ic ~! Ar command
2614 Execute the indicated shell
2616 then return to the message.
2618 Same effect as typing the end-of-file character.
2619 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \ or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
2620 Execute the given \*(UA command.
2621 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
2623 Write a summary of command escapes.
2624 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
2627 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
2629 is executed using the shell.
2630 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
2631 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
2632 With no arguments, edit the attachment list interactively.
2633 If an attachment's file name is left empty,
2634 that attachment is deleted from the list.
2635 When the end of the attachment list is reached,
2636 \*(UA will ask for further attachments until an empty name is given.
2637 If a given file name solely consists of the number sign `#' followed
2638 by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, the given
2639 message is attached as a MIME `message/rfc822' and the rest of this
2640 section does not apply.
2642 If character set conversion has been compiled into \*(UA, then this mode
2643 gives the user the option to specify input and output character sets,
2644 unless the file extension indicates binary content, in which case \*(UA
2645 asks wether this step shall be skipped for the attachment in question.
2646 If not skipped, then the charset that succeeds to represent the
2647 attachment data will be used in the `charset=' MIME parameter of the
2651 If input and output character sets are specified, then the conversion is
2652 performed on the fly.
2653 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2655 If only an output character set is specified, then the input is assumed
2658 charset and will be converted to the given output charset on the fly.
2659 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2661 If no character sets are specified at all then the algorithm that is
2662 documented in the section
2664 is applied, but directly and on the fly.
2665 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2667 Finally, if an input-, but no output character set is specified, then no
2668 conversion is ever performed, but the `charset=' MIME parameter will
2669 still be set to the user input.
2671 The character set selection loop can be left by typing `control-C',
2672 i.e., causing an interrupt.
2673 .\" \*(OU next sentence
2674 Note that before \*(UA version 15.0 this terminates the entire
2675 current attachment selection, not only the character set selection.
2678 Without character set conversion support, \*(UA will ask for the input
2679 character set only, and it'll set the `charset=' MIME parameter to the
2680 given input, if any;
2681 if no user input is seen then the
2683 character set will be used for the `charset=' parameter instead.
2684 Note that the file extension check isn't performed in this mode, since
2685 no conversion will take place anyway.
2687 Note that in non-interactive mode, for reproduceabilities sake, there
2688 will always be two questions for each attachment, regardless of wether
2689 character set conversion is available and what the file extension is.
2690 The first asks for the filename, and the second asks for the input
2691 character set to be passed through to the `charset=' MIME parameter;
2692 no conversion will be tried if there is input to the latter question,
2693 otherwise the usual conversion algorithm, as above, is applied.
2694 For message attachments, the answer to the second question is completely
2699 arguments are specified,
2700 they are treated as a comma separated list of files,
2701 which are all expanded and appended to the end of the attachment list.
2702 (Filenames with commas, or with leading or trailing whitespace can only
2703 be added via the command line or the first method.
2704 Message attachments can only be added via the first method;
2705 filenames which clash with message numbers can only be added via the
2706 command line or the second method.)
2707 In this mode the (text) attachments are assumed to be in
2709 encoding, and will be evaluated as documented in the section
2710 .Sx "CHARACTER SETS" .
2712 Inserts the string contained in the
2714 variable (same as `~i Sign').
2715 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2717 Inserts the string contained in the
2719 variable (same as `~i sign').
2720 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2721 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
2722 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
2723 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
2724 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
2726 Read the file specified by the
2728 variable into the message.
2730 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
2731 After the editing session is finished,
2732 the user may continue appending text to the message.
2733 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
2734 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
2735 message headers and MIME parts.
2736 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
2737 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
2738 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
2739 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
2740 Message headers currently being ignored (by the
2744 command) are not included.
2745 For MIME multipart messages,
2746 only the first printable part is included.
2748 Edit the message header fields `From:', `Reply-To:', `Sender:' and
2749 `Organization:' by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit
2751 The default values for these fields originate from the
2759 Edit the message header fields `To:', `Cc:', `Bcc:', and `Subject:' by
2760 typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
2761 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
2762 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message,
2763 adding a newline character at the end.
2764 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
2765 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2766 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
2767 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
2770 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
2771 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
2772 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
2775 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
2776 Message headers currently being ignored (by the
2780 commands) are not included.
2781 For MIME multipart messages,
2782 only the first printable part is included.
2784 Print out the message collected so far,
2785 prefaced by the message header fields
2786 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
2788 Abort the message being sent,
2789 copying it to the file specified by the
2794 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
2795 Read the named file into the message, indented by
2797 .It Ic ~r Ar filename
2798 Read the named file into the message.
2800 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
2801 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
2802 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
2803 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
2804 Like `~m', but exclude all message headers.
2805 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
2806 Like `~f', but exclude all message headers.
2808 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
2810 option) on the message collected so far.
2811 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
2812 After the editor is quit,
2813 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
2814 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
2815 Write the message onto the named file.
2817 the message is appended to it.
2819 Same as `~q', except that the message is not saved at all.
2820 .It Ic ~| Ar command
2821 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
2822 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
2823 retain the original text of the message.
2826 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
2830 .\" .Sh "VARIABLE OPTIONS" {{{
2831 .Sh "VARIABLE OPTIONS"
2832 Options are controlled via
2836 commands, see the corresponding entries for a syntax description;
2839 can also be accomplished by prefixing a variable name with the string
2842 e.g., "unset crt" will have the same effect as "set nocrt".
2844 An option is also set if it has been passed to \*(UA as part of the
2845 program environment or when it has been set explicitly via the
2847 command line option.
2849 \*(UA differentiates in between different kind of options:
2850 binary options, which can only be in the two states set and unset,
2851 as well as value options which have an assigned string value.
2852 (For the latter kind proper quoting is important upon assignment time.)
2855 will show informations about all given variables and
2857 when used without arguments, will print a listing of all currently set
2858 variables, including values of string variables.
2859 Beside those internal variables \*(UA uses several
2863 .\" .Ss "Initial settings" {{{
2864 .\" (Keep in sync: ./main.c:_startup(), ./nail.rc, ./nail.1:"Initial settings"!)
2865 .Ss "Initial Settings"
2866 The standard POSIX 2008/Cor 1-2013 mandates the following initial
2868 .Ns no Ns Va allnet ,
2869 .Ns no Ns Va append ,
2871 .Ns no Ns Va askbcc ,
2872 .Ns no Ns Va autoprint ,
2876 .Ns no Ns Va debug ,
2880 .Ns no Ns Va flipr ,
2881 .Ns no Ns Va folder ,
2884 .Ns no Ns Va ignore ,
2885 .Ns no Ns Va ignoreeof ,
2887 .Ns no Ns Va keepsave ,
2888 .Ns no Ns Va metoo ,
2889 .Ns no Ns Va outfolder ,
2893 (note that \*(UA deviates from the standard by using "\\& ", but the
2896 escape results in "?" being printed unless
2900 .Ns no Ns Va record ,
2902 .Ns no Ns Va sendwait ,
2903 .Ns no Ns Va showto ,
2909 Notes: \*(UA doesn't support the
2911 variable \(en use command line options or
2912 .Va sendmail-arguments
2913 to pass options through to a MTA.
2916 .\" .Ss "Binary options" {{{
2917 .Ss "Binary options"
2918 .Bl -tag -width ".Va autoprint"
2919 .It Va add-file-recipients
2920 When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
2921 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
2922 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
2923 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
2925 Causes only the local part to be evaluated
2926 when comparing addresses.
2928 Causes messages saved in
2930 to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
2931 This should always be set.
2932 .It Va ask Ns \ or Va asksub
2933 Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject of each message sent.
2934 If the user responds with simply a newline,
2935 no subject field will be sent.
2937 Causes the prompts for `Cc:' and `Bcc:' lists to appear after the
2938 message has been edited.
2940 If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message.
2941 An empty line finalizes the list.
2943 Causes the user to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients (at
2944 the end of each message if
2949 An empty line finalizes the list.
2951 Causes the user to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy
2952 recipients (at the end of each message if
2957 An empty line finalizes the list.
2959 \*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be signed at
2960 the end of each message.
2963 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
2965 Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode is
2970 Causes the delete command to behave like `dp -';
2971 thus, after deleting a message the next one will be typed automatically.
2973 Causes threaded mode (see the
2975 command) to be entered automatically when a folder is opened.
2977 Enables the substitution of `!' by the contents of the last command line
2979 .It Va batch-exit-on-error
2980 If the batch mode has been enabled via the
2982 command line option, then this variable will be consulted whenever \*(UA
2983 completes one operation (returns to the command prompt); if it is set
2984 then \*(UA will terminate if the last operation generated an error.
2986 Causes automatic display of a header summary after executing a
2990 Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
2991 has the same affect as setting
2993 and all other variables prefixed with `bsd';
2994 it also changes the meaning of the \*(UA specific `\\&'
2998 Changes the letters printed in the first column of a header summary
2999 to traditional BSD style.
3001 Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional BSD
3004 Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
3006 Causes the `Subject:' field to appear immediately after the `To:' field
3007 in message headers and with the `~h'
3008 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
3010 Changes the output format of the
3012 command to traditional BSD style.
3013 .It Va colour-disable
3014 \*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
3015 Also see the section
3016 .Sx "Coloured message display" .
3018 \*(OP Wether colour shall be used for output that is paged through
3020 Note that pagers may need special flags, e.g.,
3028 in order to support colours; therefore \*(UA will inspect the variable
3030 \(en if that starts with the string `less' a non-existing
3031 environment variable
3033 will be set to "FRSXi", likewise for `lv'
3035 will be optionally set to "-c".
3036 Also see the section
3037 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3040 Prints debugging messages and disables the actual delivery of messages.
3043 this option is intended for \*(UA development only.
3045 \*(OP When an IMAP mailbox is selected and this variable is set,
3046 no connection to the server is initiated.
3047 Instead, data is obtained from the local cache (see
3050 Mailboxes that are not present in the cache
3051 and messages that have not yet entirely been fetched from the server
3053 to fetch all messages in a mailbox at once,
3055 .Ns ` Ns Li copy * /dev/null Ns '
3056 can be used while still in connected mode.
3057 Changes that are made to IMAP mailboxes in disconnected mode are queued
3058 and committed later when a connection to that server is made.
3059 This procedure is not completely reliable since it cannot be guaranteed
3060 that the IMAP unique identifiers (UIDs) on the server still match the
3061 ones in the cache at that time.
3064 when this problem occurs.
3065 .It Va disconnected-USER@HOST
3066 The specified account is handled as described for the
3069 but other accounts are not affected.
3070 .It Va disposition-notification-send
3071 \*(OP Emit a `Disposition-Notification-To:' header (RFC 3798) with the
3076 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-HOST
3078 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
3079 .\" for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
3080 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-USER@HOST
3082 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
3083 .\"for a specific account.
3085 When dot is set, a dot (`.') on a line by itself during message input
3086 from a terminal shall be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the
3087 normal end-of-file condition).
3092 is ignored and using a dot is the only method to terminate input mode.
3094 If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically when
3095 composing a message in an interactive mode,
3101 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
3103 When a message is edited while being composed,
3104 its header is included in the editable text.
3105 The `To:', `Cc:', `Bcc:', `Subject:', `From:', `Reply-To:', `Sender:',
3106 and 'Organization:' fields are accepted within the header,
3107 other fields are ignored.
3109 If set, an empty mailbox file is not removed.
3110 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
3111 when using a common folder directory.
3113 If the mailbox is empty \*(UA normally prints `No mail for user' and
3115 If this option is set \*(UA starts even with an empty mailbox.
3121 commands and vice-versa.
3122 .It Va forward-as-attachment
3123 Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
3126 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
3127 With this option messages are sent as MIME `message/rfc822' attachments
3128 with all of their parts included.
3133 options are ignored when the
3134 .Va forward-as-attachment
3137 When replying to a message \*(UA normally removes the comment parts of
3139 which by convention contain the full names of the recipients.
3140 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed,
3141 and comments are retained.
3143 Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after commands
3144 that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in the
3145 current folder; enabled by default.
3146 The command line option
3150 .It Va history-gabby
3151 \*(OP Add more entries to the history as is normally done.
3152 .It Va history-gabby-persist
3153 \*(OP \*(UAs own NCL will not save the additional (gabby) history
3154 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is also set.
3158 This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox by default.
3160 \*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain names
3161 according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names for
3163 Since the IDNA code assumes domain names are specified with the
3165 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent
3166 all possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
3168 Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering messages;
3169 instead echo them as `@' characters and discard the current line.
3171 Ignore end-of-file conditions (`control-D') on message input,
3172 which instead can be terminated only by entering a
3174 (`.') on a line by itself or by using the `~.'
3175 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
3176 This option also applies to \*(UA command mode.
3177 .It Va imap-use-starttls
3178 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an unencrypted
3179 IMAP session SSL/TLS encrypted.
3180 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
3181 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the IMAPS method.
3182 .It Va imap-use-starttls-USER@HOST
3184 .Va imap-use-starttls
3185 for a specific account.
3187 This option causes \*(UA to truncate the user's system mailbox instead
3188 of deleting it when it is empty.
3189 This should always be set since it prevents malicious users from
3190 creating fake mail folders in a world-writable spool directory.
3192 When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the originating
3193 folder when \*(UA is quit.
3194 Setting this option causes all saved message to be retained.
3195 .It Va line-editor-disable
3196 Turn off any enhanced command line editing capabilities (see
3197 .Sx COMMAND LINE EDITOR
3200 When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
3201 it is marked as having been answered.
3202 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
3203 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
3204 and makes them specially addressable.
3205 .It Va message-id-disable
3206 By setting this option the generation of `Message-ID:' can be completely
3207 suppressed, effectively leaving this task up to the mail-transfer-agent
3208 (MTA) or the SMTP server.
3209 (According to RFC 5321 your SMTP server is not required to add this
3210 field by itself, so you should ensure that it accepts messages without
3213 Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender,
3214 the sender is removed from the expansion.
3215 Setting this option causes the sender to be included in the group.
3216 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
3217 When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected in
3218 order to classify the `Content-Type:' and `Content-Transfer-Encoding:'
3219 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
3220 a computation rather similar to what the
3222 command produces when used with the
3226 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
3227 UTF-16 (often found for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
3228 octet-streams, forcefully changing any `text/plain' or `text/html'
3229 specification to `application/octet-stream';
3230 if that actually happens, then a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set
3231 to `binary', effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to
3232 automatically interpret the contents of the part.
3234 If this option is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as text
3235 data at first glance (by a `.txt' or `.html' file extension), then the
3236 original `Content-Type:' will not be overwritten.
3237 .It Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , \
3238 Va netrc-lookup-HOST , \
3240 \*(IN \*(OP Used to control usage of the users
3242 file for lookup of account credentials, as documented in the section
3243 .Sx "URL SYNTAX AND CREDENTIAL LOOKUP"
3248 documents the file format.
3250 Causes the filename given in the
3253 and the sender-based filenames for the
3257 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
3259 variable rather than to the current directory,
3260 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
3262 If set, each message the
3264 command prints out is followed by a formfeed character.
3266 Send messages to the
3268 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
3269 .It Va pop3-bulk-load
3270 \*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of the
3271 messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
3272 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
3274 If this option is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
3275 from POP3 servers instead.
3278 a macro that temporarily sets this option, then accesses a POP3 account
3279 that is known to only get small text messages, and then unsets this
3282 \*(OP Unless this variable is set the `APOP' authentication method
3283 will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that advertises support.
3284 The advantage of APOP over `USER/PASS' authentication is that the
3285 password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that only a single
3286 packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
3287 .It Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
3288 \*(IN Disables the `APOP' authentication method for a specific host.
3289 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST
3290 Disables the `APOP' authentication method for a specific account.
3291 .It Va pop3-use-starttls
3292 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STLS' command to make an unencrypted POP3
3293 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
3294 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
3295 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
3296 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
3298 .Va pop3-use-starttls
3299 for a specific host.
3300 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST
3302 .Va pop3-use-starttls
3303 for a specific account.
3304 .It Va print-all-chars
3305 This option causes all characters to be considered printable.
3306 It is only effective if given in a startup file.
3307 With this option set some character sequences in messages may put the
3308 user's terminal in an undefined state when printed;
3309 it should only be used as a last resort if no working system locale can
3311 .It Va print-alternatives
3312 When a MIME message part of type `multipart/alternative' is displayed
3313 and it contains a subpart of type `text/plain',
3314 other parts are normally discarded.
3315 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
3316 just as if the surrounding part was of type `multipart/mixed'.
3318 Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
3319 .It Va quote-as-attachment
3320 If this is set, then the original message is added in its entirety
3321 as a `message/rfc822' MIME attachment when replying to a message.
3322 Note this works regardless of the setting of
3324 .It Va recipients-in-cc
3325 On group replies, specify only the sender of the original mail in `To:'
3326 and mention it's other recipients in the secondary `Cc:'.
3327 .It Va record-resent
3328 If both this variable and the
3335 commands save messages to the
3337 folder as it is normally only done for newly composed messages.
3338 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
3339 If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same character set
3340 of the original message for replies.
3341 If this fails, the mechanism described in
3343 is evaluated as usual.
3345 Reverses the sense of
3350 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
3351 This variable can be used to force the display of a so-called `From_'
3352 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
3353 `message/rfc822' MIME mechanism.
3355 When the user aborts a message with two `RUBOUT' (interrupt,
3356 `control-C') characters,
3357 \*(UA will copy the partial letter to the file
3359 This option is set by default.
3360 .It Va searchheaders
3361 Expand message-list specifiers in the form `/x:y' to all messages
3362 containing the substring `y' in the header field `x'.
3363 The string search is case insensitive.
3364 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
3365 \*(OP If this variable is set, but
3367 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
3369 had been set to the value of the variable
3371 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
3372 character set of the current locale (given that
3374 hasn't been set manually), i.e., without converting it to the
3376 fallback character set.
3377 Thus, mail message text will be in `ISO-8859-1' encoding when send from
3378 within a `ISO-8859-1' locale, and in `UTF-8' encoding when send from
3379 within an `UTF-8' locale.
3380 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
3381 the only supported character set is
3384 When sending a message wait until the MTA exits before accepting further
3386 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
3387 the exit status of \*(ua will also be non-zero.
3389 Setting this option causes \*(UA to start at the last message instead of
3390 the first one when opening a mail folder.
3392 Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain address
3393 in the header field summary and in message specifications.
3395 Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header summary
3396 if the message was sent by the user.
3397 .It Va skipemptybody
3398 If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or only
3400 do not send it but discard it silently (see also the command line option
3403 .It Va smime-force-encryption
3404 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
3406 \*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key and
3407 include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
3408 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
3409 a valid certificate,
3410 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
3411 header and that the message content has not been altered.
3412 It does not change the message text,
3413 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
3417 .Va smime-sign-include-certs .
3418 .It Va smime-no-default-ca
3419 \*(OP Don't load default CA locations when verifying S/MIME signed
3421 .It Va smtp-use-starttls
3422 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an SMTP session
3424 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-HOST
3426 .Va smtp-use-starttls
3427 for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
3428 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-USER@HOST
3430 .Va smtp-use-starttls
3431 for a specific account.
3432 .It Va ssl-no-default-ca
3433 \*(OP Don't load default CA locations to verify SSL/TLS server
3436 \*(OP Accept SSLv2 connections.
3437 These are normally not allowed because this protocol version is insecure.
3438 .It Va keep-content-length
3439 When (editing messages and) writing
3441 mailbox files \*(UA can be told to keep the `Content-Length:' and
3442 `Lines:' header fields that some MUAs generate by setting this variable.
3443 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
3444 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
3445 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
3446 work with with same mailbox files.
3447 Note that, if this is not set but
3448 .Va writebackedited ,
3449 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
3450 fields already marks the message as being modified.
3452 Setting this option enables upward compatibility with \*(UA version 15.0
3453 in respect to which configuration options are available and how they are
3455 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
3456 doing things, respectively.
3458 Setting this option, also controllable via the command line option
3460 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, so that, e.g., certificate chains will
3461 be displayed on the users terminal.
3462 Setting this binary options twice increases the level of verbosity, in
3463 which case even details of the actual message delivery and protocol
3464 conversations are also shown.
3467 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
3468 .It Va writebackedited
3469 If this variable is set messages modified using the
3473 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
3474 it is only honoured for writable folders in MBOX format, though.
3475 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
3476 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
3478 and proper RFC 4155 `From ' quoting of newly added or edited content is
3479 also left as an excercise to the user.
3483 .\" .Ss "Value options" {{{
3485 .Bl -tag -width ".Va autoprint"
3486 .It Va agent-shell-lookup-USER@HOST , \
3487 Va agent-shell-lookup-HOST , \
3488 Va agent-shell-lookup
3489 \*(IN \*(OP Account passwords can be fetched via an external agent
3490 program in order to permit encrypted password storage \(en see
3491 .Sx "URL SYNTAX AND CREDENTIAL LOOKUP"
3492 for more on credential lookup.
3493 If this is set then the content is interpreted as a shell command the
3494 output of which (with newline characters removed) is treated as the
3495 account password shall the command succeed; e.g., via
3497 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3498 $ echo PASSWORD > .pass
3500 $ eval `gpg-agent --daemon \e
3501 --pinentry-program=/usr/bin/pinentry-curses \e
3502 --max-cache-ttl 99999 --default-cache-ttl 99999`
3503 $ echo 'set agent-shell-lookup="gpg -d .pass.gpg"' \e
3507 A couple of environment variables will be set for the agent:
3508 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev NAIL_HOST_PORT"
3510 The user (`USER') for which the password is looked up.
3511 .It Ev NAIL_USER_ENC
3512 The URL percent-encoded variant of
3515 The plain machine hostname of the user account.
3516 .It Ev NAIL_HOST_PORT
3517 The `HOST' (hostname possibly including port) of the user account.
3520 A sequence of characters to print in the `attribute' column of a header
3522 each for one type of messages in the following order:
3523 new (N), unread but old (U), new but read (R), read and old (O), saved
3524 (S), preserved (P), mboxed (M), flagged (F), answered (A), draft (T),
3525 start of a collapsed thread (+), collapsed (\-), classified as spam ($).
3526 The default is `NUROSPMFAT+\-$',
3527 or `NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$' if
3531 environment variable are set.
3533 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
3534 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
3536 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
3537 message will be sent automatically.
3539 Causes sorted mode (see the
3541 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this option as
3542 sorting method when a folder is opened.
3544 The value that should appear in the `charset=' parameter of
3545 `Content-Type:' MIME header fields when no character set conversion of
3546 the message data was performed.
3547 This defaults to `US-ASCII', and the chosen character set should be
3548 `US-ASCII' compatible.
3550 \*(OP The default 8 bit character set that is used as an implied last
3551 member of the variable
3553 Defaults to `UTF-8'.
3554 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
3555 the only supported character set is
3557 Refer to the section
3559 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
3561 The default value for the
3565 \*(OP The colour specification for so-called `From_' lines.
3567 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3568 for the format of the value.
3569 .It Va colour-header
3570 \*(OP The colour specification for header lines.
3572 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3573 for the format of the value.
3574 .It Va colour-msginfo
3575 \*(OP The colour specification for the introductional message info line.
3577 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3578 for the format of the value.
3579 .It Va colour-partinfo
3580 \*(OP The colour specification for MIME part info lines.
3582 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3583 for the format of the value.
3585 \*(OP A comma-separated list of
3587 inals for which coloured message display can be used.
3588 Entries only need to be added if the string "color" isn't part of the
3589 terminal name itself; the default value is
3591 .Dl cons25,linux,rxvt,rxvt-unicode,\:screen,\:sun,\:vt100,\:vt220,\:\
3593 .It Va colour-uheader
3594 \*(OP The colour specification for those header lines that have been
3596 .Va colour-user-headers
3599 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3600 for the format of the value.
3601 .It Va colour-user-headers
3602 A comma separated list of (case-insensitive) header names which should
3603 be colourized with the alternative
3606 The default value is `from,subject'.
3608 The valued option crt is used as a threshold to determine how long
3609 a message must be before
3614 is set without a value then the height of the terminal screen stored in
3615 the system is used to compute the threshold (see
3621 The date in a header summary is normally the date of the mailbox `From\ '
3622 line of the message.
3623 If this variable is set, then the date as given in the `Date:' field is
3624 used, converted to local time.
3625 It is possible to control the display of the date by assigning a value,
3628 function will be used to format the date accordingly.
3629 Please read your system manual for the available formats.
3630 Note that the `%n' format should not be used, because \*(UA doesn't
3631 take embedded newlines into account when calculating how many lines fit
3633 .It Va datefield-markout-older
3634 This option, when set in addition to
3636 modifies the display of messages that are not really current in a way
3637 that is rather comparable to the
3642 The interpretation of the value is identical to what has been described
3646 Suggestion for the MIME encoding to use in outgoing text messages
3648 Valid values are the default `quoted-printable', `8bit' and `base64'.
3649 `8bit' may cause problems with when transferring mail messages over
3650 channels that are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
3651 If there is no need to encode a message,
3652 `7bit' transfer mode is always used regardless of this variable.
3653 Binary data is always encoded as `base64'.
3655 If defined, the first character of this option
3656 gives the character to use in place of `~' to denote
3657 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
3659 The name of the directory to use for storing folders of messages.
3660 All folder names that begin with `+' refer to files below it.
3661 The same special conventions as documented for the
3663 command may be used when specifying a new value for
3665 but be aware that the expansion is fully performed immediately.
3666 E.g., if the expanded name refers to an IMAP account, all names that
3667 begin with `+' refer to IMAP mailboxes below the
3671 Note: some IMAP servers do not accept the creation of mailboxes in
3672 the hierarchy base, but require that they are created as subfolders of
3673 `INBOX' \(en with such servers a folder name of the form
3675 .Dl imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example/INBOX.
3677 should be used (the last character is the server's hierarchy delimiter).
3678 Folder names prefixed by `+' will then refer to folders below `INBOX',
3679 while folder names prefixed by `@' refer to folders below the hierarchy
3683 namespace command for a method to detect the appropriate prefix and
3686 When a folder is opened and this variable is set,
3687 the macro corresponding to the value of this variable is executed.
3688 The macro is also invoked when new mail arrives,
3689 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
3690 only include newly arrived messages then.
3691 .It Va folder-hook-fullname
3692 When a folder named `fullname' is opened,
3693 the macro corresponding to the value of this variable is executed.
3694 Unlike other folder specifications,
3695 the fully expanded name of a folder, without metacharacters,
3696 is used to avoid ambiguities.
3697 The macro specified with
3699 is not executed if this variable is effective for a folder
3702 ed from within the actually executed macro).
3704 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the `From:' field of
3705 the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
3706 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
3707 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
3708 If replying to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in
3712 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
3713 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
3718 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities),
3722 contains more than one address,
3725 variable is required (according to the standard RFC 5322).
3727 The string to print before the text of a message with the
3731 .Va forward-as-attachment
3733 Defaults to `-------- Original Message --------' if unset.
3734 No heading is printed if it is set to the empty string.
3736 A format string to use for the header summary,
3740 A `%' character introduces a format specifier.
3741 It may be followed by a number indicating the field width.
3742 If the (possibly implicitly implied) field width is negative, the field
3743 is to be left-aligned.
3744 Valid format specifiers are:
3745 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width "%%"
3749 The date when the message was received.
3751 The indenting level in threaded mode.
3753 The address of the message sender.
3755 The message thread structure.
3756 (Note that this format doesn't support a field width.)
3758 The number of lines of the message.
3762 The number of octets (bytes) in the message.
3764 Message subject (if any).
3766 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
3768 The position in threaded/sorted order.
3770 A `>' for the current message, otherwise ` '.
3772 A `<' for the current message, otherwise ` '.
3774 The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the command
3780 The default is `%>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s',
3781 or `%>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S' if
3788 .It Va headline-bidi
3789 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
3790 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
3791 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
3792 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
3793 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
3794 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
3796 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
3797 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
3798 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
3800 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
3801 fields that may occur when printing
3803 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
3805 with special Unicode control sequences;
3806 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
3808 no value (or any value other than `1', `2' and `3') will make \*(UA
3809 assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal with Unicode
3810 version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of U+2068 (FIRST
3811 STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE) characters.
3812 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
3814 Weaker support is chosen by using the value `1' (Unicode 6.3, but
3815 reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control sequences onto
3817 The values `2' and `3' select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT
3818 MARK); the latter again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
3820 Use this string as hostname when expanding local addresses instead of
3821 the value obtained from
3825 i.e., in `Message-ID:' and `From:' fields.
3828 transport is not used then it is normally the responsibility of the MTA
3829 to create these fields, \*(IN in conjunction with
3833 also influences the results;
3834 you should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
3841 \*(OP Sets the IMAP authentication method.
3842 Valid values are `login' for the usual password-based authentication
3844 `cram-md5', which is a password-based authentication that does not send
3845 the password over the network in clear text,
3846 and `gssapi' for GSS-API based authentication.
3847 .It Va imap-auth-USER@HOST
3848 Sets the IMAP authentication method for a specific account.
3850 \*(OP Enables caching of IMAP mailboxes.
3851 The value of this variable must point to a directory that is either
3852 existent or can be created by \*(UA.
3853 All contents of the cache can be deleted by \*(UA at any time;
3854 it is not safe to make assumptions about them.
3855 .It Va imap-keepalive
3856 \*(OP IMAP servers may close the connection after a period of
3857 inactivity; the standard requires this to be at least 30 minutes,
3858 but practical experience may vary.
3859 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
3860 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
3862 .It Va imap-list-depth
3863 \*(OP When retrieving the list of folders on an IMAP server, the
3865 command stops after it has reached a certain depth to avoid possible
3867 The value of this variable sets the maximum depth allowed.
3869 If the folder separator on the current IMAP server is a slash `/',
3870 this variable has no effect and the
3872 command does not descend to subfolders.
3874 String used by the `~m', `~M' and `~R'
3878 option for indenting messages,
3879 in place of the normal tabulator character (`^I'), which is the default.
3880 Be sure to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
3881 .It Va line-editor-cursor-right
3882 \*(OP If the builtin command line editor is used, actions which are
3883 based on rightwise movement may not work on some terminals.
3884 If you encounter such problems, set this variable to the terminal
3885 control sequence that is necessary to move the cursor one column to the
3887 The default is `\\033[C', which should work for most terminals.
3888 Less often occur `\\033OC' and `\\014'.
3889 Note that `ESCAPE' and other control character have to be written as
3890 shell-style escape sequences, e.g., `\\033' for `ESCAPE'.
3892 Is used as the user's mailbox, if set.
3893 Otherwise, a system-dependent default is used.
3894 Supports a logical subset of the special conventions that are documented
3900 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
3901 Normally the `Content-Type:' field is used to decide how to treat
3902 a messages MIME part.
3903 Some MUAs however don't use
3905 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content,
3906 but simply specify `application/octet-stream',
3907 even for plain text attachments like `text/diff'.
3908 If this variable is set then \*(UA will use the file extension of
3909 attachments to classify such MIME message parts, if possible.
3911 This can also be given a non-empty value: in this case the value is
3912 expected to be a number, actually a carrier of bits.
3913 If bit two is set (0x2) then the detected "real" content-type will be
3914 carried along with the message and be used for detecting which
3915 .Va pipe-CONTENT/SUBCONTENT
3916 is responsible for the MIME part, shall that question arise;
3917 when displaying such a MIME part the part-info will indicate the
3918 overridden content-type by showing a plus-sign (`+').
3919 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
3920 This option can be used to control which of the
3922 MIME type databases are loaded by \*(UA.
3923 If the letter `u' (or `U') is part of this options value, then the
3926 file will be loaded (if it exists);
3927 likewise the letter `s' (or `S') controls loading of the system wide
3928 .Pa /etc/mime.types .
3929 If this option is not set \*(UA will try to load both files instead.
3930 Incorporation of the MIME types that are compiled into \*(UA cannot be
3932 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
3933 The name of an optional startup file to be read after \*(ur.
3934 This variable is ignored if it is imported from the environment;
3935 it has an effect only if it is set in \*(UR or \*(ur to allow bypassing
3936 the configuration with, e.g., `MAILRC=/dev/null'.
3937 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other \*(UA
3940 A string to put at the beginning of each new message.
3941 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
3942 .It Va NAIL_HISTFILE
3943 \*(OP If a command line editor is available then this can be set to
3944 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent history file.
3945 .It Va NAIL_HISTSIZE
3946 \*(OP If a command line editor is available this value restricts the
3947 amount of history entries that are saved into a set and valid
3949 A value of less than 0 disables this feature;
3950 note that loading and incorporation of
3952 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
3953 An unset or invalid value, or 0, causes a default value to be used.
3954 Dependent on the available command line editor this will also define the
3955 number of history entries in memory;
3956 it is also editor-specific wether runtime updates of this value will be
3959 A string to put at the end of each new message.
3960 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
3962 If this variable has the value `maildir',
3963 newly created local folders will be in `maildir' format.
3965 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is
3967 For IMAP mailboxes the server is then polled for new mail,
3968 which may result in delayed operation if the connection to the server is
3970 A `maildir' folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has
3973 If this variable is set to the special value `nopoll' an IMAP server is
3974 not actively asked for new mail,
3975 but new mail may still be detected and announced with any other IMAP
3976 command that is sent to the server.
3977 A `maildir' folder is not scanned, then.
3979 In either case the IMAP server may send notifications about messages
3980 that have been deleted on the server by another process or client.
3981 In this case, `Expunged X messages' is printed regardless of this
3983 and message numbers may have changed.
3985 The value to put into the `Organization:' field of the message header.
3987 \*(IN Sets a global fallback password, which is used in case none has
3988 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL and neither is there
3989 a matching `password-USER@HOST' nor a matching `password-HOST';
3990 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
3991 the authentication method requires a password.
3992 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
3993 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
3994 .It Va password-HOST
3997 for accounts on a specific host.
3998 .It Va password-USER@HOST
4003 for a specific account.
4005 Set the password for `user' when connecting to `host'.
4006 If no such variable is defined for a host,
4007 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
4008 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
4009 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
4010 .It Va pipe-CONTENT/SUBCONTENT
4011 When a MIME message part of type `CONTENT/SUBCONTENT' (normalized to
4012 lowercase) type is displayed or quoted,
4013 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
4015 Some information about the MIME part to be displayed is embedded into
4016 the environment of the shell command:
4017 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev NAIL_FILENAME_GENERATED"
4018 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME
4019 The filename, if any is set, the empty string otherwise.
4020 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME_GENERATED
4023 if that isn't empty, but otherwise a combination of a random string
4024 (always) and the `SUBCONTENT' of the MIME part, if the latter is known.
4026 The MIME content-type of the part, if known, the empty string otherwise.
4027 .It Ev NAIL_CONTENT_EVIDENCE
4029 .Va mime-counter-evidence
4030 includes the carry-around-bit (2), then this will be set to the detected
4031 MIME content-type; not only then identical to
4036 The special value `@' can be used to force interpretation of the message
4037 part as plain text, e.g., `set pipe-application/pgp-signature=@' will
4038 henceforth treat signatures as plain text and display them "as is".
4040 Also, if a normal shell command is prefixed with `@', then the command
4041 will only be used to prepare the MIME message part if the message is
4042 displayed by itself, but not when multiple messages are displayed at
4045 Finally, if a normal shell command is prefixed with `@&', then, in
4046 addition to what has been described for the plain `@' shell command
4047 prefix, the command will be run asynchronously, i.e., without blocking
4048 \*(UA, which may be a handy way to display a, e.g., PDF file while also
4049 continuing to read the mail message.
4050 .It Va pipe-EXTENSION
4051 This is identical to
4052 .Va pipe-CONTENT/SUBCONTENT
4053 except that `EXTENSION' (normalized to lowercase using character
4054 mappings of the ASCII charset) names a file extension, e.g., `xhtml'.
4055 Handlers registered using this method take precedence.
4056 .It Va pop3-keepalive
4057 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
4058 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
4059 but practical experience may vary.
4060 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
4061 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
4064 The string printed when a command is accepted.
4065 Prompting may be prevented by either setting this to the null string
4068 The same XSI escape sequences that are understood by the
4070 command may be used within
4073 In addition, the following \*(UA specific additional sequences are
4075 `\\&', which expands to `?' unless
4077 is set, in which case it expands to `&';
4078 note that "\\& " is the default value for
4080 `\\?', which will expand to `1' if the last command failed, and to `0'
4082 `\\$', which will expand to the name of the currently active
4084 if any, and to the empty string otherwise,
4085 and `\\@', which will expand to the name of the currently active mailbox.
4086 (Note that the prompt buffer is size-limited, excess is cut off.)
4092 to encapsulate the expansions of the `\\$' and `\\@' escape sequences as
4093 necessary to correctly display bidirectional text, this is not true for
4094 the final string that makes up
4096 as such, i.e., real BIDI handling is not supported.
4098 When a newer version of the
4100 .Sx COMMAND LINE EDITOR
4101 is used, any escape sequence must itself be encapsulated with another
4102 escape character for usage with the
4104 mechanism: \*(UA configures the control character `\\01' for this.
4106 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
4107 prefixed by the value of the variable
4109 Normally, a heading consisting of `Fromheaderfield wrote:' is printed
4110 before the quotation.
4111 If the string `noheading' is assigned to the
4113 variable, this heading is omitted.
4114 If the string `headers' is assigned, the headers selected by the
4115 .Ic ignore Ns / Ns Ic retain
4116 commands are printed above the message body,
4119 acts like an automatic `~m'
4122 If the string `allheaders' is assigned, all headers are printed above
4123 the message body and all MIME parts are included,
4126 act like an automatic `~M' command.
4128 .Va quote-as-attachment .
4130 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
4132 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
4133 quotation characters are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
4135 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
4136 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
4137 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
4139 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
4140 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
4141 The goal can't be smaller than the length of
4143 plus some additional pad.
4144 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
4146 If defined, gives the pathname of the folder used to record all outgoing
4148 If not defined, then outgoing mail is not saved.
4149 When saving to this folder fails the message is not sent,
4150 but instead saved to
4152 .It Va reply_strings
4153 Can be set to a comma-separated list of (case-insensitive according to
4154 ASCII rules) strings which shall be recognized in addition to the
4155 builtin strings as reply message indicators.
4156 Builtin are `Re:', which is mandated by RFC 5322, as well as the german
4159 A list of addresses to put into the `Reply-To:' field of the message
4161 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
4165 When \*(UA initially prints the message headers it determines the number
4166 to print by looking at the speed of the terminal.
4167 The faster the terminal, the more it prints.
4168 This option overrides this calculation and specifies how many message
4169 headers are printed.
4170 This number is also used for scrolling with the
4174 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
4175 outgoing Internet mail.
4176 The value of the variable
4178 is automatically appended to this list of character-sets.
4179 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
4180 the only supported charset is
4183 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
4184 and refer to the section
4186 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
4188 An address that is put into the `Sender:' field of outgoing messages,
4189 quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent responsible for the actual
4190 transmission of the message.
4191 This field should normally not be used unless the `From:' field contains
4192 more than one address, on which case it is required.
4195 address is handled as if it were in the
4199 To use an alternate mail delivery system,
4200 set this option to the full pathname of the program to use.
4201 It may be necessary to set
4202 .Va sendmail-progname
4204 .It Va sendmail-arguments
4205 Arguments to pass through to the Mail-Transfer-Agent can be given via
4207 These will be joined onto MTA options that have been given on the
4210 .Dl set sendmail-arguments='-t -X \&"/tmp/my log\&"'
4211 .It Va sendmail-progname
4212 Many systems use a so-called
4214 environment to ensure compatibility with
4216 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
4218 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
4219 actually executed when calling `sendmail') will treat its contents as
4221 The default is `sendmail'.
4223 A string for use with the `~A' tilde escape.
4225 A string for use with the `~a' tilde escape.
4227 Must correspond to the name of a readable file if set.
4228 The file's content is then appended to each singlepart message
4229 and to the first part of each multipart message.
4230 Be warned that there is no possibility to edit the signature for an
4233 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
4234 Enhanced Mail) format for verification of S/MIME signed messages.
4235 .It Va smime-ca-file
4236 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
4237 verification of S/MIME signed messages.
4238 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST
4239 \*(OP Specifies a cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
4240 messages for the specified account.
4241 RFC 5751 mandates a default of `aes-128' (AES-128 CBC).
4243 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
4244 library that \*(UA uses; possible values are, in decreasing cipher
4246 `aes-256' (AES-256 CBC), `aes-192' (AES-192 CBC), `aes-128' (AES-128 CBC),
4247 `des3' (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if `aes-128' isn't available)
4248 and `des' (DES CBC, 56 bits).
4250 The following ciphers have been obsoleted and are no longer mentioned by
4251 the S/MIME specification (RFC 5751), but may be selected if available:
4252 `rc2-64' (RC2 CBC, 64 bits) and `rc2-40' (RC2 CBC, 40 bits).
4253 .It Va smime-crl-file
4254 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
4255 verifying S/MIME messages.
4256 .It Va smime-crl-dir
4257 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
4258 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
4259 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
4260 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
4261 encrypted before sending.
4262 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
4263 contains a certificate in PEM format.
4265 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
4266 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
4267 individually encrypted message;
4268 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
4270 .Va smime-force-encryption
4272 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
4275 .It Va smime-sign-cert
4276 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
4277 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
4278 user's private key as well as his certificate.
4280 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
4281 (certificate) is expected; the command
4283 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
4284 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
4285 gives some details).
4286 This mode of operation is usually driven via
4287 .Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST ,
4289 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST
4292 for a specific account.
4293 For message signing `USER@HOST' is always derived from the value of
4295 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
4299 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
4300 fields (`To:' and `Cc:') of the message, which are searched for
4301 addresses for which such a variable is set.
4302 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
4303 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
4304 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
4305 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs
4306 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
4307 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
4308 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
4311 This is most useful for long certificate chains if it is desired to aid
4312 the receiving party's verification process.
4313 Note that top level certificates may also be included in the chain but
4314 don't play a role for verification.
4318 .Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST .
4319 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST
4321 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
4322 for a specific account.
4324 \*(OP Normally \*(UA invokes the program defined via
4326 to transfer messages.
4329 variable will instead cause `SMTP' network connections be made to the
4330 server specified therein in order to directly submit the message.
4331 \*(UA knows about three different "SMTP protocols":
4332 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
4334 The plain `SMTP' protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
4335 server port 25 and requires setting of the
4336 .Va smtp-use-starttls
4337 variable as above to enter a SSL/TLS encrypted session state.
4338 Assign a value like \*(IN `[smtp://][user[:password]@]server[:port]'
4339 (\*(OU `[smtp://]server[:port]')
4340 to choose this protocol.
4342 Then the so-called `SMTPS' which is supposed to live on server port 465
4343 and is automatically SSL/TLS secured.
4344 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
4345 be supported by your hosts network service database
4346 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
4349 `SMTPS' is nonetheless a commonly offered "protocol" and thus can be
4350 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
4351 `smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]'
4352 (\*(OU `smtps://server[:port]');
4353 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
4354 specify the port as `:465', however.
4356 Finally there is the `SUBMISSION' protocol (RFC 6409), which usually
4357 lives on server port 587 and is practically identically to the `SMTP'
4358 protocol from \*(UAs point of view beside that; it requires setting the
4359 .Va smtp-use-starttls
4360 variable to enter a SSL/TLS secured session state.
4361 Assign a value like \*(IN `submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port]'
4362 (\*(OU `submission://server[:port]').
4365 The SMTP transfer is executed in a child process, which runs
4366 asynchronously unless either the
4371 If it receives a TERM signal, it will abort and save the message to
4374 \*(OP Sets the SMTP authentication method.
4375 Possible values are `none' (the default), `plain', `login'
4376 as well as the \*(OPal methods `cram-md5' and `gssapi'.
4377 The `none' method doesn't need any user credentials,
4378 `gssapi' requires a user name
4379 and all other methods require a user name and a password.
4386 .Va smtp-auth-password
4388 .Va smtp-auth-user Ns
4390 .It Va smtp-auth-HOST
4393 for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
4394 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST
4397 for a specific account.
4398 (\*(OU For specific values of sender addresses, dependend upon the variable
4401 .It Va smtp-auth-password
4402 \*(OP \*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
4403 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
4404 .Va smtp-auth-password
4406 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
4408 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
4409 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
4411 .Va smtp-auth-password
4412 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
4414 .It Va smtp-auth-user
4415 \*(OP \*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
4416 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
4419 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
4421 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
4422 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
4425 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
4427 .It Va smtp-hostname
4428 \*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
4430 to derive the necessary `USER@HOST' information to issue a
4431 `MAIL FROM:<>' SMTP command.
4434 can be used to use the `USER' from the SMTP account
4439 and the `HOST' from the content of this variable
4440 (or, if that is the empty string,
4442 or the local hostname as a last resort).
4443 This often allows using an address that is itself valid but hosted by
4444 a provider other than which is about to send the message in
4446 Setting this variable also influences the generated `Message-Id:'.
4448 \*(OP The path to the spam detector.
4449 Note that the path is not expanded, but used "as is".
4450 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
4452 executable had been found during compilation.
4454 \*(OP Can be used to specify the host on which
4456 listens for connections; if not set, defaults to `localhost'.
4458 \*(OP Spam detectors like
4460 decline to work with messages which exceed a specific size;
4461 if this variable is set then \*(UA won't even try to pass messages which
4462 exceed the given limit.
4463 The default is 420000 bytes.
4465 \*(OP Can be used to explicitly specify the port on which
4467 listens for connections.
4469 \*(OP If the spam detector listens on a path-based UNIX domain socket,
4470 then setting this variable to the fully qualified path will force its
4471 usage for communication.
4473 \*(OP This can be used to support multiple, per-used configuration files
4474 of the spam detector.
4475 Note that \*(UA doesn't automatically set this to reflect a possibly set
4479 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Pricacy
4480 Enhanced Mail) for verification of of SSL/TLS server certificates.
4482 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
4483 for more information.
4485 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
4486 verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
4488 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
4489 for more information.
4491 \*(OP Sets the file name for a SSL/TLS client certificate required by
4493 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST
4494 Sets an account-specific file name for a SSL/TLS client certificate
4495 required by some servers.
4498 for the specified account.
4499 .It Va ssl-cipher-list
4500 \*(OP Specifies a list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections.
4503 for more information.
4505 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
4506 verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
4508 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
4509 to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
4511 \*(OP Sets the file name for the private key of a SSL/TLS client
4513 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
4514 The file is expected to be in PEM format.
4515 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST
4516 Sets an account-specific file name for the private key of a SSL/TLS
4520 for the specified account.
4522 \*(OP Selects the used TLS/SSL protocol version.
4523 The actually available protocol versions depend on the TLS/SSL
4524 library that \*(UA uses; possible values are, from newest to oldest:
4525 `tls1.2', `tls1.1', `tls1', `ssl3' and `ssl2'.
4529 to any of these values will fixate the used protocol, which means that
4530 connections will fail if the server doesn't support it.
4531 The value `auto', which is the default, chooses a compatibility method
4532 that automatically uses the newest protocol version that the server
4533 is capable to understand.
4535 It has to be noted that `auto' is used as a fallback method if
4536 the actual setting of
4538 isn't supported by the used TLS/SSL library \(em in this case an error
4539 message will be printed first, however.
4540 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST
4543 for a specific account.
4545 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
4547 Note that (as of 2014) not all OpenSSL installations include this
4549 .It Va ssl-rand-file
4550 \*(OP Gives the pathname to a file with entropy data, see
4551 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
4552 If the file is a regular file writable by the invoking user,
4553 new data is written to it after it has been loaded.
4555 \*(OP Sets the action to be performed if an error occurs during SSL/TLS
4556 server certificate validation.
4558 `strict' (fail and close connection immediately),
4559 `ask' (ask whether to continue on standard input),
4560 `warn' (print a warning and continue),
4561 `ignore' (do not perform validation).
4562 The default is `ask'.
4563 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST
4566 for a specific account.
4568 If only set without an assigned value, then this option inhibits the
4569 generation of the `Message-Id:' and `User-Agent:' header fields that
4570 include obvious references to \*(UA.
4571 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
4572 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
4573 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
4574 to track down the originating mail user agent.
4575 If set to the value `noagent', then the mentioned `Message-Id:'
4576 suppression doesn't occur.
4578 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out
4579 with the top command;
4580 normally, the first five lines are printed.
4582 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
4583 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
4584 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
4585 in which case it defaults to `ISO-8859-1' unless it can deduce a value
4586 from the `LC_CTYPE' locale environment.
4587 Refer to the section
4589 for the complete picture about character sets.
4591 \*(IN Sets a global fallback user name, which is used in case none has
4592 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL and there is also
4595 This variable defaults to the value of
4600 for a specific host.
4603 .\" }}} (Variable options)
4605 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
4607 Besides the variables described above,
4608 \*(UA uses the following environment variables:
4609 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev MAILRC"
4611 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
4612 or window (only used during startup).
4614 The name of the file to use for saving aborted messages.
4615 This defaults to `dead.letter' in the user's home directory.
4617 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
4621 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
4622 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
4624 The user's home directory.
4625 .It Ev LANG , Ev LC_ALL , Ev LC_COLLATE , Ev LC_CTYPE , Ev LC_MESSAGES
4629 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen or
4630 window size in lines (only used during startup).
4632 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
4634 command when operating on local mailboxes.
4638 The name of the user's mbox file.
4639 Supports a logical subset of the special conventions that are documented
4645 The fallback default is `mbox' in the user's home directory.
4647 Is used as a startup file instead of \*(ur if set.
4648 When \*(UA scripts are invoked on behalf of other users,
4649 this variable should be set to
4651 to avoid side-effects from reading their configuration files.
4653 If this variable is set and
4655 is not, it is treated as a startup configuration file and read.
4656 .It Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
4657 If this variable is set then reading of \*(UR at startup is inhibited,
4658 i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA had been started up with
4662 \*(IN \*(OP This variable overrides the default location of the user's
4666 Pathname of the program to use in the more command or when the
4669 The default paginator is
4672 Pathname of the shell to use in the
4674 command and the `~!'
4675 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
4676 A default shell is used if this option is not defined.
4678 Changes the letters printed in the first column of a header summary.
4680 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
4682 Used as directory for temporary files instead of
4686 Can be used to force identification as
4688 i.e., identical to the
4690 command line option.
4692 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
4695 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
4701 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa /etc/mime.types"
4703 File giving initial commands.
4705 System wide initialization file.
4706 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
4707 Personal MIME types.
4708 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
4709 System wide MIME types.
4711 \*(IN \*(OP The default location of the users
4713 file \(en the section
4714 .Sx "THE .netrc FILE"
4715 documents the file format.
4719 .\" .Sh "THE mime.types FILES" {{{
4720 .Sh "THE mime.types FILES"
4721 For any outgoing attachment \*(UA tries to determine the content type.
4722 It does this by reading MIME type files whose lines have the following
4725 .Dl type/subtype extension [extension ...]
4727 where `type/subtype' are strings describing the file contents,
4728 and `extension' is the part of a filename starting after the last dot.
4729 Any line not immediately beginning with an ASCII alphabetical character
4730 is ignored by \*(UA.
4732 .Va mimetypes-load-control
4733 can be used to control the sources of MIME types, and the
4735 command can be used to show the list of mime types known to \*(UA.
4736 If there is a match with the `extension' of the file to attach,
4737 the given `type/subtype' pair is used.
4738 Otherwise, or if the filename has no extension,
4739 the content types `text/plain' or `application/octet-stream' are used,
4740 dependent upon file content inspection.
4742 .Va mime-allow-text-controls .
4745 .\" .Sh THE .netrc FILE {{{
4749 file contains user credentials for machine accounts.
4750 The default location in the user's home directory may be
4753 environment variable.
4754 The file consists of space, tabulator or newline separated tokens.
4755 \*(UA implements a parser that supports a superset of the original BSD
4756 syntax, but users should nonetheless be aware of portability glitches
4757 of that file format, shall their
4759 be usable across multiple programs and platforms:
4762 BSD doesn't support single, but only double quotation marks;
4763 e.g., `password="pass with spaces"'.
4765 BSD (only?) supports escaping of single characters via a backslash
4766 (e.g., a space can be escaped via `\e '), in- as well as outside of
4769 BSD doesn't require the final quotation mark of the final user input
4772 At least Hewlett-Packard seems to support a format which also allows
4773 tokens to be separated with commas \(en this format is not supported!
4775 Whereas other programs may require that the
4777 file is accessible by only the user if it contains a
4781 than anonymous, \*(UA will always require these strict permissions.
4784 Of the following list of supported tokens \*(UA only uses (and caches)
4785 `machine', `login' and `password':
4786 .Bl -tag -width password
4787 .It Ic machine Ar name
4788 The hostname of the entries machine, lowercase-normalized by \*(UA
4790 Any further file content, until either end-of-file or the occurrence
4795 first-class token is bound (only related) to the machine
4798 As an extension that shouldn't be the cause of any worries
4799 \*(UA supports a single wildcard prefix for
4802 .Dl *.example.com login USER password PASSWORD
4803 .Dl imap.example.com login USER password PASSWORD
4805 which would match `smtp.example.com' as well as `pop3.example.com', but
4806 neither `example.com' nor `local.smtp.example.com'.
4807 Note that in the example `imap.example.com' will not be matched by the
4808 wildcard, since the exact match takes precedence (it is however faster
4809 to specify it the other way around).
4813 except that it is a fallback entry that is used shall none of the
4814 specified machines match; only one default token may be specified,
4815 and it must be the last first-class token.
4816 .It Ic login Ar name
4817 The user name on the remote machine.
4818 .It Ic password Ar string
4819 The user's password on the remote machine.
4820 .It Ic account Ar string
4821 Supply an additional account password.
4822 This is merely for FTP purposes.
4823 .It Ic macdef Ar name
4825 A macro is defined with the specified
4827 it is formed from all lines beginning with the next line and continuing
4828 until a blank line is (consecutive newline characters are) encountered.
4831 entries cannot be utilized by multiple machines, too, but must be
4832 defined following the
4834 they are intended to be used with.)
4837 exists, it is automatically run as the last step of the login process.
4838 This is merely for FTP purposes.
4842 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
4845 .\" .Ss "An example configuration" {{{
4846 .Ss "An example configuration"
4847 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4848 # This example assumes v15.0 compatibility mode
4851 # Where are the SSL certificates?
4852 set ssl-ca-dir=/etc/ssl/certs
4853 set ssl-verify=strict
4855 # Essential setting: select allowed character sets
4856 set sendcharsets=utf-8,iso-8859-1
4858 # Don't try to load any external mime.types(5) descriptions
4859 set mimetypes-load-control
4861 # Default directory where we act in (relative to $HOME)
4862 set folder=mail MBOX=+mbox.mbox record=+sent.mbox \e
4865 # Not really optional, e.g., for S/MIME
4866 set from="Your Name <youremail@domain>"
4868 # It may be necessary to set hostname and/or smtp-hostname
4869 # if the "SERVER" of smtp and "domain" of from don't match.
4870 # The `urlencode' command can be used to encode USER and PASS
4871 set smtp=(smtp[s]/submission)://[USER[:PASS]@]SERVER[:PORT] \e
4872 smtp-auth=login/plain... \e
4875 # Never refuse to start into interactive mode, and more
4877 colour-pager history-gabby mime-counter-evidence=2 \e
4878 prompt="\033[31m?\?[\$ \@]\& \033[0m" \e
4879 NAIL_HISTFILE=+.s-nailhist NAIL_HISTSIZE=-1
4881 # When `p'rinting messages, show only these headers
4882 # (use `P'rint for all headers and `S'how for raw message)
4883 retain date from to cc subject
4885 # A real life example of a very huge free mail provider
4888 # (The plain smtp:// proto is optional)
4889 set smtp=USER:PASS@smtp.gmXil.com \e
4890 smtp-auth=plain smtp-use-starttls
4891 set from="Your Name <youremail@domain>"
4894 # Here is a pretty large one which does not allow sending mails
4895 # if there is a domain name mismatch on the SMTP protocol level,
4896 # which would bite us if the value of from does not match, e.g.,
4897 # for people who have a sXXXXeforge project and want to speak
4898 # with the mailing list under their project account (in from),
4899 # still sending the message through their normal mail provider
4902 set smtp=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.yaXXex.ru:465 smtp-auth=plain \e
4903 hostname=yaXXex.com smtp-hostname=
4904 set from="Your Name <youremail@domain>"
4908 When storing passwords in \*(ur appropriate permissions should be set on
4909 this file with `$ chmod 0600 \*(ur'.
4912 is available user credentials can be stored in the central
4914 file instead; e.g., here is a different version of the example account
4915 that sets up SMTP and POP3:
4916 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4920 #set agent-shell-lookup="gpg -d .pass.gpg"
4922 set smtp=smtps://smtp.yXXXXx.ru:465 smtp-auth=plain \e
4923 smtp-hostname= hostname=yXXXXx.com
4924 set pop3-keepalive=240
4925 ghost xp 'fi pop3s://pop.yXXXXx.ru'
4932 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4933 machine *.yXXXXx.ru login USER password PASS
4937 .Va agent-shell-lookup
4938 is available things could be diversified further by using encrypted
4939 password storage: for this, don't specify `password PASS' in the
4941 file and instead uncomment the line that defines agent lookup in the
4944 above, then create the encrypted password storage file
4946 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4949 $ eval `gpg-agent --daemon \e
4950 --pinentry-program=/usr/bin/pinentry-curses \e
4951 --max-cache-ttl 99999 --default-cache-ttl 99999`
4954 This configuration should now work just fine (use the
4956 command line option for a(n almost) dry-run):
4958 .Dl $ echo text | \*(ua -vv -AXandeX -s Subject some@where
4961 .\" .Ss "Sending mail from scripts" {{{
4962 .Ss "Sending mail from scripts"
4963 If you want to send mail from scripts, you must be aware that \*(UA
4964 reads the user's configuration files by default.
4965 So unless your script is only intended for your own personal use
4966 (as, e.g., a cron job), you need to circumvent this:
4968 .Dl MAILRC=/dev/null LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 \*(ua \-n
4970 You then need to create a script-local configuration for \*(UA.
4971 This can be done by either pointing the
4973 variable to a custom configuration file,
4974 by passing the configuration in environment variables,
4977 command line option to specify options.
4978 Since many configuration options are not valid shell variables, the
4980 command is useful if the approach via environment variables is used:
4981 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4982 env MAILRC=/dev/null LC_ALL=C password=secret \*(ua -n -Sv15-compat \e
4983 -S 'smtp=smtps://mylogin@some.host:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
4984 -S 'from=scriptreply@domain' \e
4985 -s 'subject' -a attachment_file recipient@domain < content_file
4989 .\" .Ss "IMAP or POP3 client setup" {{{
4990 .Ss "IMAP or POP3 client setup"
4991 \*(OP First you need the following data from your ISP:
4992 the host name of the IMAP or POP3 server,
4993 user name and password for this server,
4994 and a notice whether the server uses SSL/TLS encryption.
4995 Assuming the SSL/TLS secured host name of your IMAP account is
4996 `server.myisp.example' and your user name for that server is `mylogin',
4997 you could refer to this account using the
5001 command line option with
5003 .Dl imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
5005 (This string is not necessarily the same as your Internet mail address.)
5006 Even if the server does not accept IMAPS or POP3S connections,
5007 it is possible that it supports the `STARTTLS' method of upgrading
5008 already connected, but not yet authenticated sessions to use SSL/TLS
5010 The only reliable method to see if this works is to try it; enter one of
5012 .Dl set imap-use-starttls
5013 .Dl set pop3-use-starttls
5015 before you initiate the connection, dependent on the actual protocol.
5019 command can be used to avoid typing that many characters every time you
5022 .Dl shortcut myisp %:imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
5024 You might want to put this string into a startup file.
5026 is one of those commands that are specific to \*(UA and will thus
5027 confuse other implementations of POSIX
5029 so it should possibly not be placed in \*(ur.
5032 .Dl set NAIL_EXTRA_RC=.\*(uarc
5034 in \*(ur and create a file
5036 containing all the commands that are specific to \*(UA.
5037 You can then access your remote mailbox by invoking
5041 on the command line, or by executing
5046 If you want to use more than one IMAP mailbox on a server,
5047 or if you want to use the IMAP server for mail storage too, the
5049 command (which is also \*(UA-specific) is possibly more appropriate.
5050 You can put the following in
5052 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5054 set folder=imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
5055 set record=+Sent MBOX=+mbox outfolder
5059 and can then access incoming mail for this account by invoking
5060 `\*(ua \-A myisp' on the command line or by executing `ac myisp' within
5062 After that, a command like `copy 1 +otherfolder' will refer to
5063 `otherfolder' on the IMAP server.
5064 In particular, `fi&' will change to the `mbox' folder,
5065 and `fi+Sent' will show your recorded sent mail,
5066 with both folders located on the IMAP server.
5068 \*(UA will ask you for a password string each time you connect to
5070 If you can reasonably trust the security of your workstation,
5071 you can give this password in the startup file as
5073 .Dl set password-mylogin@server.myisp.example="SECRET"
5075 You should change the permissions of this file to 0600, see
5078 \*(UA supports different authentication methods for both IMAP and POP3.
5079 If Kerberos is used at your location,
5080 you can try to activate (the optional) GSS-API based authentication via
5082 .Dl set imap-auth=gssapi
5084 The advantage of this method is that \*(UA doesn't need to know your
5085 password at all, nor does it have to send sensitive data over the network.
5086 If that isn't possible, try to use authentication methods that at least
5087 avoid sending the password in clear over the wire, which is especially
5088 important if SSL/TLS cannot be used, e.g.,
5090 .Dl set imap-auth=cram-md5
5092 For POP3 \*(UA will try to use the `APOP' mechanism automatically unless
5093 explicitly disabled.
5094 If the server does not offer any such authentication methods,
5095 conventional user/password based authentication must be used.
5096 It is sometimes helpful, especially when setting up an account or when
5097 there are authentification problems, to enable verbosity by setting the
5099 option \(en \*(UA will display all data sent to the server in clear text
5100 on the screen when this option is set.
5101 (Because this may also include passwords you should take care that no
5102 unauthorized person can look at your terminal when this option is set.)
5104 If you regularly use the same workstation to access IMAP accounts,
5105 you can greatly enhance performance by enabling local caching of IMAP
5107 For any message that has been fully or partially fetched from the server,
5108 a local copy is made and is used when the message is accessed again,
5109 so most data is transferred over the network once only.
5110 To enable the IMAP cache, select a local directory name and put
5112 .Dl set imap-cache=~/localdirectory
5114 in the (\*(UA-specific) startup file.
5115 All files within that directory can be overwritten or deleted by \*(UA
5117 so you should not use the directory to store other information.
5119 Once the cache contains some messages,
5120 it is not strictly necessary anymore to open a connection to the IMAP
5121 server to access them.
5122 When \*(UA is invoked with the option
5127 only cached data is used for any folder you open.
5128 Messages that have not yet been completely cached are not available
5129 then, but all other messages can be handled as usual.
5130 Changes made to IMAP mailboxes in
5132 mode are committed to the IMAP server next time it is being connected to.
5133 Synchronizing the local status with the status on the server is thus
5134 partially within your responsibility;
5135 if you forget to initiate a connection to the server again before you
5136 leave your location,
5137 changes made on one workstation are not available on others.
5138 Also if you alter IMAP mailboxes from a workstation while uncommitted
5139 changes are still pending on another,
5140 the latter data may become invalid.
5141 The same might also happen because of internal server status changes.
5142 You should thus carefully evaluate this feature in your environment
5143 before you rely on it.
5145 Many servers will close the connection after a short period of
5146 inactivity \(en use one of
5148 .Dl set pop3-keepalive=30
5149 .Dl set imap-keepalive=240
5151 to send a keepalive message each 30 seconds for POP3,
5152 or each 4 minutes for IMAP.
5154 If you encounter problems connecting to a SSL/TLS server,
5159 variables (see the OpenSSL FAQ for more information) or specify the
5160 protocol version with
5162 Contact your ISP if you need a client certificate or if verification of
5163 the server certificate fails.
5164 If the failed certificate is indeed valid,
5165 fetch its CA certificate by executing the shell command
5167 .Dl $ </dev/null openssl s_client \-showcerts \-connect \e
5168 .Dl \ \ \ \ \ \ server.myisp.example:imaps 2>&1 | tee log.txt
5172 ) and put it into the file specified with
5174 The data you need is located at the end of the certificate chain
5175 within (and including) the `BEGIN CERTIFICATE'
5176 and `END CERTIFICATE' lines.
5177 Note that the example above is \fBinsecure\fR!
5178 One should use the `-verify' and `-CAfile' options of
5180 to be "on the safe side" regarding the fetched certificates.
5183 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
5184 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
5185 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
5186 message signing and message encryption.
5187 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
5188 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
5189 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
5190 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
5191 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
5192 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
5194 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
5195 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
5196 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
5197 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
5199 It is thus not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
5200 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
5202 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
5203 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
5206 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
5207 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
5208 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
5209 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
5211 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
5213 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
5214 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
5215 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
5216 certificate has been retrieved with, though.
5217 Thus if you download a CA certificate from the Internet,
5218 you can only trust the messages you verify using that certificate as
5219 much as you trust the download process.
5221 The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message exchange is
5222 your personal certificate, including a private key.
5223 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
5224 your email address, and the public key that is used by others to encrypt
5226 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
5227 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
5228 The private key must be kept secret.
5229 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
5230 public key, and to sign messages.
5232 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
5233 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
5234 (Many CAs offer such certificates for free.)
5235 You will usually receive a combined certificate and private key in
5236 PKCS#12 format which \*(UA does not directly accept.
5237 To convert it to PEM format, use the following shell command:
5239 .Dl $ openssl pkcs12 \-in cert.p12 \-out cert.pem \-clcerts \-nodes
5241 If you omit the `\-nodes' parameter, you can specifiy an additional `PEM
5242 pass phrase' for protecting the private key.
5243 \*(UA will then ask you for that pass phrase each time it signs or
5247 .Dl set smime-sign-cert-myname@myisp.example=cert.pem
5249 to make this private key and certificate known to \*(UA.
5250 You can now sign outgoing messages.
5256 From each signed message you send,
5257 the recipient can fetch your certificate and use it to send encrypted
5259 Accordingly if somebody sends you a signed message, you can do the same.
5262 command to check the validity of the certificate.
5263 After that, retrieve the certificate and tell \*(UA that it should use
5266 .Dl certsave filename
5267 .Dl set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=filename
5269 You should carefully consider if you prefer to store encrypted messages
5271 If you do, anybody who has access to your mail folders can read them,
5272 but if you do not, you might be unable to read them yourself later if
5273 you happen to lose your private key.
5276 command saves messages in decrypted form, while the
5281 commands leave them encrypted.
5283 Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to message
5284 subjects or other header fields.
5285 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
5286 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
5287 When sending signed messages,
5288 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
5292 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS" {{{
5293 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
5294 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
5295 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
5296 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
5297 declared invalid after they have been issued.
5298 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
5300 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
5301 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
5302 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
5303 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
5304 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
5305 invalidated certificates.
5306 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
5307 the Internet, so you have to retrieve them by some external mechanism.
5309 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
5310 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
5312 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
5314 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
5315 (and no other files) must be created.
5320 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
5321 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
5322 to verify a certificate.
5325 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
5327 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of spam detection and learning facilities \(en
5328 more precisely, SpamAssassin (\%<http://spamassassin.apache.org>).
5329 A very comprehensive documentation of
5331 can be found at the O'Reilly Commons
5332 (\%<http://commons.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/SpamAssassin>).
5334 Currently \*(UA supports interaction with
5336 only via its daemonized
5339 server / client pair, which means that, in order to detect and work
5340 with spam through \*(UA, an instance of the
5342 daemon must be running (the examples are equivalent):
5343 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5344 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
5345 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \\
5346 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
5351 should only listen on a local, path-based UNIX domain socket instead of
5352 offering its service over the network, it maybe necessary to use
5355 option instead of the shown
5357 In order to support training of the Bayesian classifier through \*(UA,
5359 must have been started with the
5365 is running \*(UA can classify messages by using the client side program,
5368 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5369 $ \*(ua -Sspam-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \\
5370 -Sspam-socket=/tmp/.spamsock -Sspam-maxsize=500000
5373 The commands offered are
5377 which simply set an `is-spam' flag that can be used for, e.g., message
5380 which passes messages through to the spam detector in order to gain
5381 a spam score and conditionally set the `is-spam' flag accordingly,
5382 as well as the Bayesian filter related
5388 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
5389 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
5390 perform the local spam check last:
5391 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5392 define spamdelhook {
5394 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
5395 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
5396 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
5397 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :s'
5398 # And finally the local spamc(1)
5402 set folder-hook-FOLDER=spamdelhook
5405 See also the documentation for the variables
5416 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
5431 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
5449 .\" .Sh "IMPLEMENTATION NOTES" {{{
5450 .Sh "IMPLEMENTATION NOTES"
5451 The character set conversion uses and relies upon the
5454 Its functionality differs widely between the various system environments
5457 Limitations with IMAP mailboxes are:
5458 It is not possible to edit messages, but it is possible to append them.
5459 Thus to edit a message, create a local copy of it, edit it, append it,
5460 and delete the original.
5461 The line count for the header display is only appropriate if the entire
5462 message has been downloaded from the server.
5463 The marking of messages as `new' is performed by the IMAP server;
5468 will not cause it to be reset, and if the
5470 variable is unset, messages that arrived during a session will not be
5471 in state `new' anymore when the folder is opened again.
5472 Also if commands queued in disconnected mode are committed,
5473 the IMAP server will delete the `new' flag for all messages in the
5475 and new messages will appear as unread when it is selected for viewing
5477 The `flagged', `answered', and `draft' attributes are usually permanent,
5478 but some IMAP servers are known to drop them without notification.
5479 Message numbers may change with IMAP every time before the prompt is
5480 printed if \*(UA is notified by the server that messages have been
5481 deleted by some other client or process.
5482 In this case, `Expunged n messages' is printed, and message numbers may
5485 Limitations with POP3 mailboxes are:
5486 It is not possible to edit messages, they can only be copied and deleted.
5487 The line count for the header display is only appropriate if the entire
5488 message has been downloaded from the server.
5489 The status field of a message is maintained by the server between
5490 connections; some servers do not update it at all, and with a server
5491 that does, the `exit' command will not cause the message status to be
5493 The `newmail' command and the `newmail' variable have no effect.
5494 It is not possible to rename or to remove POP3 mailboxes.
5496 If a `RUBOUT' (interrupt, `control-C') is typed while an IMAP or POP3
5497 operation is in progress, \*(UA will wait until the operation can be
5499 and will then return to the command loop and print the prompt again.
5500 When a second `RUBOUT' is typed while \*(UA is waiting for the operation
5501 to complete, the operation itself will be cancelled.
5502 In this case, data that has not been fetched yet will have to be fetched
5503 before the next command can be performed.
5504 If the cancelled operation was using an SSL/TLS encrypted channel,
5505 an error in the SSL transport will very likely result and render the
5506 connection unusable.
5508 As \*(UA is a mail user agent, it provides only basic SMTP services.
5509 If it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
5510 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time,
5511 and it does not leave other information about this condition than an
5512 error message on the terminal and an entry in
5514 This is usually not a problem if the SMTP server is located in the same
5515 local network as the computer on which \*(UA is run.
5516 However, care should be taken when using a remote server of an ISP;
5517 it might be better to set up a local SMTP server then which just acts as
5520 \*(UA immediately contacts the SMTP server (or
5522 ) even when operating in
5525 It would not make much sense for \*(UA to defer outgoing mail since SMTP
5526 servers usually provide much more elaborated delay handling than \*(UA
5527 could perform as a client.
5528 Thus the recommended setup for sending mail in
5530 mode is to configure a local SMTP server such that it sends outgoing
5531 mail as soon as an external network connection is available again,
5532 i.e., to advise it to do that from a network startup script.
5537 A \fImail\fR command appeared in Version 1 AT&T Unix.
5538 Berkeley Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens.
5539 This man page is derived from from The Mail Reference Manual originally
5540 written by Kurt Shoens.
5541 "Heirloom Mailx" enhancements are maintained and documented by Gunnar
5543 "S-nail" is maintained and documented by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
5545 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
5546 from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
5547 \(en Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
5548 Specifications Issue 6, Copyright \(co 2001-2003 by the Institute of
5549 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.
5550 In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original
5551 IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
5552 Standard is the referee document.
5553 The original Standard can be obtained online at
5554 \%<http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html>.
5555 Redistribution of this material is permitted so long as this notice
5561 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
5562 .An "Gunnar Ritter" ,
5563 .An Steffen Po Daode Pc Nurpmeso Aq s-nail-users@lists.sourceforge.net
5566 Too many (see the file `TODO' from the distribution or the repository).