1 .\"@ nail.1 - S-nail(1) reference manual.
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2000-2008 Gunnar Ritter, Freiburg i. Br., Germany.
4 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2016 Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso <steffen@sdaoden.eu>.
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7 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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34 .\"@ S-nail(1): v14.9.0-pre2 / 2016-10-31
36 .ds VV \\%v14.9.0-pre2
46 .\" If not ~/.mailrc, it breaks POSIX compatibility. And adjust main.c.
51 .ds OU [no v15-compat]
52 .ds ID [v15 behaviour may differ]
53 .ds NQ [Only new quoting rules]
64 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
70 .\" Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"SYNOPSIS, main()
78 .Op Fl a Ar attachment
81 .Op Fl M Ar type | Fl m Ar file | Fl q Ar file | Fl t
83 .Op Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
88 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns Ar mta-option ...
97 .Op Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
100 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns Ar mta-option ...
108 .Op Fl L Ar spec-list
109 .Op Fl r Ar from-addr
110 .Op Fl S Ar var Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
113 .Op Fl Fl \~ Ns Ar mta-option ...
118 .Mx -toc -tree html pdf ps xhtml
121 .\" .Sh DESCRIPTION {{{
124 .Bd -filled -compact -offset indent
125 .Sy Compatibility note:
126 S-nail (\*(UA) will wrap up into \%S-mailx in v15.0 (circa 2018).
127 Backward incompatibility has to be expected \(en
131 -style argument quoting rules, for example.
132 New and old behaviour is flagged \*(IN and \*(OU, and setting
135 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ,
136 will choose new behaviour when applicable.
137 \*(OB flags what will vanish, and enabling
141 enables obsoletion warnings.
145 \*(UA is a mail processing system with a command syntax reminiscent of
147 with lines replaced by messages.
148 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
150 command, but is MIME capable and optionally offers extensions for
151 line editing, S/MIME, SMTP and POP3 among others.
153 .\" .Ss "Options" {{{
156 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl _ Ar _ddr"
159 Explicitly control which of the
161 shall be loaded: if the letter
163 is (case-insensitively) part of the
167 is loaded, likewise the letter
169 controls loading of the user's personal
171 file, whereas the letters
175 explicitly forbid loading of any resource files.
176 This option should be used by scripts: to avoid environmental noise they
179 from any configuration files and create a script-local environment,
180 explicitly setting any of the desired
181 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
184 This option overrides
191 command for the given user email
193 after program startup is complete.
194 Being a special incarnation of
196 macros for the purpose of bundling longer-lived settings, activating
197 such an email account also switches to the accounts system
206 The same filename conventions as described in the section
208 apply: shell word expansion is restricted to the tilde
212 not be accessible but contain a
214 character, then anything after the
216 is assumed to specify the input character set and anything before
218 the filename: this is the only option to specify (and fixate) the input
219 character set of text attachments from the command line, not using the
221 command of and in the compose mode that follows
223 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
224 for compose mode commands).
228 (\*(OB: \*(UA will always use line-buffered output, to gain
229 line-buffered input even in batch mode enable batch mode via
234 Send a blind carbon copy to
237 May be used multiple times.
239 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
243 Send carbon copies to the given receiver.
244 May be used multiple times.
249 the internal variable
251 which enables debug messages and disables message delivery,
252 among others; effectively turns almost any operation into a dry-run.
258 and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
259 This command line flag is \*(OB.
263 Just check if mail is present (in the specified or system
265 if yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
266 To restrict the set of mails to consider in this evaluation a message
267 specification can be added with the option
272 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
273 first recipient's address (instead of in
278 Read in the contents of the user's
280 (or the specified file) for processing;
281 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file
285 Some special conventions are recognized for the optional
287 argument which are documented for the
292 is not a argument to the flag
294 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
298 that starts with a hyphen, prefix it with a (relative) path, as in
299 .Ql ./-hyphenbox.mbox .
303 Display a summary of the
305 of all messages in the specified mailbox or system
308 A configurable summary view is available via the
314 Show a short usage summary.
315 Because of widespread use a
317 argument will have the same effect.
323 to ignore tty interrupt signals.
326 .It Fl L Ar spec-list
327 Display a summary of all
329 of only those messages in the specified mailbox or the system
335 .Sx "Specifying messages"
342 option has been given in addition no header summary is produced,
343 but \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status whether
349 note that any verbose output is suppressed in this mode and must instead
350 be enabled explicitly (e.g., by using the option
355 Special send mode that will flag standard input with the MIME
359 and use it as the main message body.
360 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
361 .Va message-inject-head ,
364 .Va message-inject-tail .
370 Special send mode that will MIME classify the specified
372 and use it as the main message body.
373 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
374 .Va message-inject-head ,
377 .Va message-inject-tail .
385 and thus inhibit initial display of message headers when reading mail or
386 editing a mail folder.
390 Standard flag that inhibits reading the system wide
395 allows more control over the startup sequence; also see
396 .Sx "Resource files" .
400 Special send mode that will initialize the message body with the
401 contents of the specified
403 which may be standard input
405 only in non-interactive context.
411 Any folder opened will be in read-only mode.
414 .It Fl r Ar from-addr
417 is a valid address then it specifies the envelope sender address to be
418 passed to a file-based
420 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) as
422 when a message is send.
425 include a user name, then the address components will be separated and
426 the name part will be passed to file-based
432 will also be assigned to the
435 .Ql -Sfrom=from-addr ) ,
436 therefore affecting possible SMTP
438 data transfer; note this assignment does not cause value fixation.
440 If instead an empty string is passed as
442 then the content of the variable
444 will be evaluated and used for this purpose whenever the
447 Note that \*(UA by default, without
449 that is, neither passes
453 flags to a file-based MTA by itself.
456 .It Fl S Ar var Ns Op = Ns value
460 iable and, in case of a non-boolean variable which has a value, assign
464 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
468 may be overwritten from within resource files,
469 the command line setting will be reestablished after all resource files
474 Specify the subject of the to-be-sent message.
478 The message given (on standard input) is expected to contain, separated
479 from the message body by an empty line, a message header with
484 fields giving its recipients, which will be added to any recipients
485 specified on the command line.
486 If a message subject is specified via
488 then it will be used in favour of one given on the command line.
504 .Ql Mail-Followup-To: ,
505 by default created automatically dependent on message context, will
506 be used if specified (a special address massage will however still occur
508 Any other (also custom) header field is passed through entirely
509 unchanged, and in conjunction with the option
511 it is possible to embed
512 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
518 Initially read the primary system mailbox of
520 appropriate privileges presumed; effectively identical to
530 will also show the list of
532 .Ql $ \*(uA -Xversion -Xx .
537 ting the internal variable
539 enables display of some informational context messages.
540 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
544 Add the given (or multiple for a multiline argument)
546 to the list of commands to be executed (as a unit, just as via
548 before normal operation starts.
552 .Va batch-exit-on-error ;
553 the only possibility to execute commands in non-interactive mode when
554 reading startup files is actively prohibited.
559 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
560 even if not in interactive mode.
561 This can be used to, e.g., automatically format the composed message
562 text before sending the message:
563 .Bd -literal -offset indent
564 $ ( echo 'line one. Word. Word2.'; \e
565 echo '~| /usr/bin/fmt -tuw66' ) |\e
566 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -Sttycharset=UTF-8 -d~ bob@exam.ple
572 In batch mode the full set of commands is available, just like in
573 interactive mode, standard input is made line buffered, and diverse
574 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
575 are adjusted for batch necessities, e.g., it
591 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
592 is enabled in compose mode.
593 The following prepares an email message in a batched dry run:
594 .Bd -literal -offset indent
595 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'm bob\en~s ubject\enText\en~.\enx\en' | \e
596 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d# -X'alias bob bob@exam.ple'
601 This flag forces termination of option processing in order to prevent
604 It also forcefully puts \*(UA into send mode, see
605 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
609 In the above list of supported command line options,
613 are implemented by means of
615 ting the respective internal variable, as via
618 .Op Ar mta-option ...
620 arguments that are given at the end of the command line after a
622 separator will be passed through to a file-based
624 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) and persist for an entire (interactive) session
625 \(en if the setting of
627 allows their recognition; no such constraints apply to the variable
631 .\" .Ss "A starter" {{{
634 \*(UA is a direct descendant of
636 Mail, a successor of the Research
639 .Dq was there from the start
644 Mail reference manual begins with the following words:
646 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
647 Mail provides a simple and friendly environment for sending and
649 It divides incoming mail into its constituent messages and allows the
650 user to deal with them in any order.
651 In addition, it provides a set of
653 -like commands for manipulating messages and sending mail.
654 Mail offers the user simple editing capabilities to ease the composition
655 of outgoing messages, as well as providing the ability to define and
656 send to names which address groups of users.
660 \*(UA is thus the user side of the
662 mail system, whereas the system side (Mail-Transfer-Agent, MTA) was
663 traditionally taken by
665 and most MTAs provide a binary of this name for compatibility purposes.
670 of \*(UA then the system side is not a mandatory precondition for mail
674 Because \*(UA strives for compliance with POSIX
676 it is likely that some configuration settings have to be adjusted before
677 using it is a smooth experience.
680 resource file bends those standard imposed settings of the
681 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
682 a bit towards more user friendliness and safety, however, e.g., it
687 in order to suppress the automatic moving of messages to
689 that would otherwise occur (see
690 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
693 to not remove empty system (MBOX) mailbox files in order not to mangle
694 file permissions when files eventually get recreated; be aware that
695 \*(UA will (try to) remove all empty (MBOX) mailbox files unless this
696 variable is set in case
698 .Pf ( Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT )
699 mode has been enabled.
700 The file mode creation mask is explicitly managed via
706 in order to synchronize \*(UA with the exit status report of the used
711 to enter interactive startup even if the initial mailbox is empty,
713 to allow editing of headers as well as
715 to not strip down addresses in compose mode, and
717 to include the message that is being responded to when
722 contains some more complete configuration examples.
725 .\" .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" {{{
726 .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
728 To send a message to one or more people, using a local or a builtin
730 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) transport to actually deliver the generated mail
731 message, \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of
732 people to whom the mail will be sent, and the command line options
736 can be used to add (blind) carbon copy receivers:
738 .Bd -literal -offset indent
739 $ \*(uA -s ubject -a ttach.txt bill@exam.ple
740 # But... try it in an isolated dry-run mode first
741 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d -vv -Ssendwait \e
742 -b bcc@exam.ple -c cc@exam.ple -. \e
743 '(Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple>' eric@exam.ple
745 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d -vv -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait \e
746 -S 'mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
747 -S 'from=scriptreply@exam.ple' \e
753 If standard input is a terminal rather than the message to be sent,
754 the user is expected to type in the message contents.
755 In this compose mode \*(UA treats lines beginning with the character
757 special \(en these are so-called
758 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
759 which can be used to read in files, process shell commands, add and edit
760 attachments and more; e.g., the command escape
762 will start the text editor to revise the message in its current state,
764 allows editing of the most important message headers and
766 gives an overview of available command escapes.
770 at the beginning of an empty line leaves compose mode and causes the
771 message to be sent, whereas typing
774 twice will abort the current letter (saving its contents in the file
780 Messages are sent asynchronously, without supervision, unless the variable
782 is set, therefore send errors are not recognizable until then.
788 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
789 can be used to alter default behavior; e.g.,
794 will automatically startup a text editor when compose mode is entered,
796 allows editing of headers additionally to plain body content,
798 will cause the user to be prompted actively for carbon-copy recipients
801 will allow leaving compose mode by writing a line consisting solely of
807 hook macros may be set to automatically adjust some settings dependent
808 on receiver, sender or subject contexts.
811 Especially for using public mail provider accounts with the SMTP
813 it is often necessary to set
815 and saving a copy of sent messages in a
817 may be desirable \(en as for most mailbox file targets some special
818 syntax conventions are recognized (see the
820 command for more on that).
823 for the purpose of arranging a complete environment of settings that can
824 be switched to with a single command or command line option may be
827 contains example configurations for sending messages via some of the
828 well-known public mail providers and also gives a compact overview on
829 how to setup a secure SSL/TLS environment).
834 sandbox dry-run tests first will prove correctness.
838 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
839 will spread light on the different ways of how to specify user email
840 account credentials, the
842 variable chains, and accessing protocol-specific resources,
845 goes into the details of character encoding and how to use them for
846 representing messages and MIME part contents by specifying them in
848 and reading the section
849 .Sx "The mime.types files"
850 should help to understand how the MIME-type of outgoing attachments are
851 classified, and what can be done for fine-tuning.
852 Over the wire an intermediate, configurable
853 .Pf content-transfer-\: Va encoding
854 may be applied to the raw message part data.
857 Message recipients (as specified on the command line or defined in
862 may not only be email addressees but can also be names of mailboxes and
863 even complete shell command pipe specifications.
866 is not set then only network addresses (see
868 for a description of mail addresses) and plain user names (including MTA
869 aliases) may be used, other types will be filtered out, giving a warning
872 .\" When changing any of the following adjust any RECIPIENTADDRSPEC;
873 .\" grep the latter for the complete picture
877 is set then extended recipient addresses will optionally be accepted:
878 Any name which starts with a vertical bar
880 character specifies a command pipe \(en the command string following the
882 is executed and the message is sent to its standard input;
883 Likewise, any name that starts with the character solidus
885 or the character sequence dot solidus
887 is treated as a file, regardless of the remaining content;
888 likewise a name that solely consists of a hyphen
890 Any other name which contains an at sign
892 character is treated as a network address;
893 Any other name which starts with a plus sign
895 character specifies a mailbox name;
896 Any other name which contains a solidus
898 character but no exclamation mark
902 character before also specifies a mailbox name;
903 What remains is treated as a network address.
905 .Bd -literal -offset indent
906 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test ./mbox.mbox
907 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test '|cat >> ./mbox.mbox'
908 $ echo safe | LC_ALL=C \e
909 \*(uA -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Snosave \e
910 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr -s test \e
915 It is possible to create personal distribution lists via the
917 command, so that, for instance, the user can send mail to
919 and have it go to a group of people.
920 These aliases have nothing in common with the system wide aliases that
921 may be used by the MTA, which are subject to the
925 and are often tracked in a file
931 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent,
932 and are thus a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
936 .Dl alias cohorts bill jkf mark kridle@ucbcory ~/mail/cohorts.mbox
939 To avoid environmental noise scripts should
941 \*(UA from any configuration files and create a script-local
942 environment, ideally with the command line options
944 to disable any configuration file in conjunction with repetitions of
946 to specify variables:
948 .Bd -literal -offset indent
949 $ env LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ \e
950 -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Snosave -Sttycharset=utf-8 \e
951 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr \e
952 -S 'mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
953 -S 'from=scriptreply@exam.ple' \e
954 -s 'subject' -a attachment_file \e
955 -. "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>" rec2@exam.ple \e
960 As shown, scripts can
962 a locale environment, the above specifies the all-compatible 7-bit clean
965 but will nonetheless take and send UTF-8 in the message text by using
967 In interactive mode, which is introduced in the next section, messages
968 can be sent by calling the
970 command with a list of recipient addresses \(em the semantics are
971 completely identical to non-interactive message sending:
973 .Bd -literal -offset indent
974 $ \*(uA -d -Squiet -Semptystart
975 "/var/spool/mail/user": 0 messages
976 ? mail "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>", rec2@exam.ple
977 ? # Will do the right thing (tm)
978 ? m rec1@exam.ple rec2@exam.ple
982 .\" .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode" {{{
983 .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode"
985 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
987 When used like that the user's system
991 for an in-depth description of the different mailbox types that exist)
992 is read in and a one line header of each message therein is displayed.
993 The visual style of this summary of
995 can be adjusted through the variable
997 and the possible sorting criterion via
1003 can be performed with the command
1005 If the initially opened mailbox is empty \*(UA will instead exit
1006 immediately (after displaying a message) unless the variable
1015 will give a listing of all available commands and
1017 will give a summary of some common ones.
1018 If the \*(OPal documentation strings are available one can type
1021 and see the actual expansion of
1023 and what its purpose is, i.e., commands can be abbreviated
1024 (note that POSIX defines some abbreviations, so that the alphabetical
1025 order of commands does not necessarily relate to the abbreviations; it is
1026 possible to define overwrites with the
1029 These commands can also produce a more
1034 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
1035 messages; the current message \(en the
1037 \(en will either be the first new message, or the first unread message,
1038 or the first message of the mailbox; the internal variable
1040 will instead cause usage of the last message for this purpose.
1045 ful of header summaries containing the
1049 will display only the summaries of the given messages, defaulting to the
1053 Message content can be displayed on the users' terminal with the
1057 If instead the command
1059 is used, only the first
1061 of a message will be shown.
1062 By default the current message
1064 is displayed, but like with many other commands it is possible to give
1065 a fancy message specification (see
1066 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) ,
1069 will display all unread messages,
1074 will type the messages 1 and 5,
1076 will type the messages 1 through 5, and
1080 will display the last and the next message, respectively.
1083 (a more substantial alias of the standard command
1085 will display a header summary of the given message specification list
1086 instead of their content, e.g., the following will search for subjects:
1089 .Dl from "'@Some subject to search for'"
1092 In the default setup all header fields of a message will be
1094 d, but fields can be white- or blacklisted for a variety of
1095 applications by using the command
1097 e.g., to restrict display to a very restricted set:
1098 .Ql Ic \:headerpick Cd \:type retain add Ar \:from to cc subject .
1099 In order to display all header fields of a message regardless of
1100 currently active ignore or retain lists, use the commands
1106 controls whether and when \*(UA will use the configured
1108 for display instead of directly writing to the user terminal
1110 (generally speaking).
1111 Note that historically the global
1113 not only adjusts the list of displayed headers, but also sets
1117 Dependent upon the configuration a line editor (see the section
1118 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
1119 aims at making user experience with the many
1122 When reading the system
1128 specified a mailbox explicitly prefixed with the special
1130 modifier (propagating the mailbox to a primary one) then messages which
1131 have been read will be moved to a secondary mailbox, the user's
1133 file, automatically when the mailbox is left, either by changing the
1134 active mailbox or by quitting \*(UA (also see
1135 .Sx "Message states" )
1136 \(en this automatic moving from a system or primary to the secondary
1137 mailbox is not performed when the variable
1142 After examining a message the user can also
1146 to the sender and all recipients or
1148 exclusively to the sender(s).
1149 Messages can also be
1151 ed (shorter alias is
1153 Note that when replying to or forwarding a message recipient addresses
1154 will be stripped from comments and names unless the internal variable
1157 Deletion causes \*(UA to forget about the message;
1158 This is not irreversible, though, one can
1160 the message by giving its number,
1161 or the \*(UA session can be ended by giving the
1166 To end a mail processing session one may either issue
1168 to cause a full program exit, which possibly includes
1169 automatic moving of read messages to
1171 as well as updating the \*(OPal line editor
1175 instead in order to prevent any of these actions.
1178 .\" .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments" {{{
1179 .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
1181 Messages which are HTML-only get more and more common and of course many
1182 messages come bundled with a bouquet of MIME attachments.
1183 Whereas \*(UA \*(OPally supports a simple HTML-to-text converter to deal
1184 with HTML messages (see
1185 .Sx "The mime.types files" ) ,
1186 it normally cannot deal with any of these itself, but instead programs
1187 need to become registered to deal with specific MIME types or file
1189 These programs may either prepare plain text versions of their input
1190 in order to enable \*(UA to display the content on the terminal,
1191 or display the content themselves, for example in a graphical window.
1194 To install an external handler program for a specific MIME type set an
1196 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
1197 variable; to instead define a handler for a specific file extension set
1200 variable \(en these handlers take precedence.
1201 \*(OPally \*(UA supports mail user agent configuration as defined in
1202 RFC 1524; this mechanism, documented in the section
1203 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
1204 will be queried for display or quote handlers if none of the former two
1205 .\" TODO v15-compat "will be" -> "is"
1206 did; it will be the sole source for handlers of other purpose.
1207 A last source for handlers may be the MIME type definition itself, if
1208 the \*(UA specific type-marker extension was used when defining the type
1211 (Many of the builtin MIME types do so by default.)
1215 .Va mime-counter-evidence
1216 can be set to improve dealing with faulty MIME part declarations as are
1217 often seen in real-life messages.
1218 E.g., to display a HTML message inline (that is, converted to a more
1219 fancy plain text representation than the builtin converter is capable to
1220 produce) with either of the text-mode browsers
1224 teach \*(UA about MathML documents and make it display them as plain
1225 text, and to open PDF attachments in an external PDF viewer,
1226 asynchronously and with some other magic attached:
1228 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1229 if $features !@ +filter-html-tagsoup
1230 #set pipe-text/html='elinks -force-html -dump 1'
1231 set pipe-text/html='lynx -stdin -dump -force_html'
1232 # Display HTML as plain text instead
1233 #set pipe-text/html=@
1235 mimetype '@ application/mathml+xml mathml'
1236 wysh set pipe-application/pdf='@&=@ \e
1237 trap "rm -f \e"${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}\e"" EXIT;\e
1238 trap "trap \e"\e" INT QUIT TERM; exit 1" INT QUIT TERM;\e
1239 mupdf "${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}"'
1243 Note: special care must be taken when using such commands as mail
1244 viruses may be distributed by this method: if messages of type
1245 .Ql application/x-sh
1246 or files with the extension
1248 were blindly filtered through the shell, for example, a message sender
1249 could easily execute arbitrary code on the system \*(UA is running on.
1250 For more on MIME, also in respect to sending of messages, see the
1252 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
1253 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
1258 .\" .Ss "Mailing lists" {{{
1261 \*(UA offers some support to ease handling of mailing lists.
1264 promotes all given arguments to known mailing lists, and
1266 sets their subscription attribute, creating them first as necessary.
1271 automatically, but only resets the subscription attribute.)
1272 Using the commands without arguments will show (a subset of) all
1273 currently defined mailing lists.
1278 can be used to mark out messages with configured list addresses
1279 in the header display.
1282 \*(OPally mailing lists may also be specified as (extended) regular
1283 expressions, which allows matching of many addresses with a single
1285 However, all fully qualified list addresses are matched via a fast
1286 dictionary, whereas expressions are placed in (a) list(s) which is
1287 (are) matched sequentially.
1289 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1290 set followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes reply-to-honour=ask-yes
1291 wysh mlist a1@b1.c1 a2@b2.c2 '.*@lists\e.c3$'
1292 mlsubscribe a4@b4.c4 exact@lists.c3
1297 .Va followup-to-honour
1299 .Ql Mail-\:Followup-\:To:
1300 header is honoured when the message is being replied to (via
1306 controls whether this header is created when sending mails; it will be
1307 created automatically for a couple of reasons, too, like when the
1309 .Dq mailing list specific
1314 is used to respond to a message with its
1315 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1319 A difference in between the handling of known and subscribed lists is
1320 that the address of the sender is usually not part of a generated
1321 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1322 when addressing the latter, whereas it is for the former kind of lists.
1323 Usually because there are exceptions: say, if multiple lists are
1324 addressed and not all of them are subscribed lists.
1326 For convenience \*(UA will, temporarily, automatically add a list
1327 address that is presented in the
1329 header of a message that is being responded to to the list of known
1331 Shall that header have existed \*(UA will instead, dependent on the
1333 .Va reply-to-honour ,
1336 for this purpose in order to accept a list administrators' wish that
1337 is supposed to have been manifested like that (but only if it provides
1338 a single address which resides on the same domain as what is stated in
1342 .\" .Ss "Resource files" {{{
1343 .Ss "Resource files"
1345 Upon startup \*(UA reads in several resource files:
1347 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa _AIL_EXTRA_R_"
1350 System wide initialization file.
1351 Reading of this file can be suppressed, either by using the
1355 command line options, or by setting the
1358 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC .
1362 File giving initial commands.
1363 A different file can be chosen by setting the
1367 Reading of this file can be suppressed with the
1369 command line option.
1371 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
1372 Can be used to define an optional startup file to be read after all
1373 other resource files.
1374 It can be used to specify settings that are not understood by other
1376 implementations, for example.
1377 This variable is only honoured when defined in a resource file, e.g.,
1379 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
1383 The content of these files is interpreted as follows:
1386 .Bl -bullet -compact
1388 A lines' leading whitespace is removed.
1390 Empty lines are ignored.
1392 Any other line is interpreted as a command.
1393 It may be spread over multiple input lines if the newline character is
1395 by placing a reverse solidus character
1397 as the last character of the line; whereas any leading whitespace of
1398 follow lines is ignored, trailing whitespace before a escaped newline
1399 remains in the input.
1401 If the line (content) starts with the number sign
1403 then it is a comment-command \(en a real command! \(en and also ignored.
1404 This command is the only form of comment that is understood.
1408 Unless \*(UA is about to enter interactive mode syntax errors that occur
1409 while loading these files are treated as errors and cause program exit.
1410 More files with syntactically equal content can be
1412 The following, saved in a file, would be an examplary content:
1414 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1415 # This line is a comment command. And y\e
1416 es, it is really continued here.
1423 .\" .Ss "Character sets" {{{
1424 .Ss "Character sets"
1426 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
1427 mechanisms that are controlled by the
1432 should give an overview); the \*(UA internal variable
1434 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly
1435 and will thus show up in the output of the commands
1441 However, a user supplied
1443 value is not overwritten by this detection mechanism: this
1445 must be used if the detection does not work properly,
1446 and it may be used to adjust the name of the locale character set.
1447 E.g., on BSD systems one may use a locale with the character set
1448 ISO8859-1, which is not a valid name for this character set; to be on
1449 the safe side, one may set
1451 to the correct name, which is ISO-8859-1.
1454 Note that changing the value does not mean much beside that,
1455 since several aspects of the real character set are implied by the
1456 locale environment of the system,
1457 and that stays unaffected by the content of an overwritten
1460 (This is mostly an issue when interactively using \*(UA, though.
1461 It is actually possible to send mail in a completely
1463 locale environment, an option that \*(UA's test-suite uses excessively.)
1466 If no character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into
1469 does not include the term
1473 will be the only supported character set,
1474 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8-bit messages
1475 (over the wire an intermediate
1476 .Pf content-transfer-\: Va encoding
1478 and the rest of this section does not apply;
1479 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
1480 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to the mentioned
1481 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"Character sets", ./nail.h:CHARSET_*!)
1485 When reading messages, their text is converted into
1487 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
1488 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
1489 and replaced by proper substitution characters (unless the variable
1491 was set once \*(UA was started).
1493 .Va charset-unknown-8bit
1494 to deal with another hairy aspect of message interpretation.
1497 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
1498 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
1499 appear to be binary data,
1500 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
1501 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
1502 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
1503 Permissible values for character sets can be declared using the
1507 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
1508 implicitly appended to the list of character-sets in
1512 When replying to a message and the variable
1513 .Va reply-in-same-charset
1514 is set then the character set of the message being replied to is tried
1516 And it is also possible to make \*(UA work even more closely related to
1517 the current locale setting automatically by using the variable
1518 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset ,
1519 please see there for more information.
1522 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
1523 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
1524 If none of the tried (8-bit) character sets is capable to represent the
1525 content of the part or attachment,
1526 then the message will not be sent and its text will optionally be
1530 In general, if the message
1531 .Dq Cannot convert from a to b
1532 appears, either some characters are not appropriate for the currently
1533 selected (terminal) character set,
1534 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
1535 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate
1537 locale and/or the variable
1541 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
1542 locale on a UTF-8 capable terminal, in which case the full Unicode
1543 spectrum of characters is available.
1544 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
1545 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
1546 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
1549 On the other hand the POSIX standard defines a locale-independent 7-bit
1550 .Dq portable character set
1551 that should be used when overall portability is an issue, the even more
1552 restricted subset named
1553 .Dq portable filename character set
1554 consisting of A-Z, a-z, 0-9, period
1563 .\" .Ss "Message states" {{{
1564 .Ss "Message states"
1566 \*(UA differentiates in between several different message states;
1567 the current state will be reflected in header summary displays if
1569 is configured to do so (via the internal variable
1571 and messages can also be selected and be acted upon depending on their
1573 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) .
1574 When operating on the system
1576 or in primary mailboxes opened with the special prefix
1580 special actions, like the automatic moving of messages to the secondary
1582 mailbox may be applied when the mailbox is left (also implicitly via
1583 a successful exit of \*(UA, but not if the special command
1585 is used) \(en however, because this may be irritating to users which
1588 mail-user-agents, the default global
1594 variables in order to suppress this behaviour.
1596 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _reserved"
1598 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state.
1599 Such messages are retained even in the primary system mailbox.
1602 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state, but the
1603 message was present already when the mailbox has been opened last:
1604 Such messages are retained even in the primary system mailbox.
1607 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1627 commands may also cause the next message to be marked as read, depending
1633 command is used, messages that are in the primary system mailbox or in
1634 mailboxes which were opened with the special
1638 state when the mailbox is left will be saved in
1640 unless the internal variable
1645 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1651 can be used to access such messages.
1654 The message has been processed by a
1656 command and it will be retained in its current location.
1659 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1665 command is used, messages that are in the primary system mailbox or in
1666 mailboxes which were opened with the special
1670 state when the mailbox is left will be deleted; they will be saved in
1672 when the internal variable
1678 .\" .Ss "Specifying messages" {{{
1679 .Ss "Specifying messages"
1686 can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
1687 of messages at once.
1690 deletes messages 1 and 2,
1693 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
1694 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
1698 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
1699 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
1702 The following special message names exist:
1705 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar _n_u"
1707 The current message, the so-called
1711 The message that was previously the current message.
1714 The parent message of the current message,
1715 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the
1717 field or the last entry of the
1719 field of the current message.
1722 The next previous undeleted message,
1723 or the next previous deleted message for the
1726 In sorted/threaded mode,
1727 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1730 The next undeleted message,
1731 or the next deleted message for the
1734 In sorted/threaded mode,
1735 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1738 The first undeleted message,
1739 or the first deleted message for the
1742 In sorted/threaded mode,
1743 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1747 In sorted/threaded mode,
1748 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
1752 selects the message addressed with
1756 is any other message specification,
1757 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
1758 Otherwise it is identical to
1763 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
1768 All messages that were included in the message list for the previous
1772 An inclusive range of message numbers.
1773 Selectors that may also be used as endpoints include any of
1778 .Dq any substring matches
1781 header, which will match addresses (too) even if
1783 is set (and POSIX says
1784 .Dq any address as shown in a header summary shall be matchable in this form ) ;
1787 variable is set, only the local part of the address is evaluated
1788 for the comparison, not ignoring case, and the setting of
1790 is completely ignored.
1791 For finer control and match boundaries use the
1795 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
1796 All messages that contain
1798 in the subject field (case ignored).
1805 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
1807 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
1810 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
1812 ession; if the \*(OPal regular expression (see
1814 support is available
1816 will be interpreted as (an extended) one if any of the
1818 (extended) regular expression characters is seen.
1820 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
1821 part is missing, the search is restricted to the subject field body,
1824 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, as in
1826 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
1828 In order to search for a string that includes a
1830 (commercial at) character the
1832 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
1833 Some special header fields may be abbreviated:
1847 respectively and case-insensitively.
1852 can be used to search in (all of) the header(s) of the message, and the
1861 can be used to perform full text searches \(en whereas the former
1862 searches only the body, the latter also searches the message header.
1864 This message specification performs full text comparison, but even with
1865 regular expression support it is almost impossible to write a search
1866 expression that savely matches only a specific address domain.
1867 To request that the content of the header is treated as a list of
1868 addresses, and to strip those down to the plain email address which the
1869 search expression is to be matched against, prefix the header name
1870 (abbreviation) with a tilde
1873 .Dl @~f@@a\e.safe\e.domain\e.match$
1876 All messages of state
1880 is one or multiple of the following colon modifiers:
1882 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar :M"
1887 Old messages (any not in state
1913 Messages marked as draft.
1915 \*(OP Messages classified as spam.
1917 \*(OP Messages with unsure spam classification.
1923 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
1924 This addressing mode is available with all types of folders;
1925 \*(UA will perform the search locally as necessary.
1926 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes
1928 in their entirety if they contain white space or parentheses;
1929 within the quotes, only reverse solidus
1931 is recognized as an escape character.
1932 All string searches are case-insensitive.
1933 When the description indicates that the
1935 representation of an address field is used,
1936 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
1939 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1940 (\*qname\*q \*qsource\*q \*qlocal-part\*q \*qdomain-part\*q)
1945 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
1946 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
1950 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
1951 .It Ar ( criterion )
1952 All messages that satisfy the given
1954 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
1955 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
1957 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
1958 All messages that satisfy either
1963 To connect more than two criteria using
1965 specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
1967 .Ql (or a (or b c)) ,
1971 .Ql ((a or b) and c) .
1974 operation of independent criteria on the lowest nesting level,
1975 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
1979 .It Ar ( not criterion )
1980 All messages that do not satisfy
1982 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1983 All messages that contain
1985 in the envelope representation of the
1988 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1989 All messages that contain
1991 in the envelope representation of the
1994 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1995 All messages that contain
1997 in the envelope representation of the
2000 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2001 All messages that contain
2006 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2007 All messages that contain
2009 in the envelope representation of the
2012 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2013 All messages that contain
2018 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2019 All messages that contain
2022 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2023 All messages that contain
2025 in their header or body.
2026 .It Ar ( larger size )
2027 All messages that are larger than
2030 .It Ar ( smaller size )
2031 All messages that are smaller than
2035 .It Ar ( before date )
2036 All messages that were received before
2038 which must be in the form
2042 denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
2044 is the name of the month \(en one of
2045 .Ql Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ,
2048 is the year as four digits, e.g.,
2052 All messages that were received on the specified date.
2053 .It Ar ( since date )
2054 All messages that were received since the specified date.
2055 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
2056 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2057 .It Ar ( senton date )
2058 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2059 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
2060 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
2062 The same criterion as for the previous search.
2063 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
2064 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
2065 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
2069 .\" .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup" {{{
2070 .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
2072 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources usage of Uniform
2073 Resource Locators (URL, RFC 1738) has become omnipresent.
2074 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
2077 denote optional parts, optional either because there also exist other
2078 ways to define the information in question or because support of the
2079 part is protocol-specific (e.g.,
2081 is used by the IMAP protocol but not by POP3);
2086 are specified they must be given in URL percent encoded form (RFC 3986;
2092 .Dl PROTOCOL://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
2095 Note that these \*(UA URLs most often do not conform to any real
2096 standard, but instead represent a normalized variant of RFC 1738 \(en
2097 they are not used in data exchange but only meant as a compact,
2098 easy-to-use way of defining and representing information in
2099 a well-known notation.
2102 Many internal variables of \*(UA exist in multiple versions, called
2103 variable chains for the rest of this document: the plain
2108 .Ql variable-USER@HOST .
2115 had been specified in the respective URL, otherwise it refers to the plain
2121 that had been found when doing the user chain lookup as is described
2124 will never be in URL percent encoded form, whether it came from an URL
2125 or not; i.e., variable chain name extensions of
2126 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2127 must not be URL percent encoded.
2130 For example, whether an hypothetical URL
2131 .Ql smtp://hey%3Ayou@our.house
2132 had been given that includes a user, or whether the URL was
2133 .Ql smtp://our.house
2134 and the user had been found differently, to lookup the variable chain
2135 .Va smtp-use-starttls
2136 \*(UA first looks for whether
2137 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:hey:you@our.house
2138 is defined, then whether
2139 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:our.house
2140 exists before finally ending up looking at the plain variable itself.
2143 \*(UA obeys the following logic scheme when dealing with the
2144 necessary credential information of an account:
2150 has been given in the URL the variables
2154 are looked up; if no such variable(s) can be found then \*(UA will,
2155 when enforced by the \*(OPal variables
2156 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST
2163 specific entry which provides a
2165 name: this lookup will only succeed if unambiguous (one possible matching
2168 It is possible to load encrypted
2173 If there is still no
2175 then \*(UA will fall back to the user who is supposed to run \*(UA,
2176 the identity of which has been fixated during \*(UA startup and is
2177 known to be a valid user on the current host.
2180 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will lookup the
2181 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-USER@HOST , PROTOCOL-auth-HOST , PROTOCOL-auth
2182 variable chain, falling back to a protocol-specific default should this
2188 has been given in the URL, then if the
2190 has been found through the \*(OPal
2192 that may have already provided the password, too.
2193 Otherwise the variable chain
2194 .Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
2195 is looked up and used if existent.
2197 Afterwards the complete \*(OPal variable chain
2198 .Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
2202 cache is searched for a password only (multiple user accounts for
2203 a single machine may exist as well as a fallback entry without user
2204 but with a password).
2206 If at that point there is still no password available, but the
2207 (protocols') chosen authentication type requires a password, then in
2208 interactive mode the user will be prompted on the terminal.
2213 S/MIME verification works relative to the values found in the
2217 header field(s), which means that the values of
2218 .Va smime-sign , smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
2220 .Va smime-sign-message-digest
2221 will not be looked up using the
2225 chains from above but instead use the corresponding values from the
2226 message that is being worked on.
2227 In unusual cases multiple and different
2231 combinations may therefore be involved \(en on the other hand those
2232 unusual cases become possible.
2233 The usual case is as short as:
2236 .Dl set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@HOST smtp-use-starttls \e
2237 .Dl \ \ \ \ smime-sign smime-sign-cert=+smime.pair
2242 contains complete example configurations.
2245 .\" .Ss "On terminal control and line editor" {{{
2246 .Ss "On terminal control and line editor"
2248 \*(OP Terminal control will be realized through one of the standard
2250 libraries, either the
2252 or, alternatively, the
2254 both of which will be initialized to work with the environment variable
2256 Terminal control will enhance or enable interactive usage aspects, e.g.,
2257 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
2258 and extend behaviour of the Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE), which may learn the
2259 byte-sequences of keys like the cursor and function keys, and which will
2260 automatically enter the so-called
2262 alternative screen shall the terminal support it.
2263 The internal variable
2265 can be used to overwrite settings or to learn (correct(ed)) keycodes.
2266 Actual interaction with the chosen library can be disabled completely by
2267 setting the internal variable
2268 .Va termcap-disable ;
2270 will be queried regardless, even if the \*(OPal support for the
2271 libraries has not been enabled at configuration time.
2274 \*(OP The builtin \*(UA Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE) should work in all
2275 environments which comply to the ISO C standard
2277 and will support wide glyphs if possible (the necessary functionality
2278 had been removed from ISO C, but was included in
2280 Prevent usage of a line editor in interactive mode by setting the
2282 .Va line-editor-disable .
2283 Especially if the \*(OPal terminal control support is missing setting
2284 entries in the internal variable
2286 will help shall the MLE misbehave, see there for more.
2287 The MLE can support a little bit of
2293 feature is available then input from line editor prompts will be saved
2294 in a history list that can be searched in and be expanded from.
2295 Such saving can be prevented by prefixing input with any amount of
2297 Aspects of history, like allowed content and maximum size, as well as
2298 whether history shall be saved persistently, can be configured with the
2302 .Va history-gabby-persist
2307 The MLE supports a set of editing and control commands.
2308 By default (as) many (as possible) of these will be assigned to a set of
2309 single-letter control codes, which should work on any terminal (and can
2310 be generated by holding the
2312 key while pressing the key of desire, e.g.,
2316 command is available then the MLE commands can also be accessed freely
2317 by assigning the command name, which is shown in parenthesis in the list
2318 below, to any desired key-sequence, and the MLE will instead and also use
2320 to establish its builtin key bindings
2321 (more of them if the \*(OPal terminal control is available),
2322 an action which can then be suppressed completely by setting
2323 .Va line-editor-no-defaults .
2324 The following uses the
2326 ell-style quote notation that is documented in the introduction of
2328 combinations not mentioned either cause job control signals or do not
2329 generate a (unique) keycode:
2333 .Bl -tag -compact -width "Ql _M"
2335 Go to the start of the line
2336 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-home ) .
2339 Move the cursor backward one character
2340 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-bwd ) .
2343 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
2344 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line unless the internal variable
2347 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-fwd ) .
2350 Go to the end of the line
2351 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-end ) .
2354 Move the cursor forward one character
2355 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-fwd ) .
2358 Cancel current operation, full reset.
2359 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
2360 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
2361 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case
2362 .Pf ( Cd mle-reset ) .
2365 Backspace: backward delete one character
2366 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-bwd ) .
2370 Horizontal tabulator:
2371 try to expand the word before the cursor, also supporting \*(UA
2374 .Pf ( Cd mle-complete ) .
2376 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
2380 commit the current line
2381 .Pf ( Cd mle-commit ) .
2384 Cut all characters from the cursor to the end of the line
2385 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-end ) .
2389 .Pf ( Cd mle-repaint ) .
2392 \*(OP Go to the next history entry
2393 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-fwd ) .
2400 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry
2401 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-bwd ) .
2404 Toggle roundtrip mode shell quotes, where produced,
2406 .Pf ( Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2407 This setting is temporary, and will be forgotten once the command line
2411 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) older history entries
2412 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-bwd ) .
2415 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) newer history entries
2416 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-fwd ) .
2419 Paste the snarf buffer
2420 .Pf ( Cd mle-paste ) .
2427 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-line ) .
2430 Prompts for a Unicode character (its hexadecimal number) to be inserted
2431 .Pf ( Cd mle-prompt-char ) .
2432 Note this command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code
2433 in order to become recognized and executed during input of
2434 a key-sequence (only three single-letter control codes can be used for
2435 that shortcut purpose); this control code is special-treated and cannot
2436 be part of any other sequence, because any occurrence will perform the
2438 function immediately.
2441 Cut the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
2443 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-bwd ) .
2446 Move the cursor forward one word boundary
2447 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-fwd ) .
2450 Move the cursor backward one word boundary
2451 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-bwd ) .
2454 Escape: reset a possibly used multibyte character input state machine
2455 and \*(OPally a lingering, incomplete key binding
2456 .Pf ( Cd mle-cancel ) .
2457 This command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code in
2458 order to become recognized and executed during input of a key-sequence
2459 (only three single-letter control codes can be used for that shortcut
2461 This control code may also be part of a multi-byte sequence, but if
2462 a sequence is active and the very control code is currently also an
2463 expected input, then it will first be consumed by the active sequence.
2478 Cut the characters from the one after the cursor to the succeeding word
2480 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-fwd ) .
2490 this will immediately reset a possibly active search etc.
2494 ring the audible bell.
2498 .\" .Ss "Coloured display" {{{
2499 .Ss "Coloured display"
2501 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a coloured display and font
2502 attributes by emitting ANSI / ISO 6429 SGR (select graphic rendition)
2504 Usage of colours and font attributes solely depends upon the
2505 capability of the detected terminal type that is defined by the
2506 environment variable
2508 and which can be fine-tuned by the user via the internal variable
2512 On top of what \*(UA knows about the terminal the boolean variable
2514 defines whether the actually applicable colour and font attribute
2515 sequences should also be generated when output is going to be paged
2516 through the external program defined by the environment variable
2521 This is not enabled by default because different pager programs need
2522 different command line switches or other configuration in order to
2523 support those sequences.
2524 \*(UA however knows about some widely used pagers and in a clean
2525 environment it is often enough to simply set
2527 please refer to that variable for more on this topic.
2532 is set then any active usage of colour and font attribute sequences
2533 is suppressed, but without affecting possibly established
2538 To define and control colours and font attributes a single multiplexer
2539 command family exists:
2541 shows or defines colour mappings for the given colour type (e.g.,
2544 can be used to remove mappings of a given colour type.
2545 Since colours are only available in interactive mode, it may make
2546 sense to conditionalize the colour setup by encapsulating it with
2549 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2550 if terminal && $features =@ +colour
2551 colour iso view-msginfo ft=bold,fg=green
2552 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=red "from,subject"
2553 colour iso view-header fg=red
2555 uncolour iso view-header from,subject
2556 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan
2557 colour 256 view-header ft=bold,fg=208,bg=230 subject,from
2558 colour mono view-header ft=bold
2559 colour mono view-header ft=bold,ft=reverse subject,from
2563 .\" }}} (DESCRIPTION)
2566 .\" .Sh COMMANDS {{{
2569 Each command is typed on a line by itself,
2570 and may take arguments following the command word.
2571 Command names may be abbreviated, in which case the first command that
2572 matches the given prefix will be used.
2575 can be used to show the list of all commands, either alphabetically
2576 sorted or in prefix search order (these do not match, also because the
2577 POSIX standard prescribes a set of abbreviations).
2578 \*(OPally the command
2582 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
2583 command matching the expanded argument, as in
2585 which should be a shorthand of
2587 Both commands support a more
2589 listing mode which includes the argument type of the command.
2592 For commands which take message lists as arguments, the next message
2593 forward that satisfies the command's requirements will be used shall no
2594 explicit message list have been specified.
2595 If there are no messages forward of the current message,
2596 the search proceeds backwards,
2597 and if there are no good messages at all,
2598 \*(UA shows an error message and aborts the command.
2599 \*(ID Non-message-list arguments can be quoted using the following methods:
2602 .Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
2604 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes
2609 any white space, shell word expansion, or reverse solidus characters
2610 (except as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as
2611 part of the argument.
2612 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
2614 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
2615 used nonetheless by escaping it with a reverse solidus
2621 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
2622 contain space characters if those spaces are reverse solidus escaped, as in
2626 A reverse solidus outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
2627 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
2632 Some commands which do not take message-list arguments can also be
2633 prefixed with the special keyword
2635 to choose \*(INible argument quoting rules, and some new commands only
2636 support the new rules (without that keyword) and are flagged \*(NQ.
2637 In the future \*(UA will (mostly) use
2639 compatible argument parsing:
2640 Non-message-list arguments can be quoted using the following shell-style
2641 mechanisms: the escape character, single-quotes, double-quotes and
2642 dollar-single-quotes; any unquoted number sign
2644 that parses as a new token starts a comment that ends argument processing.
2645 The overall granularity of error reporting and diagnostics, also
2646 regarding function arguments and their content, will improve.
2650 .Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
2652 The literal value of any character can be preserved by preceding it
2653 with the escape character reverse solidus
2657 will cause variable expansion of the given name: \*(UA
2658 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2661 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, brace
2662 enclosing the name is supported.
2665 Arguments which are enclosed in
2666 .Ql 'single-\:quotes'
2667 retain their literal value.
2668 A single-quote cannot occur within single-quotes.
2671 The literal value of all characters enclosed in
2672 .Ql \(dqdouble-\:quotes\(dq
2673 is retained, with the exception of dollar
2675 which will cause variable expansion, as above, backquote (grave accent)
2677 (which not yet means anything special), reverse solidus
2679 which will escape any of the characters dollar
2681 (to prevent variable expansion), backquote (grave accent)
2685 (to prevent ending the quote) and reverse solidus
2687 (to prevent escaping, i.e., to embed a reverse solidus character as-is),
2688 but has no special meaning otherwise.
2691 Arguments enclosed in
2692 .Ql $'dollar-\:single-\:quotes'
2693 extend normal single quotes in that reverse solidus escape sequences are
2694 expanded as follows:
2696 .Bl -tag -compact -width "Ql \eNNN"
2702 an escape character.
2704 an escape character.
2716 emits a reverse solidus character.
2720 double quote (escaping is optional).
2722 eight-bit byte with the octal value
2724 (one to three octal digits), optionally prefixed by an additional
2726 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
2728 eight-bit byte with the hexadecimal value
2730 (one or two hexadecimal characters).
2731 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
2733 the Unicode / ISO-10646 character with the hexadecimal codepoint value
2735 (one to eight hexadecimal digits) \(em note that Unicode defines the
2736 maximum codepoint to be ever supported as
2741 This escape is only supported in locales which support Unicode (see
2742 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
2743 in other cases the sequence will remain unexpanded unless the given code
2744 point is ASCII compatible or can be represented in the current locale.
2745 The character NUL will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
2749 except it takes only one to four hexadecimal digits.
2751 A mechanism that allows usage of the non-printable (ASCII and
2752 compatible) control codes 0 to 31: to create the printable
2753 representation of a control code the numeric value 64 is added, and the
2754 resulting ASCII character set code point is then printed, e.g., BEL is
2755 .Ql 7 + 64 = 71 = G .
2756 Whereas historically circumflex notation has often been used for
2757 visualization purposes of control codes, e.g.,
2759 the reverse solidus notation has been standardized:
2761 Some control codes also have standardized (ISO 10646, ISO C) alias
2762 representations, as shown above (e.g.,
2766 whenever such an alias exists \*(UA will use it for display purposes.
2767 The control code NUL
2769 ends argument processing without producing further output.
2771 Non-standard extension: expand the given variable name, as above.
2772 Brace enclosing the name is supported.
2774 Not yet supported, just to raise awareness: Non-standard extension.
2780 .Sy Compatibility notes:
2781 \*(ID Note these are new mechanisms which are not supported by all
2783 Round-tripping (feeding in things shown in list modes again) are not yet
2784 stable or possible at all.
2785 On new-style command lines it is wise to quote semicolon
2789 characters in order to ensure upward compatibility: the author would
2790 like to see things like
2791 .Ql ? echo $'trouble\etahead' | cat >> in_the_shell.txt
2793 .Ql ? top 2 5 10; type 3 22
2795 Before \*(UA will switch entirely to shell-style argument parsing there
2796 will be a transition phase where using
2798 will emit obsoletion warnings.
2800 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2801 echo 'Quotes '${HOME}' and 'tokens" differ!"# no comment
2802 echo Quotes ${HOME} and tokens differ! # comment
2803 echo Don"'"t you worry$'\ex21' The sun shines on us. $'\eu263A'
2807 In any event an unquoted reverse solidus at the end of a command line is
2808 discarded and the next line continues the command.
2809 \*(ID Note that line continuation is handled before the above parsing is
2810 applied, i.e., the parsers documented above will see merged lines.
2811 Filenames, where expected, are subsequently subjected to the following
2812 transformations, in sequence:
2815 .Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
2817 If the filename begins with an unquoted plus sign, and the
2819 variable is defined,
2820 the plus sign will be replaced by the value of the
2822 variable followed by a solidus.
2825 variable is unset or is set to null, the filename will be unchanged.
2828 Meta expansions are applied to the filename: a leading tilde
2830 character will be replaced by the expansion of
2832 except when followed by a valid user name, in which case the home
2833 directory of the given user is used instead.
2838 will be replaced by the expansion of the variable, if possible; \*(UA
2839 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2842 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, and the usual
2843 escape mechanism has to be applied to prevent interpretation.
2844 If the fully expanded filename results in multiple pathnames and the
2845 command is expecting only one file, an error results.
2847 In interactive context, in order to allow simple value acceptance (via
2849 arguments will usually be displayed in a properly quoted form, e.g., a file
2850 .Ql diet\e is \ecurd.txt
2852 .Ql 'diet\e is \ecurd.txt' .
2856 The following commands are available:
2858 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic _ccount"
2865 ) command which follows.
2869 The comment-command causes the entire line to be ignored.
2871 this really is a normal command which' purpose is to discard its
2874 indicating special character, which means that, e.g., trailing comments
2875 on a line are not possible.
2879 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it
2885 Display the preceding message, or the n'th previous message if given
2886 a numeric argument n.
2890 Show the current message number (the
2895 Show a brief summary of commands.
2898 output is available.
2899 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
2900 shown instead; commands can be abbreviated in general and this command
2901 can be used to see the full expansion of an abbreviation including the
2902 synopsis, try, e.g.,
2907 and see how the output changes.
2917 Interprets the remainder of the word as a macro name and passes it
2922 is a shorter synonym for
2923 .Ql call Ar mymacro .
2927 (ac) Creates, selects or lists (an) account(s).
2928 Accounts are special incarnations of
2930 macros and group commands and variable settings which together usually
2931 arrange the environment for the purpose of creating an email account.
2932 Different to normal macros settings which are covered by
2934 \(en here by default enabled! \(en will not be reverted before the
2939 (case-insensitive) always exists, and all but it can be deleted via
2942 Without arguments a listing of all defined accounts is shown.
2943 With one argument the given account is activated: the system
2945 of that account will be activated (as via
2947 and a possibly installed
2950 The two argument form is identical to defining a macro as via
2952 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2954 set folder=~/mail inbox=+syste.mbox record=+sent.mbox
2955 set from='myname@myisp.example (My Name)'
2956 set mta=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
2962 (a) With no arguments, shows all currently-defined aliases.
2963 With one argument, shows that alias.
2964 With more than one argument,
2965 creates a new alias or appends to an existing one.
2967 can be used to delete aliases.
2971 (alt) Manage a list of alternate addresses / names of the active user,
2972 members of which will be removed from recipient lists when replying to
2975 variable is not set).
2976 If arguments are given the set of alternate names is replaced by them,
2977 without arguments the current set is displayed.
2981 Takes a message list and marks each message as having been answered.
2982 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
2983 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
2984 and makes them specially addressable.
2989 \*(OP\*(NQ The bind command extends the MLE (see
2990 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
2991 with freely configurable key bindings.
2992 With one argument all bindings for the given context are shown,
2993 specifying an asterisk
2995 will show the bindings of all contexts; a more verbose listing will be
2996 produced if either of
3001 With two or more arguments a binding is (re)established:
3002 the first argument is the context to which the binding shall apply,
3003 the second argument is a comma-separated list of the
3005 which form the binding, and any remaining arguments form the expansion.
3006 To indicate that a binding shall not be auto-committed, but that the
3007 expansion shall instead be furtherly editable by the user, an at-sign
3009 (that will be removed) can be placed last in the expansion, from which
3010 leading and trailing whitespace will finally be removed.
3011 Reverse solidus cannot be used as the last character of expansion.
3014 Contexts define when a binding applies, i.e., a binding will not be seen
3015 unless the context for which it is defined for is currently active.
3016 This is not true for the shared binding
3018 which is the foundation for all other bindings and as such always
3019 applies, its bindings, however, only apply secondarily.
3020 The available contexts are the shared
3024 context which is used in all not otherwise documented situations, and
3026 which applies to compose-mode only.
3030 which form the binding are specified as a comma-separated list of
3031 byte-sequences, where each list entry corresponds to one key(press).
3032 \*(OPally a list entry may, indicated by a leading colon character
3034 also refer to the name of a terminal capability;
3035 several dozen names will be compiled into \*(UA and may be specified
3038 or, if existing, by their
3040 name, regardless of the actually used terminal control library.
3041 It is however possible to use any capability, as long as the name is
3042 resolvable by the control library or defined in the internal variable
3044 Input sequences are not case-normalized, so that an exact match is
3045 required to update or remove a binding.
3048 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3049 bind base $'\eE',d mle-snarf-word-fwd # Esc(ape)
3050 bind base $'\eE',$'\ec?' mle-snarf-word-bwd # Esc, Delete
3051 bind default $'\ecA',:khome,w 'echo An editable binding@'
3052 bind default a,b,c rm -rf / @ # Another editable binding
3053 bind default :kf1 File %
3054 bind compose :kf1 ~e
3058 Note that the entire comma-separated list is first parsed (over) as a
3059 shell-token with whitespace as the field separator, before being parsed
3060 and expanded for real with comma as the field separator, therefore
3061 whitespace needs to be properly quoted:
3062 shell-style quoting is documented in the introduction of
3064 Using Unicode reverse solidus escape sequences renders a binding
3065 defunctional if the locale does not support Unicode (see
3066 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
3067 and using terminal capabilities does so if no terminal control support
3068 is (currently) available.
3071 The following terminal capability names are builtin and can be used in
3073 or (if available) the two-letter
3075 notation regardless of the actually used library.
3076 See the respective manual for a list of capabilities.
3079 can be used to show all the capabilities of
3081 or the given terminal type;
3084 flag will also show supported (non-standard) extensions.
3087 .Bl -tag -compact -width kcuuf_or_kcuuf
3088 .It Cd kbs Ns \0or Cd kb
3090 .It Cd kdch1 Ns \0or Cd kD
3092 .It Cd kDC Ns \0or Cd *4
3093 \(em shifted variant.
3094 .It Cd kel Ns \0or Cd kE
3095 Clear to end of line.
3096 .It Cd kext Ns \0or Cd @9
3098 .It Cd kich1 Ns \0or Cd kI
3100 .It Cd kIC Ns \0or Cd #3
3101 \(em shifted variant.
3102 .It Cd khome Ns \0or Cd kh
3104 .It Cd kHOM Ns \0or Cd #2
3105 \(em shifted variant.
3106 .It Cd kend Ns \0or Cd @7
3108 .It Cd knp Ns \0or Cd kN
3110 .It Cd kpp Ns \0or Cd kP
3112 .It Cd kcub1 Ns \0or Cd kl
3113 Left cursor (with more modifiers: see below).
3114 .It Cd kLFT Ns \0or Cd #4
3115 \(em shifted variant.
3116 .It Cd kcuf1 Ns \0or Cd kr
3117 Right cursor (ditto).
3118 .It Cd kRIT Ns \0or Cd %i
3119 \(em shifted variant.
3120 .It Cd kcud1 Ns \0or Cd kd
3121 Down cursor (ditto).
3123 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
3124 .It Cd kcuu1 Ns \0or Cd ku
3127 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
3128 .It Cd kf0 Ns \0or Cd k0
3130 Add one for each function key up to
3135 .It Cd kf10 Ns \0or Cd k;
3137 .It Cd kf11 Ns \0or Cd F1
3139 Add one for each function key up to
3147 Some terminals support key-modifier combination extensions, e.g.,
3149 For example, the delete key,
3151 in its shifted variant, the name is mutated to
3153 then a number is appended for the states
3165 .Ql Shift+Alt+Control
3167 The same for the left cursor key,
3169 .Cd KLFT , KLFT3 , KLFT4 , KLFT5 , KLFT6 , KLFT7 , KLFT8 .
3172 Key bindings can be removed with the command
3174 It is advisable to use an initial escape or other control character (e.g.,
3176 for bindings which describe user key combinations (as opposed to purely
3177 terminal capability based ones), in order to avoid ambiguities whether
3178 input belongs to key sequences or not; it also reduces search time.
3181 may help shall keys and sequences be falsely recognized.
3186 Calls a macro that has been created via
3191 (ch) Change the working directory to
3193 or the given argument.
3199 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
3200 Takes a message list and a file name and saves the certificates
3201 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
3202 human-readable and PEM format.
3203 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
3204 respective message senders by setting
3205 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
3210 (ch) Change the working directory to
3212 or the given argument.
3218 Only applicable to threaded mode.
3219 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
3220 in header summaries, unless they are in state
3226 \*(OP\*(NQ Manage colour mappings for the type of colour given as the
3227 (case-insensitive) first argument, which must be one of
3229 for 256-colour terminals,
3234 for the standard 8-colour ANSI / ISO 6429 color palette and
3238 for monochrome terminals.
3239 Monochrome terminals cannot deal with colours, but only (some) font
3243 Without further arguments the list of all currently defined mappings
3244 for the given colour type is shown (as a special case giving
3248 will iterate over all types in order).
3249 Otherwise the second argument defines the mappable slot, the third
3250 argument a (comma-separated list of) colour and font attribute
3251 specification(s), and the optional fourth argument can be used to
3252 specify a precondition: if conditioned mappings exist they are tested in
3253 (creation) order unless a (case-insensitive) match has been found, and
3254 the default mapping (if any has been established) will only be chosen as
3256 The types of precondition available depend on the mappable slot, the
3257 following of which exist:
3260 Mappings prefixed with
3262 are used for the \*(OPal builtin Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE, see
3263 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
3264 and do not support preconditions.
3266 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3268 This mapping is used for the position indicator that is visible when
3269 a line cannot be fully displayed on the screen.
3276 Mappings prefixed with
3278 are used in header summaries, and they all understand the preconditions
3280 (the current message) and
3282 for elder messages (only honoured in conjunction with
3283 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
3285 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3287 This mapping is used for the
3289 that can be created with the
3293 formats of the variable
3296 For the complete header summary line except the
3298 and the thread structure.
3300 For the thread structure which can be created with the
3302 format of the variable
3307 Mappings prefixed with
3309 are used when displaying messages.
3311 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3313 This mapping is used for so-called
3315 lines, which are MBOX file format specific header lines.
3318 A comma-separated list of headers to which the mapping applies may be
3319 given as a precondition; if the \*(OPal regular expression support is
3320 available then if any of the
3322 (extended) regular expression characters is seen the precondition will
3323 be evaluated as (an extended) one.
3325 For the introductional message info line.
3326 .It Cd view-partinfo
3327 For MIME part info lines.
3331 The following (case-insensitive) colour definitions and font attributes
3332 are understood, multiple of which can be specified in a comma-separated
3342 It is possible (and often applicable) to specify multiple font
3343 attributes for a single mapping.
3346 foreground colour attribute:
3356 To specify a 256-color mode a decimal number colour specification in
3357 the range 0 to 255, inclusive, is supported, and interpreted as follows:
3359 .Bl -tag -compact -width "999 - 999"
3361 the standard ISO 6429 colors, as above.
3363 high intensity variants of the standard colors.
3365 216 colors in tuples of 6.
3367 grayscale from black to white in 24 steps.
3369 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3371 fg() { printf "\e033[38;5;${1}m($1)"; }
3372 bg() { printf "\e033[48;5;${1}m($1)"; }
3374 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do fg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
3375 printf "\e033[0m\en"
3377 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do bg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
3378 printf "\e033[0m\en"
3382 background colour attribute (see
3384 for possible values).
3388 Mappings may be removed with the command
3390 For a generic overview see the section
3391 .Sx "Coloured display" .
3396 (C) Copy messages to files whose names are derived from the author of
3397 the respective message and do not mark them as being saved;
3398 otherwise identical to
3403 (c) Copy messages to the named file and do not mark them as being saved;
3404 otherwise identical to
3409 \*(NQ With no arguments, shows all currently-defined custom headers.
3410 With one argument, shows that custom header.
3411 With more than one argument, creates a new or replaces an existing
3412 custom header with the name given as the first argument, the content of
3413 which being defined by the concatenated remaining arguments.
3415 can be used to delete custom headers.
3416 \*(ID Overwriting of automatically managed headers is neither supported
3418 Defined custom headers will be injected into newly composed or forwarded
3421 .Dl customhdr OpenPGP id=12345678; url=http://www.YYY.ZZ
3425 may also be used to inject custom headers; it is covered by
3430 Show the name of the current working directory.
3434 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
3436 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
3440 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
3442 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
3446 Without arguments the current list of macros, including their content,
3447 is shown, otherwise a macro is defined.
3448 A macro definition is a sequence of commands in the following form:
3449 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3458 A defined macro can be invoked explicitly by using the
3462 commands, or implicitly if a macro hook is triggered, e.g., a
3464 Note that interpretation of
3466 depends on how (i.e.,
3468 normal macro, folder hook, hook, account switch) the macro is invoked.
3469 Macros can be deleted via
3473 Macro behaviour, including option localization, will change in v15.
3474 Please be aware of that and possibly embed a version check in a resource
3479 (d) Marks the given message list as
3481 Deleted messages will neither be saved in
3483 nor will they be available for most other commands.
3489 Superseded by the multiplexer
3495 Deletes the current message and displays the next message.
3496 If there is no next message, \*(UA says
3503 up or down by one message when given
3507 argument, respectively.
3511 Takes a message list and marks each given message as a draft.
3512 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
3513 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
3514 and makes them specially addressable.
3518 (ec) Echoes its arguments after applying
3520 expansions and filename transformations, as documented for
3525 (e) Point the text editor (as defined in
3527 at each message from the given list in turn.
3528 Modified contents are discarded unless the
3535 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3536 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceding
3538 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
3539 if it evaluates true.
3544 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3545 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceding
3549 commands was true, the
3555 (en) Marks the end of an
3556 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3557 conditional execution block.
3562 \*(NQ \*(UA has a strict notion about which variables are
3563 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3564 and which are managed in the program
3566 Since some of the latter are a vivid part of \*(UAs functioning,
3567 however, they are transparently integrated into the normal handling of
3568 internal variables via
3572 To integrate other environment variables of choice into this
3573 transparent handling, and also to export internal variables into the
3574 process environment where they normally are not, a
3576 needs to become established with this command, as in, e.g.,
3579 .Dl environ link PERL5LIB from TZ
3582 Afterwards changing such variables with
3584 will cause automatic updates of the program environment, and therefore
3585 be inherited by newly created child processes.
3586 Sufficient system support provided (it was in BSD as early as 1987, and
3587 is standardized since Y2K) removing such variables with
3589 will remove them also from the program environment, but in any way
3590 the knowledge they ever have been
3593 Note this implies that
3595 may cause loss of links.
3600 will remove an existing link, but leaves the variables as such intact.
3601 Additionally the subcommands
3605 are provided, which work exactly the same as the documented commands
3609 but (additionally) link the variable(s) with the program environment and
3610 thus immediately export them to, or remove them from (if possible),
3611 respectively, the program environment.
3616 \*(OP Since \*(UA uses the console as a user interface it can happen
3617 that messages scroll by too fast to become recognized.
3618 Optionally an error message ring queue is available which stores
3619 duplicates of any error message and notifies the user in interactive
3620 sessions whenever a new error has occurred.
3621 The queue is finite: if its maximum size is reached any new message
3622 replaces the eldest.
3625 can be used to manage this message queue: if given
3627 or no argument the queue will be displayed and cleared,
3629 will only clear all messages from the queue.
3633 (ex or x) Exit from \*(UA without changing the active mailbox and skip
3634 any saving of messages in
3636 as well as a possibly tracked line editor history file.
3642 but open the mailbox readonly.
3646 (fi) The file command switches to a new mailbox.
3647 Without arguments it shows status information of the current mailbox.
3648 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
3649 the user has made and open a new mailbox.
3650 Some special conventions are recognized for the
3654 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".Ar %:__lespec"
3656 (number sign) means the previous file,
3658 (percent sign) means the invoking user's system mailbox, which either
3659 is the (itself expandable)
3661 if that is set, the standardized absolute pathname indicated by
3663 if that is set, or a builtin compile-time default otherwise.
3665 means the primary system mailbox of
3667 (and never the value of
3669 regardless of its actual setting),
3671 (ampersand) means the invoking user's
3681 expands to the same value as
3683 but the file is handled as a primary system mailbox by, e.g., the
3687 commands, meaning that messages that have been read in the current
3688 session will be moved to the
3690 mailbox instead of simply being flagged as read.
3693 If the name matches one of the strings defined with the command
3695 it is replaced by its long form and expanded.
3696 If the name ends with
3701 it is treated as being compressed with
3706 respectively, and transparently handled through an intermediate
3707 (un)compression step (using a temporary file) with the according
3708 facility, sufficient support provided.
3709 Likewise, if the named file does not exist, but a file with one of the
3710 mentioned compression extensions does, then the name is automatically
3711 expanded and the compressed file is used.
3713 Otherwise, if the name ends with an extension for which
3714 .Va file-hook-load-EXTENSION
3716 .Va file-hook-save-EXTENSION
3717 variables are set, then the given hooks will be used to load and save
3719 and \*(UA will work with an intermediate temporary file.
3721 MBOX files (flat file-based mailboxes) are generally locked during file
3722 operations in order to avoid inconsistencies due to concurrent
3724 \*(OPal Mailbox files which \*(UA treats as the system
3727 and primary mailboxes will also be protected by so-called dotlock
3728 files, the traditional way of mail spool file locking: for any file
3732 will be created for the duration of the synchronization \(em
3733 as necessary a privilege-separated dotlock child process will be used
3734 to accommodate for necessary privilege adjustments in order to create
3735 the dotlock file in the same directory
3736 and with the same user and group identities as the file of interest.
3740 refers to a directory with the subdirectories
3745 then it is treated as a folder in
3747 format; \*(ID the variable
3749 can be used to control the format of yet non-existent folders.
3752 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
3753 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
3755 is taken as an Internet mailbox specification.
3756 The \*(OPally supported protocols are
3760 (POP3 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport).
3763 part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to
3765 Also see the section
3766 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
3770 contains special characters, in particular
3774 they must be escaped in URL notation \(en the command
3776 can be used to show the necessary conversion.
3780 Takes a message list and marks the messages as
3782 ged for urgent/special attention.
3783 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
3784 it just causes messages to be highlighted in the header summary,
3785 and makes them specially addressable.
3794 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
3795 With an existing folder as an argument,
3796 lists the names of folders below the named folder.
3802 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
3803 recipient's address (instead of in
3810 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
3811 recipient's address (instead of in
3818 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
3823 .It Ic followupsender
3826 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
3842 (f) Takes a list of message specifications and displays a summary of
3843 their message headers, exactly as via
3845 An alias of this command is
3848 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
3854 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
3855 recipient's address (instead of in
3860 Takes a message and the address of a recipient
3861 and forwards the message to him.
3862 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
3863 with the value of the
3865 variable preceding it.
3866 To filter the included header fields to the desired subset use the
3868 slot of the white- and blacklisting command
3870 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless
3871 .Va forward-as-attachment ,
3872 and recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
3873 unless the internal variable
3879 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
3884 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
3889 Define or list command aliases, so-called ghosts.
3890 Without arguments a list of all currently known aliases is shown.
3891 With one argument the expansion of the given alias is shown.
3892 With two or more arguments a command alias is defined or updated: the
3893 first argument is the name under which the remaining command line should
3894 be accessible, the content of which can be just about anything.
3895 A ghost can be used everywhere a normal command can be used, but always
3896 takes precedence; any arguments that are given to the command alias are
3897 joined onto the alias content, and the resulting string forms the
3898 command line that is, in effect, executed.
3901 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3903 `ghost': no such alias: "xx"
3906 ghost xx "echo hello,"
3916 \*(NQ Multiplexer command to establish white- and blacklisting
3917 selections of header fields for a variety of applications.
3918 Without any arguments the entire set of known contexts and their current
3919 settings is displayed.
3920 When given arguments, the first argument is the context to which the
3921 command applies, one of (case-insensitively)
3923 for display purposes (via, e.g.,
3926 for selecting which headers shall be stored persistently when
3932 ing messages (note that MIME related etc. header fields should not be
3933 ignored in order to not destroy usability of the message in this case),
3935 for stripping down messages when
3937 ing message (has no effect if
3938 .Va forward-as-attachment
3941 for defining user-defined set of fields for the command
3945 The current settings of the given context are displayed if only the
3946 first argument is given.
3947 A second argument denotes the type of restriction that is to be chosen,
3948 it may be (a case-insensitive prefix of)
3952 for white- and blacklisting purposes, respectively.
3953 Establishing a whitelist suppresses inspection of the corresponding
3955 If no further argument is given the current settings of the given type
3959 With four or more arguments the third denotes the action to be applied,
3964 for addition of fields, and
3968 for removal of fields from the given type of the given context.
3969 The fourth, and any following arguments are expected to specify the
3970 fields of desire, or \*(OPally, regular expression matches ought to
3972 The special wildcard field (asterisk,
3974 will establish a (fast) shorthand setting which covers all fields, or
3975 remove all fields in one operation, respectively.
3980 (h) Show the current group of headers, the size of which depends on
3983 and the style of which can be adjusted with the variable
3985 If a message-specification is given the group of headers containing the
3986 first message therein is shown and the message at the top of the screen
4001 the list of history entries;
4004 argument selects and shows the respective history entry \(en
4007 to accept it, and the history entry will become the new history top.
4008 The default mode if no arguments are given is
4015 Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the
4020 Does not override the
4023 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command, because a
4025 command issued after
4027 will display the following message, not the current one.
4032 (i) Part of the nestable
4033 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
4034 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is true then
4035 the encapsulated block is executed.
4036 POSIX only supports the (case-insensitive) conditions
4041 end, all remaining conditions are non-portable extensions; note that
4042 falsely specified conditions cause the execution of the entire
4043 conditional construct until the (matching) closing
4045 command to be suppressed.
4046 The syntax of the nestable
4048 conditional execution construct requires that each condition and syntax
4049 element is surrounded by whitespace.
4051 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4060 The (case-insensitive) condition
4062 erminal will evaluate to true if the standard input is a terminal, i.e.,
4063 in interactive sessions.
4064 Another condition can be any boolean value (see the section
4065 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4066 for textual boolean representations) to mark an enwrapped block as
4069 .Dq always execute .
4070 It is possible to check
4071 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4074 variables for existence or compare their expansion against a user given
4075 value or another variable by using the
4077 .Pf ( Dq variable next )
4078 conditional trigger character;
4079 a variable on the right hand side may be signalled using the same
4081 The variable names may be enclosed in a pair of matching braces.
4084 The available comparison operators are
4088 (less than or equal to),
4094 (greater than or equal to),
4098 (is substring of) and
4100 (is not substring of).
4101 The values of the left and right hand side are treated as strings and
4102 are compared 8-bit byte-wise, ignoring case according to the rules of
4103 the US-ASCII encoding (therefore, dependent on the active locale,
4104 possibly producing false results for strings in the locale encoding).
4105 Except for the substring checks the comparison will instead be performed
4106 arithmetically if both, the user given value as well as the variable
4107 content, can be parsed as numbers (integers).
4108 An unset variable is treated as the empty string.
4111 When the \*(OPal regular expression support is available, the additional
4117 They treat the right hand side as an extended regular expression that is
4118 matched case-insensitively and according to the active
4120 locale, meaning that strings in the locale encoding should be matched
4124 Conditions can be joined via AND-OR lists (where the AND operator is
4126 and the OR operator is
4128 which have equal precedence and will be evaluated with left
4129 associativity, thus using the same syntax that is known for the
4131 It is also possible to form groups of conditions and lists by enclosing
4132 them in pairs of brackets
4133 .Ql [\ \&.\&.\&.\ ] ,
4134 which may be interlocked within each other, and also be joined via
4138 The results of individual conditions and entire groups may be modified
4139 via unary operators: the unary operator
4141 will reverse the result.
4143 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4147 if $ttycharset == "UTF-8"
4148 echo *ttycharset* is set to UTF-8, case-insensitively
4152 echo These two variables are equal
4154 if $version-major >= 15
4155 echo Running a new version..
4156 if $features =@ +regex
4157 if $TERM =~ "^xterm\&.*"
4158 echo ..in an X terminal
4161 if [ [ true ] && [ [ ${debug} ] || [ $verbose ] ] ]
4164 if true && $debug || ${verbose}
4165 echo Left associativity, as is known from the shell
4167 if ! ! true && ! [ ! $debug && ! $verbose ]
4168 echo Unary operator support
4178 Superseded by the multiplexer
4183 Shows the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
4184 If given any non-whitespace argument the list will be shown in the order
4185 in which command prefixes are searched.
4188 output is available.
4192 This command can be used to localize changes to variables, meaning that
4193 their state will be reverted to the former one once the covered scope
4195 It can only be used inside of macro definition blocks introduced by
4199 and is interpreted as a boolean (string, see
4200 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ) ;
4203 of an account is left once it is switched off again.
4204 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4205 define temporary_settings {
4220 enables change localization and calls
4222 which explicitly resets localization, then any value changes within
4224 will still be reverted by
4226 \*(ID Once the outermost level, the one which enabled localization
4227 first, is left, but no earlier, all adjustments will be unrolled.
4228 \*(ID Likewise worth knowing, if in this example
4230 changes to a different
4232 which sets some variables that are yet covered by localizations, their
4233 scope will be extended, and in fact leaving the
4235 will (thus) restore settings in (likely) global scope which actually
4236 were defined in a local, private context.
4240 Reply to messages that come in via known
4243 .Pf ( Ic mlsubscribe )
4244 mailing lists, or pretend to do so (see
4245 .Sx "Mailing lists" ) :
4248 functionality this will actively resort and even remove message
4249 recipients in order to generate a message that is supposed to be sent to
4251 For example it will also implicitly generate a
4252 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
4253 header if that seems useful, regardless of the setting of the variable
4260 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
4261 recipient's address (instead of in
4266 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
4267 or asks on standard input if none were given;
4268 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
4272 (mb) The given message list is to be sent to
4274 when \*(UA is quit; this is the default action unless the variable
4277 \*(ID This command can only be used in a primary system mailbox (see
4282 Without any arguments the content of the MIME type cache will displayed.
4283 Otherwise each argument defines a complete MIME type specification of
4284 a type that shall be added (prepended) to the cache.
4285 In any event MIME type sources are loaded first as necessary \(en
4286 .Va mimetypes-load-control
4287 can be used to fine-tune which sources are actually loaded.
4288 Refer to the section on
4289 .Sx "The mime.types files"
4290 for more on MIME type specifications and this topic in general.
4291 MIME type unregistration and cache resets can be triggered with
4296 Without arguments the list of all currently defined mailing lists
4297 (and their attributes, if any) is shown; a more verbose listing will be
4298 produced if either of
4303 Otherwise all given arguments (which need not be quoted except for
4304 whitespace) will be added and henceforth be recognized as mailing lists.
4305 Mailing lists may be removed via the command
4308 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available then mailing
4309 lists may also be specified as (extended) regular expressions (see
4315 Without arguments the list of all currently defined mailing lists which
4316 have a subscription attribute is shown; a more verbose listing will be
4317 produced if either of
4322 Otherwise this attribute will be set for all given mailing lists,
4323 newly creating them as necessary (as via
4325 Subscription attributes may be removed via the command
4334 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
4335 sender address of the first message (instead of in
4342 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
4349 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
4351 selection, and all MIME parts.
4359 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
4360 standard output is a terminal.
4366 \*(OP When used without arguments or if
4368 has been given the content of the
4370 cache is shown, loading it first as necessary.
4373 then the cache will only be initialized and
4375 will remove its contents.
4376 Note that \*(UA will try to load the file only once, use
4377 .Ql Ic \&\&netrc Ns \:\0\:clear
4378 to unlock further attempts.
4383 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ;
4385 .Sx "The .netrc file"
4386 documents the file format in detail.
4390 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
4392 If new mail is present, a message is shown.
4396 the headers of each new message are also shown.
4397 This command is not available for all mailbox types.
4405 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
4406 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
4420 If the current folder is accessed via a network connection, a
4422 command is sent, otherwise no operation is performed.
4428 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
4430 selection, and all MIME parts.
4438 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
4439 standard output is a terminal.
4447 but also pipes header fields which would not pass the
4449 selection, and all parts of MIME
4450 .Ql multipart/alternative
4455 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
4456 and pipes the messages through the command.
4457 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
4464 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
4485 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
4488 preserving all messages marked with
4492 or never referenced in the system
4494 and removing all other messages from the primary system mailbox.
4495 If new mail has arrived during the session,
4497 .Dq You have new mail
4499 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line flag
4501 then the edit file is rewritten.
4502 A return to the shell is effected,
4503 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
4504 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
4518 Removes the named files or directories.
4519 If a name refer to a mailbox, e.g., a Maildir mailbox, then a mailbox
4520 type specific removal will be performed, deleting the complete mailbox.
4521 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
4525 Takes the name of an existing folder
4526 and the name for the new folder
4527 and renames the first to the second one.
4528 Both folders must be of the same type.
4532 (R) Reply to originator.
4533 Does not reply to other recipients of the original message.
4535 will exchange this command with
4537 Unless the internal variable
4539 is set the recipient address will be stripped from comments, names etc.
4543 (r) Take a message and group-responds to it by addressing the sender
4546 .Va followup-to-honour ,
4549 .Va recipients-in-cc
4550 influence response behaviour.
4553 offers special support for replying to mailing lists.
4554 Unless the internal variable
4556 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
4569 but initiates a group-reply regardless of the value of
4576 but responds to the sender only regardless of the value of
4583 but does not add any header lines.
4584 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
4585 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
4589 Takes a list of messages and a user name
4590 and sends each message to the named user.
4592 and related header fields are prepended to the new copy of the message.
4610 .It Ic respondsender
4616 (ret) Superseded by the multiplexer
4623 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
4624 sender of the first message instead of (in
4626 and) taking a filename argument.
4630 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
4631 to the end of the file.
4632 If no filename is given, the
4635 The filename in quotes, followed by the generated character count
4636 is echoed on the user's terminal.
4637 If editing a primary system mailbox the messages are marked for deletion.
4638 Filename interpretation as described for the
4640 command is performed.
4644 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
4649 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
4654 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
4659 Takes a message specification (list) and displays a header summary of
4660 all matching messages, as via
4662 This command is an alias of
4665 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
4669 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
4673 (se) Without arguments this command shows all internal variables which
4674 are currently known to \*(UA (they have been set).
4675 A more verbose listing will be produced if either of
4679 are set, in which case variables may be preceded with a comment line
4680 that gives some context of what \*(UA knows about the given variable.
4682 Otherwise the given variables (and arguments) are set or adjusted.
4683 Arguments are of the form
4685 (no space before or after
4689 if there is no value, i.e., a boolean variable.
4690 Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment
4691 statement to quote blanks or tabs, e.g.,
4693 .Dl set indentprefix='->'
4695 If an argument begins with
4699 the effect is the same as invoking the
4701 command with the remaining part of the variable
4702 .Pf ( Ql unset save ) .
4706 that is known to map to an environment variable will automatically cause
4707 updates in the program environment (unsetting a variable in the
4708 environment requires corresponding system support).
4709 Please use the command
4711 for further environmental control.
4716 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4722 (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
4726 Without arguments the list of all currently defined shortcuts is
4728 Otherwise all given arguments (which need not be quoted except for
4729 whitespace) are treated as pairs of shortcuts and their expansions,
4730 creating new or changing already existing shortcuts, as necessary.
4731 Shortcuts may be removed via the command
4733 The expansion strings should be in the syntax that has been described
4742 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption, so that the raw
4743 message text is shown.
4747 (si) Shows the size in characters of each message of the given
4752 Shows the current sorting criterion when used without an argument.
4753 Otherwise creates a sorted representation of the current folder,
4756 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in
4758 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
4762 a header summary in the new order is also displayed.
4763 Automatic folder sorting can be enabled by setting the
4765 variable, as in, e.g.,
4766 .Ql set autosort=thread .
4767 Possible sorting criterions are:
4769 .Bl -tag -compact -width "subject"
4771 Sort the messages by their
4773 field, that is by the time they were sent.
4775 Sort messages by the value of their
4777 field, that is by the address of the sender.
4780 variable is set, the sender's real name (if any) is used.
4782 Sort the messages by their size.
4784 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified by
4787 Sort the messages by their message status.
4789 Sort the messages by their subject.
4791 Create a threaded display.
4793 Sort messages by the value of their
4795 field, that is by the address of the recipient.
4798 variable is set, the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
4803 (so) The source command reads commands from the given file, which is
4804 subject to the usual filename expansions (see introductional words of
4806 If the given argument ends with a vertical bar
4808 then the argument will instead be interpreted as a shell command and
4809 \*(UA will read the output generated by it.
4810 Interpretation of commands read is stopped when an error is encountered.
4813 cannot be used from within macros that execute as
4814 .Va folder-hook Ns s
4817 i.e., it can only be called from macros that were
4824 (beside not supporting pipe syntax aka shell command input) is that
4825 this command will not generate an error if the given file argument
4826 cannot be opened successfully.
4830 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their
4836 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and causes the
4838 to forget it has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter.
4839 Unless otherwise noted the
4841 flag of the message is inspected to chose whether a message shall be
4849 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
4853 This also clears the
4855 flag of the messages in question.
4859 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured
4860 .Va spam-interface ,
4861 without modifying the messages, but setting their
4863 flag as appropriate; because the spam rating headers are lost the rate
4864 will be forgotten once the mailbox is left.
4865 Refer to the manual section
4867 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
4871 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their
4877 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
4883 flag of the messages in question.
4892 Create a threaded representation of the current folder,
4893 i.\|e. indent messages that are replies to other messages in the header
4894 display and change the
4896 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
4898 Message numbers are the same as in unthreaded mode.
4902 a header summary in threaded order is also displayed.
4911 slot for white- and blacklisting header fields.
4915 (to) Takes a message list and types out the first
4917 lines of each message on the users' terminal.
4918 Unless a special selection has been established for the
4922 command, the only header fields that are displayed are
4933 It is possible to apply compression to what is displayed by setting
4935 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
4940 (tou) Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in
4942 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
4945 command will display the following message instead of the current one.
4951 but also displays header fields which would not pass the
4953 selection, and all parts of MIME
4954 .Ql multipart/alternative
4959 (t) Takes a message list and types out each message on the users'
4963 For MIME multipart messages, all parts with a content type of
4967 are shown, the other are hidden except for their headers.
4968 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
4973 Delete all given accounts.
4974 An error message is shown if a given account is not defined.
4977 will discard all existing accounts.
4981 (una) Takes a list of names defined by alias commands
4982 and discards the remembered groups of users.
4985 will discard all existing aliases.
4989 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been answered.
4995 ing, specified by its context and input sequence, both of which may be
4996 specified as a wildcard (asterisk,
5000 will remove all bindings of all contexts.
5004 Only applicable to threaded mode.
5005 Takes a message list and makes the message and all replies to it visible
5006 in header summaries again.
5007 When a message becomes the current message,
5008 it is automatically made visible.
5009 Also when a message with collapsed replies is displayed,
5010 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
5016 mapping for the given colour type (see
5018 for a list of types) and mapping; if the optional precondition argument
5019 is used then only the exact tuple of mapping and precondition is removed.
5022 will remove all mappings (no precondition allowed).
5024 .Sx "Coloured display"
5025 for the general picture.
5029 Deletes the custom headers given as arguments.
5032 will remove all custom headers.
5036 Undefine all given macros.
5037 An error message is shown if a given macro is not defined.
5040 will discard all existing macros.
5044 (u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
5048 Takes a message list and
5054 Takes a message list and marks each message as not being
5059 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5064 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5069 Remove all the given command
5073 will remove all ghosts.
5077 Superseded by the multiplexer
5082 Delete all given MIME types, e.g.,
5083 .Ql unmimetype text/plain
5084 will remove all registered specifications for the MIME type
5088 will discard all existing MIME types, just as will
5090 but which also reenables cache initialization via
5091 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
5095 Forget about all the given mailing lists.
5098 will remove all lists.
5103 .It Ic unmlsubscribe
5104 Remove the subscription attribute from all given mailing lists.
5107 will clear the attribute from all lists which have it set.
5118 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
5122 Superseded by the multiplexer
5127 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5132 \*(OB Superseded by the multiplexer
5137 (uns) Takes a list of internal variable names and discards their
5138 remembered values; the reverse of
5145 Deletes the shortcut names given as arguments.
5148 will remove all shortcuts.
5152 Disable sorted or threaded mode
5158 return to normal message order and,
5162 displays a header summary.
5172 Perform URL percent codec operations, rather according to RFC 3986,
5173 on all given strings.
5174 This is character set agnostic and thus locale dependent, and it may
5175 decode bytes which are invalid in the current locale, unless the input
5176 solely consists of characters in the portable character set, see
5177 .Sx "Character sets" .
5178 The first argument specifies the operation:
5182 perform plain URL percent en- and decoding, respectively.
5186 perform a slightly modified operation which should be better for
5187 pathnames: it does not allow a tilde
5189 and will neither accept hyphen
5193 as an initial character.
5197 Edit the values of or create the given variable(s) in the
5199 Boolean variables cannot be edited.
5203 This command produces the same output as the listing mode of
5207 ity adjustments, but only for the given variables.
5211 \*(OP Takes a message list and verifies each message.
5212 If a message is not a S/MIME signed message,
5213 verification will fail for it.
5214 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
5216 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
5217 within the certificate,
5218 and if the message content has been altered.
5230 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
5231 Modified contents are discarded unless the
5237 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
5238 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
5240 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
5241 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
5242 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
5243 the specified file as for conventional messages, handling of the remains
5244 depends on the execution mode.
5245 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
5247 In interactive mode the user is consecutively asked for the filenames of
5248 the processed parts.
5249 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty
5250 value, the same result as writing it to
5252 Shell piping the part content by specifying a leading vertical bar
5254 character for the filename is supported.
5255 Other user input is expanded as usually for folders, e.g., tilde
5256 expansion is performed, and contents of the destination file are
5257 overwritten if the file previously existed.
5259 \*(ID In non-interactive mode any part which does not specify a filename
5260 is ignored, and suspicious parts of filenames of the remaining parts are
5261 URL percent encoded (as via
5263 to prevent injection of malicious character sequences, resulting in
5264 a filename that will be written into the current directory.
5265 Existing files will not be overwritten, instead the part number or
5266 a dot are appended after a number sign
5268 to the name until file creation succeeds (or fails due to other
5278 \*(UA presents message headers in
5280 fuls as described under the
5283 Without arguments this command scrolls to the next window of messages,
5284 likewise if the argument is
5288 scrolls to the last,
5290 scrolls to the first, and
5295 A number argument prefixed by
5299 indicates that the window is calculated in relation to the current
5300 position, and a number without a prefix specifies an absolute position.
5306 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
5315 .\" .Sh COMMAND ESCAPES {{{
5316 .Sh "COMMAND ESCAPES"
5318 Here is a summary of the command escapes available in compose mode,
5319 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
5320 Command escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines.
5321 The actual escape character can be set via the internal variable
5323 it defaults to the tilde
5326 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic __ filename"
5329 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single
5331 (If the escape character has been changed,
5332 that character must be doubled
5333 in order to send it at the beginning of a line.)
5336 .It Ic ~! Ar command
5337 Execute the indicated shell
5339 then return to the message.
5343 Same effect as typing the end-of-file character.
5346 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \0or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
5347 Execute the given \*(UA command.
5348 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
5352 Write a summary of command escapes.
5355 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
5360 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
5362 is executed using the shell.
5363 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
5366 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
5367 With no arguments, edit the attachment list interactively.
5368 If an attachment's file name is left empty,
5369 that attachment is deleted from the list.
5370 When the end of the attachment list is reached,
5371 \*(UA will ask for further attachments until an empty name is given.
5372 If a given file name solely consists of the number sign
5374 followed by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, then
5375 the given message is attached as a MIME
5377 and the rest of this section does not apply.
5379 If character set conversion has been compiled into \*(UA, then this mode
5380 gives the user the option to specify input and output character sets,
5381 unless the file extension indicates binary content, in which case \*(UA
5382 asks whether this step shall be skipped for the attachment in question.
5383 If not skipped, then the charset that succeeds to represent the
5384 attachment data will be used in the
5386 MIME parameter of the mail message:
5388 .Bl -bullet -compact
5390 If input and output character sets are specified, then the conversion is
5391 performed on the fly.
5392 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
5394 If only an output character set is specified, then the input is assumed
5397 charset and will be converted to the given output charset on the fly.
5398 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
5400 If no character sets are specified at all then the algorithm that is
5401 documented in the section
5402 .Sx "Character sets"
5403 is applied, but directly and on the fly.
5404 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
5406 Finally, if an input-, but no output character set is specified, then no
5407 conversion is ever performed, but the
5409 MIME parameter value will still be set to the user input.
5411 The character set selection loop can be left by typing
5413 i.e., causing an interrupt.
5414 .\" \*(OU next sentence
5415 Note that before \*(UA version 15.0 this terminates the entire
5416 current attachment selection, not only the character set selection.
5419 Without character set conversion support, \*(UA will ask for the input
5420 character set only, and it will set the
5422 MIME parameter value to the given input, if any;
5423 if no user input is seen then the
5425 character set will be used for the parameter value instead.
5426 Note that the file extension check is not performed in this mode, since
5427 no conversion will take place anyway.
5429 Note that in non-interactive mode, for reproduceabilities sake, there
5430 will always be two questions for each attachment, regardless of whether
5431 character set conversion is available and what the file extension is.
5432 The first asks for the filename, and the second asks for the input
5433 character set to be passed through to the corresponding MIME parameter;
5434 no conversion will be tried if there is input to the latter question,
5435 otherwise the usual conversion algorithm, as above, is applied.
5436 For message attachments, the answer to the second question is completely
5441 arguments are specified for the
5443 command they are treated as a file list of
5445 -style quoted arguments, optionally also separated by commas, which are
5446 expanded and then appended to the existing list of message attachments.
5447 Message attachments can only be added via the first method.
5448 In this mode the (text) attachments are assumed to be in
5450 encoding, and will be evaluated as documented in the section
5451 .Sx "Character sets" .
5455 Inserts the string contained in the
5458 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \0Sign ) .
5459 The escape sequences tabulator
5467 Inserts the string contained in the
5470 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \0sign ) .
5471 The escape sequences tabulator
5478 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
5479 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
5482 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
5483 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
5487 Read the file specified by the
5489 variable into the message.
5493 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
5494 After the editing session is finished,
5495 the user may continue appending text to the message.
5498 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
5499 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
5500 message headers and MIME parts.
5501 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
5504 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
5505 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
5506 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
5507 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
5509 white- and blacklist selection of
5511 For MIME multipart messages,
5512 only the first displayable part is included.
5516 Edit the message header fields
5521 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
5522 The default values for these fields originate from the
5530 Edit the message header fields
5536 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
5539 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
5540 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message,
5541 adding a newline character at the end.
5542 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
5543 The escape sequences tabulator
5550 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
5551 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
5554 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
5557 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
5558 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
5561 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
5562 Strips down the list of header fields according to the
5564 white- and blacklist selection of
5566 For MIME multipart messages,
5567 only the first displayable part is included.
5571 Display the message collected so far,
5572 prefaced by the message header fields
5573 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
5577 Abort the message being sent,
5578 copying it to the file specified by the
5585 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
5586 Read the named file into the message, indented by
5590 .It Ic ~r Ar filename
5591 Read the named file into the message.
5595 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
5598 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
5599 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
5602 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
5603 Read in the given / current message(s) excluding all headers, indented by
5607 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
5608 Read in the given / current message(s), excluding all headers.
5612 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
5614 environment variable) on the message collected so far.
5615 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
5616 After the editor is quit,
5617 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
5620 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
5621 Write the message onto the named file.
5623 the message is appended to it.
5629 except that the message is not saved at all.
5632 .It Ic ~| Ar command
5633 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
5634 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
5635 retain the original text of the message.
5638 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
5643 .\" .Sh INTERNAL VARIABLES {{{
5644 .Sh "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5646 Internal \*(UA variables are controlled via the
5650 commands; prefixing a variable name with the string
5654 has the same effect as using
5660 Creation or editing of variables can be performed in the
5665 will give more insight on the given variable(s), and
5667 when called without arguments, will show a listing of all variables.
5668 Both commands support a more
5671 Some well-known variables will also become inherited from the
5674 implicitly, others can be explicitly imported with the command
5676 and henceforth share the said properties.
5679 Two different kind of internal variables exist.
5680 There are boolean variables, which can only be in one of the two states
5684 and value variables with a(n optional) string value.
5685 For the latter proper quoting is necessary upon assignment time, the
5686 introduction of the section
5688 documents the supported quoting rules.
5690 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5691 wysh set one=val\e 1 two="val 2" \e
5692 three='val "3"' four=$'val \e'4\e''
5693 varshow one two three four
5694 unset one two three four
5698 Dependent upon the actual option the string values will be interpreted
5699 as numbers, colour names, normal text etc., but there also exists
5700 a special kind of string value, the
5701 .Dq boolean string ,
5702 which must either be a decimal integer (in which case
5706 and any other value is true) or any of the (case-insensitive) strings
5712 for a false boolean and
5718 for a true boolean; a special kind of boolean string is the
5720 which is a boolean string that can optionally be prefixed with the
5721 (case-insensitive) term
5725 which causes prompting of the user in interactive mode, with the given
5726 boolean as the default value.
5728 .\" .Ss "Initial settings" {{{
5729 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.h:okeys, ./nail.rc, ./nail.1:"Initial settings")
5730 .Ss "Initial Settings"
5732 The standard POSIX 2008/Cor 2-2016 mandates the following initial
5738 .Pf no Va autoprint ,
5752 .Pf no Va ignoreeof ,
5754 .Pf no Va keepsave ,
5756 .Pf no Va outfolder ,
5764 .Pf no Va sendwait ,
5773 Notes: \*(UA does not support the
5775 variable \(en use command line options or
5777 to pass options through to a
5779 And the default global
5781 file (which is loaded unless the
5783 command line flag has been used or the
5784 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
5785 environment variable is set) bends those initial settings a bit, e.g.,
5786 it sets the variables
5791 to name a few, establishes a default
5793 selection etc., and should thus be taken into account.
5796 .\" .Ss "Variables" {{{
5799 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va _utoprin_"
5801 .It Va -account-name
5802 \*(RO Is set to the active
5807 \*(RO The status of the last command.
5810 .It Va -folder-resolved
5811 \*(RO Set to the fully resolved path of
5813 once that evaluation has occurred; rather internal.
5816 .It Va -mailbox-display
5817 \*(RO The name of the current mailbox
5819 possibly abbreviated for display purposes.
5822 .It Va -mailbox-resolved
5823 \*(RO The fully resolved path of the current mailbox.
5826 .It Va add-file-recipients
5827 \*(BO When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
5828 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
5829 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
5830 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
5834 \*(BO Causes only the local part to be evaluated
5835 when comparing addresses.
5839 \*(BO Causes messages saved in
5841 to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
5842 This should always be set.
5846 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject of each message sent.
5847 If the user responds with simply a newline,
5848 no subject field will be sent.
5852 \*(BO Causes the prompts for
5856 lists to appear after the message has been edited.
5860 \*(BO If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message,
5861 shall the list be found empty at that time.
5862 An empty line finalizes the list.
5866 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for carbon copy recipients
5867 (at the end of each message if
5871 are set) shall the list be found empty (at that time).
5872 An empty line finalizes the list.
5876 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for blind carbon copy
5877 recipients (at the end of each message if
5881 are set) shall the list be found empty (at that time).
5882 An empty line finalizes the list.
5886 \*(BO\*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be
5887 signed at the end of each message.
5890 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
5894 \*(BO Alternative name for
5901 .It Va attachment-ask-content-description , \
5902 attachment-ask-content-disposition , \
5903 attachment-ask-content-id , \
5904 attachment-ask-content-type
5905 \*(BO If set then the user will be prompted for some attachment
5906 information when editing the attachment list.
5907 It is advisable to not use these but for the first of the variables;
5908 even for that it has to be noted that the data is used
5914 A sequence of characters to display in the
5918 as shown in the display of
5920 each for one type of messages (see
5921 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
5922 with the default being
5925 .Ql NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$~
5928 variable is set, in the following order:
5930 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _"
5952 start of a collapsed thread.
5954 an uncollapsed thread (TODO ignored for now).
5958 classified as possible spam.
5964 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
5965 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
5969 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
5970 message will be sent automatically.
5974 \*(BO Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode
5981 \*(BO Causes the delete command to behave like
5983 thus, after deleting a message the next one will be typed automatically.
5987 \*(BO\*(OB Causes threaded mode (see the
5989 command) to be entered automatically when a folder is opened.
5991 .Ql autosort=thread .
5995 Causes sorted mode (see the
5997 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this variable as
5998 sorting method when a folder is opened, e.g.,
5999 .Ql set autosort=thread .
6003 \*(BO Enables the substitution of
6005 by the contents of the last command line in shell escapes.
6008 .It Va batch-exit-on-error
6009 \*(BO If the batch mode has been enabled via the
6011 command line option, then this variable will be consulted whenever \*(UA
6012 completes one operation (returns to the command prompt); if it is set
6013 then \*(UA will terminate if the last operation generated an error.
6017 \*(OP Terminals generate multi-byte sequences for certain forms of
6018 input, for example for function and other special keys.
6019 Some terminals however do not write these multi-byte sequences as
6020 a whole, but byte-by-byte, and the latter is what \*(UA actually reads.
6021 This variable specifies the timeout in milliseconds that the MLE (see
6022 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
6023 waits for more bytes to arrive unless it considers a sequence
6029 \*(BO Causes automatic display of a header summary after executing a
6031 command, and thus complements the standard variable
6033 which controls header summary display on program startup.
6034 It is only meaningful if
6040 \*(BO Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
6041 has the same affect as setting
6043 and all other variables prefixed with
6045 it also changes the behaviour of
6047 (which does not exist in BSD).
6051 \*(BO Changes the letters shown in the first column of a header
6052 summary to traditional BSD style.
6056 \*(BO Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional
6061 \*(BO Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
6067 field to appear immediately after the
6069 field in message headers and with the
6071 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
6075 The value that should appear in the
6079 MIME header fields when no character set conversion of the message data
6081 This defaults to US-ASCII, and the chosen character set should be
6082 US-ASCII compatible.
6086 \*(OP The default 8-bit character set that is used as an implicit last
6087 member of the variable
6089 This defaults to UTF-8.
6090 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
6091 the only supported character set is
6093 Refer to the section
6094 .Sx "Character sets"
6095 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
6098 .It Va charset-unknown-8bit
6099 \*(OP RFC 1428 specifies conditions when internet mail gateways shall
6101 the content of a mail message by using a character set with the name
6103 Because of the unclassified nature of this character set \*(UA will not
6104 be capable to convert this character set to any other character set.
6105 If this variable is set any message part which uses the character set
6107 is assumed to really be in the character set given in the value,
6108 otherwise the (final) value of
6110 is used for this purpose.
6112 This variable will also be taken into account if a MIME type (see
6113 .Sx "The mime.types files" )
6114 of a MIME message part that uses the
6116 character set is forcefully treated as text.
6120 The default value for the
6125 .It Va colour-disable
6126 \*(BO\*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
6127 Also see the section
6128 .Sx "Coloured display" .
6132 \*(BO\*(OP Whether colour shall be used for output that is paged through
6134 Note that pagers may need special flags, e.g.,
6142 in order to support colours.
6143 Often doing manual adjustments is unnecessary since \*(UA may perform
6144 adjustments dependent on the value of the environment variable
6146 (see there for more).
6150 In a(n interactive) terminal session, then if this valued variable is
6151 set it will be used as a threshold to determine how many lines the given
6152 output has to span before it will be displayed via the configured
6156 can be forced by setting this to the value
6158 setting it without a value will deduce the current height of the
6159 terminal screen to compute the treshold (see
6167 \*(OB A variable counterpart of the
6169 command (see there for documentation), interpreted as a comma-separated
6170 list of custom headers to be injected, to include commas in the header
6171 bodies escape them with reverse solidus, e.g.:
6173 .Dl set customhdr='Hdr1: Body1-1\e, Body1-2, Hdr2: Body2'
6179 the message date, if any is to be displayed according to the format of
6181 is by default taken from the
6183 line of the message.
6184 If this variable is set the date as given in the
6186 header field is used instead, converted to local time.
6187 To control the display format of the date assign a valid
6192 format should not be used, because \*(UA does not take embedded newlines
6193 into account when calculating how many lines fit onto the screen.)
6195 .Va datefield-markout-older .
6198 .It Va datefield-markout-older
6199 This variable, when set in addition to
6203 messages (concept is rather comparable to the
6205 option of the POSIX utility
6207 The content interpretation is identical to
6212 \*(BO Enables debug messages and obsoletion warnings, disables the
6213 actual delivery of messages and also implies
6219 .It Va disposition-notification-send
6221 .Ql Disposition-Notification-To:
6222 header (RFC 3798) with the message.
6226 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-HOST
6228 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
6229 .\" for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
6230 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-USER@HOST
6232 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
6233 .\"for a specific account.
6237 \*(BO When dot is set, a period
6239 on a line by itself during message input in (interactive) compose mode
6240 will be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the normal end-of-file
6249 .It Va dotlock-ignore-error
6250 \*(BO\*(OP Synchronization of mailboxes which \*(UA treats as system
6251 mailboxes (see the command
6253 will be protected with so-called dotlock files\(emthe traditional mail
6254 spool file locking method\(emin addition to system file locking.
6255 Because \*(UA ships with a privilege-separated dotlock creation program
6256 that should always be able to create such a dotlock file there is no
6257 good reason to ignore dotlock file creation errors, and thus these are
6258 fatal unless this variable is set.
6262 \*(BO If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically
6263 when a message is composed in interactive mode, as if the
6265 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
6269 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
6273 \*(BO When a message is edited while being composed,
6274 its header is included in the editable text.
6284 fields are accepted within the header, other fields are ignored.
6288 \*(BO When entering interactive mode \*(UA normally writes
6289 .Dq \&No mail for user
6290 and exits immediately if a mailbox is empty or does not exist.
6291 If this variable is set \*(UA starts even with an empty or nonexistent
6292 mailbox (the latter behaviour furtherly depends upon
6299 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding
6300 to use in outgoing text messages and message parts, where applicable.
6301 (7-bit clean text messages are sent as-is, without a transfer encoding.)
6304 .Bl -tag -compact -width "_%%_"
6307 8-bit transport effectively causes the raw data be passed through
6308 unchanged, but may cause problems when transferring mail messages over
6309 channels that are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
6310 Also, several input data constructs are not allowed by the
6311 specifications and may cause a different transfer-encoding to be used.
6312 .It Ql quoted-printable
6314 Quoted-printable encoding is 7-bit clean and has the property that ASCII
6315 characters are passed through unchanged, so that an english message can
6316 be read as-is; it is also acceptible for other single-byte locales that
6317 share many characters with ASCII, like, e.g., ISO-8859-1.
6318 The encoding will cause a large overhead for messages in other character
6319 sets: e.g., it will require up to twelve (12) bytes to encode a single
6320 UTF-8 character of four (4) bytes.
6322 .Pf (Or\0 Ql b64 . )
6323 The default encoding, it is 7-bit clean and will always be used for
6325 This encoding has a constant input:output ratio of 3:4, regardless of
6326 the character set of the input data it will encode three bytes of input
6327 to four bytes of output.
6328 This transfer-encoding is not human readable without performing
6334 If defined, the first character of the value of this variable
6335 gives the character to use in place of
6338 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
6342 If not set then file and command pipeline targets are not allowed,
6343 and any such address will be filtered out, giving a warning message.
6344 If set without a value then all possible recipient address
6345 specifications will be accepted \(en see the section
6346 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
6348 To accept them, but only in interactive mode, or when tilde commands
6349 were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
6353 set this to the (case-insensitive) value
6355 (note right now this is actually like setting
6356 .Ql restrict,-all,+name,+addr ) .
6358 In fact the value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of values.
6361 then the existence of disallowed specifications is treated as a hard
6362 send error instead of only filtering them out.
6363 The remaining values specify whether a specific type of recipient
6364 address specification is allowed (optionally indicated by a plus sign
6366 prefix) or disallowed (prefixed with a hyphen
6370 addresses all possible address specifications,
6374 command pipeline targets,
6376 plain user names and (MTA) aliases (\*(OB
6378 may be used as an alternative syntax to
6383 These kind of values are interpreted in the given order, so that
6384 .Ql restrict,\:fail,\:+file,\:-all,\:+addr
6385 will cause hard errors for any non-network address recipient address
6386 unless \*(UA is in interactive mode or has been started with the
6390 command line option; in the latter case(s) any address may be used, then.
6394 Unless this variable is set additional
6396 (Mail-Transfer-Agent)
6397 arguments from the command line, as can be given after a
6399 separator, are ignored due to safety reasons.
6400 However, if set to the special (case-insensitive) value
6402 then the presence of additional MTA arguments is treated as a hard
6403 error that causes \*(UA to exit with failure status.
6404 A lesser strict variant is the otherwise identical
6406 which does accept such arguments in interactive mode, or if tilde
6407 commands were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
6414 \*(RO String giving a list of features \*(UA, preceded with a plus-sign
6416 if the feature is available, and a minus-sign
6419 The output of the command
6421 will include this information.
6425 \*(BO This setting reverses the meanings of a set of reply commands,
6426 turning the lowercase variants, which by default address all recipients
6427 included in the header of a message
6428 .Pf ( Ic reply , respond , followup )
6429 into the uppercase variants, which by default address the sender only
6430 .Pf ( Ic Reply , Respond , Followup )
6433 .Ic replysender , respondsender , followupsender
6435 .Ic replyall , respondall , followupall
6436 are not affected by the current setting of
6441 .It Va file-hook-load-EXTENSION , file-hook-save-EXTENSION
6442 It is possible to install file hooks which will be used by the
6444 command in order to be able to transparently handle (through an
6445 intermediate temporary file) files with specific
6447 s: the variable values can include shell snippets and are expected to
6448 write data to standard output / read data from standard input,
6450 \*(ID The variables may not be changed while there is a mailbox
6452 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6453 set file-hook-load-xy='echo >&2 XY-LOAD; gzip -cd' \e
6454 file-hook-save-xy='echo >&2 XY-SAVE; gzip -c' \e
6455 record=+null-sent.xy
6460 The default path under which mailboxes are to be saved:
6461 file names that begin with the plus-sign
6463 will be expanded by prefixing them with the value of this variable.
6464 The same special syntax conventions as documented for the
6466 command may be used; if the non-empty value does not start with a solidus
6470 will be prefixed automatically.
6471 If unset or the empty string any
6473 prefixing file names will remain unexpanded.
6477 This variable can be set to the name of a
6479 macro which will be called whenever a
6482 The macro will also be invoked when new mail arrives,
6483 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
6484 only include newly arrived messages then.
6486 are activated by default in a folder hook, causing the covered settings
6487 to be reverted once the folder is left again.
6490 Macro behaviour, including option localization, will change in v15.
6491 Please be aware of that and possibly embed a version check in a resource
6495 .It Va folder-hook-FOLDER
6500 Unlike other folder specifications, the fully expanded name of a folder,
6501 without metacharacters, is used to avoid ambiguities.
6502 However, if the mailbox resides under
6506 specification is tried in addition, e.g., if
6510 (and thus relative to the user's home directory) then
6511 .Pa /home/usr1/mail/sent
6513 .Ql folder-hook-/home/usr1/mail/sent
6514 first, but then followed by
6515 .Ql folder-hook-+sent .
6519 \*(BO Controls whether a
6520 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
6521 header is generated when sending messages to known mailing lists.
6523 .Va followup-to-honour
6525 .Ic mlist , mlsubscribe , reply
6530 .It Va followup-to-honour
6532 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
6533 header is honoured when group-replying to a message via
6537 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
6547 .It Va forward-as-attachment
6548 \*(BO Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
6551 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
6552 With this setting enabled messages are sent as unmodified MIME
6554 attachments with all of their parts included.
6558 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the
6560 field of the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
6561 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
6562 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
6565 ing to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in the
6569 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
6570 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
6572 (\*(IN and with a defined SMTP protocol in
6575 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities),
6579 contains more than one address,
6582 variable is required (according to the standard RFC 5322).
6586 \*(BO When replying to or forwarding a message \*(UA normally removes
6587 the comment and name parts of email addresses.
6588 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed,
6589 and comments, names etc. are retained.
6593 The string to put before the text of a message with the
6597 .Va forward-as-attachment
6600 .Dq -------- Original Message --------
6601 if unset; No heading is put if it is set to the empty string.
6605 \*(BO Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after
6606 commands that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in
6607 the current folder; enabled by default.
6608 The command line option
6614 complements this and controls header summary display on folder changes.
6619 A format string to use for the summary of
6621 similar to the ones used for
6624 Format specifiers in the given string start with a percent character
6626 and may be followed by an optional decimal number indicating the field
6627 width \(em if that is negative, the field is to be left-aligned.
6628 Valid format specifiers are:
6631 .Bl -tag -compact -width "_%%_"
6633 A plain percent character.
6636 a space character but for the current message
6638 for which it expands to
6642 a space character but for the current message
6644 for which it expands to
6647 \*(OP The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the
6650 Shows only a replacement character if there is no spam support.
6652 Message attribute character (status flag); the actual content can be
6656 The date when the message was received, or the date found in the
6660 variable is set (optionally to a date display format string).
6662 The indenting level in threaded mode.
6664 The address of the message sender.
6666 The message thread tree structure.
6667 (Note that this format does not support a field width.)
6669 The number of lines of the message, if available.
6673 The number of octets (bytes) in the message, if available.
6675 Message subject (if any).
6677 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
6679 Message recipient flags: is the addressee of the message a known or
6680 subscribed mailing list \(en see
6685 The position in threaded/sorted order.
6689 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s ,
6691 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S
6702 .It Va headline-bidi
6703 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
6704 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
6705 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
6706 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
6707 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
6708 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
6710 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
6711 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
6712 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
6714 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
6715 fields that may occur when displaying
6717 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
6719 with special Unicode control sequences;
6720 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
6722 no value (or any value other than
6727 will make \*(UA assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal
6728 with Unicode version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of
6729 U+2068 (FIRST STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE)
6731 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
6733 Weaker support is chosen by using the value
6735 (Unicode 6.3, but reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control
6736 sequences onto the line).
6741 select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK); the latter
6742 again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
6746 \*(OP If a line editor is available then this can be set to
6747 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent history file.
6750 .It Va history-gabby
6751 \*(BO\*(OP Add more entries to the history as is normally done.
6754 .It Va history-gabby-persist
6755 \*(BO\*(OP \*(UA's own MLE will not save the additional
6757 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is set.
6758 On the other hand it will not loose the knowledge of whether
6759 a persistent entry was gabby or not.
6765 \*(OP If a line editor is available this value restricts the
6766 amount of history entries that are saved into a set and valid
6768 A value of less than 0 disables this feature;
6769 note that loading and incorporation of
6771 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
6772 If unset or 0, a default value will be used.
6773 Dependent on the available line editor this will also define the
6774 number of history entries in memory;
6775 it is also editor-specific whether runtime updates of this value will
6780 \*(BO This setting controls whether messages are held in the system
6782 and it is set by default.
6786 Use this string as hostname when expanding local addresses instead of
6787 the value obtained from
6796 Note that when SMTP transport is not used (via
6798 then it is normally the responsibility of the MTA to create these
6799 fields, \*(IN in conjunction with SMTP however
6801 also influences the results:
6802 you should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
6811 \*(BO\*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain
6812 names according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names
6814 Since the IDNA code assumes that domain names are specified with the
6816 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent all
6817 possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
6821 \*(BO Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering
6822 messages; instead echo them as
6824 characters and discard the current line.
6828 \*(BO Ignore end-of-file conditions
6829 .Pf ( Ql control-D )
6830 in compose mode on message input and in interactive command input.
6831 If set an interactive command input session can only be left by
6832 explicitly using one of the commands
6836 and message input in compose mode can only be terminated by entering
6839 on a line by itself or by using the
6841 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ;
6843 overrides a setting of
6848 If this is set to a non-empty string it will be used for expansions of
6853 The value supports a subset of filename expansions itself.
6861 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
6864 option for indenting messages,
6865 in place of the normal tabulator character
6867 which is the default.
6868 Be sure to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
6872 \*(BO If set, an empty system (MBOX) mailbox file is not removed.
6873 Note that, in conjunction with
6876 .Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT )
6877 any empty file will be removed unless this variable is set.
6878 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
6879 when using a common folder directory, and prevents malicious users
6880 from creating fake mailboxes in a world-writable spool directory.
6881 \*(ID Only local regular (MBOX) files are covered, Maildir or other
6882 mailbox types will never be removed, even if empty.
6885 .It Va keep-content-length
6886 \*(BO When (editing messages and) writing
6888 mailbox files \*(UA can be told to keep the
6892 header fields that some MUAs generate by setting this variable.
6893 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
6894 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
6895 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
6896 work with with same mailbox files.
6897 Note that, if this is not set but
6898 .Va writebackedited ,
6899 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
6900 fields already marks the message as being modified.
6904 \*(BO When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the
6905 originating folder when \*(UA is quit.
6906 This setting causes all saved message to be retained.
6909 .It Va line-editor-disable
6910 \*(BO Turn off any enhanced line editing capabilities (see
6911 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
6915 .It Va line-editor-no-defaults
6916 \*(BO\*(OP Do not establish any default key binding.
6920 \*(BO When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
6921 it is marked as having been answered.
6922 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
6923 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
6924 and makes them specially addressable.
6928 \*(BO Internal development variable.
6931 .It Va message-id-disable
6932 \*(BO By setting this variable the generation of
6934 can be completely suppressed, effectively leaving this task up to the
6936 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) or the SMTP server.
6937 (According to RFC 5321 your SMTP server is not required to add this
6938 field by itself, so you should ensure that it accepts messages without a
6942 .It Va message-inject-head
6943 A string to put at the beginning of each new message.
6944 The escape sequences tabulator
6951 .It Va message-inject-tail
6952 A string to put at the end of each new message.
6953 The escape sequences tabulator
6961 \*(BO Usually, when an
6963 expansion contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion.
6964 Setting this option suppresses these removals.
6969 option to be passed through to the
6971 (Mail-Transfer-Agent); though most of the modern MTAs no longer document
6972 this flag, no MTA is known which does not support it (for historical
6976 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
6977 \*(BO When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected
6978 in order to classify the
6981 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding:
6984 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
6985 a computation rather similar to what the
6987 command produces when used with the
6991 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
6992 UTF-16 (seen for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
6993 octet-streams, forcefully changing any
6998 .Ql application/octet-stream :
6999 If that actually happens a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set to
7001 effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to automatically
7002 interpret the contents of the part.
7004 If this variable is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as
7005 text data at first glance (by a
7009 file extension), then the original
7011 will not be overwritten.
7014 .It Va mime-alternative-favour-rich
7015 \*(BO If this variable is set then rich MIME alternative parts (e.g.,
7016 HTML) will be preferred in favour of included plain text versions when
7017 displaying messages, provided that a handler exists which produces
7018 output that can be (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
7019 (E.g., at the time of this writing some newsletters ship their full
7020 content only in the rich HTML part, whereas the plain text part only
7021 contains topic subjects.)
7024 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
7027 field is used to decide how to handle MIME parts.
7028 Some MUAs however do not use
7030 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content, but simply specify
7031 .Ql application/octet-stream ,
7032 even for plain text attachments like
7034 If this variable is set then \*(UA will try to classify such MIME
7035 message parts on its own, if possible, for example via a possibly
7036 existing attachment filename.
7037 A non-empty value may also be given, in which case a number is expected,
7038 actually a carrier of bits.
7039 Creating the bit-carrying number is a simple addition:
7040 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7041 ? !echo Value should be set to $((2 + 4 + 8))
7042 Value should be set to 14
7045 .Bl -bullet -compact
7047 If bit two is set (2) then the detected
7049 content-type will be carried along with the message and be used for
7051 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
7052 is responsible for the MIME part, shall that question arise;
7053 when displaying such a MIME part the part-info will indicate the
7054 overridden content-type by showing a plus-sign
7057 If bit three is set (4) then the counter-evidence is always produced
7058 and a positive result will be used as the MIME type, even forcefully
7059 overriding the parts given MIME type.
7061 If bit four is set (8) then as a last resort the actual content of
7062 .Ql application/octet-stream
7063 parts will be inspected, so that data which looks like plain text can be
7068 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
7069 Can be used to control which of the
7071 databases are loaded by \*(UA, as furtherly described in the section
7072 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
7075 is part of the option value, then the user's personal
7077 file will be loaded (if it exists); likewise the letter
7079 controls loading of the system wide
7080 .Pa /etc/mime.types ;
7081 directives found in the user file take precedence, letter matching is
7083 If this variable is not set \*(UA will try to load both files.
7084 Incorporation of the \*(UA-builtin MIME types cannot be suppressed,
7085 but they will be matched last (the order can be listed via
7088 More sources can be specified by using a different syntax: if the
7089 value string contains an equals sign
7091 then it is instead parsed as a comma-separated list of the described
7094 pairs; the given filenames will be expanded and loaded, and their
7095 content may use the extended syntax that is described in the section
7096 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
7097 Directives found in such files always take precedence (are prepended to
7098 the MIME type cache).
7103 To choose an alternate Mail-Transfer-Agent, set this option to either
7104 the full pathname of an executable (optionally prefixed with a
7106 protocol indicator), or \*(OPally a SMTP protocol URL, e.g., \*(IN
7108 .Dl smtps?://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7111 .Ql [smtp://]server[:port] . )
7112 The default has been chosen at compie time.
7113 All supported data transfers are executed in child processes, which
7114 run asynchronously, and without supervision, unless either the
7119 If such a child receives a TERM signal, it will abort and
7126 For a file-based MTA it may be necessary to set
7128 in in order to choose the right target of a modern
7131 It will be passed command line arguments from several possible sources:
7134 if set, from the command line if given and the variable
7137 Argument processing of the MTA will be terminated with a
7142 The otherwise occurring implicit usage of the following MTA command
7143 line arguments can be disabled by setting the boolean variable
7144 .Va mta-no-default-arguments
7145 (which will also disable passing
7149 (for not treating a line with only a dot
7151 character as the end of input),
7159 variable is set); in conjunction with the
7161 command line option \*(UA will also pass
7167 \*(OP \*(UA can send mail over SMTP network connections to a single
7168 defined SMTP smarthost, the access URL of which has to be assigned to
7170 To use this mode it is helpful to read
7171 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
7172 It may be necessary to set the
7174 variable in order to use a specific combination of
7179 with some mail providers.
7182 .Bl -bullet -compact
7184 The plain SMTP protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
7185 server port 25 and requires setting the
7186 .Va smtp-use-starttls
7187 variable to enter a SSL/TLS encrypted session state.
7188 Assign a value like \*(IN
7189 .Ql smtp://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7191 .Ql smtp://server[:port] )
7192 to choose this protocol.
7194 The so-called SMTPS which is supposed to live on server port 465
7195 and is automatically SSL/TLS secured.
7196 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
7197 be supported by your hosts network service database
7198 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
7201 SMTPS is nonetheless a commonly offered protocol and thus can be
7202 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
7203 .Ql smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7205 .Ql smtps://server[:port] ) ;
7206 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
7211 Finally there is the SUBMISSION protocol (RFC 6409), which usually
7212 lives on server port 587 and is practically identically to the SMTP
7213 protocol from \*(UA's point of view beside that; it requires setting the
7214 .Va smtp-use-starttls
7215 variable to enter a SSL/TLS secured session state.
7216 Assign a value like \*(IN
7217 .Ql submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7219 .Ql submission://server[:port] ) .
7224 .It Va mta-arguments
7225 Arguments to pass through to a file-based
7227 can be given via this variable, the content of which will be split up in
7228 a vector of arguments, to be joined onto other possible MTA options:
7230 .Dl set mta-arguments='-t -X \&"/tmp/my log\&"'
7233 .It Va mta-no-default-arguments
7234 \*(BO Unless this variable is set \*(UA will pass some well known
7235 standard command line options to a file-based
7237 (Mail-Transfer-Agent), see there for more.
7241 Many systems use a so-called
7243 environment to ensure compatibility with
7245 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
7247 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
7248 actually executed when calling the file-based
7250 will treat its contents as that name.
7255 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
7256 The name of an optional startup file to be read last.
7257 This variable has an effect only if it is set in any of the
7258 .Sx "Resource files" ,
7259 it is not imported from the environment.
7260 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other POSIX
7265 .It Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
7266 \*(BO\*(IN\*(OP Used to control usage of the users
7268 file for lookup of account credentials, as documented in the section
7269 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
7273 .Sx "The .netrc file"
7274 documents the file format.
7286 then \*(UA will read the output of a shell pipe instead of the users
7288 file if this variable is set (to the desired shell command).
7289 This can be used to, e.g., store
7293 .Dl set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
7297 If this variable has the value
7299 newly created local folders will be in Maildir format.
7303 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is shown.
7304 A Maildir folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has arrived.
7305 If this variable is set to the special value
7307 then a Maildir folder will not be rescanned completely, but only
7308 timestamp changes are detected.
7312 .It Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
7313 \*(ID Macro hooks which will be executed before compose mode is
7314 entered, and after composing has been finished, respectively.
7315 Please note that this interface is very likely to change in v15, and
7316 should therefore possibly even be seen as experimental.
7318 are by default enabled for these hooks, causing any setting to be
7319 forgotten after the message has been sent.
7320 The following variables will be set temporarily during execution of the
7323 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va compose_subject"
7326 .It Va compose-sender
7328 .It Va compose-to , compose-cc , compose-bcc
7329 The list of receiver addresses as a space-separated list.
7330 .It Va compose-subject
7336 \*(BO Causes the filename given in the
7339 and the sender-based filenames for the
7343 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
7345 variable rather than to the current directory,
7346 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
7350 \*(BO If set, each message feed through the command given for
7352 is followed by a formfeed character
7356 .It Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
7357 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a password, which is used in case none has
7358 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL;
7359 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
7360 the authentication method requires a password.
7361 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
7362 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
7364 .It Va password-USER@HOST
7365 \*(OU (see the chain above for \*(IN)
7366 Set the password for
7370 If no such variable is defined for a host,
7371 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
7372 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
7373 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
7377 \*(BO Send messages to the
7379 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
7383 .It Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
7384 When a MIME message part of type
7386 (case-insensitive) is displayed or quoted,
7387 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
7391 forces interpretation of the message part as plain text, e.g.,
7392 .Ql set pipe-application/xml=@
7393 will henceforth display XML
7395 (The same could also be achieved by adding a MIME type marker with the
7398 And \*(OPally MIME type handlers may be defined via
7399 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
7400 \(em corresponding flag strings are shown in parenthesis below.)
7405 can in fact be used to adjust usage and behaviour of a following shell
7406 command specification by appending trigger characters to it, e.g., the
7407 following hypothetical command specification could be used:
7408 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7409 set pipe-X/Y='@*!++=@vim ${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}'
7413 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql __"
7415 Simply by using the special
7417 prefix the MIME type (shell command) handler will only be invoked to
7418 display or convert the MIME part if the message is addressed directly
7419 and alone by itself.
7420 Use this trigger to disable this and always invoke the handler
7421 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-always ) .
7424 If set the handler will not be invoked when a message is to be quoted,
7425 but only when it will be displayed
7426 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-noquote ) .
7429 The command will be run asynchronously, i.e., without blocking \*(UA,
7430 which may be a handy way to display a, e.g., PDF file while also
7431 continuing to read the mail message
7432 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-async ) .
7433 Asynchronous execution implies
7437 The command must be run on an interactive terminal, \*(UA will
7438 temporarily release the terminal to it
7439 .Pf ( Cd needsterminal ) .
7440 This flag is mutual exclusive with
7442 will only be used in interactive mode and implies
7446 Request creation of a zero-sized temporary file, the absolute pathname
7447 of which will be made accessible via the environment variable
7448 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
7449 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ) .
7450 If this trigger is given twice then the file will be unlinked
7451 automatically by \*(UA when the command loop is entered again at latest
7452 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink ) .
7453 (Do not use this for asynchronous handlers.)
7456 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
7457 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
7458 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
7459 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill ) ,
7460 the creation of which is implied; note however that in order to cause
7461 deletion of the temporary file you still have to use two plus signs
7466 To avoid ambiguities with normal shell command content you can use
7467 another at-sign to forcefully terminate interpretation of remaining
7469 (Any character not in this list will have the same effect.)
7473 Some information about the MIME part to be displayed is embedded into
7474 the environment of the shell command:
7477 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ev _AIL__ILENAME__ENERATED"
7480 The MIME content-type of the part, if known, the empty string otherwise.
7483 .It Ev NAIL_CONTENT_EVIDENCE
7485 .Va mime-counter-evidence
7486 includes the carry-around-bit (2), then this will be set to the detected
7487 MIME content-type; not only then identical to
7488 .Ev \&\&NAIL_CONTENT
7492 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME
7493 The filename, if any is set, the empty string otherwise.
7496 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME_GENERATED
7500 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
7501 If temporary file creation has been requested through the command prefix
7502 this variable will be set and contain the absolute pathname of the
7507 The temporary directory that \*(UA uses.
7508 Usually identical to
7510 but guaranteed to be set and usable by child processes;
7511 to ensure the latter condition for
7513 also, it will be set.
7518 .It Va pipe-EXTENSION
7519 This is identical to
7520 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
7523 (normalized to lowercase using character mappings of the ASCII charset)
7524 names a file extension, e.g.,
7526 Handlers registered using this method take precedence.
7529 .It Va pop3-auth-USER@HOST , pop3-auth-HOST , pop3-auth
7530 \*(OP\*(IN Variable chain that sets the POP3 authentication method.
7531 The only possible value as of now is
7533 which is thus the default.
7536 .Mx Va pop3-bulk-load
7537 .It Va pop3-bulk-load-USER@HOST , pop3-bulk-load-HOST , pop3-bulk-load
7538 \*(BO\*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of
7539 the messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
7540 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
7542 If this variable is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
7543 from the given POP3 server(s) instead.
7545 .Mx Va pop3-keepalive
7546 .It Va pop3-keepalive-USER@HOST , pop3-keepalive-HOST , pop3-keepalive
7547 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
7548 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
7549 but practical experience may vary.
7550 Setting this variable to a numeric value greater than
7554 command to be sent each value seconds if no other operation is performed.
7557 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST , pop3-no-apop-HOST , pop3-no-apop
7558 \*(BO\*(OP Unless this variable is set the
7560 authentication method will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that
7564 is that the password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that
7565 only a single packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
7567 .Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
7570 .Mx Va pop3-use-starttls
7571 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST , pop3-use-starttls-HOST , pop3-use-starttls
7572 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
7574 command to make an unencrypted POP3 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
7575 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
7576 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
7578 .Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
7583 \*(BO This flag enables POSIX mode, which changes behaviour of \*(UA
7584 where that deviates from standardized behaviour.
7585 It will be set implicitly before the
7586 .Sx "Resource files"
7587 are loaded if the environment variable
7589 is set, and adjusting any of those two will be reflected by the other
7593 .It Va print-alternatives
7594 \*(BO When a MIME message part of type
7595 .Ql multipart/alternative
7596 is displayed and it contains a subpart of type
7598 other parts are normally discarded.
7599 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
7600 just as if the surrounding part was of type
7601 .Ql multipart/mixed .
7605 The string used as a prompt in interactive mode.
7606 Whenever the variable is evaluated the value is shell-expanded using
7607 dollar-single-quote expansion mode (see
7609 and it is an error if the prompt expands to more than a single token.
7610 This (post-assignment, i.e., second) expansion can be used to embed
7611 status information, for example
7615 .Va -mailbox-display .
7616 In order to embed characters which should not be counted when
7617 calculating the visual width of the resulting string, enclose the
7618 characters of interest in a pair of reverse solidus escaped brackets:
7620 Prompting may be prevented by setting this to the null string
7622 .Ql set noprompt ) .
7626 This string is used for secondary prompts, but is otherwise identical to
7633 \*(BO Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
7637 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
7638 prefixed by the value of the variable
7640 Normally, a heading consisting of
7641 .Dq Fromheaderfield wrote:
7642 is put before the quotation.
7647 variable, this heading is omitted.
7650 is assigned, only the headers selected by the
7653 selection are put above the message body,
7656 acts like an automatic
7658 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
7662 is assigned, all headers are put above the message body and all MIME
7663 parts are included, making
7665 act like an automatic
7668 .Va quote-as-attachment .
7671 .It Va quote-as-attachment
7672 \*(BO Add the original message in its entirety as a
7674 MIME attachment when replying to a message.
7675 Note this works regardless of the setting of
7680 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
7682 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
7683 quotation characters are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
7685 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
7686 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
7687 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
7689 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
7690 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
7691 The goal cannot be smaller than the length of
7693 plus some additional pad.
7694 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
7697 .It Va recipients-in-cc
7698 \*(BO On group replies, specify only the sender of the original mail in
7700 and mention the other recipients in the secondary
7702 By default all recipients of the original mail will be addressed via
7707 If defined, gives the pathname of the folder used to record all outgoing
7709 If not defined, then outgoing mail is not saved.
7710 When saving to this folder fails the message is not sent,
7711 but instead saved to
7715 .It Va record-resent
7716 \*(BO If both this variable and the
7723 commands save messages to the
7725 folder as it is normally only done for newly composed messages.
7728 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
7729 \*(BO If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same
7730 character set of the original message for replies.
7731 If this fails, the mechanism described in
7732 .Sx "Character sets"
7733 is evaluated as usual.
7736 .It Va reply_strings
7737 Can be set to a comma-separated list of (case-insensitive according to
7738 ASCII rules) strings which shall be recognized in addition to the
7741 reply message indicators \(en builtin are
7743 which is mandated by RFC 5322, as well as the german
7748 A list of addresses to put into the
7750 field of the message header.
7751 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
7756 .It Va reply-to-honour
7759 header is honoured when replying to a message via
7763 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
7767 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
7768 \*(BO This variable can be used to force displaying a so-called
7770 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
7772 MIME mechanism, for more visual convenience.
7776 \*(BO Enable saving of (partial) messages in
7778 upon interrupt or delivery error.
7782 The number of lines that represents a
7791 line display and scrolling via
7793 If this variable is not set \*(UA falls back to a calculation based upon
7794 the detected terminal window size and the baud rate: the faster the
7795 terminal, the more will be shown.
7796 Overall screen dimensions and pager usage is influenced by the
7797 environment variables
7805 .It Va searchheaders
7806 \*(BO Expand message-list specifiers in the form
7808 to all messages containing the substring
7812 The string search is case insensitive.
7816 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
7817 outgoing internet mail.
7818 The value of the variable
7820 is automatically appended to this list of character-sets.
7821 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
7822 the only supported charset is
7825 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
7826 and refer to the section
7827 .Sx "Character sets"
7828 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
7831 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
7832 \*(BO\*(OP If this variable is set, but
7834 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
7836 had been set to the value of the variable
7838 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
7839 character set of the current locale (given that
7841 has not been set manually), i.e., without converting it to the
7843 fallback character set.
7844 Thus, mail message text will be in ISO-8859-1 encoding when send from
7845 within a ISO-8859-1 locale, and in UTF-8 encoding when send from within
7847 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
7848 the only supported character set is
7853 An address that is put into the
7855 field of outgoing messages, quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent
7856 responsible for the actual transmission of the message.
7857 This field should normally not be used unless the
7859 field contains more than one address, on which case it is required.
7862 address is handled as if it were in the
7868 \*(OB Predecessor of
7872 .It Va sendmail-arguments
7873 \*(OB Predecessor of
7877 .It Va sendmail-no-default-arguments
7878 \*(OB\*(BO Predecessor of
7879 .Va mta-no-default-arguments .
7882 .It Va sendmail-progname
7883 \*(OB Predecessor of
7888 \*(BO When sending a message wait until the
7890 (including the builtin SMTP one) exits before accepting further commands.
7892 with this variable set errors reported by the MTA will be recognizable!
7893 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
7894 the exit status of \*(UA will also be non-zero.
7898 \*(BO This setting causes \*(UA to start at the last message
7899 instead of the first one when opening a mail folder.
7903 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain
7904 address in the header field summary and in message specifications.
7908 \*(BO Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header
7909 summary if the message was sent by the user.
7913 The string to expand
7916 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ) .
7920 The string to expand
7923 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" ) .
7927 Must correspond to the name of a readable file if set.
7928 The file's content is then appended to each singlepart message
7929 and to the first part of each multipart message.
7930 Be warned that there is no possibility to edit the signature for an
7934 .It Va skipemptybody
7935 \*(BO If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or
7936 only message part, do not send it but discard it silently (see also the
7942 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
7943 Enhanced Mail) format for verification of S/MIME signed messages.
7946 .It Va smime-ca-file
7947 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
7948 verification of S/MIME signed messages.
7951 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST , smime-cipher
7952 \*(OP Specifies the cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
7953 messages (for the specified account).
7954 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
7957 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
7965 (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if
7967 is not available) and
7971 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
7972 library that \*(UA uses.
7973 \*(OP Support for more cipher algorithms may be available through
7974 dynamic loading via, e.g.,
7975 .Xr EVP_get_cipherbyname 3
7976 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
7979 .It Va smime-crl-dir
7980 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
7981 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
7984 .It Va smime-crl-file
7985 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
7986 verifying S/MIME messages.
7989 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
7990 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
7991 encrypted before sending.
7992 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
7993 contains a certificate in PEM format.
7995 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
7996 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
7997 individually encrypted message;
7998 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
8000 .Va smime-force-encryption
8002 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
8007 .It Va smime-force-encryption
8008 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
8011 .It Va smime-no-default-ca
8012 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load default CA locations when verifying S/MIME
8017 \*(BO\*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key
8018 and include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
8019 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
8020 a valid certificate,
8021 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
8022 header and that the message content has not been altered.
8023 It does not change the message text,
8024 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
8026 .Va smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
8028 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
8030 .Mx Va smime-sign-cert
8031 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST , smime-sign-cert
8032 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
8033 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
8034 user's private key as well as his certificate.
8038 is always derived from the value of
8040 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
8042 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
8043 (certificate) is expected; the command
8045 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
8046 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
8047 gives some details).
8048 This mode of operation is usually driven by the specialized form.
8050 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
8055 of the message, which are searched for addresses for which such
8057 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
8058 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
8059 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
8061 .Mx Va smime-sign-include-certs
8062 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST , smime-sign-include-certs
8063 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
8064 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
8065 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
8068 This is most useful for long certificate chains if it is desired to aid
8069 the receiving parties verification process.
8070 Note that top level certificates may also be included in the chain but
8071 do not play a role for verification.
8073 .Va smime-sign-cert .
8074 Remember that for this
8076 refers to the variable
8078 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
8081 .Mx Va smime-sign-message-digest
8082 .It Va smime-sign-message-digest-USER@HOST , smime-sign-message-digest
8083 \*(OP Specifies the message digest to use when signing S/MIME messages.
8084 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
8086 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
8094 The actually available message digest algorithms depend on the
8095 cryptographic library that \*(UA uses.
8096 \*(OP Support for more message digest algorithms may be available
8097 through dynamic loading via, e.g.,
8098 .Xr EVP_get_digestbyname 3
8099 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
8100 Remember that for this
8102 refers to the variable
8104 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
8109 \*(OB\*(OP To use the builtin SMTP transport, specify a SMTP URL in
8111 \*(ID For compatibility reasons a set
8113 is used in preference of
8117 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST , smtp-auth-HOST , smtp-auth
8118 \*(OP Variable chain that controls the SMTP
8120 authentication method, possible values are
8126 as well as the \*(OPal methods
8132 method does not need any user credentials,
8134 requires a user name and all other methods require a user name and
8142 .Va smtp-auth-password
8144 .Va smtp-auth-user ) .
8149 .Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST :
8150 may override dependent on sender address in the variable
8153 .It Va smtp-auth-password
8154 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
8155 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
8156 .Va smtp-auth-password
8158 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
8160 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
8162 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
8164 .Va smtp-auth-password
8165 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
8168 .It Va smtp-auth-user
8169 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
8170 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
8173 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
8175 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
8177 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
8180 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
8184 .It Va smtp-hostname
8185 \*(OP\*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
8187 to derive the necessary
8189 information in order to issue a
8196 can be used to use the
8198 from the SMTP account
8205 from the content of this variable (or, if that is the empty string,
8207 or the local hostname as a last resort).
8208 This often allows using an address that is itself valid but hosted by
8209 a provider other than which (in
8211 is about to send the message.
8212 Setting this variable also influences the generated
8215 .Mx Va smtp-use-starttls
8216 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-USER@HOST , smtp-use-starttls-HOST , smtp-use-starttls
8217 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
8219 command to make an SMTP
8221 session SSL/TLS encrypted, i.e., to enable transport layer security.
8225 .It Va spam-interface
8226 \*(OP In order to use any of the spam-related commands (like, e.g.,
8228 the desired spam interface must be defined by setting this variable.
8229 Please refer to the manual section
8231 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
8232 All or none of the following interfaces may be available:
8234 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _ilte_"
8240 .Pf ( Lk http://spamassassin.apache.org SpamAssassin )
8242 Different to the generic filter interface \*(UA will automatically add
8243 the correct arguments for a given command and has the necessary
8244 knowledge to parse the program's output.
8247 will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if
8252 Shall it be necessary to define a specific connection type (rather than
8253 using a configuration file for that), the variable
8255 can be used as in, e.g.,
8256 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
8257 It is also possible to specify a per-user configuration via
8259 Note that this interface does not inspect the
8261 flag of a message for the command
8265 generic spam filter support via freely configurable hooks.
8266 This interface is meant for programs like
8268 and requires according behaviour in respect to the hooks' exit
8269 status for at least the command
8272 meaning a message is spam,
8276 for unsure and any other return value indicating a hard error);
8277 since the hooks can include shell code snippets diverting behaviour
8278 can be intercepted as necessary.
8280 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
8283 .Va spamfilter-spam ;
8286 contains examples for some programs.
8287 The process environment of the hooks will have the variables
8288 .Ev NAIL_TMPDIR , TMPDIR
8290 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_GENERATED
8292 Note that spam score support for
8294 is not supported unless the \*(OPtional regular expression support is
8296 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
8303 \*(OP Messages that exceed this size will not be passed through to the
8305 .Va spam-interface .
8306 If unset or 0, the default of 420000 bytes is used.
8309 .It Va spamc-command
8310 \*(OP The path to the
8314 .Va spam-interface .
8315 Note that the path is not expanded, but used
8317 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
8318 executable had been found during compilation.
8321 .It Va spamc-arguments
8322 \*(OP Even though \*(UA deals with most arguments for the
8325 automatically, it may at least sometimes be desirable to specify
8326 connection-related ones via this variable, e.g.,
8327 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
8331 \*(OP Specify a username for per-user configuration files for the
8333 .Va spam-interface .
8334 If this is set to the empty string then \*(UA will use the name of the
8343 .It Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , \
8344 spamfilter-nospam , spamfilter-rate , spamfilter-spam
8345 \*(OP Command and argument hooks for the
8347 .Va spam-interface .
8350 contains examples for some programs.
8353 .It Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
8354 \*(OP Because of the generic nature of the
8357 spam scores are not supported for it by default, but if the \*(OPtional
8358 regular expression support is available then setting this variable can
8359 be used to overcome this restriction.
8360 It is interpreted as follows: first a number (digits) is parsed that
8361 must be followed by a semicolon
8363 and an extended regular expression.
8364 Then the latter is used to parse the first output line of the
8366 hook, and, in case the evaluation is successful, the group that has been
8367 specified via the number is interpreted as a floating point scan score.
8371 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Pricacy
8372 Enhanced Mail) for verification of of SSL/TLS server certificates.
8374 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
8375 for more information.
8379 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
8380 verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
8382 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
8383 for more information.
8386 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST , ssl-cert-HOST , ssl-cert
8387 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the file name for a SSL/TLS client
8388 certificate required by some servers.
8389 This is a direct interface to the
8393 function of the OpenSSL library, if available.
8395 .Mx Va ssl-cipher-list
8396 .It Va ssl-cipher-list-USER@HOST , ssl-cipher-list-HOST , ssl-cipher-list
8397 \*(OP Specifies a list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections.
8398 This is a direct interface to the
8402 function of the OpenSSL library, if available; see
8404 for more information.
8405 By default \*(UA does not set a list of ciphers, in effect using a
8407 specific cipher (protocol standards ship with a list of acceptable
8408 ciphers), possibly cramped to what the actually used SSL/TLS library
8409 supports \(en the manual section
8410 .Sx "An example configuration"
8411 also contains a SSL/TLS use case.
8414 .It Va ssl-config-file
8415 \*(OP If this variable is set \*(UA will call
8416 .Xr CONF_modules_load_file 3
8417 to allow OpenSSL to be configured according to the host system wide
8419 If a non-empty value is given then this will be used to specify the
8420 configuration file to be used instead of the global OpenSSL default;
8421 note that in this case it is an error if the file cannot be loaded.
8422 The application name will always be passed as
8427 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
8428 verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
8432 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
8433 to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
8436 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST , ssl-key-HOST , ssl-key
8437 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the file name for the private key of
8438 a SSL/TLS client certificate.
8439 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
8440 The file is expected to be in PEM format.
8441 This is a direct interface to the
8445 function of the OpenSSL library, if available.
8448 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST , ssl-method-HOST , ssl-method
8449 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the newer and more flexible
8451 instead: if both values are set,
8453 will take precedence!
8454 Can be set to the following values, the actually used
8456 specification to which it is mapped is shown in parenthesis:
8458 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1.2 ) ,
8460 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1.1 ) ,
8462 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1 )
8465 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, SSLv3 ) ;
8470 and thus includes the SSLv3 protocol.
8471 Note that SSLv2 is no longer supported at all.
8474 .It Va ssl-no-default-ca
8475 \*(BO\*(OP Do not load default CA locations to verify SSL/TLS server
8479 .It Va ssl-protocol-USER@HOST , ssl-protocol-HOST , ssl-protocol
8480 \*(OP Specify the used SSL/TLS protocol.
8481 This is a direct interface to the
8485 function of the OpenSSL library, if available;
8486 otherwise an \*(UA internal parser is used which understands the
8487 following subset of (case-insensitive) command strings:
8493 as well as the special value
8495 Multiple specifications may be given via a comma-separated list which
8496 ignores any whitespace.
8499 plus prefix will enable a protocol, a
8501 minus prefix will disable it, so that
8503 will enable only the TLSv1.2 protocol.
8505 It depends upon the used TLS/SSL library which protocols are actually
8506 supported and which protocols are used if
8508 is not set, but note that SSLv2 is no longer supported at all and
8510 Especially for older protocols explicitly securing
8512 may be worthwile, see
8513 .Sx "An example configuration" .
8517 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
8519 Not all SSL/TLS libraries support this.
8522 .It Va ssl-rand-file
8523 \*(OP Gives the filename to a file with random entropy data, see
8524 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
8525 If this variable is not set, or set to the empty string, or if the
8526 filename expansion failed, then
8527 .Xr RAND_file_name 3
8528 will be used to create the filename if, and only if,
8530 documents that the SSL PRNG is not yet sufficiently seeded.
8531 If \*(UA successfully seeded the SSL PRNG then it will update the file
8532 .Pf ( Xr RAND_write_file 3 ) .
8533 This variable is only used if
8535 is not set (or not supported by the SSL/TLS library).
8538 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST , ssl-verify-HOST , ssl-verify
8539 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the action to be performed if an error
8540 occurs during SSL/TLS server certificate validation.
8541 Valid (case-insensitive) values are
8543 (fail and close connection immediately),
8545 (ask whether to continue on standard input),
8547 (show a warning and continue),
8549 (do not perform validation).
8555 If only set without an assigned value, then this setting inhibits the
8560 header fields that include obvious references to \*(UA.
8561 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
8562 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
8563 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
8564 to track down the originating mail user agent.
8569 suppression does not occur.
8574 (\*(OP) This specifies a comma-separated list of
8579 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
8580 escape commas with reverse solidus) to be used to overwrite or define
8582 Note that this variable will only be queried once at program startup and
8583 can thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
8586 String capabilities form
8588 pairs and are expected unless noted otherwise.
8589 Numerics have to be notated as
8591 where the number is expected in normal decimal notation.
8592 Finally, booleans do not have any value but indicate a true or false
8593 state simply by being defined or not; this indeed means that \*(UA
8594 does not support undefining an existing boolean.
8595 String capability values will undergo some expansions before use:
8596 for one notations like
8599 .Ql control-LETTER ,
8600 and for clarification purposes
8602 can be used to specify
8604 (the control notation
8606 could lead to misreadings when a left bracket follows, which it does for
8607 the standard CSI sequence);
8608 finally three letter octal sequences, as in
8611 To specify that a terminal supports 256-colours, and to define sequences
8612 that home the cursor and produce an audible bell, one might write:
8614 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8615 set termcap='Co#256,home=\eE[H,bel=^G'
8619 The following terminal capabilities are or may be meaningful for the
8620 operation of the builtin line editor or \*(UA in general:
8623 .Bl -tag -compact -width yay
8625 .It Cd colors Ns \0or Cd Co
8627 numeric capability specifying the maximum number of colours.
8628 Note that \*(UA does not actually care about the terminal beside that,
8629 but always emits ANSI / ISO 6429 escape sequences.
8632 .It Cd rmcup Ns \0or Cd te Ns \0/ Cd smcup Ns \0or Cd ti
8636 respectively: exit and enter the alternative screen
8638 effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen application.
8639 To disable that, set (at least) one to the empty string.
8641 .It Cd smkx Ns \0or Cd ks Ns \0/ Cd rmkx Ns \0or Cd ke
8645 respectively: enable and disable the keypad.
8646 This is always enabled if available, because it seems even keyboards
8647 without keypads generate other key codes for, e.g., cursor keys in that
8648 case, and only if enabled we see the codes that we are interested in.
8650 .It Cd ed Ns \0or Cd cd
8654 .It Cd clear Ns \0or Cd cl
8656 clear the screen and home cursor.
8657 (Will be simulated via
8662 .It Cd home Ns \0or Cd ho
8667 .It Cd el Ns \0or Cd ce
8669 clear to the end of line.
8670 (Will be simulated via
8672 plus repetitions of space characters.)
8674 .It Cd hpa Ns \0or Cd ch
8675 .Cd column_address :
8676 move the cursor (to the given column parameter) in the current row.
8677 (Will be simulated via
8683 .Cd carriage_return :
8684 move to the first column in the current row.
8685 The default builtin fallback is
8688 .It Cd cub1 Ns \0or Cd le
8690 move the cursor left one space (non-destructively).
8691 The default builtin fallback is
8694 .It Cd cuf1 Ns \0or Cd nd
8696 move the cursor right one space (non-destructively).
8697 The default builtin fallback is
8699 which is used by most terminals.
8707 Many more capabilities which describe key-sequences are documented for
8711 .It Va termcap-disable
8712 \*(OP Disable any interaction with a terminal control library.
8713 If set only some generic fallback builtins and possibly the content of
8715 describe the terminal to \*(UA.
8717 that this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
8718 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
8722 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be displayed
8725 if unset, the first five lines are printed, if set to 0 the variable
8728 If the value is negative then its absolute value will be used for right
8731 height; (shifting bitwise is like dividing algorithmically, but since
8732 it takes away bits the value decreases pretty fast).
8736 \*(BO If set then the
8738 command series will strip adjacent empty lines and quotations.
8742 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
8743 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
8744 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
8745 in which case it defaults to ISO-8859-1 unless it can deduce a value
8749 Refer to the section
8750 .Sx "Character sets"
8751 for the complete picture about character sets.
8754 .It Va typescript-mode
8755 \*(BO A special multiplex variable that disables all variables and
8756 settings which result in behaviour that interferes with running \*(UA in
8759 .Va colour-disable ,
8760 .Va line-editor-disable
8761 and (before startup completed only)
8762 .Va termcap-disable .
8763 Unsetting it does not restore the former state of the covered settings.
8767 For a safety-by-default policy \*(UA sets its process
8771 but this variable can be used to override that:
8772 set it to an empty value to do not change the (current) setting,
8773 otherwise the process file mode creation mask is updated to the new value.
8774 Child processes inherit the process file mode creation mask.
8777 .It Va user-HOST , user
8778 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a global fallback user name, which is
8779 used in case none has been given in the protocol and account-specific
8781 This variable defaults to the name of the user who runs \*(UA.
8785 \*(BO Setting this enables upward compatibility with \*(UA
8786 version 15.0 in respect to which configuration options are available and
8787 how they are handled.
8788 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
8789 doing things, respectively.
8793 \*(BO This setting, also controllable via the command line option
8795 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, e.g., it will display obsoletion
8796 warnings and SSL/TLS certificate chains.
8797 Even though marked \*(BO this option may be set twice in order to
8798 increase the level of verbosity even more, in which case even details of
8799 the actual message delivery and protocol conversations are shown.
8802 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
8808 .It Va version , version-major , version-minor , version-update
8809 \*(RO \*(UA version information: the first variable contains a string
8810 containing the complete version identification, the latter three contain
8811 only digits: the major, minor and update version numbers.
8812 The output of the command
8814 will include this information.
8817 .It Va writebackedited
8818 If this variable is set messages modified using the
8822 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
8823 it is only honoured for writable folders in MBOX format, though.
8824 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
8825 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
8826 performed, and proper RFC 4155
8828 quoting of newly added or edited content is also left as an excercise to
8832 .\" }}} (INTERNAL VARIABLES)
8835 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
8839 .Dq environment variable
8840 should be considered an indication that these variables are either
8841 standardized as vivid parts of process environments, or that they are
8842 commonly found in there.
8843 The process environment is inherited from the
8845 once \*(UA is started, and unless otherwise explicitly noted handling of
8846 the following variables transparently integrates into that of the
8847 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
8848 from \*(UA's point of view.
8849 This means that, e.g., they can be managed via
8853 causing automatic program environment updates (to be inherited by
8854 newly created child processes).
8857 In order to transparently integrate other environment variables equally
8858 they need to be imported (linked) with the command
8860 This command can also be used to set and unset non-integrated
8861 environment variables from scratch, sufficient system support provided.
8862 The following example, applicable to a POSIX shell, sets the
8864 environment variable for \*(UA only, and beforehand exports the
8866 in order to affect any further processing in the running shell:
8868 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8869 $ EDITOR="vim -u ${HOME}/.vimrc"
8871 $ COLUMNS=80 \*(uA -R
8874 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev _AILR_"
8877 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
8879 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
8880 processes and the MLE (see
8881 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
8882 in interactive mode thereafter.
8886 The name of the (mailbox)
8888 to use for saving aborted messages if
8890 is set; this defaults to
8897 is set no output will be generated, otherwise the contents of the file
8902 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
8906 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
8907 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
8911 The user's home directory.
8912 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
8919 .It Ev LANG , LC_ALL , LC_COLLATE , LC_CTYPE , LC_MESSAGES
8923 .Sx "Character sets" .
8927 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen
8928 or window size in lines.
8929 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
8930 processes in interactive mode thereafter.
8934 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
8936 command when operating on local mailboxes.
8939 (path search through
8944 Upon startup \*(UA will actively ensure that this variable refers to the
8945 name of the user who runs \*(UA, in order to be able to pass a verified
8946 name to any newly created child process.
8950 Is used as the user's primary system mailbox, unless
8954 This is assumed to be an absolute pathname.
8958 \*(OP Overrides the default path search for
8959 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
8960 which is defined in the standard RFC 1524 as
8961 .Ql ~/.mailcap:\:/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/local/etc/mailcap .
8962 .\" TODO we should have a mailcaps-default virtual RDONLY option!
8963 (\*(UA makes it a configuration option, however.)
8964 Note this is not a search path, but a path search.
8968 Is used as a startup file instead of
8971 When \*(UA scripts are invoked on behalf of other users,
8972 either this variable should be set to
8976 command line option should be used in order to avoid side-effects from
8977 reading their configuration files.
8978 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
8982 The name of the user's mbox file.
8983 A logical subset of the special conventions that are documented for the
8985 command and the internal variable
8988 The fallback default is
8993 Traditionally this secondary mailbox is used as the file to save
8994 messages from the primary system mailbox that have been read.
8996 .Sx "Message states" .
8999 .It Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
9000 If this variable is set then reading of
9002 at startup is inhibited, i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA
9003 had been started up with the option
9005 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
9009 \*(IN\*(OP This variable overrides the default location of the user's
9015 Pathname of the program to use for backing the command
9019 variable enforces usage of a pager for output.
9020 The default paginator is
9022 (path search through
9025 \*(UA inspects the contents of this variable: if its contains the string
9027 then a non-existing environment variable
9034 dependent on whether terminal control support is available and whether
9035 that supports full (alternative) screen mode or not (also see
9036 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ) .
9040 will optionally be set to
9047 A colon-separated list of directories that is searched by the shell when
9048 looking for commands, e.g.,
9049 .Ql /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin .
9052 .It Ev POSIXLY_CORRECT
9053 This variable is automatically looked for upon startup, see
9059 The shell to use for the commands
9064 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES"
9065 and when starting subprocesses.
9066 A default shell is used if this environment variable is not defined.
9069 .It Ev SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
9070 If set, this specifies a time in seconds since the Unix epoch
9071 (1970-01-01) to be used in place of the current time.
9072 This is for the sake of reproduceability of tests, to be used during
9073 development or by software packagers.
9077 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
9078 For extended colour and font control please refer to
9079 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
9080 and for terminal management in general to
9081 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" .
9085 Used as directory for temporary files instead of
9088 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
9094 (see there), but this variable is not standardized, should therefore not
9095 be used, and is only corrected if already set.
9099 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
9103 .Sx "COMMAND ESCAPES" .
9111 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa _etc/mime.type_"
9113 File giving initial commands.
9116 System wide initialization file.
9120 \*(OP Personal MIME type handler definition file, see
9121 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
9122 (RFC 1524 location, the actual path is a configuration option.)
9126 \*(OP System wide MIME type handler definition file, see
9127 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
9128 (RFC 1524 location, the actual path is a configuration option.)
9131 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
9132 Personal MIME types, see
9133 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
9136 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
9137 System wide MIME types, see
9138 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
9142 \*(IN\*(OP The default location of the users
9144 file \(en the section
9145 .Sx "The .netrc file"
9146 documents the file format.
9149 .\" .Ss "The mime.types files" {{{
9150 .Ss "The mime.types files"
9152 When sending messages \*(UA tries to determine the content type of all
9154 When displaying message content or attachments \*(UA uses the content
9155 type to decide whether it can directly display data or whether it needs
9156 to deal with content handlers.
9157 It learns about M(ultipurpose) I(nternet) M(ail) E(xtensions) types and
9158 how to treat them by reading
9160 files, the loading of which can be controlled by setting the variable
9161 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
9164 can also be used to deal with MIME types.)
9166 files have the following syntax:
9169 .Dl type/subtype extension [extension ...]
9174 are strings describing the file contents, and one or multiple
9176 s, separated by whitespace, name the part of a filename starting after
9177 the last dot (of interest).
9178 Comments may be introduced anywhere on a line with a number sign
9180 causing the remaining line to be discarded.
9182 \*(UA also supports an extended, non-portable syntax in specially
9183 crafted files, which can be loaded via the alternative value syntax of
9184 .Va mimetypes-load-control
9185 and prepends an optional
9189 .Dl [type-marker ]type/subtype extension [extension ...]
9192 The following type markers are supported:
9195 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
9197 Treat message parts with this content as plain text.
9202 Treat message parts with this content as HTML tagsoup.
9203 If the \*(OPal HTML-tagsoup-to-text converter is not available treat
9204 the content as plain text instead.
9208 but instead of falling back to plain text require an explicit content
9209 handler to be defined.
9214 for sending messages:
9216 .Va mime-allow-text-controls ,
9217 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
9218 For reading etc. messages:
9219 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
9220 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
9222 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
9223 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
9224 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
9225 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
9228 .\" .Ss "The Mailcap files" {{{
9229 .Ss "The Mailcap files"
9232 .Dq User Agent Configuration Mechanism
9233 which \*(UA \*(OPally supports.
9234 It defines a file format to be used to inform mail user agent programs
9235 about the locally-installed facilities for handling various data
9236 formats, i.e., about commands and how they can be used to display, edit
9237 etc. MIME part contents, as well as a default path search that includes
9238 multiple possible locations of
9242 environment variable that can be used to overwrite that (repeating here
9243 that it is not a search path, but instead a path search specification).
9244 Any existing files will be loaded in sequence, appending any content to
9245 the list of MIME type handler directives.
9249 files consist of a set of newline separated entries.
9250 Comment lines start with a number sign
9252 (in the first column!) and are ignored.
9253 Empty lines are also ignored.
9254 All other lines form individual entries that must adhere to the syntax
9256 To extend a single entry (not comment) its line can be continued on
9257 follow lines if newline characters are
9259 by preceding them with the reverse solidus character
9261 The standard does not specify how leading whitespace of follow lines
9262 is to be treated, therefore \*(UA retains it.
9266 entries consist of a number of semicolon
9268 separated fields, and the reverse solidus
9270 character can be used to escape any following character including
9271 semicolon and itself.
9272 The first two fields are mandatory and must occur in the specified
9273 order, the remaining fields are optional and may appear in any order.
9274 Leading and trailing whitespace of content is ignored (removed).
9277 The first field defines the MIME
9279 the entry is about to handle (case-insensitively, and no reverse solidus
9280 escaping is possible in this field).
9281 If the subtype is specified as an asterisk
9283 the entry is meant to match all subtypes of the named type, e.g.,
9285 would match any audio type.
9286 The second field defines the shell command which shall be used to
9288 MIME parts of the given type; it is implicitly called the
9295 shell commands message (MIME part) data is passed via standard input
9296 unless the given shell command includes one or more instances of the
9299 in which case these instances will be replaced with a temporary filename
9300 and the data will have been stored in the file that is being pointed to.
9303 shell commands data is assumed to be generated on standard output unless
9304 the given command includes (one ore multiple)
9306 In any case any given
9308 format is replaced with a(n already) properly quoted filename.
9309 Note that when a command makes use of a temporary file via
9311 then \*(UA will remove it again, as if the
9312 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ,
9313 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
9315 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
9316 flags had been set; see below for more.
9319 The optional fields either define a shell command or an attribute (flag)
9320 value, the latter being a single word and the former being a keyword
9321 naming the field followed by an equals sign
9323 succeeded by a shell command, and as usual for any
9325 content any whitespace surrounding the equals sign will be removed, too.
9326 Optional fields include the following:
9329 .Bl -tag -width textualnewlines
9331 A program that can be used to compose a new body or body part in the
9338 field, but is to be used when the composing program needs to specify the
9340 header field to be applied to the composed data.
9344 A program that can be used to edit a body or body part in the given
9349 A program that can be used to print a message or body part in the given
9354 Specifies a program to be run to test some condition, e.g., the machine
9355 architecture, or the window system in use, to determine whether or not
9356 this mailcap entry applies.
9357 If the test fails, a subsequent mailcap entry should be sought; also see
9358 .Cd x-mailx-test-once .
9360 .It Cd needsterminal
9361 This flag field indicates that the given shell command must be run on
9362 an interactive terminal.
9363 \*(UA will temporarily release the terminal to the given command in
9364 interactive mode, in non-interactive mode this entry will be entirely
9365 ignored; this flag implies
9366 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
9368 .It Cd copiousoutput
9369 A flag field which indicates that the output of the
9371 command will be an extended stream of textual output that can be
9372 (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
9373 It is mutually exclusive with
9376 .Cd x-mailx-always .
9378 .It Cd textualnewlines
9379 A flag field which indicates that this type of data is line-oriented and
9382 all newlines should be converted to canonical form (CRLF) before
9383 encoding, and will be in that form after decoding.
9387 This field gives a file name format, in which
9389 will be replaced by a random string, the joined combination of which
9390 will be used as the filename denoted by
9391 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
9392 One could specify that a GIF file being passed to an image viewer should
9393 have a name ending in
9396 .Ql nametemplate=%s.gif .
9397 Note that \*(UA ignores the name template unless that solely specifies
9398 a filename suffix that consists of (ASCII) alphabetic and numeric
9399 characters, the underscore and dot only.
9402 Names a file, in X11 bitmap (xbm) format, which points to an appropriate
9403 icon to be used to visually denote the presence of this kind of data.
9404 This field is not used by \*(UA.
9407 A textual description that describes this type of data.
9409 .It Cd x-mailx-always
9410 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
9412 command shall be executed even if multiple messages will be displayed
9414 Normally messages which require external viewers that produce output
9415 which does not integrate into \*(UA's visual display (i.e., do not have
9417 set) have to be addressed directly and individually.
9418 (To avoid cases where, e.g., a thousand PDF viewer instances are spawned
9421 .It Cd x-mailx-even-if-not-interactive
9422 An extension flag test field \(em by default handlers without
9424 are entirely ignored in non-interactive mode, but if this flag is set
9425 then their use will be considered.
9426 It is an error if this flag is set for commands that use the flag
9429 .It Cd x-mailx-noquote
9430 An extension flag field that indicates that even a
9433 command shall not be used to generate message quotes
9434 (as it would be by default).
9436 .It Cd x-mailx-async
9437 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
9439 command shall be executed asynchronously, without blocking \*(UA.
9440 Cannot be used in conjunction with
9443 .It Cd x-mailx-test-once
9444 Extension flag which denotes whether the given
9446 command shall be evaluated once only and the (boolean) result be cached.
9447 This is handy if some global unchanging condition is to be queried, like
9448 .Dq running under the X Window System .
9450 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
9451 Extension flag field that requests creation of a zero-sized temporary
9452 file, the name of which is to be placed in the environment variable
9453 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
9454 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
9458 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
9459 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
9460 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
9462 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
9463 In order to cause deletion of the temporary file you will have to set
9464 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
9466 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
9470 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
9471 Extension flag field that requests that the temporary file shall be
9472 deleted automatically when the command loop is entered again at latest.
9473 (Do not use this for asynchronous handlers.)
9474 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
9476 format, or without also setting
9479 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill .
9481 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
9484 implies the three tmpfile related flags above, but if you want, e.g.,
9486 and deal with the temporary file yourself, you can add in this flag to
9488 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
9493 The standard includes the possibility to define any number of additional
9494 entry fields, prefixed by
9496 Flag fields apply to the entire
9498 entry \(em in some unusual cases, this may not be desirable, but
9499 differentiation can be accomplished via separate entries, taking
9500 advantage of the fact that subsequent entries are searched if an earlier
9501 one does not provide enough information.
9504 command needs to specify the
9508 command shall not, the following will help out the latter (with enabled
9512 level \*(UA will show information about handler evaluation):
9514 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9515 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; needsterminal
9516 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; compose=idraw %s
9520 In fields any occurrence of the format string
9522 will be replaced by the
9525 Named parameters from the
9527 field may be placed in the command execution line using
9529 followed by the parameter name and a closing
9532 The entire parameter should appear as a single command line argument,
9533 regardless of embedded spaces; thus:
9535 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9537 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=42
9540 multipart/*; /usr/local/bin/showmulti \e
9541 %t %{boundary} ; composetyped = /usr/local/bin/makemulti
9543 # Executed shell command
9544 /usr/local/bin/showmulti multipart/mixed 42
9548 .\" TODO v15: Mailcap: %n,%F
9549 Note that \*(UA does not support handlers for multipart MIME parts as
9550 shown in this example (as of today).
9551 \*(UA does not support the additional formats
9555 An example file, also showing how to properly deal with the expansion of
9557 which includes any quotes that are necessary to make it a valid shell
9558 argument by itself and thus will cause undesired behaviour when placed
9559 in additional user-provided quotes:
9561 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9563 text/richtext; richtext %s; copiousoutput
9565 text/x-perl; perl -cWT %s
9569 trap "rm -f ${infile}" EXIT\e; \e
9570 trap "exit 75" INT QUIT TERM\e; \e
9572 x-mailx-async; x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
9574 application/*; echo "This is \e"%t\e" but \e
9575 is 50 \e% Greek to me" \e; < %s head -c 1024 | cat -vET; \e
9576 copiousoutput; x-mailx-noquote
9581 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
9582 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
9585 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
9586 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
9587 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
9590 .\" .Ss "The .netrc file" {{{
9591 .Ss "The .netrc file"
9595 file contains user credentials for machine accounts.
9596 The default location in the user's
9598 directory may be overridden by the
9600 environment variable.
9601 The file consists of space, tabulator or newline separated tokens.
9602 \*(UA implements a parser that supports a superset of the original BSD
9603 syntax, but users should nonetheless be aware of portability glitches
9604 of that file format, shall their
9606 be usable across multiple programs and platforms:
9609 .Bl -bullet -compact
9611 BSD does not support single, but only double quotation marks, e.g.,
9612 .Ql password="pass with spaces" .
9614 BSD (only?) supports escaping of single characters via a reverse solidus
9615 (e.g., a space can be escaped via
9617 in- as well as outside of a quoted string.
9619 BSD does not require a final quotation mark of the last user input token.
9621 The original BSD (Berknet) parser also supported a format which allowed
9622 tokens to be separated with commas \(en whereas at least Hewlett-Packard
9623 still seems to support this syntax, \*(UA does not!
9625 As a non-portable extension some widely-used programs support
9626 shell-style comments: if an input line starts, after any amount of
9627 whitespace, with a number sign
9629 then the rest of the line is ignored.
9631 Whereas other programs may require that the
9633 file is accessible by only the user if it contains a
9639 \*(UA will always require these strict permissions.
9643 Of the following list of supported tokens \*(UA only uses (and caches)
9648 At runtime the command
9650 can be used to control \*(UA's
9654 .Bl -tag -width password
9655 .It Cd machine Ar name
9656 The hostname of the entries' machine, lowercase-normalized by \*(UA
9658 Any further file content, until either end-of-file or the occurrence
9663 first-class token is bound (only related) to the machine
9666 As an extension that should not be the cause of any worries
9667 \*(UA supports a single wildcard prefix for
9669 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9670 machine *.example.com login USER password PASS
9671 machine pop3.example.com login USER password PASS
9672 machine smtp.example.com login USER password PASS
9678 .Ql pop3.example.com ,
9682 .Ql local.smtp.example.com .
9683 Note that in the example neither
9684 .Ql pop3.example.com
9686 .Ql smtp.example.com
9687 will be matched by the wildcard, since the exact matches take
9688 precedence (it is however faster to specify it the other way around).
9693 except that it is a fallback entry that is used shall none of the
9694 specified machines match; only one default token may be specified,
9695 and it must be the last first-class token.
9697 .It Cd login Ar name
9698 The user name on the remote machine.
9700 .It Cd password Ar string
9701 The user's password on the remote machine.
9703 .It Cd account Ar string
9704 Supply an additional account password.
9705 This is merely for FTP purposes.
9707 .It Cd macdef Ar name
9709 A macro is defined with the specified
9711 it is formed from all lines beginning with the next line and continuing
9712 until a blank line is (consecutive newline characters are) encountered.
9715 entries cannot be utilized by multiple machines, too, but must be
9716 defined following the
9718 they are intended to be used with.)
9721 exists, it is automatically run as the last step of the login process.
9722 This is merely for FTP purposes.
9729 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
9732 .\" .Ss "An example configuration" {{{
9733 .Ss "An example configuration"
9735 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9736 # This example assumes v15.0 compatibility mode
9739 # Where are the up-to-date SSL certificates?
9740 #set ssl-ca-dir=/etc/ssl/certs
9741 set ssl-ca-file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
9743 # (Since we manage up-to-date ones explicitly, do not use any,
9744 # possibly outdated, default certificates shipped with OpenSSL)
9745 set ssl-no-default-ca
9747 # Do not use protocols older than TLS v1.2.
9748 # Change this only when the remote server does not support it:
9749 # maybe use ssl-protocol-HOST (or -USER@HOST) syntax to define
9750 # such explicit exceptions, then
9751 set ssl-protocol='-ALL,+TLSv1.2'
9753 # Explicitly define the list of ciphers, which may improve security,
9754 # especially with protocols older than TLS v1.2. See ciphers(1).
9755 # Including "@STRENGTH" will sort the final list by algorithm strength.
9756 # In reality it is possibly best to only use ssl-cipher-list-HOST
9757 # (or -USER@HOST), as necessary, again..
9758 set ssl-cipher-list=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:!MEDIUM:!LOW:!EXPORT:@STRENGTH
9759 # ALL:!aNULL:!MEDIUM:!LOW:!MD5:!RC4:!EXPORT:@STRENGTH
9761 # Request strict transport security checks!
9762 set ssl-verify=strict
9764 # Essential setting: select allowed character sets
9765 set sendcharsets=utf-8,iso-8859-1
9767 # A very kind option: when replying to a message, first try to
9768 # use the same encoding that the original poster used herself!
9769 set reply-in-same-charset
9771 # When replying to or forwarding a message the comment and name
9772 # parts of email addresses are removed unless this variable is set
9775 # When sending messages, wait until the Mail-Transfer-Agent finishs.
9776 # Only like this you will be able to see errors reported through the
9777 # exit status of the MTA (including the builtin SMTP one)!
9780 # Only use builtin MIME types, no mime.types(5) files
9781 set mimetypes-load-control
9783 # Default directory where we act in (relative to $HOME)
9785 # A leading "+" (often) means: under *folder*
9786 # *record* is used to save copies of sent messages
9787 set MBOX=+mbox.mbox record=+sent.mbox DEAD=+dead.txt
9789 # Make "file mymbox" and "file myrec" go to..
9790 shortcut mymbox %:+mbox.mbox myrec +sent.mbox
9792 # Not really optional, e.g., for S/MIME
9793 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
9795 # It may be necessary to set hostname and/or smtp-hostname
9796 # if the "SERVER" of mta and "domain" of from do not match.
9797 # The `urlencode' command can be used to encode USER and PASS
9798 set mta=(smtps?|submission)://[USER[:PASS]@]SERVER[:PORT] \e
9799 smtp-auth=login/plain... \e
9802 # Never refuse to start into interactive mode, and more
9804 colour-pager crt= \e
9805 followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes \e
9806 history-file=+.\*(uAhist history-size=-1 history-gabby \e
9807 mime-counter-evidence=0xE \e
9808 prompt='[\e${-account-name} \e${-mailbox-display}]? ' \e
9809 reply-to-honour=ask-yes \e
9812 # Only include the selected header fields when typing messages
9813 headerpick type retain add from_ date from to cc subject \e
9814 message-id mail-followup-to reply-to
9815 # ...when forwarding messages
9816 headerpick forward retain add subject date from to cc
9817 # ...when saving message, etc.
9818 #headerpick save ignore add ^Original-.*$ ^X-.*$
9820 # Some mailing lists
9821 mlist '@xyz-editor\e.xyz$' '@xyzf\e.xyz$'
9822 mlsubscribe '^xfans@xfans\e.xyz$'
9824 # A real life example of a very huge free mail provider
9826 set folder=~/spool/XooglX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
9827 set from='Your Name <address@examp.ple>'
9828 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@smtp.gmXil.com smtp-use-starttls
9831 # Here is a pretty large one which does not allow sending mails
9832 # if there is a domain name mismatch on the SMTP protocol level,
9833 # which would bite us if the value of from does not match, e.g.,
9834 # for people who have a sXXXXeforge project and want to speak
9835 # with the mailing list under their project account (in from),
9836 # still sending the message through their normal mail provider
9838 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
9839 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
9840 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.yaXXex.ru:465 \e
9841 hostname=yaXXex.com smtp-hostname=
9844 # Create some new commands so that, e.g., `ls /tmp' will..
9845 wysh ghost lls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlrS'
9846 wysh ghost llS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlS'
9847 wysh ghost ls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFrS'
9848 wysh ghost lS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFS'
9849 wysh ghost lla '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlr'
9850 wysh ghost llA '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFl'
9851 wysh ghost la '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFr'
9852 wysh ghost lA '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aF'
9853 wysh ghost ll '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFltr'
9854 wysh ghost lL '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlt'
9855 wysh ghost l '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFtr'
9856 wysh ghost L '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFt'
9858 # We do not support gpg(1) directly yet. But simple --clearsign'd
9859 # message parts can be dealt with as follows:
9861 wysh set pipe-text/plain=$'@*#++=@\e
9862 < "${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" awk \e
9863 -v TMPFILE="${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" \e'\e
9865 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----/,/^$/{\e
9868 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
9869 system("gpg --verify " TMPFILE " 2>&1");\e
9870 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
9874 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----/,\e
9875 /^-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----/{\e
9885 !printf 'Key IDs to gpg --recv-keys: ';\e
9887 gpg --recv-keys ${keyids};
9893 When storing passwords in
9895 appropriate permissions should be set on this file with
9896 .Ql $ chmod 0600 \*(ur .
9899 is available user credentials can be stored in the central
9901 file instead; e.g., here is a different version of the example account
9902 that sets up SMTP and POP3:
9904 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9906 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
9907 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
9909 # Load an encrypted ~/.netrc by uncommenting the next line
9910 #set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
9912 set mta=smtps://smtp.yXXXXx.ru:465 \e
9913 smtp-hostname= hostname=yXXXXx.com
9914 set pop3-keepalive=240 pop3-no-apop-pop.yXXXXx.ru
9915 ghost xp fi pop3s://pop.yXXXXx.ru
9924 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9925 machine *.yXXXXx.ru login USER password PASS
9929 This configuration should now work just fine:
9932 .Dl $ echo text | \*(uA -vv -AXandeX -s Subject user@exam.ple
9935 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
9936 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
9938 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
9939 message signing and message encryption.
9940 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
9941 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
9942 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
9943 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
9944 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
9945 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
9949 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
9950 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
9951 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
9952 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
9954 It is therefore not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
9955 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
9957 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
9958 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
9962 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
9963 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
9964 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
9965 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
9967 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
9969 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
9970 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
9972 .Va smime-no-default-ca
9973 to avoid using the default certificate and point
9977 to a trusted pool of certificates.
9978 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
9979 certificate has been retrieved with.
9982 The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message exchange is
9983 your personal certificate, including a private key.
9984 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
9985 your email address(es), and the public key that is used by others to
9986 encrypt messages for you,
9987 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
9988 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
9989 The private key must be kept secret.
9990 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
9991 public key, and to sign messages.
9994 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
9995 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
9996 Many CAs offer such certificates for free.
9998 .Lk https://www.CAcert.org
9999 which issues client and server certificates to members of their
10000 community for free; their root certificate
10001 .Pf ( Lk https://\:www.cacert.org/\:certs/\:root.crt )
10002 is often not in the default set of trusted CA root certificates, though,
10003 which means you will have to download their root certificate separately
10004 and ensure it is part of our S/MIME certificate validation chain by
10007 or as a vivid member of the
10008 .Va smime-ca-file .
10009 But let us take a step-by-step tour on how to setup S/MIME with
10010 a certificate from CAcert.org despite this situation!
10013 First of all you will have to become a member of the CAcert.org
10014 community, simply by registrating yourself via the web interface.
10015 Once you are, create and verify all email addresses you want to be able
10016 to create signed and encrypted messages for/with using the corresponding
10017 entries of the web interface.
10018 Now ready to create S/MIME certificates, so let us create a new
10019 .Dq client certificate ,
10020 ensure to include all email addresses that should be covered by the
10021 certificate in the following web form, and also to use your name as the
10025 Create a private key and a certificate request on your local computer
10026 (please see the manual pages of the used commands for more in-depth
10027 knowledge on what the used arguments etc. do):
10030 .Dl openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out creq.pem
10033 Afterwards copy-and-paste the content of
10035 into the certificate-request (CSR) field of the web form on the
10036 CAcert.org website (you may need to unfold some
10037 .Dq advanced options
10038 to see the corresponding text field).
10039 This last step will ensure that your private key (which never left your
10040 box) and the certificate belong together (through the public key that
10041 will find its way into the certificate via the certificate-request).
10042 You are now ready and can create your CAcert certified certificate.
10043 Download and store or copy-and-paste it as
10048 In order to use your new S/MIME setup you will have to create
10049 a combined private key/public key (certificate) file:
10052 .Dl cat key.pem pub.crt > ME@HERE.com.paired
10055 This is the file \*(UA will work with.
10056 If you have created your private key with a passphrase then \*(UA will
10057 ask you for it whenever a message is signed or decrypted.
10058 Set the following variables to henceforth use S/MIME (setting
10060 is of interest for verification only):
10062 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10063 set smime-ca-file=ALL-TRUSTED-ROOT-CERTS-HERE \e
10064 smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
10065 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA256 \e
10070 From each signed message you send, the recipient can fetch your
10071 certificate and use it to send encrypted mail back to you.
10072 Accordingly if somebody sends you a signed message, you can do the same,
10075 command to check the validity of the certificate.
10078 Variables of interest for S/MIME signing:
10080 .Va smime-ca-file ,
10081 .Va smime-crl-dir ,
10082 .Va smime-crl-file ,
10083 .Va smime-no-default-ca ,
10085 .Va smime-sign-cert ,
10086 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
10088 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
10091 After it has been verified save the certificate via
10093 and tell \*(UA that it should use it for encryption for further
10094 communication with that somebody:
10096 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10098 set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=FILENAME \e
10099 smime-cipher-USER@HOST=AES256
10103 Additional variables of interest for S/MIME en- and decryption:
10106 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST .
10109 You should carefully consider if you prefer to store encrypted messages
10111 If you do, anybody who has access to your mail folders can read them,
10112 but if you do not, you might be unable to read them yourself later if
10113 you happen to lose your private key.
10116 command saves messages in decrypted form, while the
10120 commands leave them encrypted.
10123 Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to message
10124 subjects or other header fields yet.
10125 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
10126 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
10127 When sending signed messages,
10128 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
10132 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS" {{{
10133 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
10135 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
10136 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
10137 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
10138 declared invalid after they have been issued.
10139 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
10141 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
10142 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
10143 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
10144 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
10145 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
10146 invalidated certificates.
10147 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
10148 the Internet, so you have to retrieve them by some external mechanism.
10151 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
10152 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
10155 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
10158 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
10159 (and no other files) must be created.
10164 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
10165 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
10166 to verify a certificate.
10169 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
10170 .Ss "Handling spam"
10172 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of several spam interfaces for the purpose of
10173 identification of, and, in general, dealing with spam messages.
10174 A precondition of most commands in order to function is that the
10176 variable is set to one of the supported interfaces.
10177 Once messages have been identified as spam their (volatile)
10179 state can be prompted: the
10183 message specifications will address respective messages and their
10185 entries will be used when displaying the
10187 in the header display.
10192 rates the given messages and sets their
10195 If the spam interface offers spam scores those can also be displayed in
10196 the header display by including the
10206 will interact with the Bayesian filter of the chosen interface and learn
10207 the given messages as
10211 respectively; the last command can be used to cause
10213 of messages; it adheres to their current
10215 state and thus reverts previous teachings.
10220 will simply set and clear, respectively, the mentioned volatile
10222 message flag, without any interface interaction.
10231 requires a running instance of the
10233 server in order to function, started with the option
10235 shall Bayesian filter learning be possible.
10237 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10238 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
10239 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \e
10240 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
10244 Thereafter \*(UA can make use of these interfaces:
10246 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10247 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
10248 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
10249 -Sspamc-arguments="-U /tmp/.spamsock" -Sspamc-user=
10251 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
10252 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
10253 -Sspamc-arguments="-d localhost -p 2142" -Sspamc-user=
10257 Using the generic filter approach allows usage of programs like
10259 Here is an example, requiring it to be accessible via
10262 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10263 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=filter -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
10264 -Sspamfilter-ham="bogofilter -n" \e
10265 -Sspamfilter-noham="bogofilter -N" \e
10266 -Sspamfilter-nospam="bogofilter -S" \e
10267 -Sspamfilter-rate="bogofilter -TTu 2>/dev/null" \e
10268 -Sspamfilter-spam="bogofilter -s" \e
10269 -Sspamfilter-rate-scanscore="1;^(.+)$"
10273 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
10274 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
10275 perform the local spam check last:
10277 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10278 define spamdelhook {
10280 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
10281 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
10282 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
10283 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :sS'
10284 move :S +maybe-spam
10287 move :S +maybe-spam
10289 set folder-hook-FOLDER=spamdelhook
10293 See also the documentation for the variables
10294 .Va spam-interface , spam-maxsize ,
10295 .Va spamc-command , spamc-arguments , spamc-user ,
10296 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
10299 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore .
10307 In general it is a good idea to turn on
10313 twice) if something does not work well.
10314 Very often a diagnostic message can be produced that leads to the
10315 problems' solution.
10317 .\" .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup" {{{
10318 .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup"
10320 This can have two reasons, one is the necessity to wait for a file lock
10321 and cannot be helped, the other being that \*(UA calls the function
10323 in order to query the nodename of the box (sometimes the real one is
10324 needed instead of the one represented by the internal variable
10326 You may have varying success by ensuring that the real hostname and
10330 or, more generally, that the name service is properly setup \(en
10333 return what you would expect?
10334 Does this local hostname has a domain suffix?
10335 RFC 6762 standardized the link-local top-level domain
10339 .\" .Ss "\*(UA exits quick, and output is cleared away" {{{
10340 .Ss "\*(UA exits quick, and output is cleared away"
10342 When this happens even with
10344 set, then this most likely indicates a problem with the creation of
10345 so-called dotlock files: setting
10346 .Va dotlock-ignore-error
10347 should overcome this situation.
10348 This only avoids symptoms, it does not address the problem, though.
10349 Since the output is cleared away \*(UA has support for
10350 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
10351 and switches to the
10353 which causes the output clearance: by doing
10354 .Ql set termcap='smcup='
10355 this mode can be suppressed, and by setting
10357 (twice) the actual problem should be reported.
10360 .\" .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail" {{{
10361 .Ss "I cannot login to Google mail aka GMail"
10363 Since 2014 some free service providers classify programs as
10365 unless they use a special authentification method (OAuth 2.0) which
10366 was not standardized for non-HTTP protocol authentication token query
10367 until August 2015 (RFC 7628).
10370 Different to Kerberos / GSSAPI, which is developed since the mid of the
10371 1980s, where a user can easily create a local authentication ticket for
10372 her- and himself with the locally installed
10374 program, that protocol has no such local part but instead requires
10375 a world-wide-web query to create or fetch a token; since there is no
10376 local cache this query has to be performed whenever \*(UA is invoked
10377 from the command line (in interactive sessions situation may differ).
10380 \*(UA does not support OAuth.
10381 Because of this it is necessary to declare \*(UA a
10382 .Dq less secure app
10383 (on the providers account web page) in order to read and send mail.
10384 However, it also seems possible to take the following steps instead:
10389 give the provider the number of a mobile phone,
10392 .Dq 2-Step Verification ,
10394 create an application specific password (16 characters), and
10396 use that special password instead of your real Google account password in
10397 \*(UA (for more on that see the section
10398 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
10402 .\" .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work" {{{
10403 .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key does not work"
10405 It can happen that the terminal library (see
10406 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor",
10409 reports different codes than the terminal really sends, in which case
10410 \*(UA will tell that a key binding is functional, but will not be able to
10411 recognize it because the received data does not match anything expected.
10412 The verbose listing of
10414 ings will show the byte sequences that are expected.
10417 To overcome the situation, use, e.g., the program
10419 in conjunction with the
10421 flag if available, to see the byte sequences which are actually produced
10422 by keypresses, and use the variable
10424 to make \*(UA aware of them.
10425 E.g., the terminal this is typed on produces some false sequences, here
10426 an example showing the shifted home key:
10428 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10431 # 1B 5B=[ 31=1 3B=; 32=2 48=H
10436 ? \*(uA -v -Stermcap='kHOM=\eE[H'
10445 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
10455 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
10464 .Xr mailwrapper 8 ,
10469 .\" .Sh HISTORY {{{
10472 M. Douglas McIlroy writes in his article
10473 .Dq A Research UNIX Reader: Annotated Excerpts \
10474 from the Programmer's Manual, 1971-1986
10477 command already appeared in First Edition
10481 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
10482 Electronic mail was there from the start.
10483 Never satisfied with its exact behavior, everybody touched it at one
10484 time or another: to assure the safety of simultaneous access, to improve
10485 privacy, to survive crashes, to exploit uucp, to screen out foreign
10486 freeloaders, or whatever.
10487 Not until v7 did the interface change (Thompson).
10488 Later, as mail became global in its reach, Dave Presotto took charge and
10489 brought order to communications with a grab-bag of external networks
10495 Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens and developed as part of the
10498 distribution until 1995.
10499 Mail has then seen further development in open source
10501 variants, noticeably by Christos Zoulas in
10503 Basing upon this Nail, later Heirloom Mailx, was developed by Gunnar
10504 Ritter in the years 2000 until 2008.
10505 Since 2012 S-nail is maintained by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
10506 This man page is derived from
10507 .Dq The Mail Reference Manual
10508 that was originally written by Kurt Shoens.
10514 .An "Kurt Shoens" ,
10515 .An "Edward Wang" ,
10516 .An "Keith Bostic" ,
10517 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
10518 .An "Gunnar Ritter" ,
10519 .An "Steffen Nurpmeso" Aq Mt s-nail-users@lists.sourceforge.net
10521 .Mt s-mailx@sdaoden.eu ) .
10524 .\" .Sh CAVEATS {{{
10527 \*(ID Interrupting an operation via
10531 is often problematic: many library functions cannot deal with the
10533 that this software (still) performs.
10536 The SMTP and POP3 protocol support of \*(UA is very basic.
10537 Also, if it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
10538 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time (setting
10543 If this is a concern, it might be better to set up a local SMTP server
10544 that is capable of message queuing.
10550 After deleting some message of a POP3 mailbox the header summary falsely
10551 claims that there are no messages to display, you need to perform
10552 a scroll or dot movement to restore proper state.
10554 In threaded display a power user may encounter crashes very
10555 occasionally (this is may and very).
10559 in the source repository lists future directions.