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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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
203 Attach the given file to the message.
204 The same filename conventions as described in the section
206 apply: shell word expansion is restricted to the tilde
210 not be accessible but contain a
212 character, then anything after the
214 is assumed to specify the input character set and anything before
216 the filename: this is the only option to specify the input character set
217 (and don't perform any character set conversion) for text attachments
218 from the command line, not using the
220 tilde escape command.
224 Make standard input and standard output line-buffered.
228 Send a blind carbon copy to
231 May be used multiple times.
233 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
237 Send carbon copies to the given receiver.
238 May be used multiple times.
243 the internal variable
245 which enables debug messages and disables message delivery,
246 among others; effectively turns almost any operation into a dry-run.
252 and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
253 This is useful for sending messages from scripts.
257 Just check if mail is present (in the specified or system
259 if yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
260 To restrict the set of mails to consider in this evaluation a message
261 specification can be added with the option
266 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
267 first recipient's address (instead of in
272 Read in the contents of the user's
274 (or the specified file) for processing;
275 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file
279 Some special conventions are recognized for the optional
281 argument which are documented for the
286 is not a argument to the flag
288 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
292 that starts with a hyphen, prefix it with a (relative) path, as in
293 .Ql ./-hyphenbox.mbox .
297 Display a summary of the
299 of all messages in the specified mailbox or system
302 A configurable summary view is available via the
308 Show a short usage summary.
309 Because of widespread use a
311 argument will have the same effect.
317 to ignore tty interrupt signals.
320 .It Fl L Ar spec-list
321 Display a summary of all
323 of only those messages in the specified mailbox or the system
329 .Sx "Specifying messages"
336 option has been given in addition no header summary is produced,
337 but \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status whether
343 note that any verbose output is suppressed in this mode and must instead
344 be enabled explicitly (e.g., by using the option
349 Special send mode that will flag standard input with the MIME
353 and use it as the main message body.
354 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
355 .Va message-inject-head ,
358 .Va message-inject-tail .
364 Special send mode that will MIME classify the specified
366 and use it as the main message body.
367 \*(ID Using this option will bypass processing of
368 .Va message-inject-head ,
371 .Va message-inject-tail .
379 and thus inhibit initial display of message headers when reading mail or
380 editing a mail folder.
384 Standard flag that inhibits reading the system wide
389 allows more control over the startup sequence; also see
390 .Sx "Resource files" .
394 Special send mode that will initialize the message body with the
395 contents of the specified
397 which may be standard input
399 only in non-interactive context.
405 Any folder opened will be in read-only mode.
408 .It Fl r Ar from-addr
411 is a valid address then it specifies the envelope sender address to be
412 passed to a file-based
414 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) as
416 when a message is send.
419 include a user name, then the address components will be separated and
420 the name part will be passed to file-based
426 will also be assigned to the
429 .Ql -Sfrom=from-addr ) ,
430 therefore affecting possible SMTP
432 data transfer; note this assignment does not cause value fixation.
434 If instead an empty string is passed as
436 then the content of the variable
438 will be evaluated and used for this purpose whenever the
441 Note that \*(UA by default, without
443 that is, neither passes
447 flags to a file-based MTA by itself.
450 .It Fl S Ar var Ns Op = Ns value
454 iable and, in case of a non-boolean variable which has a value, assign
458 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
462 may be overwritten from within resource files,
463 the command line setting will be reestablished after all resource files
468 Specify the subject of the to-be-sent message.
472 The message given (on standard input) is expected to contain, separated
473 from the message body by an empty line, a message header with
478 fields giving its recipients, which will be added to any recipients
479 specified on the command line.
480 If a message subject is specified via
482 then it'll be used in favour of one given on the command line.
498 .Ql Mail-Followup-To: ,
499 by default created automatically dependent on message context, will
500 be used if specified (a special address massage will however still occur
502 Any other (even custom) header field is passed through entirely
503 unchanged, and in conjunction with the option
505 it is even possible to embed
512 Initially read the primary system mailbox of
514 appropriate privileges presumed; effectively identical to
524 will also show the list of
526 .Ql $ \*(uA -Xversion -Xx .
531 ting the internal variable
533 enables display of some informational context messages.
534 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
538 Add the given (or multiple for a multiline argument)
540 to the list of commands to be executed (as a unit, just as via
542 before normal operation starts.
546 .Va batch-exit-on-error ;
547 the only possibility to execute commands in non-interactive mode when
548 reading startup files is actively prohibited.
554 even if not in interactive mode.
555 This can be used to, e.g., automatically format the composed message
556 text before sending the message:
557 .Bd -literal -offset indent
558 $ ( echo 'line one. Word. Word2.'; \e
559 echo '~| /usr/bin/fmt -tuw66' ) |\e
560 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -Sttycharset=UTF-8 -d~ bob@exam.ple
566 In batch mode the full set of commands is available, just like in
567 interactive mode, and diverse variable settings and internal states are
568 adjusted for batch necessities, e.g., it
585 is enabled in compose mode.
586 The following prepares an email message in a batched dry run:
587 .Bd -literal -offset indent
588 $ LC_ALL=C printf 'm bob\en~s ubject\enText\en~.\enx\en' | \e
589 LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d# -X'alias bob bob@exam.ple'
594 This flag forces termination of option processing in order to prevent
597 It also forcefully puts \*(UA into send mode, see
598 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" .
602 In the above list of supported command line options,
606 are implemented by means of
608 ting the respective option, as via
611 .Op Ar mta-option ...
613 arguments that are given at the end of the command line after a
615 separator will be passed through to a file-based
617 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) and persist for an entire (interactive) session
618 \(en if the setting of
620 allows their recognition; no such constraints apply to the variable
624 .\" .Ss "A starter" {{{
627 \*(UA is a direct descendant of
629 Mail, a successor of the Research
632 .Dq was there from the start
637 Mail reference manual begins with the following words:
639 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
640 Mail provides a simple and friendly environment for sending and
642 It divides incoming mail into its constituent messages and allows the
643 user to deal with them in any order.
644 In addition, it provides a set of
646 -like commands for manipulating messages and sending mail.
647 Mail offers the user simple editing capabilities to ease the composition
648 of outgoing messages, as well as providing the ability to define and
649 send to names which address groups of users.
653 \*(UA is thus the user side of the
655 mail system, whereas the system side (Mail-Transfer-Agent, MTA) was
656 traditionally taken by
658 and most MTAs provide a binary of this name for compatibility purposes.
663 of \*(UA then the system side is not a mandatory precondition for mail
667 Because \*(UA strives for compliance with POSIX
669 it is likely that some configuration settings have to be adjusted before
670 using it is a smooth experience.
673 resource file bends those standard imposed settings of the
674 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
675 a bit towards more user friendliness and safety, however, e.g., it
680 in order to suppress the automatic moving of messages to
682 that would otherwise occur (see
683 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
686 to not remove empty files in order not to mangle file permissions when
687 files eventually get recreated (\*(UA actively manages the file mode
690 upon program startup).
695 in order to synchronize \*(UA with the exit status report of the used
700 to enter interactive startup even if the initial mailbox is empty,
702 to allow editing of headers as well as
704 to not strip down addresses in compose mode, and
706 to include the message that is being responded to when
711 contains some more complete configuration examples.
714 .\" .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode" {{{
715 .Ss "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
717 To send a message to one or more people, using a local or a builtin
719 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) transport to actually deliver the generated mail
720 message, \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of
721 people to whom the mail will be sent, and the command line options
725 can be used to add (blind) carbon copy receivers:
727 .Bd -literal -offset indent
728 $ \*(uA -s ubject -a ttach.txt bill@exam.ple
729 # But... try it in an isolated dry-run mode first
730 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d -vv -Ssendwait \e
731 -b bcc@exam.ple -c cc@exam.ple -. \e
732 '(Lovely) Bob <bob@exam.ple>' eric@exam.ple
734 $ LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ -d -vv -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait \e
735 -S 'mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
736 -S 'from=scriptreply@exam.ple' \e
742 If standard input is a terminal rather than the message to be sent,
743 the user is expected to type in the message contents.
744 In this compose mode \*(UA treats lines beginning with the character
746 special \(en these are so-called
748 which can be used to read in files, process shell commands, add and edit
749 attachments and more; e.g., the tilde escape
751 will start the text editor to revise the message in it's current state,
753 allows editing of the most important message headers and
755 gives an overview of available tilde escapes.
759 at the beginning of an empty line leaves compose mode and causes the
760 message to be sent, whereas typing
763 twice will abort the current letter (saving its contents in the file
769 Messages are sent asynchronously, without supervision, unless the variable
771 is set, therefore send errors are not recognizable until then.
777 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
778 can be used to alter default behavior; e.g.,
783 will automatically startup a text editor when compose mode is entered,
785 allows editing of headers additionally to plain body content,
787 will cause the user to be prompted actively for carbon-copy recipients
790 option will allow leaving compose mode by writing a line consisting
796 hook macros may be set to automatically adjust some settings dependent
797 on receiver, sender or subject contexts.
800 Especially for using public mail provider accounts with the SMTP
802 it is often necessary to set
804 and saving a copy of sent messages in a
806 may be desirable \(en as for most mailbox file targets some special
807 syntax conventions are recognized (see the
809 command for more on that).
812 for the purpose of arranging a complete environment of settings that can
813 be switched to with a single command or command line option may be
816 contains example configurations for sending messages via some of the
817 well-known public mail providers and also gives a compact overview on
818 how to setup a secure SSL/TLS environment).
823 sandbox dry-run tests first will prove correctness.
827 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
828 will spread light on the different ways of how to specify user email
829 account credentials, the
831 variable chains, and accessing protocol-specific resources,
834 goes into the details of character encoding and how to use them for
835 representing messages and MIME part contents by specifying them in
837 and reading the section
838 .Sx "The mime.types files"
839 should help to understand how the MIME-type of outgoing attachments are
840 classified, and what can be done for fine-tuning.
841 Over the wire an intermediate, configurable
842 .Pf content-transfer-\: Va encoding
843 may be applied to the raw message part data.
846 Message recipients (as specified on the command line or defined in
851 may not only be email addressees but can also be names of mailboxes and
852 even complete shell command pipe specifications.
855 is not set then only network addresses (see
857 for a description of mail addresses) and plain user names (including MTA
858 aliases) may be used, other types will be filtered out, giving a warning
861 .\" When changing any of the following adjust any RECIPIENTADDRSPEC;
862 .\" grep the latter for the complete picture
866 is set then extended recipient addresses will optionally be accepted:
867 Any name which starts with a vertical bar
869 character specifies a command pipe \(en the command string following the
871 is executed and the message is sent to its standard input;
872 Likewise, any name that starts with the character solidus
874 or the character sequence dot solidus
876 is treated as a file, regardless of the remaining content;
877 likewise a name that solely consists of a hyphen
879 Any other name which contains an at sign
881 character is treated as a network address;
882 Any other name which starts with a plus sign
884 character specifies a mailbox name;
885 Any other name which contains a solidus
887 character but no exclamation mark
891 character before also specifies a mailbox name;
892 What remains is treated as a network address.
894 .Bd -literal -offset indent
895 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test ./mbox.mbox
896 $ echo bla | \*(uA -Sexpandaddr -s test '|cat >> ./mbox.mbox'
897 $ echo safe | LC_ALL=C \e
898 \*(uA -:/ -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Snosave \e
899 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr -s test \e
904 It is possible to create personal distribution lists via the
906 command, so that, for instance, the user can send mail to
908 and have it go to a group of people.
909 These aliases have nothing in common with the system wide aliases that
910 may be used by the MTA, which are subject to the
914 and are often tracked in a file
920 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent,
921 and are thus a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
925 .Dl alias cohorts bill jkf mark kridle@ucbcory ~/mail/cohorts.mbox
928 To avoid environmental noise scripts should
930 \*(UA from any configuration files and create a script-local
931 environment, ideally with the command line options
933 to disable any configuration file in conjunction with repetitions of
935 to specify variables:
937 .Bd -literal -offset indent
938 $ env LC_ALL=C \*(uA -:/ \e
939 -Sv15-compat -Ssendwait -Snosave -Sttycharset=utf-8 \e
940 -Sexpandaddr=fail,-all,+addr \e
941 -S 'mta=smtps://mylogin@exam.ple:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
942 -S 'from=scriptreply@exam.ple' \e
943 -s 'subject' -a attachment_file \e
944 -. "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>" rec2@exam.ple \e
949 As shown, scripts can
951 a locale environment, the above specifies the all-compatible 7-bit clean
954 but will nonetheless take and send UTF-8 in the message text by using
956 In interactive mode, which is introduced in the next section, messages
957 can be sent by calling the
959 command with a list of recipient addresses \(em the semantics are
960 completely identical to non-interactive message sending:
962 .Bd -literal -offset indent
963 $ \*(uA -d -Squiet -Semptystart
964 "/var/spool/mail/user": 0 messages
965 ? mail "Recipient 1 <rec1@exam.ple>", rec2@exam.ple
966 ? # Will do the right thing (tm)
967 ? m rec1@exam.ple rec2@exam.ple
971 .\" .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode" {{{
972 .Ss "On reading mail, and interactive mode"
974 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
976 When used like that the user's system
980 for an in-depth description of the different mailbox types that exist)
981 is read in and a one line header of each message therein is displayed.
982 The visual style of this summary of
984 can be adjusted through the variable
986 and the possible sorting criterion via
992 can be performed with the command
994 If the initially opened mailbox is empty \*(UA will instead exit
995 immediately (after displaying a message) unless the variable
1004 will give a listing of all available commands and
1006 will give a summary of some common ones.
1007 If the \*(OPal documentation strings are available one can type
1010 and see the actual expansion of
1012 and what it's purpose is, i.e., commands can be abbreviated
1013 (note that POSIX defines some abbreviations, so that the alphabetical
1014 order of commands doesn't necessarily relate to the abbreviations; it is
1015 possible to define overwrites with the
1018 These commands can also produce a more
1023 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
1024 messages; the current message \(en the
1026 \(en will either be the first new message, or the first unread message,
1027 or the first message of the mailbox; the option
1029 will instead cause usage of the last message for this purpose.
1034 ful of header summaries containing the
1038 will display only the summaries of the given messages, defaulting to the
1042 Message content can be displayed on the users' terminal with the
1046 If instead the command
1048 is used, only the first
1050 of a message will be shown.
1051 By default the current message
1053 is displayed, but like with many other commands it is possible to give
1054 a fancy message specification (see
1055 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) ,
1058 will display all unread messages,
1063 will type the messages 1 and 5,
1065 will type the messages 1 through 5, and
1069 will display the last and the next message, respectively.
1072 (a more substantial alias of the standard command
1074 will display a header summary of the given message specification list
1075 instead of their content, e.g., the following will search for subjects:
1078 .Dl from "'@Some subject to search for'"
1081 In the default setup all header fields of a message will be
1083 d, but this can be changed: either by blacklisting a list of fields via
1085 or by whitelisting only a given list with the
1088 .Ql Ic \:retain Ns \0from_ date from to cc subject .
1089 In order to display all header fields of a message regardless of
1090 currently active ignore or retain lists, use the commands
1096 controls whether and when \*(UA will use the configured
1098 for display instead of directly writing to the user terminal
1100 (generally speaking).
1101 Note that historically the global
1103 not only adjusts the list of displayed headers, but also sets
1107 Dependent upon the configuration a line editor (see the section
1108 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
1109 aims at making user experience with the many
1112 When reading the system
1118 specified a mailbox explicitly prefixed with the special
1120 modifier (propagating the mailbox to a primary one) then messages which
1121 have been read will be moved to a secondary mailbox, the user's
1123 file, automatically when the mailbox is left, either by changing the
1124 active mailbox or by quitting \*(UA (also see
1125 .Sx "Message states" )
1126 \(en this automatic moving from a system or primary to the secondary
1127 mailbox is not performed when the variable
1132 After examining a message the user can also
1136 to the sender and all recipients or
1138 exclusively to the sender(s).
1139 Messages can also be
1141 ed (shorter alias is
1143 Note that when replying to or forwarding a message recipient addresses
1144 will be stripped from comments and names unless the option
1147 Deletion causes \*(UA to forget about the message;
1148 This is not irreversible, though, one can
1150 the message by giving its number,
1151 or the \*(UA session can be ended by giving the
1156 To end a mail processing session one may either issue
1158 to cause a full program exit, which possibly includes
1159 automatic moving of read messages to
1161 as well as updating the \*(OPal line editor
1165 instead in order to prevent any of these actions.
1168 .\" .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments" {{{
1169 .Ss "HTML mail and MIME attachments"
1171 Messages which are HTML-only get more and more common and of course many
1172 messages come bundled with a bouquet of MIME attachments.
1173 Whereas \*(UA \*(OPally supports a simple HTML-to-text converter to deal
1174 with HTML messages (see
1175 .Sx "The mime.types files" ) ,
1176 it normally can't deal with any of these itself, but instead programs
1177 need to become registered to deal with specific MIME types or file
1179 These programs may either prepare plain text versions of their input
1180 in order to enable \*(UA to display the content on the terminal,
1181 or display the content themselves, for example in a graphical window.
1184 To install an external handler program for a specific MIME type set an
1186 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
1187 variable; to instead define a handler for a specific file extension set
1190 variable \(en these handlers take precedence.
1191 \*(OPally \*(UA supports mail user agent configuration as defined in
1192 RFC 1524; this mechanism, documented in the section
1193 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
1194 will be queried for display or quote handlers if none of the former two
1195 .\" TODO v15-compat "will be" -> "is"
1196 did; it will be the sole source for handlers of other purpose.
1197 A last source for handlers may be the MIME type definition itself, if
1198 the \*(UA specific type-marker extension was used when defining the type
1201 (Many of the builtin MIME types do so by default.)
1205 .Va mime-counter-evidence
1206 can be set to improve dealing with faulty MIME part declarations as are
1207 often seen in real-life messages.
1208 E.g., to display a HTML message inline (that is, converted to a more
1209 fancy plain text representation than the builtin converter is capable to
1210 produce) with either of the text-mode browsers
1214 teach \*(UA about MathML documents and make it display them as plain
1215 text, and to open PDF attachments in an external PDF viewer,
1216 asynchronously and with some other magic attached:
1218 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1219 if $features !@ +filter-html-tagsoup
1220 #set pipe-text/html='elinks -force-html -dump 1'
1221 set pipe-text/html='lynx -stdin -dump -force_html'
1222 # Display HTML as plain text instead
1223 #set pipe-text/html=@
1225 mimetype '@ application/mathml+xml mathml'
1226 wysh set pipe-application/pdf='@&=@ \e
1227 trap "rm -f \e"${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}\e"" EXIT;\e
1228 trap "trap \e"\e" INT QUIT TERM; exit 1" INT QUIT TERM;\e
1229 mupdf "${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}"'
1233 Note: special care must be taken when using such commands as mail
1234 viruses may be distributed by this method: if messages of type
1235 .Ql application/x-sh
1236 or files with the extension
1238 were blindly filtered through the shell, for example, a message sender
1239 could easily execute arbitrary code on the system \*(UA is running on.
1240 For more on MIME, also in respect to sending of messages, see the
1242 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
1243 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
1248 .\" .Ss "Mailing lists" {{{
1251 \*(UA offers some support to ease handling of mailing lists.
1254 promotes all given arguments to known mailing lists, and
1256 sets their subscription attribute, creating them first as necessary.
1261 automatically, but only resets the subscription attribute.)
1262 Using the commands without arguments will show (a subset of) all
1263 currently defined mailing lists.
1268 can be used to mark out messages with configured list addresses
1269 in the header display.
1272 \*(OPally mailing lists may also be specified as (extended) regular
1273 expressions, which allows matching of many addresses with a single
1275 However, all fully qualified list addresses are matched via a fast
1276 dictionary, whereas expressions are placed in (a) list(s) which is
1277 (are) matched sequentially.
1279 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1280 set followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes reply-to-honour=ask-yes
1281 wysh mlist a1@b1.c1 a2@b2.c2 '.*@lists\e.c3$'
1282 mlsubscribe a4@b4.c4 exact@lists.c3
1287 .Va followup-to-honour
1289 .Ql Mail-\:Followup-\:To:
1290 header is honoured when the message is being replied to (via
1296 controls whether this header is created when sending mails; it will be
1297 created automatically for a couple of reasons, too, like when the
1299 .Dq mailing list specific
1304 is used to respond to a message with its
1305 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1309 A difference in between the handling of known and subscribed lists is
1310 that the address of the sender is usually not part of a generated
1311 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
1312 when addressing the latter, whereas it is for the former kind of lists.
1313 Usually because there are exceptions: say, if multiple lists are
1314 addressed and not all of them are subscribed lists.
1316 For convenience \*(UA will, temporarily, automatically add a list
1317 address that is presented in the
1319 header of a message that is being responded to to the list of known
1321 Shall that header have existed \*(UA will instead, dependent on the
1323 .Va reply-to-honour ,
1326 for this purpose in order to accept a list administrators' wish that
1327 is supposed to have been manifested like that (but only if it provides
1328 a single address which resides on the same domain as what is stated in
1332 .\" .Ss "Resource files" {{{
1333 .Ss "Resource files"
1335 Upon startup \*(UA reads in several resource files:
1337 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa _AIL_EXTRA_R_"
1340 System wide initialization file.
1341 Reading of this file can be suppressed, either by using the
1345 command line options, or by setting the
1348 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC .
1352 File giving initial commands.
1353 A different file can be chosen by setting the
1357 Reading of this file can be suppressed with the
1359 command line option.
1361 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
1362 Can be used to define an optional startup file to be read after all
1363 other resource files.
1364 It can be used to specify settings that are not understood by other
1366 implementations, for example.
1367 This variable is only honoured when defined in a resource file, e.g.,
1369 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" .
1373 The content of these files is interpreted as follows:
1376 .Bl -bullet -compact
1378 A lines' leading whitespace is removed.
1380 Empty lines are ignored.
1382 Any other line is interpreted as a command.
1383 It may be spread over multiple input lines if the newline character is
1385 by placing a reverse solidus character
1387 as the last character of the line; whereas any leading whitespace of
1388 follow lines is ignored, trailing whitespace before a escaped newline
1389 remains in the input.
1391 If the line (content) starts with the number sign
1393 then it is a comment-command \(en a real command! \(en and also ignored.
1394 This command is the only form of comment that is understood.
1398 Unless \*(UA is about to enter interactive mode syntax errors that occur
1399 while loading these files are treated as errors and cause program exit.
1400 More files with syntactically equal content can be
1402 The following, saved in a file, would be an examplary content:
1404 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1405 # This line is a comment command. And y\e
1406 es, it is really continued here.
1413 .\" .Ss "Character sets" {{{
1414 .Ss "Character sets"
1416 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
1417 mechanisms that are controlled by the
1422 should give an overview); the \*(UA internal variable
1424 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly
1425 and will thus show up in the output of the commands
1431 However, a user supplied
1433 value is not overwritten by this detection mechanism: this
1435 must be used if the detection doesn't work properly,
1436 and it may be used to adjust the name of the locale character set.
1437 E.g., on BSD systems one may use a locale with the character set
1438 ISO8859-1, which is not a valid name for this character set; to be on
1439 the safe side, one may set
1441 to the correct name, which is ISO-8859-1.
1444 Note that changing the value doesn't mean much beside that,
1445 since several aspects of the real character set are implied by the
1446 locale environment of the system,
1447 and that stays unaffected by the content of an overwritten
1450 (This is mostly an issue when interactively using \*(UA, though.
1451 It is actually possible to send mail in a completely
1453 locale environment, an option that \*(UA's test-suite uses excessively.)
1456 If no character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into
1459 doesn't include the term
1463 will be the only supported character set,
1464 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8-bit messages
1465 (over the wire an intermediate
1466 .Pf content-transfer-\: Va encoding
1468 and the rest of this section does not apply;
1469 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
1470 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to the mentioned
1471 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.1:"Character sets", ./nail.h:CHARSET_*!)
1475 When reading messages, their text is converted into
1477 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
1478 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
1479 and replaced by proper substitution characters (unless the variable
1481 was set once \*(UA was started).
1483 .Va charset-unknown-8bit
1484 to deal with another hairy aspect of message interpretation.
1487 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
1488 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
1489 appear to be binary data,
1490 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
1491 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
1492 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
1493 Permissible values for character sets can be declared using the
1497 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
1498 implicitly appended to the list of character-sets in
1502 When replying to a message and the variable
1503 .Va reply-in-same-charset
1504 is set then the character set of the message being replied to is tried
1506 And it is also possible to make \*(UA work even more closely related to
1507 the current locale setting automatically by using the variable
1508 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset ,
1509 please see there for more information.
1512 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
1513 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
1514 If none of the tried (8-bit) character sets is capable to represent the
1515 content of the part or attachment,
1516 then the message will not be sent and its text will optionally be
1520 In general, if the message
1521 .Dq Cannot convert from a to b
1522 appears, either some characters are not appropriate for the currently
1523 selected (terminal) character set,
1524 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
1525 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate
1527 locale and/or the variable
1531 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
1532 locale on a UTF-8 capable terminal, in which case the full Unicode
1533 spectrum of characters is available.
1534 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
1535 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
1536 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
1539 On the other hand the POSIX standard defines a locale-independent 7-bit
1540 .Dq portable character set
1541 that should be used when overall portability is an issue, the even more
1542 restricted subset named
1543 .Dq portable filename character set
1544 consisting of A-Z, a-z, 0-9, period
1553 .\" .Ss "Message states" {{{
1554 .Ss "Message states"
1556 \*(UA differentiates in between several different message states;
1557 the current state will be reflected in header summary displays if
1559 is configured to do so (via the internal variable
1561 and messages can also be selected and be acted upon depending on their
1563 .Sx "Specifying messages" ) .
1564 When operating on the system
1566 or in primary mailboxes opened with the special prefix
1570 special actions, like the automatic moving of messages to the secondary
1572 mailbox may be applied when the mailbox is left (also implicitly via
1573 a successful exit of \*(UA, but not if the special command
1575 is used) \(en however, because this may be irritating to users which
1578 mail-user-agents, the default global
1584 variables in order to suppress this behaviour.
1586 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _reserved"
1588 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state.
1589 Such messages are retained even in the primary system mailbox.
1592 Message has neither been viewed nor moved to any other state, but the
1593 message was present already when the mailbox has been opened last:
1594 Such messages are retained even in the primary system mailbox.
1597 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1617 commands may also cause the next message to be marked as read, depending
1623 command is used, messages that are in the primary system mailbox or in
1624 mailboxes which were opened with the special
1628 state when the mailbox is left will be saved in
1635 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1641 can be used to access such messages.
1644 The message has been processed by a
1646 command and it will be retained in its current location.
1649 The message has been processed by one of the following commands:
1655 command is used, messages that are in the primary system mailbox or in
1656 mailboxes which were opened with the special
1660 state when the mailbox is left will be deleted; they will be saved in
1668 .\" .Ss "Specifying messages" {{{
1669 .Ss "Specifying messages"
1676 can be given a list of message numbers as arguments to apply to a number
1677 of messages at once.
1680 deletes messages 1 and 2,
1683 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
1684 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
1688 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
1689 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
1692 The following special message names exist:
1695 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ar _n_u"
1697 The current message, the so-called
1701 The message that was previously the current message.
1704 The parent message of the current message,
1705 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the
1707 field or the last entry of the
1709 field of the current message.
1712 The next previous undeleted message,
1713 or the next previous deleted message for the
1716 In sorted/threaded mode,
1717 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1720 The next undeleted message,
1721 or the next deleted message for the
1724 In sorted/threaded mode,
1725 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1728 The first undeleted message,
1729 or the first deleted message for the
1732 In sorted/threaded mode,
1733 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
1737 In sorted/threaded mode,
1738 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
1742 selects the message addressed with
1746 is any other message specification,
1747 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
1748 Otherwise it is identical to
1753 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
1758 All messages that were included in the message list for the previous
1762 An inclusive range of message numbers.
1763 Selectors that may also be used as endpoints include any of
1768 .Dq any substring matches
1771 header, which will match addresses (too) even if
1773 is set (and POSIX says
1774 .Dq any address as shown in a header summary shall be matchable in this form ) ;
1777 variable is set, only the local part of the address is evaluated
1778 for the comparison, not ignoring case, and the setting of
1780 is completely ignored.
1781 For finer control and match boundaries use the
1785 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
1786 All messages that contain
1788 in the subject field (case ignored).
1795 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
1797 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
1800 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
1802 ession; if the \*(OPal regular expression (see
1804 support is available
1806 will be interpreted as (an extended) one if any of the
1808 (extended) regular expression characters is seen.
1810 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
1811 part is missing, the search is restricted to the subject field body,
1814 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, as in
1816 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
1818 In order to search for a string that includes a
1820 (commercial at) character the
1822 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
1823 Some special header fields may be abbreviated:
1837 respectively and case-insensitively.
1842 can be used to search in (all of) the header(s) of the message, and the
1851 can be used to perform full text searches \(en whereas the former
1852 searches only the body, the latter also searches the message header.
1854 This message specification performs full text comparison, but even with
1855 regular expression support it is almost impossible to write a search
1856 expression that savely matches only a specific address domain.
1857 To request that the content of the header is treated as a list of
1858 addresses, and to strip those down to the plain email address which the
1859 search expression is to be matched against, prefix the header name
1860 (abbreviation) with a tilde
1863 .Dl @~f@@a\e.safe\e.domain\e.match$
1866 All messages of state
1870 is one or multiple of the following colon modifiers:
1872 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar :M"
1877 Old messages (any not in state
1903 Messages marked as draft.
1905 \*(OP Messages classified as spam.
1907 \*(OP Messages with unsure spam classification.
1913 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
1914 This addressing mode is available with all types of folders;
1915 \*(UA will perform the search locally as necessary.
1916 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes
1918 in their entirety if they contain white space or parentheses;
1919 within the quotes, only reverse solidus
1921 is recognized as an escape character.
1922 All string searches are case-insensitive.
1923 When the description indicates that the
1925 representation of an address field is used,
1926 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
1929 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1930 (\*qname\*q \*qsource\*q \*qlocal-part\*q \*qdomain-part\*q)
1935 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
1936 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
1940 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
1941 .It Ar ( criterion )
1942 All messages that satisfy the given
1944 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
1945 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
1947 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
1948 All messages that satisfy either
1953 To connect more than two criteria using
1955 specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
1957 .Ql (or a (or b c)) ,
1961 .Ql ((a or b) and c) .
1964 operation of independent criteria on the lowest nesting level,
1965 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
1969 .It Ar ( not criterion )
1970 All messages that do not satisfy
1972 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1973 All messages that contain
1975 in the envelope representation of the
1978 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1979 All messages that contain
1981 in the envelope representation of the
1984 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1985 All messages that contain
1987 in the envelope representation of the
1990 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1991 All messages that contain
1996 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
1997 All messages that contain
1999 in the envelope representation of the
2002 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2003 All messages that contain
2008 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2009 All messages that contain
2012 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
2013 All messages that contain
2015 in their header or body.
2016 .It Ar ( larger size )
2017 All messages that are larger than
2020 .It Ar ( smaller size )
2021 All messages that are smaller than
2025 .It Ar ( before date )
2026 All messages that were received before
2028 which must be in the form
2032 denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
2034 is the name of the month \(en one of
2035 .Ql Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec ,
2038 is the year as four digits, e.g.,
2042 All messages that were received on the specified date.
2043 .It Ar ( since date )
2044 All messages that were received since the specified date.
2045 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
2046 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2047 .It Ar ( senton date )
2048 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
2049 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
2050 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
2052 The same criterion as for the previous search.
2053 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
2054 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
2055 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
2059 .\" .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup" {{{
2060 .Ss "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
2062 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources usage of Uniform
2063 Resource Locators (URL, RFC 1738) has become omnipresent.
2064 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
2067 denote optional parts, optional either because there also exist other
2068 ways to define the information in question or because support of the
2069 part is protocol-specific (e.g.,
2071 is used by the IMAP protocol but not by POP3);
2076 are specified they must be given in URL percent encoded form (RFC 3986;
2082 .Dl PROTOCOL://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
2085 Note that these \*(UA URLs most often don't conform to any real
2086 standard, but instead represent a normalized variant of RFC 1738 \(en
2087 they are not used in data exchange but only meant as a compact,
2088 easy-to-use way of defining and representing information in
2089 a well-known notation.
2092 Many internal variables of \*(UA exist in multiple versions, called
2093 variable chains for the rest of this document: the plain
2098 .Ql variable-USER@HOST .
2105 had been specified in the respective URL, otherwise it refers to the plain
2111 that had been found when doing the user chain lookup as is described
2114 will never be in URL percent encoded form, whether it came from an URL
2115 or not; i.e., variable chain name extensions of
2116 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2117 must not be URL percent encoded.
2120 For example, whether an hypothetical URL
2121 .Ql smtp://hey%3Ayou@our.house
2122 had been given that includes a user, or whether the URL was
2123 .Ql smtp://our.house
2124 and the user had been found differently, to lookup the variable chain
2125 .Va smtp-use-starttls
2126 \*(UA first looks for whether
2127 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:hey:you@our.house
2128 is defined, then whether
2129 .Ql smtp-\:use-\:starttls-\:our.house
2130 exists before finally ending up looking at the plain variable itself.
2133 \*(UA obeys the following logic scheme when dealing with the
2134 necessary credential information of an account:
2140 has been given in the URL the variables
2144 are looked up; if no such variable(s) can be found then \*(UA will,
2145 when enforced by the \*(OPal variables
2146 .Va netrc-lookup-HOST
2153 specific entry which provides a
2155 name: this lookup will only succeed if unambiguous (one possible matching
2158 It is possible to load encrypted
2163 If there is still no
2165 then \*(UA will fall back to the user who is supposed to run \*(UA,
2166 the identity of which has been fixated during \*(UA startup and is
2167 known to be a valid user on the current host.
2170 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will lookup the
2171 .Va PROTOCOL-auth-USER@HOST , PROTOCOL-auth-HOST , PROTOCOL-auth
2172 variable chain, falling back to a protocol-specific default should this
2178 has been given in the URL, then if the
2180 has been found through the \*(OPal
2182 that may have already provided the password, too.
2183 Otherwise the variable chain
2184 .Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
2185 is looked up and used if existent.
2187 Afterwards the complete \*(OPal variable chain
2188 .Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
2192 cache is searched for a password only (multiple user accounts for
2193 a single machine may exist as well as a fallback entry without user
2194 but with a password).
2196 If at that point there is still no password available, but the
2197 (protocols') chosen authentication type requires a password, then in
2198 interactive mode the user will be prompted on the terminal.
2203 S/MIME verification works relative to the values found in the
2207 header field(s), which means that the values of
2208 .Va smime-sign , smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
2210 .Va smime-sign-message-digest
2211 will not be looked up using the
2215 chains from above but instead use the corresponding values from the
2216 message that is being worked on.
2217 In unusual cases multiple and different
2221 combinations may therefore be involved \(en on the other hand those
2222 unusual cases become possible.
2223 The usual case is as short as:
2226 .Dl set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@HOST smtp-use-starttls \e
2227 .Dl \ \ \ \ smime-sign smime-sign-cert=+smime.pair
2232 contains complete example configurations.
2235 .\" .Ss "On terminal control and line editor" {{{
2236 .Ss "On terminal control and line editor"
2238 \*(OP Terminal control will be realized through one of the standard
2240 libraries, either the
2242 or, alternatively, the
2244 both of which will be initialized to work with the environment variable
2246 Terminal control will enhance or enable interactive usage aspects, e.g.,
2247 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
2248 and extend behaviour of the Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE), which may learn the
2249 byte-sequences of keys like the cursor and function keys, and which will
2250 automatically enter the so-called
2252 alternative screen shall the terminal support it.
2253 The internal variable
2255 can be used to overwrite settings or to learn (correct(ed)) keycodes.
2256 Actual interaction with the chosen library can be disabled completely by
2257 setting the internal variable
2258 .Va termcap-disable ;
2260 will be queried regardless, even if the \*(OPal support for the
2261 libraries has not been enabled at configuration time.
2264 \*(OP The builtin \*(UA Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE) should work in all
2265 environments which comply to the ISO C standard
2267 and will support wide glyphs if possible (the necessary functionality
2268 had been removed from ISO C, but was included in
2270 Prevent usage of a line editor in interactive mode by setting the
2272 .Va line-editor-disable .
2273 Especially if the \*(OPal terminal control support is missing setting
2274 entries in the internal variable
2276 will help shall the MLE misbehave, see there for more.
2277 The MLE can support a little bit of
2283 feature is available then input from line editor prompts will be saved
2284 in a history list that can be searched in and be expanded from.
2285 Such saving can be prevented by prefixing input with any amount of
2287 Aspects of history, like allowed content and maximum size, as well as
2288 whether history shall be saved persistently, can be configured with the
2292 .Va history-gabby-persist
2297 The MLE supports a set of editing and control commands.
2298 By default (as) many (as possible) of these will be assigned to a set of
2299 single-letter control codes, which should work on any terminal (and can
2300 be generated by holding the
2302 key while pressing the key of desire, e.g.,
2306 command is available then the MLE commands can also be accessed freely
2307 by assigning the command name, which is shown in parenthesis in the list
2308 below, to any desired key-sequence, and the MLE will instead and also use
2310 to establish its builtin key bindings
2311 (more of them if the \*(OPal terminal control is available),
2312 an action which can then be suppressed completely by setting
2313 .Va line-editor-no-defaults .
2314 The following uses the
2316 ell-style quote notation that is documented in the introduction of
2318 combinations not mentioned either cause job control signals or don't
2319 generate a (unique) keycode:
2323 .Bl -tag -compact -width "Ql _M"
2325 Go to the start of the line
2326 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-home ) .
2329 Move the cursor backward one character
2330 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-bwd ) .
2333 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
2334 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line unless the
2337 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-fwd ) .
2340 Go to the end of the line
2341 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-end ) .
2344 Move the cursor forward one character
2345 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-fwd ) .
2348 Cancel current operation, full reset.
2349 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
2350 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
2351 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case
2352 .Pf ( Cd mle-reset ) .
2355 Backspace: backward delete one character
2356 .Pf ( Cd mle-del-bwd ) .
2360 Horizontal tabulator:
2361 try to expand the word before the cursor, also supporting \*(UA
2364 .Pf ( Cd mle-complete ) .
2366 .Cd mle-quote-rndtrip .
2370 commit the current line
2371 .Pf ( Cd mle-commit ) .
2374 Cut all characters from the cursor to the end of the line
2375 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-end ) .
2379 .Pf ( Cd mle-repaint ) .
2382 \*(OP Go to the next history entry
2383 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-fwd ) .
2390 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry
2391 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-bwd ) .
2394 Toggle roundtrip mode shell quotes, where produced,
2396 .Pf ( Cd mle-quote-rndtrip ) .
2397 This setting is temporary, and will be forgotten once the command line
2401 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) older history entries
2402 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-bwd ) .
2405 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining) newer history entries
2406 .Pf ( Cd mle-hist-srch-fwd ) .
2409 Paste the snarf buffer
2410 .Pf ( Cd mle-paste ) .
2417 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-line ) .
2420 Prompts for a Unicode character (its hexadecimal number) to be inserted
2421 .Pf ( Cd mle-prompt-char ) .
2422 Note this command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code
2423 in order to become recognized and executed during input of
2424 a key-sequence (only three single-letter control codes can be used for
2425 that shortcut purpose); this control code is special-treated and can't
2426 be part of any other sequence, because any occurrence will perform the
2428 function immediately.
2431 Cut the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
2433 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-bwd ) .
2436 Move the cursor forward one word boundary
2437 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-fwd ) .
2440 Move the cursor backward one word boundary
2441 .Pf ( Cd mle-go-word-bwd ) .
2444 Escape: reset a possibly used multibyte character input state machine
2445 and \*(OPally a lingering, incomplete key binding
2446 .Pf ( Cd mle-cancel ) .
2447 This command needs to be assigned to a single-letter control code in
2448 order to become recognized and executed during input of a key-sequence
2449 (only three single-letter control codes can be used for that shortcut
2451 This control code may also be part of a multi-byte sequence, but if
2452 a sequence is active and the very control code is currently also an
2453 expected input, then it will first be consumed by the active sequence.
2468 Cut the characters from the one after the cursor to the succeeding word
2470 .Pf ( Cd mle-snarf-word-fwd ) .
2480 this will immediately reset a possibly active search etc.
2484 ring the audible bell.
2488 .\" .Ss "Coloured display" {{{
2489 .Ss "Coloured display"
2491 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a coloured display and font
2492 attributes by emitting ANSI / ISO 6429 SGR (select graphic rendition)
2494 Usage of colours and font attributes solely depends upon the
2495 capability of the detected terminal type that is defined by the
2496 environment variable
2498 and which can be fine-tuned by the user via the internal variable
2502 On top of what \*(UA knows about the terminal the boolean variable
2504 defines whether the actually applicable colour and font attribute
2505 sequences should also be generated when output is going to be paged
2506 through the external program defined by the environment variable
2511 This is not enabled by default because different pager programs need
2512 different command line switches or other configuration in order to
2513 support those sequences.
2514 \*(UA however knows about some widely used pagers and in a clean
2515 environment it is often enough to simply set
2517 please refer to that variable for more on this topic.
2522 is set then any active usage of colour and font attribute sequences
2523 is suppressed, but without affecting possibly established
2528 To define and control colours and font attributes a single multiplexer
2529 command family exists:
2531 shows or defines colour mappings for the given colour type (e.g.,
2534 can be used to remove mappings of a given colour type.
2535 Since colours are only available in interactive mode, it may make
2536 sense to conditionalize the colour setup by encapsulating it with
2539 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2540 if terminal && $features =@ +colour
2541 colour iso view-msginfo ft=bold,fg=green
2542 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=red "from,subject"
2543 colour iso view-header fg=red
2545 uncolour iso view-header from,subject
2546 colour iso view-header ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan
2547 colour 256 view-header ft=bold,fg=208,bg=230 subject,from
2548 colour mono view-header ft=bold
2549 colour mono view-header ft=bold,ft=reverse subject,from
2553 .\" }}} (DESCRIPTION)
2556 .\" .Sh COMMANDS {{{
2559 Each command is typed on a line by itself,
2560 and may take arguments following the command word.
2561 Command names may be abbreviated, in which case the first command that
2562 matches the given prefix will be used.
2565 can be used to show the list of all commands, either alphabetically
2566 sorted or in prefix search order (these don't match, also because the
2567 POSIX standard prescribes a set of abbreviations).
2568 \*(OPally the command
2572 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
2573 command matching the expanded argument, as in
2575 which should be a shorthand of
2577 Both commands support a more
2579 listing mode which includes the argument type of the command.
2582 For commands which take message lists as arguments, the next message
2583 forward that satisfies the command's requirements will be used shall no
2584 explicit message list have been specified.
2585 If there are no messages forward of the current message,
2586 the search proceeds backwards,
2587 and if there are no good messages at all,
2588 \*(UA shows an error message and aborts the command.
2589 \*(ID Non-message-list arguments can be quoted using the following methods:
2592 .Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
2594 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes
2599 any white space, shell word expansion, or reverse solidus characters
2600 (except as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as
2601 part of the argument.
2602 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
2604 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
2605 used nonetheless by escaping it with a reverse solidus
2611 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
2612 contain space characters if those spaces are reverse solidus escaped, as in
2616 A reverse solidus outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
2617 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
2622 Some commands which don't take message-list arguments can also be
2623 prefixed with the special keyword
2625 to choose \*(INible argument quoting rules, and some new commands only
2626 support the new rules (without that keyword) and are flagged \*(NQ.
2627 In the future \*(UA will (mostly) use
2629 compatible argument parsing:
2630 Non-message-list arguments can be quoted using the following shell-style
2631 mechanisms: the escape character, single-quotes, double-quotes and
2632 dollar-single-quotes; any unquoted number sign
2634 that parses as a new token starts a comment that ends argument processing.
2635 The overall granularity of error reporting and diagnostics, also
2636 regarding function arguments and their content, will improve.
2640 .Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
2642 The literal value of any character can be preserved by preceding it
2643 with the escape character reverse solidus
2647 will cause variable expansion of the given name: \*(UA
2648 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2651 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, brace
2652 enclosing the name is supported.
2655 Arguments which are enclosed in
2656 .Ql 'single-\:quotes'
2657 retain their literal value.
2658 A single-quote cannot occur within single-quotes.
2661 The literal value of all characters enclosed in
2662 .Ql \(dqdouble-\:quotes\(dq
2663 is retained, with the exception of dollar
2665 which will cause variable expansion, as above, backquote (grave accent)
2667 (which not yet means anything special), reverse solidus
2669 which will escape any of the characters dollar
2671 (to prevent variable expansion), backquote (grave accent)
2675 (to prevent ending the quote) and reverse solidus
2677 (to prevent escaping, i.e., to embed a reverse solidus character as-is),
2678 but has no special meaning otherwise.
2681 Arguments enclosed in
2682 .Ql $'dollar-\:single-\:quotes'
2683 extend normal single quotes in that reverse solidus escape sequences are
2684 expanded as follows:
2686 .Bl -tag -compact -width "Ql \eNNN"
2692 an escape character.
2694 an escape character.
2706 emits a reverse solidus character.
2710 double quote (escaping is optional).
2712 eight-bit byte with the octal value
2714 (one to three octal digits), optionally prefixed by an additional
2716 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
2718 eight-bit byte with the hexadecimal value
2720 (one or two hexadecimal characters).
2721 A 0 byte will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
2723 the Unicode / ISO-10646 character with the hexadecimal codepoint value
2725 (one to eight hexadecimal digits) \(em note that Unicode defines the
2726 maximum codepoint to be ever supported as
2731 This escape is only supported in locales which support Unicode (see
2732 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
2733 in other cases the sequence will remain unexpanded unless the given code
2734 point is ASCII compatible or can be represented in the current locale.
2735 The character NUL will suppress further output for the quoted argument.
2739 except it takes only one to four hexadecimal digits.
2741 A mechanism that allows usage of the non-printable (ASCII and
2742 compatible) control codes 0 to 31: to create the printable
2743 representation of a control code the numeric value 64 is added, and the
2744 resulting ASCII character set code point is then printed, e.g., BEL is
2745 .Ql 7 + 64 = 71 = G .
2746 Whereas historically circumflex notation has often been used for
2747 visualization purposes of control codes, e.g.,
2749 the reverse solidus notation has been standardized:
2751 Some control codes also have standardized (ISO 10646, ISO C) alias
2752 representations, as shown above (e.g.,
2756 whenever such an alias exists \*(UA will use it for display purposes.
2757 The control code NUL
2759 ends argument processing without producing further output.
2761 Non-standard extension: expand the given variable name, as above.
2762 Brace enclosing the name is supported.
2764 Not yet supported, just to raise awareness: Non-standard extension.
2770 .Sy Compatibility notes:
2771 \*(ID Note these are new mechanisms which are not supported by all
2773 Round-tripping (feeding in things shown in list modes again) are not yet
2774 stable or possible at all.
2775 On new-style command lines it is wise to quote semicolon
2779 characters in order to ensure upward compatibility: the author would
2780 like to see things like
2781 .Ql ? echo $'trouble\etahead' | cat >> in_the_shell.txt
2783 .Ql ? top 2 5 10; type 3 22
2785 Before \*(UA will switch entirely to shell-style argument parsing there
2786 will be a transition phase where using
2788 will emit obsoletion warnings.
2790 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2791 echo 'Quotes '${HOME}' and 'tokens" differ!"# no comment
2792 echo Quotes ${HOME} and tokens differ! # comment
2793 echo Don"'"t you worry$'\ex21' The sun shines on us. $'\eu263A'
2797 In any event an unquoted reverse solidus at the end of a command line is
2798 discarded and the next line continues the command.
2799 \*(ID Note that line continuation is handled before the above parsing is
2800 applied, i.e., the parsers documented above will see merged lines.
2801 Filenames, where expected, are subsequently subjected to the following
2802 transformations, in sequence:
2805 .Bl -bullet -compact -offset indent
2807 If the filename begins with an unquoted plus sign, and the
2809 variable is defined,
2810 the plus sign will be replaced by the value of the
2812 variable followed by a solidus.
2815 variable is unset or is set to null, the filename will be unchanged.
2818 Meta expansions are applied to the filename: a leading tilde
2820 character will be replaced by the expansion of
2822 except when followed by a valid user name, in which case the home
2823 directory of the given user is used instead.
2828 will be replaced by the expansion of the variable, if possible; \*(UA
2829 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
2832 (shell) variables can be accessed through this mechanism, and the usual
2833 escape mechanism has to be applied to prevent interpretation.
2834 If the fully expanded filename results in multiple pathnames and the
2835 command is expecting only one file, an error results.
2837 In interactive context, in order to allow simple value acceptance (via
2839 arguments will usually be displayed in a properly quoted form, e.g., a file
2840 .Ql diet\e is \ecurd.txt
2842 .Ql 'diet\e is \ecurd.txt' .
2846 The following commands are available:
2848 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic _ccount"
2855 ) command which follows.
2859 The comment-command causes the entire line to be ignored.
2861 this really is a normal command which' purpose is to discard its
2864 indicating special character, which means that, e.g., trailing comments
2865 on a line are not possible.
2869 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it
2875 Display the preceding message, or the n'th previous message if given
2876 a numeric argument n.
2880 Show the current message number (the
2885 Show a brief summary of commands.
2888 output is available.
2889 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
2890 shown instead; commands can be abbreviated in general and this command
2891 can be used to see the full expansion of an abbreviation including the
2892 synopsis, try, e.g.,
2897 and see how the output changes.
2907 Interprets the remainder of the word as a macro name and passes it
2912 is a shorter synonym for
2913 .Ql call Ar mymacro .
2917 (ac) Creates, selects or lists (an) account(s).
2918 Accounts are special incarnations of
2920 macros and group commands and variable settings which together usually
2921 arrange the environment for the purpose of creating an email account.
2922 Different to normal macros settings which are covered by
2924 \(en here by default enabled! \(en will not be reverted before the
2929 (case-insensitive) always exists, and all but it can be deleted via
2932 Without arguments a listing of all defined accounts is shown.
2933 With one argument the given account is activated: the system
2935 of that account will be activated (as via
2937 and a possibly installed
2940 The two argument form is identical to defining a macro as via
2942 .Bd -literal -offset indent
2944 set folder=~/mail inbox=+syste.mbox record=+sent.mbox
2945 set from='myname@myisp.example (My Name)'
2946 set mta=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
2952 (a) With no arguments, shows all currently-defined aliases.
2953 With one argument, shows that alias.
2954 With more than one argument,
2955 creates a new alias or appends to an existing one.
2957 can be used to delete aliases.
2961 (alt) Manage a list of alternate addresses / names of the active user,
2962 members of which will be removed from recipient lists when replying to
2965 variable is not set).
2966 If arguments are given the set of alternate names is replaced by them,
2967 without arguments the current set is displayed.
2971 Takes a message list and marks each message as having been answered.
2972 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
2973 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
2974 and makes them specially addressable.
2979 \*(OP\*(NQ The bind command extends the MLE (see
2980 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
2981 with freely configurable key bindings.
2982 With one argument all bindings for the given context are shown,
2983 specifying an asterisk
2985 will show the bindings of all contexts; a more verbose listing will be
2986 produced if either of
2991 With two or more arguments a binding is (re)established:
2992 the first argument is the context to which the binding shall apply,
2993 the second argument is a comma-separated list of the
2995 which form the binding, and any remaining arguments form the expansion.
2996 To indicate that a binding shall not be auto-committed, but that the
2997 expansion shall instead be furtherly editable by the user, an at-sign
2999 (that will be removed) can be placed last in the expansion, from which
3000 leading and trailing whitespace will finally be removed.
3001 Reverse solidus cannot be used as the last character of expansion.
3004 Contexts define when a binding applies, i.e., a binding won't be seen
3005 unless the context for which it is defined for is currently active.
3006 This is not true for the shared binding
3008 which is the foundation for all other bindings and as such always
3009 applies, its bindings, however, only apply secondarily.
3010 The available contexts are the shared
3014 context which is used in all not otherwise documented situations, and
3016 which applies to compose-mode only.
3020 which form the binding are specified as a comma-separated list of
3021 byte-sequences, where each list entry corresponds to one key(press).
3022 \*(OPally a list entry may, indicated by a leading colon character
3024 also refer to the name of a terminal capability;
3025 several dozen names will be compiled into \*(UA and may be specified
3028 or, if existing, by their
3030 name, regardless of the actually used terminal control library.
3031 It is however possible to use any capability, as long as the name is
3032 resolvable by the control library or defined in the internal variable
3034 Input sequences are not case-normalized, so that an exact match is
3035 required to update or remove a binding.
3038 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3039 bind base $'\eE',d mle-snarf-word-fwd # Esc(ape)
3040 bind base $'\eE',$'\ec?' mle-snarf-word-bwd # Esc, Delete
3041 bind default $'\ecA',:khome,w 'echo An editable binding@'
3042 bind default a,b,c rm -rf / @ # Another editable binding
3043 bind default :kf1 File %
3044 bind compose :kf1 ~e
3048 Note that the entire comma-separated list is first parsed (over) as a
3049 shell-token with whitespace as the field separator, before being parsed
3050 and expanded for real with comma as the field separator, therefore
3051 whitespace needs to be properly quoted:
3052 shell-style quoting is documented in the introduction of
3054 Using Unicode reverse solidus escape sequences renders a binding
3055 defunctional if the locale doesn't support Unicode (see
3056 .Sx "Character sets" ) ,
3057 and using terminal capabilities does so if no terminal control support
3058 is (currently) available.
3061 The following terminal capability names are builtin and can be used in
3063 or (if available) the two-letter
3065 notation regardless of the actually used library.
3066 See the respective manual for a list of capabilities.
3069 can be used to show all the capabilities of
3071 or the given terminal type;
3074 flag will also show supported (non-standard) extensions.
3077 .Bl -tag -compact -width kcuuf_or_kcuuf
3078 .It Cd kbs Ns \0or Cd kb
3080 .It Cd kdch1 Ns \0or Cd kD
3082 .It Cd kDC Ns \0or Cd *4
3083 \(em shifted variant.
3084 .It Cd kel Ns \0or Cd kE
3085 Clear to end of line.
3086 .It Cd kext Ns \0or Cd @9
3088 .It Cd kich1 Ns \0or Cd kI
3090 .It Cd kIC Ns \0or Cd #3
3091 \(em shifted variant.
3092 .It Cd khome Ns \0or Cd kh
3094 .It Cd kHOM Ns \0or Cd #2
3095 \(em shifted variant.
3096 .It Cd kend Ns \0or Cd @7
3098 .It Cd knp Ns \0or Cd kN
3100 .It Cd kpp Ns \0or Cd kP
3102 .It Cd kcub1 Ns \0or Cd kl
3103 Left cursor (with more modifiers: see below).
3104 .It Cd kLFT Ns \0or Cd #4
3105 \(em shifted variant.
3106 .It Cd kcuf1 Ns \0or Cd kr
3107 Right cursor (ditto).
3108 .It Cd kRIT Ns \0or Cd %i
3109 \(em shifted variant.
3110 .It Cd kcud1 Ns \0or Cd kd
3111 Down cursor (ditto).
3113 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
3114 .It Cd kcuu1 Ns \0or Cd ku
3117 \(em shifted variant (only terminfo).
3118 .It Cd kf0 Ns \0or Cd k0
3120 Add one for each function key up to
3125 .It Cd kf10 Ns \0or Cd k;
3127 .It Cd kf11 Ns \0or Cd F1
3129 Add one for each function key up to
3137 Some terminals support key-modifier combination extensions, e.g.,
3139 For example, the delete key,
3141 in its shifted variant, the name is mutated to
3143 then a number is appended for the states
3155 .Ql Shift+Alt+Control
3157 The same for the left cursor key,
3159 .Cd KLFT , KLFT3 , KLFT4 , KLFT5 , KLFT6 , KLFT7 , KLFT8 .
3162 Key bindings can be removed with the command
3164 It is advisable to use an initial escape or other control character (e.g.,
3166 for bindings which describe user key combinations (as opposed to purely
3167 terminal capability based ones), in order to avoid ambiguities whether
3168 input belongs to key sequences or not; it also reduces search time.
3171 may help shall keys and sequences be falsely recognized.
3176 Calls a macro that has been created via
3181 (ch) Change the working directory to
3183 or the given argument.
3189 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
3190 Takes a message list and a file name and saves the certificates
3191 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
3192 human-readable and PEM format.
3193 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
3194 respective message senders by setting
3195 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
3200 (ch) Change the working directory to
3202 or the given argument.
3208 Only applicable to threaded mode.
3209 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
3210 in header summaries, unless they are in state
3216 \*(OP\*(NQ Manage colour mappings for the type of colour given as the
3217 (case-insensitive) first argument, which must be one of
3219 for 256-colour terminals,
3224 for the standard 8-colour ANSI / ISO 6429 color palette and
3228 for monochrome terminals.
3229 Monochrome terminals cannot deal with colours, but only (some) font
3233 Without further arguments the list of all currently defined mappings
3234 for the given colour type is shown (as a special case giving
3238 will iterate over all types in order).
3239 Otherwise the second argument defines the mappable slot, the third
3240 argument a (comma-separated list of) colour and font attribute
3241 specification(s), and the optional fourth argument can be used to
3242 specify a precondition: if conditioned mappings exist they are tested in
3243 (creation) order unless a (case-insensitive) match has been found, and
3244 the default mapping (if any has been established) will only be chosen as
3246 The types of precondition available depend on the mappable slot, the
3247 following of which exist:
3250 Mappings prefixed with
3252 are used for the \*(OPal builtin Mailx-Line-Editor (MLE, see
3253 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
3254 and don't support preconditions.
3256 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3258 This mapping is used for the position indicator that is visible when
3259 a line cannot be fully displayed on the screen.
3266 Mappings prefixed with
3268 are used in header summaries, and they all understand the preconditions
3270 (the current message) and
3272 for elder messages (only honoured in conjunction with
3273 .Va datefield-markout-older ) .
3275 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3277 This mapping is used for the
3279 that can be created with the
3283 formats of the variable
3286 For the complete header summary line except the
3288 and the thread structure.
3290 For the thread structure which can be created with the
3292 format of the variable
3297 Mappings prefixed with
3299 are used when displaying messages.
3301 .Bl -tag -compact -width view-partinfo
3303 This mapping is used for so-called
3305 lines, which are MBOX file format specific header lines.
3308 A comma-separated list of headers to which the mapping applies may be
3309 given as a precondition; if the \*(OPal regular expression support is
3310 available then if any of the
3312 (extended) regular expression characters is seen the precondition will
3313 be evaluated as (an extended) one.
3315 For the introductional message info line.
3316 .It Cd view-partinfo
3317 For MIME part info lines.
3321 The following (case-insensitive) colour definitions and font attributes
3322 are understood, multiple of which can be specified in a comma-separated
3332 It is possible (and often applicable) to specify multiple font
3333 attributes for a single mapping.
3336 foreground colour attribute:
3346 To specify a 256-color mode a decimal number colour specification in
3347 the range 0 to 255, inclusive, is supported, and interpreted as follows:
3349 .Bl -tag -compact -width "999 - 999"
3351 the standard ISO 6429 colors, as above.
3353 high intensity variants of the standard colors.
3355 216 colors in tuples of 6.
3357 grayscale from black to white in 24 steps.
3359 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3361 fg() { printf "\e033[38;5;${1}m($1)"; }
3362 bg() { printf "\e033[48;5;${1}m($1)"; }
3364 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do fg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
3365 printf "\e033[0m\en"
3367 while [ $i -lt 256 ]; do bg $i; i=$(($i + 1)); done
3368 printf "\e033[0m\en"
3372 background colour attribute (see
3374 for possible values).
3378 Mappings may be removed with the command
3380 For a generic overview see the section
3381 .Sx "Coloured display" .
3386 (C) Copy messages to files whose names are derived from the author of
3387 the respective message and don't mark them as being saved;
3388 otherwise identical to
3393 (c) Copy messages to the named file and don't mark them as being saved;
3394 otherwise identical to
3399 \*(NQ With no arguments, shows all currently-defined custom headers.
3400 With one argument, shows that custom header.
3401 With more than one argument, creates a new or replaces an existing
3402 custom header with the name given as the first argument, the content of
3403 which being defined by the concatenated remaining arguments.
3405 can be used to delete custom headers.
3406 \*(ID Overwriting of automatically managed headers is neither supported
3408 Defined custom headers will be injected into newly composed or forwarded
3411 .Dl customhdr OpenPGP id=12345678; url=http://www.YYY.ZZ
3415 may also be used to inject custom headers; it is covered by
3420 Show the name of the current working directory.
3424 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
3426 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
3430 \*(OP For unencrypted messages this command is identical to
3432 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
3436 Without arguments the current list of macros, including their content,
3437 is shown, otherwise a macro is defined.
3438 A macro definition is a sequence of commands in the following form:
3439 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3448 A defined macro can be invoked explicitly by using the
3452 commands, or implicitly if a macro hook is triggered, e.g., a
3454 Note that interpretation of
3456 depends on how (i.e.,
3458 normal macro, folder hook, hook, account switch) the macro is invoked.
3459 Macros can be deleted via
3463 Macro behaviour, including option localization, will change in v15.
3464 Please be aware of that and possibly embed a version check in a resource
3469 (d) Marks the given message list as
3471 Deleted messages will neither be saved in
3473 nor will they be available for most other commands.
3485 Deletes the current message and displays the next message.
3486 If there is no next message, \*(UA says
3493 up or down by one message when given
3497 argument, respectively.
3501 Takes a message list and marks each given message as a draft.
3502 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
3503 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
3504 and makes them specially addressable.
3508 (ec) Echoes its arguments after applying
3510 expansions and filename transformations, as documented for
3515 (e) Point the text editor (as defined in
3517 at each message from the given list in turn.
3518 Modified contents are discarded unless the
3525 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3526 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceding
3528 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
3529 if it evaluates true.
3534 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3535 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceding
3539 commands was true, the
3545 (en) Marks the end of an
3546 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3547 conditional execution block.
3552 \*(NQ \*(UA has a strict notion about which variables are
3553 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
3554 and which are managed in the program
3556 Since some of the latter are a vivid part of \*(UAs functioning,
3557 however, they are transparently integrated into the normal handling of
3558 internal variables via
3562 To integrate other environment variables of choice into this
3563 transparent handling, and also to export internal variables into the
3564 process environment where they normally are not, a
3566 needs to become established with this command, as in, e.g.,
3569 .Dl environ link PERL5LIB from TZ
3572 Afterwards changing such variables with
3574 will cause automatic updates of the program environment, and therefore
3575 be inherited by newly created child processes.
3576 Sufficient system support provided (it was in BSD as early as 1987, and
3577 is standardized since Y2K) removing such variables with
3579 will remove them also from the program environment, but in any way
3580 the knowledge they ever have been
3583 Note this implies that
3585 may cause loss of links.
3590 will remove an existing link, but leaves the variables as such intact.
3591 Additionally the subcommands
3595 are provided, which work exactly the same as the documented commands
3599 but (additionally) link the variable(s) with the program environment and
3600 thus immediately export them to, or remove them from (if possible),
3601 respectively, the program environment.
3606 \*(OP Since \*(UA uses the console as a user interface it can happen
3607 that messages scroll by too fast to become recognized.
3608 Optionally an error message ring queue is available which stores
3609 duplicates of any error message and notifies the user in interactive
3610 sessions whenever a new error has occurred.
3611 The queue is finite: if its maximum size is reached any new message
3612 replaces the eldest.
3615 can be used to manage this message queue: if given
3617 or no argument the queue will be displayed and cleared,
3619 will only clear all messages from the queue.
3623 (ex or x) Exit from \*(UA without changing the active mailbox and skip
3624 any saving of messages in
3626 as well as a possibly tracked line editor history file.
3632 but open the mailbox readonly.
3636 (fi) The file command switches to a new mailbox.
3637 Without arguments it shows status information of the current mailbox.
3638 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
3639 the user has made and open a new mailbox.
3640 Some special conventions are recognized for the
3644 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".Ar %:__lespec"
3646 (number sign) means the previous file,
3648 (percent sign) means the invoking user's system mailbox, which either
3649 is the (itself expandable)
3651 if that is set, the standardized absolute pathname indicated by
3653 if that is set, or a builtin compile-time default otherwise.
3655 means the primary system mailbox of
3657 (and never the value of
3659 regardless of its actual setting),
3661 (ampersand) means the invoking user's
3671 expands to the same value as
3673 but the file is handled as a primary system mailbox by, e.g., the
3677 commands, meaning that messages that have been read in the current
3678 session will be moved to the
3680 mailbox instead of simply being flagged as read.
3683 If the name matches one of the strings defined with the command
3685 it is replaced by its long form and expanded.
3686 If the name ends with
3691 it is treated as being compressed with
3696 respectively, and transparently handled through an intermediate
3697 (un)compression step (using a temporary file) with the according
3698 facility, sufficient support provided.
3699 Likewise, if the named file doesn't exist, but a file with one of the
3700 mentioned compression extensions does, then the name is automatically
3701 expanded and the compressed file is used.
3703 Otherwise, if the name ends with an extension for which
3704 .Va file-hook-load-EXTENSION
3706 .Va file-hook-save-EXTENSION
3707 variables are set, then the given hooks will be used to load and save
3709 and \*(UA will work with an intermediate temporary file.
3711 MBOX files (flat file-based mailboxes) are generally locked during file
3712 operations in order to avoid inconsistencies due to concurrent
3714 \*(OPal Mailbox files which \*(UA treats as the system
3717 and primary mailboxes will also be protected by so-called dotlock
3718 files, the traditional way of mail spool file locking: for any file
3722 will be created for the duration of the synchronization \(em
3723 as necessary a privilege-separated dotlock child process will be used
3724 to accommodate for necessary privilege adjustments in order to create
3725 the dotlock file in the same directory
3726 and with the same user and group identities as the file of interest.
3730 refers to a directory with the subdirectories
3735 then it is treated as a folder in
3737 format; \*(ID the variable
3739 can be used to control the format of yet non-existent folders.
3742 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
3743 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
3745 is taken as an Internet mailbox specification.
3746 The \*(OPally supported protocols are
3750 (POP3 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport).
3753 part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to
3755 Also see the section
3756 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
3760 contains special characters, in particular
3764 they must be escaped in URL notation \(en the command
3766 can be used to show the necessary conversion.
3770 Takes a message list and marks the messages as
3772 ged for urgent/special attention.
3773 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
3774 it just causes messages to be highlighted in the header summary,
3775 and makes them specially addressable.
3784 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
3785 With an existing folder as an argument,
3786 lists the names of folders below the named folder.
3792 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
3793 recipient's address (instead of in
3800 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
3801 recipient's address (instead of in
3808 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
3813 .It Ic followupsender
3816 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
3832 (f) Takes a list of message specifications and displays a summary of
3833 their message headers, exactly as via
3835 An alias of this command is
3838 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
3844 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
3845 recipient's address (instead of in
3850 Takes a message and the address of a recipient
3851 and forwards the message to him.
3852 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
3853 with the value of the
3855 variable preceding it.
3860 commands specify which header fields are included in the new message.
3861 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless the
3862 .Va forward-as-attachment
3866 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
3870 Specifies which header fields are to be ignored with the command
3872 This command has no effect when the
3873 .Va forward-as-attachment
3878 Specifies which header fields are to be retained with the command
3883 This command has no effect when the
3884 .Va forward-as-attachment
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,"
3915 (h) Show the current group of headers, the size of which depends on
3918 and the style of which can be adjusted with the variable
3920 If a message-specification is given the group of headers containing the
3921 first message therein is shown and the message at the top of the screen
3936 the list of history entries;
3939 argument selects and shows the respective history entry \(en
3942 to accept it, and the history entry will become the new history top.
3943 The default mode if no arguments are given is
3950 Takes a message list and marks each message therein to be saved in the
3955 Does not override the
3958 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command, because a
3960 command issued after
3962 will display the following message, not the current one.
3967 (i) Part of the nestable
3968 .Ic if Ns / Ns Ic elif Ns / Ns Ic else Ns / Ns Ic endif
3969 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is true then
3970 the encapsulated block is executed.
3971 POSIX only supports the (case-insensitive) conditions
3976 end, all remaining conditions are non-portable extensions; note that
3977 falsely specified conditions cause the execution of the entire
3978 conditional construct until the (matching) closing
3980 command to be suppressed.
3981 The syntax of the nestable
3983 conditional execution construct requires that each condition and syntax
3984 element is surrounded by whitespace.
3986 .Bd -literal -offset indent
3995 The (case-insensitive) condition
3997 erminal will evaluate to true if the standard input is a terminal, i.e.,
3998 in interactive sessions.
3999 Another condition can be any boolean value (see the section
4000 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4001 for textual boolean representations) to mark an enwrapped block as
4004 .Dq always execute .
4005 It is possible to check
4006 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4009 variables for existence or compare their expansion against a user given
4010 value or another variable by using the
4012 .Pf ( Dq variable next )
4013 conditional trigger character;
4014 a variable on the right hand side may be signalled using the same
4016 The variable names may be enclosed in a pair of matching braces.
4019 The available comparison operators are
4023 (less than or equal to),
4029 (greater than or equal to),
4033 (is substring of) and
4035 (is not substring of).
4036 The values of the left and right hand side are treated as strings and
4037 are compared 8-bit byte-wise, ignoring case according to the rules of
4038 the US-ASCII encoding (therefore, dependent on the active locale,
4039 possibly producing false results for strings in the locale encoding).
4040 Except for the substring checks the comparison will instead be performed
4041 arithmetically if both, the user given value as well as the variable
4042 content, can be parsed as numbers (integers).
4043 An unset variable is treated as the empty string.
4046 When the \*(OPal regular expression support is available, the additional
4052 They treat the right hand side as an extended regular expression that is
4053 matched case-insensitively and according to the active
4055 locale, meaning that strings in the locale encoding should be matched
4059 Conditions can be joined via AND-OR lists (where the AND operator is
4061 and the OR operator is
4063 which have equal precedence and will be evaluated with left
4064 associativity, thus using the same syntax that is known for the
4066 It is also possible to form groups of conditions and lists by enclosing
4067 them in pairs of brackets
4068 .Ql [\ \&.\&.\&.\ ] ,
4069 which may be interlocked within each other, and also be joined via
4073 The results of individual conditions and entire groups may be modified
4074 via unary operators: the unary operator
4076 will reverse the result.
4078 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4082 if $ttycharset == "UTF-8"
4083 echo *ttycharset* is set to UTF-8, case-insensitively
4087 echo These two variables are equal
4089 if $version-major >= 15
4090 echo Running a new version..
4091 if $features =@ +regex
4092 if $TERM =~ "^xterm\&.*"
4093 echo ..in an X terminal
4096 if [ [ true ] && [ [ ${debug} ] || [ $verbose ] ] ]
4099 if true && $debug || ${verbose}
4100 echo Left associativity, as is known from the shell
4102 if ! ! true && ! [ ! $debug && ! $verbose ]
4103 echo Unary operator support
4111 Without arguments the list of ignored header fields is shown,
4112 otherwise the given list of header fields is added to the ignore list:
4113 Header fields in the ignore list are not shown on the terminal when
4114 a message is displayed.
4115 To display a message in its entirety, use the commands
4126 Shows the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
4127 If given any non-whitespace argument the list will be shown in the order
4128 in which command prefixes are searched.
4131 output is available.
4135 This command can be used to localize changes to variables, meaning that
4136 their state will be reverted to the former one once the covered scope
4138 It can only be used inside of macro definition blocks introduced by
4142 and is interpreted as a boolean (string, see
4143 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES" ) ;
4146 of an account is left once it is switched off again.
4147 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4148 define temporary_settings {
4163 enables change localization and calls
4165 which explicitly resets localization, then any value changes within
4167 will still be reverted by
4169 \*(ID Once the outermost level, the one which enabled localization
4170 first, is left, but no earlier, all adjustments will be unrolled.
4171 \*(ID Likewise worth knowing, if in this example
4173 changes to a different
4175 which sets some variables that are yet covered by localizations, their
4176 scope will be extended, and in fact leaving the
4178 will (thus) restore settings in (likely) global scope which actually
4179 were defined in a local, private context.
4183 Reply to messages that come in via known
4186 .Pf ( Ic mlsubscribe )
4187 mailing lists, or pretend to do so (see
4188 .Sx "Mailing lists" ) :
4191 functionality this will actively resort and even remove message
4192 recipients in order to generate a message that is supposed to be sent to
4194 For example it will also implicitly generate a
4195 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
4196 header if that seems useful, regardless of the setting of the variable
4203 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
4204 recipient's address (instead of in
4209 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
4210 or asks on standard input if none were given;
4211 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
4215 (mb) The given message list is to be sent to
4217 when \*(UA is quit; this is the default action unless the
4220 \*(ID This command can only be used in a primary system mailbox (see
4225 Without any arguments the content of the MIME type cache will displayed.
4226 Otherwise each argument defines a complete MIME type specification of
4227 a type that shall be added (prepended) to the cache.
4228 In any event MIME type sources are loaded first as necessary \(en
4229 .Va mimetypes-load-control
4230 can be used to fine-tune which sources are actually loaded.
4231 Refer to the section on
4232 .Sx "The mime.types files"
4233 for more on MIME type specifications and this topic in general.
4234 MIME type unregistration and cache resets can be triggered with
4239 Without arguments the list of all currently defined mailing lists
4240 (and their attributes, if any) is shown; a more verbose listing will be
4241 produced if either of
4246 Otherwise all given arguments (which need not be quoted except for
4247 whitespace) will be added and henceforth be recognized as mailing lists.
4248 Mailing lists may be removed via the command
4251 If the \*(OPal regular expression support is available then mailing
4252 lists may also be specified as (extended) regular expressions (see
4258 Without arguments the list of all currently defined mailing lists which
4259 have a subscription attribute is shown; a more verbose listing will be
4260 produced if either of
4265 Otherwise this attribute will be set for all given mailing lists,
4266 newly creating them as necessary (as via
4268 Subscription attributes may be removed via the command
4277 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
4278 sender address of the first message (instead of in
4285 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
4292 but also displays ignored header fields and all MIME parts.
4300 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
4301 standard output is a terminal.
4307 \*(OP When used without arguments or if
4309 has been given the content of the
4311 cache is shown, loading it first as necessary.
4314 then the cache will only be initialized and
4316 will remove its contents.
4317 Note that \*(UA will try to load the file only once, use
4318 .Ql Ic \&\&netrc Ns \:\0\:clear
4319 to unlock further attempts.
4324 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ;
4326 .Sx "The .netrc file"
4327 documents the file format in detail.
4331 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
4333 If new mail is present, a message is shown.
4337 the headers of each new message are also shown.
4338 This command is not available for all mailbox types.
4346 Goes to the next message in sequence and types it.
4347 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
4361 If the current folder is accessed via a network connection, a
4363 command is sent, otherwise no operation is performed.
4369 but also displays ignored header fields and all MIME parts.
4377 on the given messages, even in non-interactive mode and as long as the
4378 standard output is a terminal.
4386 but also pipes ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
4387 .Ql multipart/alternative
4392 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
4393 and pipes the messages through the command.
4394 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
4401 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
4422 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
4425 preserving all messages marked with
4429 or never referenced in the system
4431 and removing all other messages from the primary system mailbox.
4432 If new mail has arrived during the session,
4434 .Dq You have new mail
4436 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line flag
4438 then the edit file is rewritten.
4439 A return to the shell is effected,
4440 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
4441 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
4455 Removes the named files or directories.
4456 If a name refer to a mailbox, e.g., a Maildir mailbox, then a mailbox
4457 type specific removal will be performed, deleting the complete mailbox.
4458 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
4462 Takes the name of an existing folder
4463 and the name for the new folder
4464 and renames the first to the second one.
4465 Both folders must be of the same type.
4469 (R) Reply to originator.
4470 Does not reply to other recipients of the original message.
4472 will exchange this command with
4476 is set the recipient address will be stripped from comments, names etc.
4480 (r) Take a message and group-responds to it by addressing the sender
4483 .Va followup-to-honour ,
4486 .Va recipients-in-cc
4487 influence response behaviour.
4490 offers special support for replying to mailing lists.
4493 is set recipient addresses will be stripped from comments, names etc.
4506 but initiates a group-reply regardless of the value of
4513 but responds to the sender only regardless of the value of
4520 but does not add any header lines.
4521 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
4522 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
4526 Takes a list of messages and a user name
4527 and sends each message to the named user.
4529 and related header fields are prepended to the new copy of the message.
4547 .It Ic respondsender
4553 (ret) Without arguments the list of retained header fields is shown,
4554 otherwise the given list of header fields is added to the retain list:
4555 Header fields in the retain list are shown on the terminal when
4556 a message is displayed, all other header fields are suppressed.
4557 To display a message in its entirety, use the commands
4566 takes precedence over the mentioned.
4572 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
4573 sender of the first message instead of (in
4575 and) taking a filename argument.
4579 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
4580 to the end of the file.
4581 If no filename is given, the
4584 The filename in quotes, followed by the generated character count
4585 is echoed on the user's terminal.
4586 If editing a primary system mailbox the messages are marked for deletion.
4587 Filename interpretation as described for the
4589 command is performed.
4606 Header fields thus marked are filtered out when saving a message by
4608 or when automatically saving to
4610 This command should only be applied to header fields that do not contain
4611 information needed to decode the message,
4612 as MIME content fields do.
4624 Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved with a message when
4627 or when automatically saving to
4632 The use of this command is strongly discouraged since it may strip
4633 header fields that are needed to decode the message correctly.
4637 Takes a message specification (list) and displays a header summary of
4638 all matching messages, as via
4640 This command is an alias of
4643 .Sx "Specifying messages" .
4647 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
4651 (se) Without arguments this command shows all internal variables which
4652 are currently known to \*(UA (they have been set).
4653 A more verbose listing will be produced if either of
4657 are set, in which case variables may be preceded with a comment line
4658 that gives some context of what \*(UA knows about the given variable.
4660 Otherwise the given variables (and arguments) are set or adjusted.
4661 Arguments are of the form
4663 (no space before or after
4667 if there is no value, i.e., a boolean variable.
4668 Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment
4669 statement to quote blanks or tabs, e.g.,
4671 .Dl set indentprefix='->'
4673 If an argument begins with
4677 the effect is the same as invoking the
4679 command with the remaining part of the variable
4680 .Pf ( Ql unset save ) .
4684 that is known to map to an environment variable will automatically cause
4685 updates in the program environment (unsetting a variable in the
4686 environment requires corresponding system support).
4687 Please use the command
4689 for further environmental control.
4694 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
4700 (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
4704 Without arguments the list of all currently defined shortcuts is
4706 Otherwise all given arguments (which need not be quoted except for
4707 whitespace) are treated as pairs of shortcuts and their expansions,
4708 creating new or changing already existing shortcuts, as necessary.
4709 Shortcuts may be removed via the command
4711 The expansion strings should be in the syntax that has been described
4720 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption, so that the raw
4721 message text is shown.
4725 (si) Shows the size in characters of each message of the given
4730 Shows the current sorting criterion when used without an argument.
4731 Otherwise creates a sorted representation of the current folder,
4734 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in
4736 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
4740 a header summary in the new order is also displayed.
4741 Automatic folder sorting can be enabled by setting the
4743 variable, as in, e.g.,
4744 .Ql set autosort=thread .
4745 Possible sorting criterions are:
4747 .Bl -tag -compact -width "subject"
4749 Sort the messages by their
4751 field, that is by the time they were sent.
4753 Sort messages by the value of their
4755 field, that is by the address of the sender.
4758 variable is set, the sender's real name (if any) is used.
4760 Sort the messages by their size.
4762 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified by
4765 Sort the messages by their message status.
4767 Sort the messages by their subject.
4769 Create a threaded display.
4771 Sort messages by the value of their
4773 field, that is by the address of the recipient.
4776 variable is set, the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
4781 (so) The source command reads commands from the given file, which is
4782 subject to the usual filename expansions (see introductional words of
4784 If the given argument ends with a vertical bar
4786 then the argument will instead be interpreted as a shell command and
4787 \*(UA will read the output generated by it.
4788 Interpretation of commands read is stopped when an error is encountered.
4791 cannot be used from within macros that execute as
4792 .Va folder-hook Ns s
4795 i.e., it can only be called from macros that were
4802 (beside not supporting pipe syntax aka shell command input) is that
4803 this command will not generate an error if the given file argument
4804 cannot be opened successfully.
4808 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their
4814 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and causes the
4816 to forget it has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter.
4817 Unless otherwise noted the
4819 flag of the message is inspected to chose whether a message shall be
4827 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
4831 This also clears the
4833 flag of the messages in question.
4837 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured
4838 .Va spam-interface ,
4839 without modifying the messages, but setting their
4841 flag as appropriate; because the spam rating headers are lost the rate
4842 will be forgotten once the mailbox is left.
4843 Refer to the manual section
4845 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
4849 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their
4855 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and informs the Bayesian filter of the
4861 flag of the messages in question.
4870 Create a threaded representation of the current folder,
4871 i.\|e. indent messages that are replies to other messages in the header
4872 display and change the
4874 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
4876 Message numbers are the same as in unthreaded mode.
4880 a header summary in threaded order is also displayed.
4894 (to) Takes a message list and types out the first
4896 lines of each message on the users' terminal.
4897 The only header fields that are displayed are
4904 will instead honour configured lists).
4905 It is possible to apply compression to what is displayed by setting
4907 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
4912 (tou) Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in
4914 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
4917 command will display the following message instead of the current one.
4923 but also displays out ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
4924 .Ql multipart/alternative
4929 (t) Takes a message list and types out each message on the users'
4935 For MIME multipart messages, all parts with a content type of
4939 are shown, the other are hidden except for their headers.
4940 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
4945 Delete all given accounts.
4946 An error message is shown if a given account is not defined.
4949 will discard all existing accounts.
4953 (una) Takes a list of names defined by alias commands
4954 and discards the remembered groups of users.
4957 will discard all existing aliases.
4961 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been answered.
4967 ing, specified by its context and input sequence, both of which may be
4968 specified as a wildcard (asterisk,
4972 will remove all bindings of all contexts.
4976 Only applicable to threaded mode.
4977 Takes a message list and makes the message and all replies to it visible
4978 in header summaries again.
4979 When a message becomes the current message,
4980 it is automatically made visible.
4981 Also when a message with collapsed replies is displayed,
4982 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
4988 mapping for the given colour type (see
4990 for a list of types) and mapping; if the optional precondition argument
4991 is used then only the exact tuple of mapping and precondition is removed.
4994 will remove all mappings (no precondition allowed).
4996 .Sx "Coloured display"
4997 for the general picture.
5001 Deletes the custom headers given as arguments.
5004 will remove all custom headers.
5008 Undefine all given macros.
5009 An error message is shown if a given macro is not defined.
5012 will discard all existing macros.
5016 (u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
5020 Takes a message list and
5026 Takes a message list and marks each message as not being
5031 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for the
5036 will remove all fields.
5040 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for the
5045 will remove all fields.
5049 Remove all the given command
5053 will remove all ghosts.
5057 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields.
5060 will remove all fields.
5064 Delete all given MIME types, e.g.,
5065 .Ql unmimetype text/plain
5066 will remove all registered specifications for the MIME type
5070 will discard all existing MIME types, just as will
5072 but which also reenables cache initialization via
5073 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
5077 Forget about all the given mailing lists.
5080 will remove all lists.
5085 .It Ic unmlsubscribe
5086 Remove the subscription attribute from all given mailing lists.
5089 will clear the attribute from all lists which have it set.
5100 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
5104 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields.
5107 will remove all fields.
5111 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for
5115 will remove all fields.
5119 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for
5123 will remove all fields.
5127 (uns) Takes a list of internal variable names and discards their
5128 remembered values; the reverse of
5135 Deletes the shortcut names given as arguments.
5138 will remove all shortcuts.
5142 Disable sorted or threaded mode
5148 return to normal message order and,
5152 displays a header summary.
5162 Perform URL percent codec operations, rather according to RFC 3986,
5163 on all given strings.
5164 This is character set agnostic and thus locale dependent, and it may
5165 decode bytes which are invalid in the current locale, unless the input
5166 solely consists of characters in the portable character set, see
5167 .Sx "Character sets" .
5168 The first argument specifies the operation:
5172 perform plain URL percent en- and decoding, respectively.
5176 perform a slightly modified operation which should be better for
5177 pathnames: it doesn't allow a tilde
5179 and will neither accept hyphen
5183 as an initial character.
5187 Edit the values of or create the given variable(s) in the
5189 Boolean variables cannot be edited.
5193 This command produces the same output as the listing mode of
5197 ity adjustments, but only for the given variables.
5201 \*(OP Takes a message list and verifies each message.
5202 If a message is not a S/MIME signed message,
5203 verification will fail for it.
5204 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
5206 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
5207 within the certificate,
5208 and if the message content has been altered.
5220 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
5221 Modified contents are discarded unless the
5227 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
5228 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
5230 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
5231 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
5232 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
5233 the specified file as for conventional messages, handling of the remains
5234 depends on the execution mode.
5235 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
5237 In interactive mode the user is consecutively asked for the filenames of
5238 the processed parts.
5239 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty
5240 value, the same result as writing it to
5242 Shell piping the part content by specifying a leading vertical bar
5244 character for the filename is supported.
5245 Other user input is expanded as usually for folders, e.g., tilde
5246 expansion is performed, and contents of the destination file are
5247 overwritten if the file previously existed.
5249 \*(ID In non-interactive mode any part which does not specify a filename
5250 is ignored, and suspicious parts of filenames of the remaining parts are
5251 URL percent encoded (as via
5253 to prevent injection of malicious character sequences, resulting in
5254 a filename that will be written into the current directory.
5255 Existing files won't be overwritten, instead the part number or
5256 a dot are appended after a number sign
5258 to the name until file creation succeeds (or fails due to other
5268 \*(UA presents message headers in
5270 fuls as described under the
5273 Without arguments this command scrolls to the next window of messages,
5274 likewise if the argument is
5278 scrolls to the last,
5280 scrolls to the first, and
5285 A number argument prefixed by
5289 indicates that the window is calculated in relation to the current
5290 position, and a number without a prefix specifies an absolute position.
5296 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
5305 .\" .Sh TILDE ESCAPES {{{
5308 Here is a summary of the tilde escapes,
5309 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
5310 Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines.
5313 is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual escape character can be
5314 changed by adjusting the option
5317 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic __ filename"
5320 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single
5322 (If the escape character has been changed,
5323 that character must be doubled
5324 in order to send it at the beginning of a line.)
5327 .It Ic ~! Ar command
5328 Execute the indicated shell
5330 then return to the message.
5334 Same effect as typing the end-of-file character.
5337 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \0or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
5338 Execute the given \*(UA command.
5339 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
5343 Write a summary of command escapes.
5346 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
5351 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
5353 is executed using the shell.
5354 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
5357 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
5358 With no arguments, edit the attachment list interactively.
5359 If an attachment's file name is left empty,
5360 that attachment is deleted from the list.
5361 When the end of the attachment list is reached,
5362 \*(UA will ask for further attachments until an empty name is given.
5363 If a given file name solely consists of the number sign
5365 followed by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, then
5366 the given message is attached as a MIME
5368 and the rest of this section does not apply.
5370 If character set conversion has been compiled into \*(UA, then this mode
5371 gives the user the option to specify input and output character sets,
5372 unless the file extension indicates binary content, in which case \*(UA
5373 asks whether this step shall be skipped for the attachment in question.
5374 If not skipped, then the charset that succeeds to represent the
5375 attachment data will be used in the
5377 MIME parameter of the mail message:
5379 .Bl -bullet -compact
5381 If input and output character sets are specified, then the conversion is
5382 performed on the fly.
5383 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
5385 If only an output character set is specified, then the input is assumed
5388 charset and will be converted to the given output charset on the fly.
5389 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
5391 If no character sets are specified at all then the algorithm that is
5392 documented in the section
5393 .Sx "Character sets"
5394 is applied, but directly and on the fly.
5395 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
5397 Finally, if an input-, but no output character set is specified, then no
5398 conversion is ever performed, but the
5400 MIME parameter value will still be set to the user input.
5402 The character set selection loop can be left by typing
5404 i.e., causing an interrupt.
5405 .\" \*(OU next sentence
5406 Note that before \*(UA version 15.0 this terminates the entire
5407 current attachment selection, not only the character set selection.
5410 Without character set conversion support, \*(UA will ask for the input
5411 character set only, and it'll set the
5413 MIME parameter value to the given input, if any;
5414 if no user input is seen then the
5416 character set will be used for the parameter value instead.
5417 Note that the file extension check isn't performed in this mode, since
5418 no conversion will take place anyway.
5420 Note that in non-interactive mode, for reproduceabilities sake, there
5421 will always be two questions for each attachment, regardless of whether
5422 character set conversion is available and what the file extension is.
5423 The first asks for the filename, and the second asks for the input
5424 character set to be passed through to the corresponding MIME parameter;
5425 no conversion will be tried if there is input to the latter question,
5426 otherwise the usual conversion algorithm, as above, is applied.
5427 For message attachments, the answer to the second question is completely
5432 arguments are specified for the
5434 command they are treated as a file list of
5436 -style quoted arguments, optionally also separated by commas, which are
5437 expanded and then appended to the existing list of message attachments.
5438 Message attachments can only be added via the first method.
5439 In this mode the (text) attachments are assumed to be in
5441 encoding, and will be evaluated as documented in the section
5442 .Sx "Character sets" .
5446 Inserts the string contained in the
5449 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \0Sign ) .
5450 The escape sequences tabulator
5458 Inserts the string contained in the
5461 .Ql Ic ~i Ns \0sign ) .
5462 The escape sequences tabulator
5469 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
5470 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
5473 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
5474 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
5478 Read the file specified by the
5480 variable into the message.
5484 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
5485 After the editing session is finished,
5486 the user may continue appending text to the message.
5489 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
5490 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
5491 message headers and MIME parts.
5492 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
5495 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
5496 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
5497 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
5501 lists are used to modify the message headers.
5502 For MIME multipart messages,
5503 only the first displayable part is included.
5507 Edit the message header fields
5512 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
5513 The default values for these fields originate from the
5521 Edit the message header fields
5527 by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
5530 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
5531 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message,
5532 adding a newline character at the end.
5533 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
5534 The escape sequences tabulator
5541 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
5542 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
5545 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
5548 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
5549 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
5552 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
5556 lists are used to modify the message headers.
5557 For MIME multipart messages,
5558 only the first displayable part is included.
5562 Display the message collected so far,
5563 prefaced by the message header fields
5564 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
5568 Abort the message being sent,
5569 copying it to the file specified by the
5576 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
5577 Read the named file into the message, indented by
5581 .It Ic ~r Ar filename
5582 Read the named file into the message.
5586 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
5589 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
5590 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
5593 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
5594 Read in the given / current message(s) excluding all headers, indented by
5598 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
5599 Read in the given / current message(s), excluding all headers.
5603 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
5605 option) on the message collected so far.
5606 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
5607 After the editor is quit,
5608 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
5611 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
5612 Write the message onto the named file.
5614 the message is appended to it.
5620 except that the message is not saved at all.
5623 .It Ic ~| Ar command
5624 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
5625 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
5626 retain the original text of the message.
5629 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
5634 .\" .Sh INTERNAL VARIABLES {{{
5635 .Sh "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
5637 Internal \*(UA variables are controlled via the
5641 commands; prefixing a variable name with the string
5645 has the same effect as using
5651 Creation or editing of variables can be performed in the
5656 will give more insight on the given variable(s), and
5658 when called without arguments, will show a listing of all variables.
5659 Both commands support a more
5662 Some well-known variables will also become inherited from the
5665 implicitly, others can be explicitly imported with the command
5667 and henceforth share the said properties.
5670 Two different kind of internal variables exist.
5671 There are boolean variables, which can only be in one of the two states
5675 and value variables with a(n optional) string value.
5676 For the latter proper quoting is necessary upon assignment time, the
5677 introduction of the section
5679 documents the supported quoting rules.
5681 .Bd -literal -offset indent
5682 wysh set one=val\e 1 two="val 2" \e
5683 three='val "3"' four=$'val \e'4\e''
5684 varshow one two three four
5685 unset one two three four
5689 Dependent upon the actual option the string values will be interpreted
5690 as numbers, colour names, normal text etc., but there also exists
5691 a special kind of string value, the
5692 .Dq boolean string ,
5693 which must either be a decimal integer (in which case
5697 and any other value is true) or any of the (case-insensitive) strings
5703 for a false boolean and
5709 for a true boolean; a special kind of boolean string is the
5711 which is a boolean string that can optionally be prefixed with the
5712 (case-insensitive) term
5716 which causes prompting of the user in interactive mode, with the given
5717 boolean as the default value.
5719 .\" .Ss "Initial settings" {{{
5720 .\" (Keep in SYNC: ./nail.h:okeys, ./nail.rc, ./nail.1:"Initial settings")
5721 .Ss "Initial Settings"
5723 The standard POSIX 2008/Cor 2-2016 mandates the following initial
5729 .Pf no Va autoprint ,
5743 .Pf no Va ignoreeof ,
5745 .Pf no Va keepsave ,
5747 .Pf no Va outfolder ,
5755 .Pf no Va sendwait ,
5764 Notes: \*(UA doesn't support the
5766 variable \(en use command line options or
5768 to pass options through to a
5770 And the default global
5772 file (which is loaded unless the
5774 command line flag has been used or the
5775 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
5776 environment variable is set) bends those initial settings a bit, e.g.,
5777 it sets the variables
5782 to name a few, calls
5784 etc., and should thus be taken into account.
5787 .\" .Ss "Variables" {{{
5790 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va _utoprin_"
5792 .It Va -account-name
5793 \*(RO Is set to the active
5798 \*(RO The status of the last command.
5801 .It Va -folder-resolved
5802 \*(RO Set to the fully resolved path of
5804 once that evaluation has occurred; rather internal.
5807 .It Va -mailbox-display
5808 \*(RO The name of the current mailbox
5810 possibly abbreviated for display purposes.
5813 .It Va -mailbox-resolved
5814 \*(RO The fully resolved path of the current mailbox.
5817 .It Va add-file-recipients
5818 \*(BO When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
5819 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
5820 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
5821 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
5825 \*(BO Causes only the local part to be evaluated
5826 when comparing addresses.
5830 \*(BO Causes messages saved in
5832 to be appended to the end rather than prepended.
5833 This should always be set.
5837 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject of each message sent.
5838 If the user responds with simply a newline,
5839 no subject field will be sent.
5843 \*(BO Causes the prompts for
5847 lists to appear after the message has been edited.
5851 \*(BO If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message,
5852 shall the list be found empty at that time.
5853 An empty line finalizes the list.
5857 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for carbon copy recipients
5858 (at the end of each message if
5862 are set) shall the list be found empty (at that time).
5863 An empty line finalizes the list.
5867 \*(BO Causes the user to be prompted for blind carbon copy
5868 recipients (at the end of each message if
5872 are set) shall the list be found empty (at that time).
5873 An empty line finalizes the list.
5877 \*(BO\*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be
5878 signed at the end of each message.
5881 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
5885 \*(BO Alternative name for
5892 .It Va attachment-ask-content-description , \
5893 attachment-ask-content-disposition , \
5894 attachment-ask-content-id , \
5895 attachment-ask-content-type
5896 \*(BO If set then the user will be prompted for some attachment
5897 information when editing the attachment list.
5898 It is advisable to not use these but for the first of the variables;
5899 even for that it has to be noted that the data is used
5905 A sequence of characters to display in the
5909 as shown in the display of
5911 each for one type of messages (see
5912 .Sx "Message states" ) ,
5913 with the default being
5916 .Ql NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$~
5919 variable is set, in the following order:
5921 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql _"
5943 start of a collapsed thread.
5945 an uncollapsed thread (TODO ignored for now).
5949 classified as possible spam.
5955 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
5956 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
5960 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
5961 message will be sent automatically.
5965 \*(BO Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode
5972 \*(BO Causes the delete command to behave like
5974 thus, after deleting a message the next one will be typed automatically.
5978 \*(BO\*(OB Causes threaded mode (see the
5980 command) to be entered automatically when a folder is opened.
5982 .Ql autosort=thread .
5986 Causes sorted mode (see the
5988 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this option as
5989 sorting method when a folder is opened, e.g.,
5990 .Ql set autosort=thread .
5994 \*(BO Enables the substitution of
5996 by the contents of the last command line in shell escapes.
5999 .It Va batch-exit-on-error
6000 \*(BO If the batch mode has been enabled via the
6002 command line option, then this variable will be consulted whenever \*(UA
6003 completes one operation (returns to the command prompt); if it is set
6004 then \*(UA will terminate if the last operation generated an error.
6008 \*(OP Terminals generate multi-byte sequences for certain forms of
6009 input, for example for function and other special keys.
6010 Some terminals however do not write these multi-byte sequences as
6011 a whole, but byte-by-byte, and the latter is what \*(UA actually reads.
6012 This variable specifies the timeout in milliseconds that the MLE (see
6013 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
6014 waits for more bytes to arrive unless it considers a sequence
6020 \*(BO Causes automatic display of a header summary after executing a
6022 command, and thus complements the standard variable
6024 which controls header summary display on program startup.
6025 It is only meaningful if
6031 \*(BO Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
6032 has the same affect as setting
6034 and all other variables prefixed with
6036 it also changes the behaviour of
6038 (which doesn't exist in BSD).
6042 \*(BO Changes the letters shown in the first column of a header
6043 summary to traditional BSD style.
6047 \*(BO Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional
6052 \*(BO Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
6058 field to appear immediately after the
6060 field in message headers and with the
6062 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
6066 The value that should appear in the
6070 MIME header fields when no character set conversion of the message data
6072 This defaults to US-ASCII, and the chosen character set should be
6073 US-ASCII compatible.
6077 \*(OP The default 8-bit character set that is used as an implicit last
6078 member of the variable
6080 This defaults to UTF-8.
6081 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
6082 the only supported character set is
6084 Refer to the section
6085 .Sx "Character sets"
6086 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
6089 .It Va charset-unknown-8bit
6090 \*(OP RFC 1428 specifies conditions when internet mail gateways shall
6092 the content of a mail message by using a character set with the name
6094 Because of the unclassified nature of this character set \*(UA will not
6095 be capable to convert this character set to any other character set.
6096 If this variable is set any message part which uses the character set
6098 is assumed to really be in the character set given in the value,
6099 otherwise the (final) value of
6101 is used for this purpose.
6103 This variable will also be taken into account if a MIME type (see
6104 .Sx "The mime.types files" )
6105 of a MIME message part that uses the
6107 character set is forcefully treated as text.
6111 The default value for the
6116 .It Va colour-disable
6117 \*(BO\*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
6118 Also see the section
6119 .Sx "Coloured display" .
6123 \*(BO\*(OP Whether colour shall be used for output that is paged through
6125 Note that pagers may need special flags, e.g.,
6133 in order to support colours.
6134 Often doing manual adjustments is unnecessary since \*(UA may perform
6135 adjustments dependend on the value of the environment variable
6137 (see there for more).
6141 In a(n interactive) terminal session, then if this valued option is set
6142 it'll be used as a threshold to determine how many lines the given
6143 output has to span before it will be displayed via the configured
6147 can be forced by setting this to the value
6149 setting it without a value will deduce the current height of the
6150 terminal screen to compute the treshold (see
6158 \*(OB A variable counterpart of the
6160 command (see there for documentation), interpreted as a comma-separated
6161 list of custom headers to be injected, to include commas in the header
6162 bodies escape them with reverse solidus, e.g.:
6164 .Dl set customhdr='Hdr1: Body1-1\e, Body1-2, Hdr2: Body2'
6170 the message date, if any is to be displayed according to the format of
6172 is by default taken from the
6174 line of the message.
6175 If this variable is set the date as given in the
6177 header field is used instead, converted to local time.
6178 To control the display format of the date assign a valid
6183 format should not be used, because \*(UA doesn't take embedded newlines
6184 into account when calculating how many lines fit onto the screen.)
6186 .Va datefield-markout-older .
6189 .It Va datefield-markout-older
6190 This option, when set in addition to
6194 messages (concept is rather comparable to the
6196 option of the POSIX utility
6198 The content interpretation is identical to
6203 \*(BO Enables debug messages and obsoletion warnings, disables the
6204 actual delivery of messages and also implies
6210 .It Va disposition-notification-send
6212 .Ql Disposition-Notification-To:
6213 header (RFC 3798) with the message.
6217 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-HOST
6219 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
6220 .\" for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
6221 .\" TODO .It Va disposition-notification-send-USER@HOST
6223 .\".Va disposition-notification-send
6224 .\"for a specific account.
6228 \*(BO When dot is set, a period
6230 on a line by itself during message input in (interactive) compose mode
6231 will be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the normal end-of-file
6240 .It Va dotlock-ignore-error
6241 \*(BO\*(OP Synchronization of mailboxes which \*(UA treats as system
6242 mailboxes (see the command
6244 will be protected with so-called dotlock files\(emthe traditional mail
6245 spool file locking method\(emin addition to system file locking.
6246 Because \*(UA ships with a privilege-separated dotlock creation program
6247 that should always be able to create such a dotlock file there is no
6248 good reason to ignore dotlock file creation errors, and thus these are
6249 fatal unless this variable is set.
6253 \*(BO If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically
6254 when a message is composed in interactive mode, as if the
6260 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
6264 \*(BO When a message is edited while being composed,
6265 its header is included in the editable text.
6275 fields are accepted within the header, other fields are ignored.
6279 \*(BO When entering interactive mode \*(UA normally writes
6280 .Dq \&No mail for user
6281 and exits immediately if a mailbox is empty or doesn't exist.
6282 If this option is set \*(UA starts even with an empty or nonexistent
6283 mailbox (the latter behaviour furtherly depends upon
6290 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding
6291 to use in outgoing text messages and message parts, where applicable.
6292 (7-bit clean text messages are sent as-is, without a transfer encoding.)
6295 .Bl -tag -compact -width "_%%_"
6298 8-bit transport effectively causes the raw data be passed through
6299 unchanged, but may cause problems when transferring mail messages over
6300 channels that are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
6301 Also, several input data constructs are not allowed by the
6302 specifications and may cause a different transfer-encoding to be used.
6303 .It Ql quoted-printable
6305 Quoted-printable encoding is 7-bit clean and has the property that ASCII
6306 characters are passed through unchanged, so that an english message can
6307 be read as-is; it is also acceptible for other single-byte locales that
6308 share many characters with ASCII, like, e.g., ISO-8859-1.
6309 The encoding will cause a large overhead for messages in other character
6310 sets: e.g., it will require up to twelve (12) bytes to encode a single
6311 UTF-8 character of four (4) bytes.
6313 .Pf (Or\0 Ql b64 . )
6314 The default encoding, it is 7-bit clean and will always be used for
6316 This encoding has a constant input:output ratio of 3:4, regardless of
6317 the character set of the input data it will encode three bytes of input
6318 to four bytes of output.
6319 This transfer-encoding is not human readable without performing
6325 If defined, the first character of this option
6326 gives the character to use in place of
6329 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
6333 If not set then file and command pipeline targets are not allowed,
6334 and any such address will be filtered out, giving a warning message.
6335 If set without a value then all possible recipient address
6336 specifications will be accepted \(en see the section
6337 .Sx "On sending mail, and non-interactive mode"
6339 To accept them, but only in interactive mode, or when tilde commands
6340 were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
6344 set this to the (case-insensitive) value
6346 (note right now this is actually like setting
6347 .Ql restrict,-all,+name,+addr ) .
6349 In fact the value is interpreted as a comma-separated list of values.
6352 then the existence of disallowed specifications is treated as a hard
6353 send error instead of only filtering them out.
6354 The remaining values specify whether a specific type of recipient
6355 address specification is allowed (optionally indicated by a plus sign
6357 prefix) or disallowed (prefixed with a hyphen
6361 addresses all possible address specifications,
6365 command pipeline targets,
6367 plain user names and (MTA) aliases (\*(OB
6369 may be used as an alternative syntax to
6374 These kind of values are interpreted in the given order, so that
6375 .Ql restrict,\:fail,\:+file,\:-all,\:+addr
6376 will cause hard errors for any non-network address recipient address
6377 unless \*(UA is in interactive mode or has been started with the
6381 command line option; in the latter case(s) any address may be used, then.
6385 Unless this variable is set additional
6387 (Mail-Transfer-Agent)
6388 arguments from the command line, as can be given after a
6390 separator, are ignored due to safety reasons.
6391 However, if set to the special (case-insensitive) value
6393 then the presence of additional MTA arguments is treated as a hard
6394 error that causes \*(UA to exit with failure status.
6395 A lesser strict variant is the otherwise identical
6397 which does accept such arguments in interactive mode, or if tilde
6398 commands were enabled explicitly by using one of the command line options
6405 \*(RO String giving a list of features \*(UA, preceded with a plus-sign
6407 if the feature is available, and a minus-sign
6410 The output of the command
6412 will include this information.
6416 \*(BO This option reverses the meanings of a set of reply commands,
6417 turning the lowercase variants, which by default address all recipients
6418 included in the header of a message
6419 .Pf ( Ic reply , respond , followup )
6420 into the uppercase variants, which by default address the sender only
6421 .Pf ( Ic Reply , Respond , Followup )
6424 .Ic replysender , respondsender , followupsender
6426 .Ic replyall , respondall , followupall
6427 are not affected by the current setting of
6432 .It Va file-hook-load-EXTENSION , file-hook-save-EXTENSION
6433 It is possible to install file hooks which will be used by the
6435 command in order to be able to transparently handle (through an
6436 intermediate temporary file) files with specific
6438 s: the variable values can include shell snippets and are expected to
6439 write data to standard output / read data from standard input,
6441 \*(ID The variables may not be changed while there is a mailbox
6443 .Bd -literal -offset indent
6444 set file-hook-load-xy='echo >&2 XY-LOAD; gzip -cd' \e
6445 file-hook-save-xy='echo >&2 XY-SAVE; gzip -c' \e
6446 record=+null-sent.xy
6451 The default path under which mailboxes are to be saved:
6452 file names that begin with the plus-sign
6454 will be expanded by prefixing them with the value of this variable.
6455 The same special syntax conventions as documented for the
6457 command may be used; if the non-empty value doesn't start with a solidus
6461 will be prefixed automatically.
6462 If unset or the empty string any
6464 prefixing file names will remain unexpanded.
6468 This variable can be set to the name of a
6470 macro which will be called whenever a
6473 The macro will also be invoked when new mail arrives,
6474 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
6475 only include newly arrived messages then.
6477 are activated by default in a folder hook, causing the covered settings
6478 to be reverted once the folder is left again.
6481 Macro behaviour, including option localization, will change in v15.
6482 Please be aware of that and possibly embed a version check in a resource
6486 .It Va folder-hook-FOLDER
6491 Unlike other folder specifications, the fully expanded name of a folder,
6492 without metacharacters, is used to avoid ambiguities.
6493 However, if the mailbox resides under
6497 specification is tried in addition, e.g., if
6501 (and thus relative to the user's home directory) then
6502 .Pa /home/usr1/mail/sent
6504 .Ql folder-hook-/home/usr1/mail/sent
6505 first, but then followed by
6506 .Ql folder-hook-+sent .
6510 \*(BO Controls whether a
6511 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
6512 header is generated when sending messages to known mailing lists.
6514 .Va followup-to-honour
6516 .Ic mlist , mlsubscribe , reply
6521 .It Va followup-to-honour
6523 .Ql Mail-Followup-To:
6524 header is honoured when group-replying to a message via
6528 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
6538 .It Va forward-as-attachment
6539 \*(BO Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
6542 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
6543 With this option messages are sent as unmodified MIME
6545 attachments with all of their parts included.
6549 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the
6551 field of the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
6552 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
6553 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
6556 ing to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in the
6560 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
6561 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
6563 (\*(IN and with a defined SMTP protocol in
6566 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities),
6570 contains more than one address,
6573 variable is required (according to the standard RFC 5322).
6577 \*(BO When replying to or forwarding a message \*(UA normally removes
6578 the comment and name parts of email addresses.
6579 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed,
6580 and comments, names etc. are retained.
6584 The string to put before the text of a message with the
6588 .Va forward-as-attachment
6591 .Dq -------- Original Message --------
6592 if unset; No heading is put if it is set to the empty string.
6596 \*(BO Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after
6597 commands that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in
6598 the current folder; enabled by default.
6599 The command line option
6605 complements this and controls header summary display on folder changes.
6610 A format string to use for the summary of
6612 similar to the ones used for
6615 Format specifiers in the given string start with a percent character
6617 and may be followed by an optional decimal number indicating the field
6618 width \(em if that is negative, the field is to be left-aligned.
6619 Valid format specifiers are:
6622 .Bl -tag -compact -width "_%%_"
6624 A plain percent character.
6627 a space character but for the current message
6629 for which it expands to
6633 a space character but for the current message
6635 for which it expands to
6638 \*(OP The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the
6641 Shows only a replacement character if there is no spam support.
6643 Message attribute character (status flag); the actual content can be
6647 The date when the message was received, or the date found in the
6651 variable is set (optionally to a date display format string).
6653 The indenting level in threaded mode.
6655 The address of the message sender.
6657 The message thread tree structure.
6658 (Note that this format doesn't support a field width.)
6660 The number of lines of the message, if available.
6664 The number of octets (bytes) in the message, if available.
6666 Message subject (if any).
6668 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
6670 Message recipient flags: is the addressee of the message a known or
6671 subscribed mailing list \(en see
6676 The position in threaded/sorted order.
6680 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s ,
6682 .Ql %>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S
6693 .It Va headline-bidi
6694 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
6695 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
6696 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
6697 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
6698 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
6699 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
6701 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
6702 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
6703 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
6705 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
6706 fields that may occur when displaying
6708 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
6710 with special Unicode control sequences;
6711 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
6713 no value (or any value other than
6718 will make \*(UA assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal
6719 with Unicode version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of
6720 U+2068 (FIRST STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE)
6722 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
6724 Weaker support is chosen by using the value
6726 (Unicode 6.3, but reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control
6727 sequences onto the line).
6732 select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT MARK); the latter
6733 again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
6737 \*(OP If a line editor is available then this can be set to
6738 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent history file.
6741 .It Va history-gabby
6742 \*(BO\*(OP Add more entries to the history as is normally done.
6745 .It Va history-gabby-persist
6746 \*(BO\*(OP \*(UA's own MLE will not save the additional
6748 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is set.
6749 On the other hand it will not loose the knowledge of whether
6750 a persistent entry was gabby or not.
6756 \*(OP If a line editor is available this value restricts the
6757 amount of history entries that are saved into a set and valid
6759 A value of less than 0 disables this feature;
6760 note that loading and incorporation of
6762 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
6763 If unset or 0, a default value will be used.
6764 Dependent on the available line editor this will also define the
6765 number of history entries in memory;
6766 it is also editor-specific whether runtime updates of this value will
6771 \*(BO This option is used to hold messages in the system
6773 and it is set by default.
6777 Use this string as hostname when expanding local addresses instead of
6778 the value obtained from
6787 Note that when SMTP transport is not used (via
6789 then it is normally the responsibility of the MTA to create these
6790 fields, \*(IN in conjunction with SMTP however
6792 also influences the results:
6793 you should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
6802 \*(BO\*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain
6803 names according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names
6805 Since the IDNA code assumes that domain names are specified with the
6807 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent all
6808 possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
6812 \*(BO Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering
6813 messages; instead echo them as
6815 characters and discard the current line.
6819 \*(BO Ignore end-of-file conditions
6820 .Pf ( Ql control-D )
6821 in compose mode on message input and in interactive command input.
6822 If set an interactive command input session can only be left by
6823 explicitly using one of the commands
6827 and message input in compose mode can only be terminated by entering
6830 on a line by itself or by using the
6832 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" ;
6834 overrides a setting of
6839 If this is set to a non-empty string it will be used for expansions of
6844 The value supports a subset of filename expansions itself.
6855 option for indenting messages,
6856 in place of the normal tabulator character
6858 which is the default.
6859 Be sure to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
6863 \*(BO If set, an empty mailbox file is not removed.
6864 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
6865 when using a common folder directory, and prevents malicious users
6866 from creating fake mailboxes in a world-writable spool directory.
6867 Note this only applies to local regular (MBOX) files, other mailbox
6868 types will never be removed.
6871 .It Va keep-content-length
6872 \*(BO When (editing messages and) writing
6874 mailbox files \*(UA can be told to keep the
6878 header fields that some MUAs generate by setting this variable.
6879 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
6880 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
6881 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
6882 work with with same mailbox files.
6883 Note that, if this is not set but
6884 .Va writebackedited ,
6885 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
6886 fields already marks the message as being modified.
6890 \*(BO When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the
6891 originating folder when \*(UA is quit.
6892 Setting this option causes all saved message to be retained.
6895 .It Va line-editor-disable
6896 \*(BO Turn off any enhanced line editing capabilities (see
6897 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor"
6901 .It Va line-editor-no-defaults
6902 \*(BO\*(OP Do not establish any default key binding.
6906 \*(BO When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
6907 it is marked as having been answered.
6908 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
6909 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
6910 and makes them specially addressable.
6914 \*(BO Internal development variable.
6917 .It Va message-id-disable
6918 \*(BO By setting this option the generation of
6920 can be completely suppressed, effectively leaving this task up to the
6922 (Mail-Transfer-Agent) or the SMTP server.
6923 (According to RFC 5321 your SMTP server is not required to add this
6924 field by itself, so you should ensure that it accepts messages without a
6928 .It Va message-inject-head
6929 A string to put at the beginning of each new message.
6930 The escape sequences tabulator
6937 .It Va message-inject-tail
6938 A string to put at the end of each new message.
6939 The escape sequences tabulator
6947 \*(BO Usually, when an
6949 expansion contains the sender, the sender is removed from the expansion.
6950 Setting this option suppresses these removals.
6955 option to be passed through to the
6957 (Mail-Transfer-Agent); though most of the modern MTAs no longer document
6958 this flag, no MTA is known which doesn't support it (for historical
6962 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
6963 \*(BO When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected
6964 in order to classify the
6967 .Ql Content-Transfer-Encoding:
6970 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
6971 a computation rather similar to what the
6973 command produces when used with the
6977 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
6978 UTF-16 (seen for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
6979 octet-streams, forcefully changing any
6984 .Ql application/octet-stream :
6985 If that actually happens a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set to
6987 effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to automatically
6988 interpret the contents of the part.
6990 If this option is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as text
6991 data at first glance (by a
6995 file extension), then the original
6997 will not be overwritten.
7000 .It Va mime-alternative-favour-rich
7001 \*(BO If this variable is set then rich MIME alternative parts (e.g.,
7002 HTML) will be preferred in favour of included plain text versions when
7003 displaying messages, provided that a handler exists which produces
7004 output that can be (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
7005 (E.g., at the time of this writing some newsletters ship their full
7006 content only in the rich HTML part, whereas the plain text part only
7007 contains topic subjects.)
7010 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
7013 field is used to decide how to handle MIME parts.
7014 Some MUAs however don't use
7016 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content, but simply specify
7017 .Ql application/octet-stream ,
7018 even for plain text attachments like
7020 If this variable is set then \*(UA will try to classify such MIME
7021 message parts on its own, if possible, for example via a possibly
7022 existing attachment filename.
7023 A non-empty value may also be given, in which case a number is expected,
7024 actually a carrier of bits.
7025 Creating the bit-carrying number is a simple addition:
7026 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7027 ? !echo Value should be set to $((2 + 4 + 8))
7028 Value should be set to 14
7031 .Bl -bullet -compact
7033 If bit two is set (2) then the detected
7035 content-type will be carried along with the message and be used for
7037 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
7038 is responsible for the MIME part, shall that question arise;
7039 when displaying such a MIME part the part-info will indicate the
7040 overridden content-type by showing a plus-sign
7043 If bit three is set (4) then the counter-evidence is always produced
7044 and a positive result will be used as the MIME type, even forcefully
7045 overriding the parts given MIME type.
7047 If bit four is set (8) then as a last resort the actual content of
7048 .Ql application/octet-stream
7049 parts will be inspected, so that data which looks like plain text can be
7054 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
7055 This option can be used to control which of the
7057 databases are loaded by \*(UA, as furtherly described in the section
7058 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
7061 is part of the option value, then the user's personal
7063 file will be loaded (if it exists); likewise the letter
7065 controls loading of the system wide
7066 .Pa /etc/mime.types ;
7067 directives found in the user file take precedence, letter matching is
7069 If this option is not set \*(UA will try to load both files.
7070 Incorporation of the \*(UA-builtin MIME types cannot be suppressed,
7071 but they will be matched last (the order can be listed via
7074 More sources can be specified by using a different syntax: if the
7075 value string contains an equals sign
7077 then it is instead parsed as a comma-separated list of the described
7080 pairs; the given filenames will be expanded and loaded, and their
7081 content may use the extended syntax that is described in the section
7082 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
7083 Directives found in such files always take precedence (are prepended to
7084 the MIME type cache).
7089 To choose an alternate Mail-Transfer-Agent, set this option to either
7090 the full pathname of an executable (optionally prefixed with a
7092 protocol indicator), or \*(OPally a SMTP protocol URL, e.g., \*(IN
7094 .Dl smtps?://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7097 .Ql [smtp://]server[:port] . )
7098 The default has been chosen at compie time.
7099 All supported data transfers are executed in child processes, which
7100 run asynchronously, and without supervision, unless either the
7105 If such a child receives a TERM signal, it will abort and
7112 For a file-based MTA it may be necessary to set
7114 in in order to choose the right target of a modern
7117 It will be passed command line arguments from several possible sources:
7120 if set, from the command line if given and the variable
7123 Argument processing of the MTA will be terminated with a
7128 The otherwise occurring implicit usage of the following MTA command
7129 line arguments can be disabled by setting the boolean option
7130 .Va mta-no-default-arguments
7131 (which will also disable passing
7135 (for not treating a line with only a dot
7137 character as the end of input),
7145 option is set); in conjunction with the
7147 command line option \*(UA will also pass
7153 \*(OP \*(UA can send mail over SMTP network connections to a single
7154 defined SMTP smarthost, the access URL of which has to be assigned to
7156 To use this mode it is helpful to read
7157 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" .
7158 It may be necessary to set the
7160 variable in order to use a specific combination of
7165 with some mail providers.
7168 .Bl -bullet -compact
7170 The plain SMTP protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
7171 server port 25 and requires setting the
7172 .Va smtp-use-starttls
7173 variable to enter a SSL/TLS encrypted session state.
7174 Assign a value like \*(IN
7175 .Ql smtp://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7177 .Ql smtp://server[:port] )
7178 to choose this protocol.
7180 The so-called SMTPS which is supposed to live on server port 465
7181 and is automatically SSL/TLS secured.
7182 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
7183 be supported by your hosts network service database
7184 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
7187 SMTPS is nonetheless a commonly offered protocol and thus can be
7188 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
7189 .Ql smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7191 .Ql smtps://server[:port] ) ;
7192 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
7197 Finally there is the SUBMISSION protocol (RFC 6409), which usually
7198 lives on server port 587 and is practically identically to the SMTP
7199 protocol from \*(UA's point of view beside that; it requires setting the
7200 .Va smtp-use-starttls
7201 variable to enter a SSL/TLS secured session state.
7202 Assign a value like \*(IN
7203 .Ql submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port]
7205 .Ql submission://server[:port] ) .
7210 .It Va mta-arguments
7211 Arguments to pass through to a file-based
7213 can be given via this variable, the content of which will be split up in
7214 a vector of arguments, to be joined onto other possible MTA options:
7216 .Dl set mta-arguments='-t -X \&"/tmp/my log\&"'
7219 .It Va mta-no-default-arguments
7220 \*(BO Unless this option is set \*(UA will pass some well known
7221 standard command line options to a file-based
7223 (Mail-Transfer-Agent), see there for more.
7227 Many systems use a so-called
7229 environment to ensure compatibility with
7231 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
7233 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
7234 actually executed when calling the file-based
7236 will treat its contents as that name.
7241 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
7242 The name of an optional startup file to be read last.
7243 This variable has an effect only if it is set in any of the
7244 .Sx "Resource files" ,
7245 it is not imported from the environment.
7246 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other POSIX
7251 .It Va netrc-lookup-USER@HOST , netrc-lookup-HOST , netrc-lookup
7252 \*(BO\*(IN\*(OP Used to control usage of the users
7254 file for lookup of account credentials, as documented in the section
7255 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup"
7259 .Sx "The .netrc file"
7260 documents the file format.
7272 then \*(UA will read the output of a shell pipe instead of the users
7274 file if this variable is set (to the desired shell command).
7275 This can be used to, e.g., store
7279 .Dl set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
7283 If this variable has the value
7285 newly created local folders will be in Maildir format.
7289 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is shown.
7290 A Maildir folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has arrived.
7291 If this variable is set to the special value
7293 then a Maildir folder will not be rescanned completely, but only
7294 timestamp changes are detected.
7298 .It Va on-compose-enter , on-compose-leave
7299 \*(ID Macro hooks which will be executed before compose mode is
7300 entered, and after composing has been finished, respectively.
7301 Please note that this interface is very likely to change in v15, and
7302 should therefore possibly even be seen as experimental.
7304 are by default enabled for these hooks, causing any setting to be
7305 forgotten after the message has been sent.
7306 The following variables will be set temporarily during execution of the
7309 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Va compose_subject"
7312 .It Va compose-sender
7314 .It Va compose-to , compose-cc , compose-bcc
7315 The list of receiver addresses as a space-separated list.
7316 .It Va compose-subject
7322 \*(BO Causes the filename given in the
7325 and the sender-based filenames for the
7329 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
7331 variable rather than to the current directory,
7332 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
7336 \*(BO If set, each message feed through the command given for
7338 is followed by a formfeed character
7342 .It Va password-USER@HOST , password-HOST , password
7343 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a password, which is used in case none has
7344 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL;
7345 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
7346 the authentication method requires a password.
7347 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
7348 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
7350 .It Va password-USER@HOST
7351 \*(OU (see the chain above for \*(IN)
7352 Set the password for
7356 If no such variable is defined for a host,
7357 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
7358 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
7359 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
7363 \*(BO Send messages to the
7365 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
7369 .It Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
7370 When a MIME message part of type
7372 (case-insensitive) is displayed or quoted,
7373 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
7377 forces interpretation of the message part as plain text, e.g.,
7378 .Ql set pipe-application/xml=@
7379 will henceforth display XML
7381 (The same could also be achieved by adding a MIME type marker with the
7384 And \*(OPally MIME type handlers may be defined via
7385 .Sx "The Mailcap files"
7386 \(em corresponding flag strings are shown in parenthesis below.)
7391 can in fact be used to adjust usage and behaviour of a following shell
7392 command specification by appending trigger characters to it, e.g., the
7393 following hypothetical command specification could be used:
7394 .Bd -literal -offset indent
7395 set pipe-X/Y='@*!++=@vim ${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}'
7399 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ql __"
7401 Simply by using the special
7403 prefix the MIME type (shell command) handler will only be invoked to
7404 display or convert the MIME part if the message is addressed directly
7405 and alone by itself.
7406 Use this trigger to disable this and always invoke the handler
7407 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-always ) .
7410 If set the handler will not be invoked when a message is to be quoted,
7411 but only when it will be displayed
7412 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-noquote ) .
7415 The command will be run asynchronously, i.e., without blocking \*(UA,
7416 which may be a handy way to display a, e.g., PDF file while also
7417 continuing to read the mail message
7418 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-async ) .
7419 Asynchronous execution implies
7423 The command must be run on an interactive terminal, \*(UA will
7424 temporarily release the terminal to it
7425 .Pf ( Cd needsterminal ) .
7426 This flag is mutual exclusive with
7428 will only be used in interactive mode and implies
7432 Request creation of a zero-sized temporary file, the absolute pathname
7433 of which will be made accessible via the environment variable
7434 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
7435 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ) .
7436 If this trigger is given twice then the file will be unlinked
7437 automatically by \*(UA when the command loop is entered again at latest
7438 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink ) .
7439 (Don't use this for asynchronous handlers.)
7442 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
7443 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
7444 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
7445 .Pf ( Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill ) ,
7446 the creation of which is implied; note however that in order to cause
7447 deletion of the temporary file you still have to use two plus signs
7452 To avoid ambiguities with normal shell command content you can use
7453 another at-sign to forcefully terminate interpretation of remaining
7455 (Any character not in this list will have the same effect.)
7459 Some information about the MIME part to be displayed is embedded into
7460 the environment of the shell command:
7463 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ev _AIL__ILENAME__ENERATED"
7466 The MIME content-type of the part, if known, the empty string otherwise.
7469 .It Ev NAIL_CONTENT_EVIDENCE
7471 .Va mime-counter-evidence
7472 includes the carry-around-bit (2), then this will be set to the detected
7473 MIME content-type; not only then identical to
7474 .Ev \&\&NAIL_CONTENT
7478 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME
7479 The filename, if any is set, the empty string otherwise.
7482 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME_GENERATED
7486 .It Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY
7487 If temporary file creation has been requested through the command prefix
7488 this variable will be set and contain the absolute pathname of the
7493 The temporary directory that \*(UA uses.
7494 Usually identical to
7496 but guaranteed to be set and usable by child processes;
7497 to ensure the latter condition for
7504 .It Va pipe-EXTENSION
7505 This is identical to
7506 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE
7509 (normalized to lowercase using character mappings of the ASCII charset)
7510 names a file extension, e.g.,
7512 Handlers registered using this method take precedence.
7515 .It Va pop3-auth-USER@HOST , pop3-auth-HOST , pop3-auth
7516 \*(OP\*(IN Variable chain that sets the POP3 authentication method.
7517 The only possible value as of now is
7519 which is thus the default.
7522 .Mx Va pop3-bulk-load
7523 .It Va pop3-bulk-load-USER@HOST , pop3-bulk-load-HOST , pop3-bulk-load
7524 \*(BO\*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of
7525 the messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
7526 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
7528 If this option is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
7529 from the given POP3 server(s) instead.
7531 .Mx Va pop3-keepalive
7532 .It Va pop3-keepalive-USER@HOST , pop3-keepalive-HOST , pop3-keepalive
7533 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
7534 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
7535 but practical experience may vary.
7536 Setting this variable to a numeric value greater than
7540 command to be sent each value seconds if no other operation is performed.
7543 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST , pop3-no-apop-HOST , pop3-no-apop
7544 \*(BO\*(OP Unless this variable is set the
7546 authentication method will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that
7550 is that the password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that
7551 only a single packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
7553 .Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
7556 .Mx Va pop3-use-starttls
7557 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST , pop3-use-starttls-HOST , pop3-use-starttls
7558 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
7560 command to make an unencrypted POP3 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
7561 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
7562 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
7564 .Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
7568 .It Va print-alternatives
7569 \*(BO When a MIME message part of type
7570 .Ql multipart/alternative
7571 is displayed and it contains a subpart of type
7573 other parts are normally discarded.
7574 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
7575 just as if the surrounding part was of type
7576 .Ql multipart/mixed .
7580 The string used as a prompt in interactive mode.
7581 Whenever the variable is evaluated the value is shell-expanded using
7582 dollar-single-quote expansion mode (see
7584 and it is an error if the prompt expands to more than a single token.
7585 This (post-assignment, i.e., second) expansion can be used to embed
7586 status information, for example
7590 .Va -mailbox-display .
7591 In order to embed characters which should not be counted when
7592 calculating the visual width of the resulting string, enclose the
7593 characters of interest in a pair of reverse solidus escaped brackets:
7595 Prompting may be prevented by setting this to the null string
7597 .Ql set noprompt ) .
7601 This string is used for secondary prompts, but is otherwise identical to
7608 \*(BO Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
7612 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
7613 prefixed by the value of the variable
7615 Normally, a heading consisting of
7616 .Dq Fromheaderfield wrote:
7617 is put before the quotation.
7622 variable, this heading is omitted.
7625 is assigned, the headers selected by the
7626 .Ic ignore Ns / Ns Ic retain
7627 commands are put above the message body,
7630 acts like an automatic
7636 is assigned, all headers are put above the message body and all MIME
7637 parts are included, making
7639 act like an automatic
7642 .Va quote-as-attachment .
7645 .It Va quote-as-attachment
7646 \*(BO Add the original message in its entirety as a
7648 MIME attachment when replying to a message.
7649 Note this works regardless of the setting of
7654 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
7656 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
7657 quotation characters are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
7659 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
7660 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
7661 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
7663 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
7664 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
7665 The goal can't be smaller than the length of
7667 plus some additional pad.
7668 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
7671 .It Va recipients-in-cc
7672 \*(BO On group replies, specify only the sender of the original mail in
7674 and mention the other recipients in the secondary
7676 By default all recipients of the original mail will be addressed via
7681 If defined, gives the pathname of the folder used to record all outgoing
7683 If not defined, then outgoing mail is not saved.
7684 When saving to this folder fails the message is not sent,
7685 but instead saved to
7689 .It Va record-resent
7690 \*(BO If both this variable and the
7697 commands save messages to the
7699 folder as it is normally only done for newly composed messages.
7702 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
7703 \*(BO If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same
7704 character set of the original message for replies.
7705 If this fails, the mechanism described in
7706 .Sx "Character sets"
7707 is evaluated as usual.
7710 .It Va reply_strings
7711 Can be set to a comma-separated list of (case-insensitive according to
7712 ASCII rules) strings which shall be recognized in addition to the
7715 reply message indicators \(en builtin are
7717 which is mandated by RFC 5322, as well as the german
7722 A list of addresses to put into the
7724 field of the message header.
7725 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
7730 .It Va reply-to-honour
7733 header is honoured when replying to a message via
7737 This is a quadoption; if set without a value it defaults to
7741 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
7742 \*(BO This variable can be used to force displaying a so-called
7744 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
7746 MIME mechanism, for more visual convenience.
7750 \*(BO Enable saving of (partial) messages in
7752 upon interrupt or delivery error.
7756 The number of lines that represents a
7765 line display and scrolling via
7767 If this variable is not set \*(UA falls back to a calculation based upon
7768 the detected terminal window size and the baud rate: the faster the
7769 terminal, the more will be shown.
7770 Overall screen dimensions and pager usage is influenced by the
7771 environment variables
7779 .It Va searchheaders
7780 \*(BO Expand message-list specifiers in the form
7782 to all messages containing the substring
7786 The string search is case insensitive.
7790 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
7791 outgoing internet mail.
7792 The value of the variable
7794 is automatically appended to this list of character-sets.
7795 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
7796 the only supported charset is
7799 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
7800 and refer to the section
7801 .Sx "Character sets"
7802 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
7805 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
7806 \*(BO\*(OP If this variable is set, but
7808 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
7810 had been set to the value of the variable
7812 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
7813 character set of the current locale (given that
7815 hasn't been set manually), i.e., without converting it to the
7817 fallback character set.
7818 Thus, mail message text will be in ISO-8859-1 encoding when send from
7819 within a ISO-8859-1 locale, and in UTF-8 encoding when send from within
7821 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
7822 the only supported character set is
7827 An address that is put into the
7829 field of outgoing messages, quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent
7830 responsible for the actual transmission of the message.
7831 This field should normally not be used unless the
7833 field contains more than one address, on which case it is required.
7836 address is handled as if it were in the
7842 \*(OB Predecessor of
7846 .It Va sendmail-arguments
7847 \*(OB Predecessor of
7851 .It Va sendmail-no-default-arguments
7852 \*(OB\*(BO Predecessor of
7853 .Va mta-no-default-arguments .
7856 .It Va sendmail-progname
7857 \*(OB Predecessor of
7862 \*(BO When sending a message wait until the
7864 (including the builtin SMTP one) exits before accepting further commands.
7866 with this variable set errors reported by the MTA will be recognizable!
7867 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
7868 the exit status of \*(UA will also be non-zero.
7872 \*(BO Setting this option causes \*(UA to start at the last message
7873 instead of the first one when opening a mail folder.
7877 \*(BO Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain
7878 address in the header field summary and in message specifications.
7882 \*(BO Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header
7883 summary if the message was sent by the user.
7887 A string for use with the
7893 A string for use with the
7899 Must correspond to the name of a readable file if set.
7900 The file's content is then appended to each singlepart message
7901 and to the first part of each multipart message.
7902 Be warned that there is no possibility to edit the signature for an
7906 .It Va skipemptybody
7907 \*(BO If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or
7908 only message part, do not send it but discard it silently (see also the
7914 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
7915 Enhanced Mail) format for verification of S/MIME signed messages.
7918 .It Va smime-ca-file
7919 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
7920 verification of S/MIME signed messages.
7923 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST , smime-cipher
7924 \*(OP Specifies the cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
7925 messages (for the specified account).
7926 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
7929 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
7937 (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if
7939 isn't available) and
7943 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
7944 library that \*(UA uses.
7945 \*(OP Support for more cipher algorithms may be available through
7946 dynamic loading via, e.g.,
7947 .Xr EVP_get_cipherbyname 3
7948 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
7951 .It Va smime-crl-dir
7952 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
7953 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
7956 .It Va smime-crl-file
7957 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
7958 verifying S/MIME messages.
7961 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
7962 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
7963 encrypted before sending.
7964 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
7965 contains a certificate in PEM format.
7967 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
7968 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
7969 individually encrypted message;
7970 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
7972 .Va smime-force-encryption
7974 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
7979 .It Va smime-force-encryption
7980 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
7983 .It Va smime-no-default-ca
7984 \*(BO\*(OP Don't load default CA locations when verifying S/MIME signed
7989 \*(BO\*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key
7990 and include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
7991 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
7992 a valid certificate,
7993 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
7994 header and that the message content has not been altered.
7995 It does not change the message text,
7996 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
7998 .Va smime-sign-cert , smime-sign-include-certs
8000 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
8002 .Mx Va smime-sign-cert
8003 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST , smime-sign-cert
8004 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
8005 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
8006 user's private key as well as his certificate.
8010 is always derived from the value of
8012 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
8014 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
8015 (certificate) is expected; the command
8017 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
8018 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
8019 gives some details).
8020 This mode of operation is usually driven by the specialized form.
8022 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
8027 of the message, which are searched for addresses for which such
8029 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
8030 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
8031 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
8033 .Mx Va smime-sign-include-certs
8034 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST , smime-sign-include-certs
8035 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
8036 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
8037 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
8040 This is most useful for long certificate chains if it is desired to aid
8041 the receiving party's verification process.
8042 Note that top level certificates may also be included in the chain but
8043 don't play a role for verification.
8045 .Va smime-sign-cert .
8046 Remember that for this
8048 refers to the variable
8050 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
8053 .Mx Va smime-sign-message-digest
8054 .It Va smime-sign-message-digest-USER@HOST , smime-sign-message-digest
8055 \*(OP Specifies the message digest to use when signing S/MIME messages.
8056 RFC 5751 mandates a default of
8058 Possible values are (case-insensitive and) in decreasing cipher strength:
8066 The actually available message digest algorithms depend on the
8067 cryptographic library that \*(UA uses.
8068 \*(OP Support for more message digest algorithms may be available
8069 through dynamic loading via, e.g.,
8070 .Xr EVP_get_digestbyname 3
8071 (OpenSSL) if \*(UA has been compiled to support this.
8072 Remember that for this
8074 refers to the variable
8076 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
8081 \*(OB\*(OP To use the builtin SMTP transport, specify a SMTP URL in
8083 \*(ID For compatibility reasons a set
8085 is used in preference of
8089 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST , smtp-auth-HOST , smtp-auth
8090 \*(OP Variable chain that controls the SMTP
8092 authentication method, possible values are
8098 as well as the \*(OPal methods
8104 method doesn't need any user credentials,
8106 requires a user name and all other methods require a user name and
8114 .Va smtp-auth-password
8116 .Va smtp-auth-user ) .
8121 .Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST :
8122 may override dependent on sender address in the variable
8125 .It Va smtp-auth-password
8126 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
8127 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
8128 .Va smtp-auth-password
8130 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
8132 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
8134 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
8136 .Va smtp-auth-password
8137 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
8140 .It Va smtp-auth-user
8141 \*(OP\*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
8142 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
8145 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
8147 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
8149 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
8152 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
8156 .It Va smtp-hostname
8157 \*(OP\*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
8159 to derive the necessary
8161 information in order to issue a
8168 can be used to use the
8170 from the SMTP account
8177 from the content of this variable (or, if that is the empty string,
8179 or the local hostname as a last resort).
8180 This often allows using an address that is itself valid but hosted by
8181 a provider other than which (in
8183 is about to send the message.
8184 Setting this variable also influences the generated
8187 .Mx Va smtp-use-starttls
8188 .It Va smtp-use-starttls-USER@HOST , smtp-use-starttls-HOST , smtp-use-starttls
8189 \*(BO\*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a
8191 command to make an SMTP
8193 session SSL/TLS encrypted, i.e., to enable transport layer security.
8197 .It Va spam-interface
8198 \*(OP In order to use any of the spam-related commands (like, e.g.,
8200 the desired spam interface must be defined by setting this variable.
8201 Please refer to the manual section
8203 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
8204 All or none of the following interfaces may be available:
8206 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ql _ilte_"
8212 .Pf ( Lk http://spamassassin.apache.org SpamAssassin )
8214 Different to the generic filter interface \*(UA will automatically add
8215 the correct arguments for a given command and has the necessary
8216 knowledge to parse the program's output.
8219 will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if
8224 Shall it be necessary to define a specific connection type (rather than
8225 using a configuration file for that), the variable
8227 can be used as in, e.g.,
8228 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
8229 It is also possible to specify a per-user configuration via
8231 Note that this interface doesn't inspect the
8233 flag of a message for the command
8237 generic spam filter support via freely configurable hooks.
8238 This interface is meant for programs like
8240 and requires according behaviour in respect to the hooks' exit
8241 status for at least the command
8244 meaning a message is spam,
8248 for unsure and any other return value indicating a hard error);
8249 since the hooks can include shell code snippets diverting behaviour
8250 can be intercepted as necessary.
8252 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
8255 .Va spamfilter-spam ;
8258 contains examples for some programs.
8259 The process environment of the hooks will have the variables
8260 .Ev NAIL_TMPDIR , TMPDIR
8262 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_GENERATED
8264 Note that spam score support for
8266 isn't supported unless the \*(OPtional regular expression support is
8268 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
8275 \*(OP Messages that exceed this size won't be passed through to the
8277 .Va spam-interface .
8278 If unset or 0, the default of 420000 bytes is used.
8281 .It Va spamc-command
8282 \*(OP The path to the
8286 .Va spam-interface .
8287 Note that the path is not expanded, but used
8289 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
8290 executable had been found during compilation.
8293 .It Va spamc-arguments
8294 \*(OP Even though \*(UA deals with most arguments for the
8297 automatically, it may at least sometimes be desirable to specify
8298 connection-related ones via this variable, e.g.,
8299 .Ql -d server.example.com -p 783 .
8303 \*(OP Specify a username for per-user configuration files for the
8305 .Va spam-interface .
8306 If this is set to the empty string then \*(UA will use the name of the
8315 .It Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , \
8316 spamfilter-nospam , spamfilter-rate , spamfilter-spam
8317 \*(OP Command and argument hooks for the
8319 .Va spam-interface .
8322 contains examples for some programs.
8325 .It Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore
8326 \*(OP Because of the generic nature of the
8329 spam scores are not supported for it by default, but if the \*(OPtional
8330 regular expression support is available then setting this variable can
8331 be used to overcome this restriction.
8332 It is interpreted as follows: first a number (digits) is parsed that
8333 must be followed by a semicolon
8335 and an extended regular expression.
8336 Then the latter is used to parse the first output line of the
8338 hook, and, in case the evaluation is successful, the group that has been
8339 specified via the number is interpreted as a floating point scan score.
8343 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Pricacy
8344 Enhanced Mail) for verification of of SSL/TLS server certificates.
8346 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
8347 for more information.
8351 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
8352 verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
8354 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
8355 for more information.
8358 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST , ssl-cert-HOST , ssl-cert
8359 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the file name for a SSL/TLS client
8360 certificate required by some servers.
8361 This is a direct interface to the
8365 function of the OpenSSL library, if available.
8367 .Mx Va ssl-cipher-list
8368 .It Va ssl-cipher-list-USER@HOST , ssl-cipher-list-HOST , ssl-cipher-list
8369 \*(OP Specifies a list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections.
8370 This is a direct interface to the
8374 function of the OpenSSL library, if available; see
8376 for more information.
8377 By default \*(UA doesn't set a list of ciphers, which in effect will use a
8379 specific cipher (protocol standards ship with a list of acceptable
8380 ciphers), possibly cramped to what the actually used SSL/TLS library
8381 supports \(en the manual section
8382 .Sx "An example configuration"
8383 also contains a SSL/TLS use case.
8386 .It Va ssl-config-file
8387 \*(OP If this variable is set \*(UA will call
8388 .Xr CONF_modules_load_file 3
8389 to allow OpenSSL to be configured according to the host system wide
8391 If a non-empty value is given then this will be used to specify the
8392 configuration file to be used instead of the global OpenSSL default;
8393 note that in this case it is an error if the file cannot be loaded.
8394 The application name will always be passed as
8399 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
8400 verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
8404 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
8405 to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
8408 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST , ssl-key-HOST , ssl-key
8409 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the file name for the private key of
8410 a SSL/TLS client certificate.
8411 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
8412 The file is expected to be in PEM format.
8413 This is a direct interface to the
8417 function of the OpenSSL library, if available.
8420 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST , ssl-method-HOST , ssl-method
8421 \*(OB\*(OP Please use the newer and more flexible
8423 instead: if both values are set,
8425 will take precedence!
8426 Can be set to the following values, the actually used
8428 specification to which it is mapped is shown in parenthesis:
8430 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1.2 ) ,
8432 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1.1 ) ,
8434 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, TLSv1 )
8437 .Pf ( Ql -ALL, SSLv3 ) ;
8442 and thus includes the SSLv3 protocol.
8443 Note that SSLv2 is no longer supported at all.
8446 .It Va ssl-no-default-ca
8447 \*(BO\*(OP Don't load default CA locations to verify SSL/TLS server
8451 .It Va ssl-protocol-USER@HOST , ssl-protocol-HOST , ssl-protocol
8452 \*(OP Specify the used SSL/TLS protocol.
8453 This is a direct interface to the
8457 function of the OpenSSL library, if available;
8458 otherwise an \*(UA internal parser is used which understands the
8459 following subset of (case-insensitive) command strings:
8465 as well as the special value
8467 Multiple specifications may be given via a comma-separated list which
8468 ignores any whitespace.
8471 plus prefix will enable a protocol, a
8473 minus prefix will disable it, so that
8475 will enable only the TLSv1.2 protocol.
8477 It depends upon the used TLS/SSL library which protocols are actually
8478 supported and which protocols are used if
8480 is not set, but note that SSLv2 is no longer supported at all and
8482 Especially for older protocols explicitly securing
8484 may be worthwile, see
8485 .Sx "An example configuration" .
8489 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
8491 Not all SSL/TLS libraries support this.
8494 .It Va ssl-rand-file
8495 \*(OP Gives the filename to a file with random entropy data, see
8496 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
8497 If this variable is not set, or set to the empty string, or if the
8498 filename expansion failed, then
8499 .Xr RAND_file_name 3
8500 will be used to create the filename if, and only if,
8502 documents that the SSL PRNG is not yet sufficiently seeded.
8503 If \*(UA successfully seeded the SSL PRNG then it'll update the file via
8504 .Xr RAND_write_file 3 .
8505 This variable is only used if
8507 is not set (or not supported by the SSL/TLS library).
8510 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST , ssl-verify-HOST , ssl-verify
8511 \*(OP Variable chain that sets the action to be performed if an error
8512 occurs during SSL/TLS server certificate validation.
8513 Valid (case-insensitive) values are
8515 (fail and close connection immediately),
8517 (ask whether to continue on standard input),
8519 (show a warning and continue),
8521 (do not perform validation).
8527 If only set without an assigned value, then this option inhibits the
8532 header fields that include obvious references to \*(UA.
8533 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
8534 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
8535 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
8536 to track down the originating mail user agent.
8541 suppression doesn't occur.
8546 (\*(OP) This specifies a comma-separated list of
8551 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
8552 escape commas with reverse solidus) to be used to overwrite or define
8554 Note that this variable will only be queried once at program startup and
8555 can thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
8558 String capabilities form
8560 pairs and are expected unless noted otherwise.
8561 Numerics have to be notated as
8563 where the number is expected in normal decimal notation.
8564 Finally, booleans don't have any value but indicate a true or false
8565 state simply by being defined or not; this indeed means that \*(UA
8566 doesn't support undefining an existing boolean.
8567 String capability values will undergo some expansions before use:
8568 for one notations like
8571 .Ql control-LETTER ,
8572 and for clarification purposes
8574 can be used to specify
8576 (the control notation
8578 could lead to misreadings when a left bracket follows, which it does for
8579 the standard CSI sequence);
8580 finally three letter octal sequences, as in
8583 To specify that a terminal supports 256-colours, and to define sequences
8584 that home the cursor and produce an audible bell, one might write:
8586 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8587 set termcap='Co#256,home=\eE[H,bel=^G'
8591 The following terminal capabilities are or may be meaningful for the
8592 operation of the builtin line editor or \*(UA in general:
8595 .Bl -tag -compact -width yay
8597 .It Cd colors Ns \0or Cd Co
8599 numeric capability specifying the maximum number of colours.
8600 Note that \*(UA doesn't actually care about the terminal beside that,
8601 but always emits ANSI / ISO 6429 escape sequences.
8604 .It Cd rmcup Ns \0or Cd te Ns \0/ Cd smcup Ns \0or Cd ti
8608 respectively: exit and enter the alternative screen
8610 effectively turning \*(UA into a fullscreen application.
8611 To disable that, set (at least) one to the empty string.
8613 .It Cd smkx Ns \0or Cd ks Ns \0/ Cd rmkx Ns \0or Cd ke
8617 respectively: enable and disable the keypad.
8618 This is always enabled if available, because it seems even keyboards
8619 without keypads generate other key codes for, e.g., cursor keys in that
8620 case, and only if enabled we see the codes that we are interested in.
8622 .It Cd ed Ns \0or Cd cd
8626 .It Cd clear Ns \0or Cd cl
8628 clear the screen and home cursor.
8629 (Will be simulated via
8634 .It Cd home Ns \0or Cd ho
8639 .It Cd el Ns \0or Cd ce
8641 clear to the end of line.
8642 (Will be simulated via
8644 plus repetitions of space characters.)
8646 .It Cd hpa Ns \0or Cd ch
8647 .Cd column_address :
8648 move the cursor (to the given column parameter) in the current row.
8649 (Will be simulated via
8655 .Cd carriage_return :
8656 move to the first column in the current row.
8657 The default builtin fallback is
8660 .It Cd cub1 Ns \0or Cd le
8662 move the cursor left one space (non-destructively).
8663 The default builtin fallback is
8666 .It Cd cuf1 Ns \0or Cd nd
8668 move the cursor right one space (non-destructively).
8669 The default builtin fallback is
8671 which is used by most terminals.
8679 Many more capabilities which describe key-sequences are documented for
8683 .It Va termcap-disable
8684 \*(OP Disable any interaction with a terminal control library.
8685 If set only some generic fallback builtins and possibly the content of
8687 describe the terminal to \*(UA.
8689 that this variable will only be queried once at program startup and can
8690 thus only be specified in resource files or on the command line.
8694 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be displayed
8697 if unset, the first five lines are printed, if set to 0 the variable
8700 If the value is negative then its absolute value will be used for right
8703 height; (shifting bitwise is like dividing algorithmically, but since
8704 it takes away bits the value decreases pretty fast).
8708 \*(BO If set then the
8710 command series will strip adjacent empty lines and quotations.
8714 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
8715 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
8716 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
8717 in which case it defaults to ISO-8859-1 unless it can deduce a value
8721 Refer to the section
8722 .Sx "Character sets"
8723 for the complete picture about character sets.
8726 .It Va typescript-mode
8727 \*(BO A special multiplex variable that disables all variables and
8728 settings which result in behaviour that interferes with running \*(UA in
8731 .Va colour-disable ,
8732 .Va line-editor-disable
8733 and (before startup completed only)
8734 .Va termcap-disable .
8735 Unsetting it doesn't restore the former state of the covered settings.
8739 For a safety-by-default policy \*(UA sets its process
8743 but this variable can be used to override that:
8744 set it to an empty value to don't change the (current) setting,
8745 otherwise the process file mode creation mask is updated to the new value.
8746 Child processes inherit the process file mode creation mask.
8749 .It Va user-HOST , user
8750 \*(IN Variable chain that sets a global fallback user name, which is
8751 used in case none has been given in the protocol and account-specific
8753 This variable defaults to the name of the user who runs \*(UA.
8757 \*(BO Setting this option enables upward compatibility with \*(UA
8758 version 15.0 in respect to which configuration options are available and
8759 how they are handled.
8760 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
8761 doing things, respectively.
8765 \*(BO Setting this option, also controllable via the command line option
8767 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, e.g., it will display obsoletion
8768 warnings and SSL/TLS certificate chains.
8769 Even though marked \*(BO this option may be set twice in order to
8770 increase the level of verbosity even more, in which case even details of
8771 the actual message delivery and protocol conversations are shown.
8774 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
8780 .It Va version , version-major , version-minor , version-update
8781 \*(RO \*(UA version information: the first variable contains a string
8782 containing the complete version identification, the latter three contain
8783 only digits: the major, minor and update version numbers.
8784 The output of the command
8786 will include this information.
8789 .It Va writebackedited
8790 If this variable is set messages modified using the
8794 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
8795 it is only honoured for writable folders in MBOX format, though.
8796 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
8797 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
8798 performed, and proper RFC 4155
8800 quoting of newly added or edited content is also left as an excercise to
8804 .\" }}} (INTERNAL VARIABLES)
8807 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
8811 .Dq environment variable
8812 should be considered an indication that these variables are either
8813 standardized as vivid parts of process environments, or that they are
8814 commonly found in there.
8815 The process environment is inherited from the
8817 once \*(UA is started, and unless otherwise explicitly noted handling of
8818 the following variables transparently integrates into that of the
8819 .Sx "INTERNAL VARIABLES"
8820 from \*(UA's point of view.
8821 This means that, e.g., they can be managed via
8825 causing automatic program environment updates (to be inherited by
8826 newly created child processes).
8829 In order to transparently integrate other environment variables equally
8830 they need to be imported (linked) with the command
8832 This command can also be used to set and unset non-integrated
8833 environment variables from scratch, sufficient system support provided.
8834 The following example, applicable to a POSIX shell, sets the
8836 environment variable for \*(UA only, and beforehand exports the
8838 in order to affect any further processing in the running shell:
8840 .Bd -literal -offset indent
8841 $ EDITOR="vim -u ${HOME}/.vimrc"
8843 $ COLUMNS=80 \*(uA -R
8846 .Bl -tag -width ".It Ev _AILR_"
8849 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
8851 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
8852 processes and the MLE (see
8853 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" )
8854 in interactive mode thereafter.
8858 The name of the (mailbox)
8860 to use for saving aborted messages if
8862 is set; this defaults to
8869 is set no output will be generated, otherwise the contents of the file
8874 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
8878 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
8879 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
8883 The user's home directory.
8884 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
8891 .It Ev LANG , LC_ALL , LC_COLLATE , LC_CTYPE , LC_MESSAGES
8895 .Sx "Character sets" .
8899 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen
8900 or window size in lines.
8901 Queried and used once on program startup, actively managed for child
8902 processes in interactive mode thereafter.
8906 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
8908 command when operating on local mailboxes.
8911 (path search through
8916 Upon startup \*(UA will actively ensure that this variable refers to the
8917 name of the user who runs \*(UA, in order to be able to pass a verified
8918 name to any newly created child process.
8922 Is used as the user's primary system mailbox, unless
8926 This is assumed to be an absolute pathname.
8930 \*(OP Overrides the default path search for
8931 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
8932 which is defined in the standard RFC 1524 as
8933 .Ql ~/.mailcap:\:/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/etc/mailcap:\:/usr/local/etc/mailcap .
8934 .\" TODO we should have a mailcaps-default virtual RDONLY option!
8935 (\*(UA makes it a configuration option, however.)
8936 Note this is not a search path, but a path search.
8940 Is used as a startup file instead of
8943 When \*(UA scripts are invoked on behalf of other users,
8944 either this variable should be set to
8948 command line option should be used in order to avoid side-effects from
8949 reading their configuration files.
8950 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
8954 The name of the user's mbox file.
8955 A logical subset of the special conventions that are documented for the
8960 The fallback default is
8965 Traditionally this secondary mailbox is used as the file to save
8966 messages from the primary system mailbox that have been read.
8968 .Sx "Message states" .
8971 .It Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
8972 If this variable is set then reading of
8974 at startup is inhibited, i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA
8975 had been started up with the option
8977 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
8981 \*(IN\*(OP This variable overrides the default location of the user's
8987 Pathname of the program to use for backing the command
8991 variable enforces usage of a pager for output.
8992 The default paginator is
8994 (path search through
8997 \*(UA inspects the contents of this variable: if its contains the string
8999 then a non-existing environment variable
9006 dependent on whether terminal control support is available and whether
9007 that supports full (alternative) screen mode or not (also see
9008 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ) .
9012 will optionally be set to
9019 A colon-separated list of directories that is searched by the shell when
9020 looking for commands, e.g.,
9021 .Ql /bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin .
9025 The shell to use for the commands
9031 and when starting subprocesses.
9032 A default shell is used if this option is not defined.
9035 .It Ev SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
9036 If set, this specifies a time in seconds since the Unix epoch
9037 (1970-01-01) to be used in place of the current time.
9038 This is for the sake of reproduceability of tests, to be used during
9039 development or by software packagers.
9043 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
9044 For extended colour and font control please refer to
9045 .Sx "Coloured display" ,
9046 and for terminal management in general to
9047 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" .
9051 Used as directory for temporary files instead of
9054 This variable is only used when it resides in the process environment.
9060 (see there), but this variable is not standardized, should therefore not
9061 be used, and is only corrected if already set.
9065 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
9069 .Sx "TILDE ESCAPES" .
9077 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa _etc/mime.type_"
9079 File giving initial commands.
9082 System wide initialization file.
9086 \*(OP Personal MIME type handler definition file, see
9087 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
9088 (RFC 1524 location, the actual path is a configuration option.)
9092 \*(OP System wide MIME type handler definition file, see
9093 .Sx "The Mailcap files" .
9094 (RFC 1524 location, the actual path is a configuration option.)
9097 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
9098 Personal MIME types, see
9099 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
9102 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
9103 System wide MIME types, see
9104 .Sx "The mime.types files" .
9108 \*(IN\*(OP The default location of the users
9110 file \(en the section
9111 .Sx "The .netrc file"
9112 documents the file format.
9115 .\" .Ss "The mime.types files" {{{
9116 .Ss "The mime.types files"
9118 When sending messages \*(UA tries to determine the content type of all
9120 When displaying message content or attachments \*(UA uses the content
9121 type to decide whether it can directly display data or whether it needs
9122 to deal with content handlers.
9123 It learns about M(ultipurpose) I(nternet) M(ail) E(xtensions) types and
9124 how to treat them by reading
9126 files, the loading of which can be controlled by setting the variable
9127 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
9130 can also be used to deal with MIME types.)
9132 files have the following syntax:
9135 .Dl type/subtype extension [extension ...]
9140 are strings describing the file contents, and one or multiple
9142 s, separated by whitespace, name the part of a filename starting after
9143 the last dot (of interest).
9144 Comments may be introduced anywhere on a line with a number sign
9146 causing the remaining line to be discarded.
9148 \*(UA also supports an extended, non-portable syntax in specially
9149 crafted files, which can be loaded via the alternative value syntax of
9150 .Va mimetypes-load-control
9151 and prepends an optional
9155 .Dl [type-marker ]type/subtype extension [extension ...]
9158 The following type markers are supported:
9161 .Bl -tag -compact -width ".It Ar _n_u"
9163 Treat message parts with this content as plain text.
9168 Treat message parts with this content as HTML tagsoup.
9169 If the \*(OPal HTML-tagsoup-to-text converter is not available treat
9170 the content as plain text instead.
9174 but instead of falling back to plain text require an explicit content
9175 handler to be defined.
9180 for sending messages:
9182 .Va mime-allow-text-controls ,
9183 .Va mimetypes-load-control .
9184 For reading etc. messages:
9185 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
9186 .Sx "The Mailcap files" ,
9188 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
9189 .Va mimetypes-load-control ,
9190 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
9191 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
9194 .\" .Ss "The Mailcap files" {{{
9195 .Ss "The Mailcap files"
9198 .Dq User Agent Configuration Mechanism
9199 which \*(UA \*(OPally supports.
9200 It defines a file format to be used to inform mail user agent programs
9201 about the locally-installed facilities for handling various data
9202 formats, i.e., about commands and how they can be used to display, edit
9203 etc. MIME part contents, as well as a default path search that includes
9204 multiple possible locations of
9208 environment variable that can be used to overwrite that (repeating here
9209 that it is not a search path, but instead a path search specification).
9210 Any existing files will be loaded in sequence, appending any content to
9211 the list of MIME type handler directives.
9215 files consist of a set of newline separated entries.
9216 Comment lines start with a number sign
9218 (in the first column!) and are ignored.
9219 Empty lines are also ignored.
9220 All other lines form individual entries that must adhere to the syntax
9222 To extend a single entry (not comment) its line can be continued on
9223 follow lines if newline characters are
9225 by preceding them with the reverse solidus character
9227 The standard doesn't specify how leading whitespace of follow lines is
9228 to be treated, therefore \*(UA retains it.
9232 entries consist of a number of semicolon
9234 separated fields, and the reverse solidus
9236 character can be used to escape any following character including
9237 semicolon and itself.
9238 The first two fields are mandatory and must occur in the specified
9239 order, the remaining fields are optional and may appear in any order.
9240 Leading and trailing whitespace of content is ignored (removed).
9243 The first field defines the MIME
9245 the entry is about to handle (case-insensitively, and no reverse solidus
9246 escaping is possible in this field).
9247 If the subtype is specified as an asterisk
9249 the entry is meant to match all subtypes of the named type, e.g.,
9251 would match any audio type.
9252 The second field defines the shell command which shall be used to
9254 MIME parts of the given type; it is implicitly called the
9261 shell commands message (MIME part) data is passed via standard input
9262 unless the given shell command includes one or more instances of the
9265 in which case these instances will be replaced with a temporary filename
9266 and the data will have been stored in the file that is being pointed to.
9269 shell commands data is assumed to be generated on standard output unless
9270 the given command includes (one ore multiple)
9272 In any case any given
9274 format is replaced with a(n already) properly quoted filename.
9275 Note that when a command makes use of a temporary file via
9277 then \*(UA will remove it again, as if the
9278 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile ,
9279 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
9281 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
9282 flags had been set; see below for more.
9285 The optional fields either define a shell command or an attribute (flag)
9286 value, the latter being a single word and the former being a keyword
9287 naming the field followed by an equals sign
9289 succeeded by a shell command, and as usual for any
9291 content any whitespace surrounding the equals sign will be removed, too.
9292 Optional fields include the following:
9295 .Bl -tag -width textualnewlines
9297 A program that can be used to compose a new body or body part in the
9304 field, but is to be used when the composing program needs to specify the
9306 header field to be applied to the composed data.
9310 A program that can be used to edit a body or body part in the given
9315 A program that can be used to print a message or body part in the given
9320 Specifies a program to be run to test some condition, e.g., the machine
9321 architecture, or the window system in use, to determine whether or not
9322 this mailcap entry applies.
9323 If the test fails, a subsequent mailcap entry should be sought; also see
9324 .Cd x-mailx-test-once .
9326 .It Cd needsterminal
9327 This flag field indicates that the given shell command must be run on
9328 an interactive terminal.
9329 \*(UA will temporarily release the terminal to the given command in
9330 interactive mode, in non-interactive mode this entry will be entirely
9331 ignored; this flag implies
9332 .Cd x-mailx-noquote .
9334 .It Cd copiousoutput
9335 A flag field which indicates that the output of the
9337 command will be an extended stream of textual output that can be
9338 (re)integrated into \*(UA's normal visual display.
9339 It is mutually exclusive with
9342 .Cd x-mailx-always .
9344 .It Cd textualnewlines
9345 A flag field which indicates that this type of data is line-oriented and
9348 all newlines should be converted to canonical form (CRLF) before
9349 encoding, and will be in that form after decoding.
9353 This field gives a file name format, in which
9355 will be replaced by a random string, the joined combination of which
9356 will be used as the filename denoted by
9357 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
9358 One could specify that a GIF file being passed to an image viewer should
9359 have a name ending in
9362 .Ql nametemplate=%s.gif .
9363 Note that \*(UA ignores the name template unless that solely specifies
9364 a filename suffix that consists of (ASCII) alphabetic and numeric
9365 characters, the underscore and dot only.
9368 Names a file, in X11 bitmap (xbm) format, which points to an appropriate
9369 icon to be used to visually denote the presence of this kind of data.
9370 This field is not used by \*(UA.
9373 A textual description that describes this type of data.
9375 .It Cd x-mailx-always
9376 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
9378 command shall be executed even if multiple messages will be displayed
9380 Normally messages which require external viewers that produce output
9381 which doesn't integrate into \*(UA's visual display (i.e., don't have
9383 set) have to be addressed directly and individually.
9384 (To avoid cases where, e.g., a thousand PDF viewer instances are spawned
9387 .It Cd x-mailx-even-if-not-interactive
9388 An extension flag test field \(em by default handlers without
9390 are entirely ignored in non-interactive mode, but if this flag is set
9391 then their use will be considered.
9392 It is an error if this flag is set for commands that use the flag
9395 .It Cd x-mailx-noquote
9396 An extension flag field that indicates that even a
9399 command shall not be used to generate message quotes
9400 (as it would be by default).
9402 .It Cd x-mailx-async
9403 Extension flag field that denotes that the given
9405 command shall be executed asynchronously, without blocking \*(UA.
9406 Cannot be used in conjunction with
9409 .It Cd x-mailx-test-once
9410 Extension flag which denotes whether the given
9412 command shall be evaluated once only and the (boolean) result be cached.
9413 This is handy if some global unchanging condition is to be queried, like
9414 .Dq running under the X Window System .
9416 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile
9417 Extension flag field that requests creation of a zero-sized temporary
9418 file, the name of which is to be placed in the environment variable
9419 .Ev NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY .
9420 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
9424 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill
9425 Normally the MIME part content is passed to the handler via standard
9426 input; if this flag is set then the data will instead be written into
9428 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile .
9429 In order to cause deletion of the temporary file you will have to set
9430 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
9432 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
9436 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink
9437 Extension flag field that requests that the temporary file shall be
9438 deleted automatically when the command loop is entered again at latest.
9439 (Don't use this for asynchronous handlers.)
9440 It is an error to use this flag with commands that include a
9442 format, or without also setting
9445 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-fill .
9447 .It Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
9450 implies the three tmpfile related flags above, but if you want, e.g.,
9452 and deal with the temporary file yourself, you can add in this flag to
9454 .Cd x-mailx-tmpfile-unlink .
9459 The standard includes the possibility to define any number of additional
9460 entry fields, prefixed by
9462 Flag fields apply to the entire
9464 entry \(em in some unusual cases, this may not be desirable, but
9465 differentiation can be accomplished via separate entries, taking
9466 advantage of the fact that subsequent entries are searched if an earlier
9467 one does not provide enough information.
9470 command needs to specify the
9474 command shall not, the following will help out the latter (with enabled
9478 level \*(UA will show information about handler evaluation):
9480 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9481 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; needsterminal
9482 application/postscript; ps-to-terminal %s; compose=idraw %s
9486 In fields any occurrence of the format string
9488 will be replaced by the
9491 Named parameters from the
9493 field may be placed in the command execution line using
9495 followed by the parameter name and a closing
9498 The entire parameter should appear as a single command line argument,
9499 regardless of embedded spaces; thus:
9501 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9503 Content-type: multipart/mixed; boundary=42
9506 multipart/*; /usr/local/bin/showmulti \e
9507 %t %{boundary} ; composetyped = /usr/local/bin/makemulti
9509 # Executed shell command
9510 /usr/local/bin/showmulti multipart/mixed 42
9514 .\" TODO v15: Mailcap: %n,%F
9515 Note that \*(UA doesn't support handlers for multipart MIME parts as
9516 shown in this example (as of today).
9517 \*(UA doesn't support the additional formats
9521 An example file, also showing how to properly deal with the expansion of
9523 which includes any quotes that are necessary to make it a valid shell
9524 argument by itself and thus will cause undesired behaviour when placed
9525 in additional user-provided quotes:
9527 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9529 text/richtext; richtext %s; copiousoutput
9531 text/x-perl; perl -cWT %s
9535 trap "rm -f ${infile}" EXIT\e; \e
9536 trap "exit 75" INT QUIT TERM\e; \e
9538 x-mailx-async; x-mailx-tmpfile-keep
9540 application/*; echo "This is \e"%t\e" but \e
9541 is 50 \e% Greek to me" \e; < %s head -c 1024 | cat -vET; \e
9542 copiousoutput; x-mailx-noquote
9547 .Sx "HTML mail and MIME attachments" ,
9548 .Sx "The mime.types files" ,
9551 .Va mime-counter-evidence ,
9552 .Va pipe-TYPE/SUBTYPE ,
9553 .Va pipe-EXTENSION .
9556 .\" .Ss "The .netrc file" {{{
9557 .Ss "The .netrc file"
9561 file contains user credentials for machine accounts.
9562 The default location in the user's
9564 directory may be overridden by the
9566 environment variable.
9567 The file consists of space, tabulator or newline separated tokens.
9568 \*(UA implements a parser that supports a superset of the original BSD
9569 syntax, but users should nonetheless be aware of portability glitches
9570 of that file format, shall their
9572 be usable across multiple programs and platforms:
9575 .Bl -bullet -compact
9577 BSD doesn't support single, but only double quotation marks, e.g.,
9578 .Ql password="pass with spaces" .
9580 BSD (only?) supports escaping of single characters via a reverse solidus
9581 (e.g., a space can be escaped via
9583 in- as well as outside of a quoted string.
9585 BSD doesn't require the final quotation mark of the final user input token.
9587 The original BSD (Berknet) parser also supported a format which allowed
9588 tokens to be separated with commas \(en whereas at least Hewlett-Packard
9589 still seems to support this syntax, \*(UA does not!
9591 As a non-portable extension some widely-used programs support
9592 shell-style comments: if an input line starts, after any amount of
9593 whitespace, with a number sign
9595 then the rest of the line is ignored.
9597 Whereas other programs may require that the
9599 file is accessible by only the user if it contains a
9605 \*(UA will always require these strict permissions.
9609 Of the following list of supported tokens \*(UA only uses (and caches)
9614 At runtime the command
9616 can be used to control \*(UA's
9620 .Bl -tag -width password
9621 .It Cd machine Ar name
9622 The hostname of the entries' machine, lowercase-normalized by \*(UA
9624 Any further file content, until either end-of-file or the occurrence
9629 first-class token is bound (only related) to the machine
9632 As an extension that shouldn't be the cause of any worries
9633 \*(UA supports a single wildcard prefix for
9635 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9636 machine *.example.com login USER password PASS
9637 machine pop3.example.com login USER password PASS
9638 machine smtp.example.com login USER password PASS
9644 .Ql pop3.example.com ,
9648 .Ql local.smtp.example.com .
9649 Note that in the example neither
9650 .Ql pop3.example.com
9652 .Ql smtp.example.com
9653 will be matched by the wildcard, since the exact matches take
9654 precedence (it is however faster to specify it the other way around).
9659 except that it is a fallback entry that is used shall none of the
9660 specified machines match; only one default token may be specified,
9661 and it must be the last first-class token.
9663 .It Cd login Ar name
9664 The user name on the remote machine.
9666 .It Cd password Ar string
9667 The user's password on the remote machine.
9669 .It Cd account Ar string
9670 Supply an additional account password.
9671 This is merely for FTP purposes.
9673 .It Cd macdef Ar name
9675 A macro is defined with the specified
9677 it is formed from all lines beginning with the next line and continuing
9678 until a blank line is (consecutive newline characters are) encountered.
9681 entries cannot be utilized by multiple machines, too, but must be
9682 defined following the
9684 they are intended to be used with.)
9687 exists, it is automatically run as the last step of the login process.
9688 This is merely for FTP purposes.
9695 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
9698 .\" .Ss "An example configuration" {{{
9699 .Ss "An example configuration"
9701 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9702 # This example assumes v15.0 compatibility mode
9705 # Where are the up-to-date SSL certificates?
9706 #set ssl-ca-dir=/etc/ssl/certs
9707 set ssl-ca-file=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
9709 # (Since we manage up-to-date ones explicitly, don't use any,
9710 # possibly outdated, default certificates shipped with OpenSSL)
9711 set ssl-no-default-ca
9713 # Don't use protocols older than TLS v1.2.
9714 # Change this only when the remote server doesn't support it:
9715 # maybe use ssl-protocol-HOST (or -USER@HOST) syntax to define
9716 # such explicit exceptions, then
9717 set ssl-protocol='-ALL,+TLSv1.2'
9719 # Explicitly define the list of ciphers, which may improve security,
9720 # especially with protocols older than TLS v1.2. See ciphers(1).
9721 # Including "@STRENGTH" will sort the final list by algorithm strength.
9722 # In reality it is possibly best to only use ssl-cipher-list-HOST
9723 # (or -USER@HOST), as necessary, again..
9724 set ssl-cipher-list=TLSv1.2:!aNULL:!eNULL:!MEDIUM:!LOW:!EXPORT:@STRENGTH
9725 # ALL:!aNULL:!MEDIUM:!LOW:!MD5:!RC4:!EXPORT:@STRENGTH
9727 # Request strict transport security checks!
9728 set ssl-verify=strict
9730 # Essential setting: select allowed character sets
9731 set sendcharsets=utf-8,iso-8859-1
9733 # A very kind option: when replying to a message, first try to
9734 # use the same encoding that the original poster used herself!
9735 set reply-in-same-charset
9737 # When replying to or forwarding a message the comment and name
9738 # parts of email addresses are removed unless this variable is set
9741 # When sending messages, wait until the Mail-Transfer-Agent finishs.
9742 # Only like this you'll be able to see errors reported through the
9743 # exit status of the MTA (including the builtin SMTP one)!
9746 # Only use builtin MIME types, no mime.types(5) files
9747 set mimetypes-load-control
9749 # Default directory where we act in (relative to $HOME)
9751 # A leading "+" (often) means: under *folder*
9752 # *record* is used to save copies of sent messages
9753 set MBOX=+mbox.mbox record=+sent.mbox DEAD=+dead.txt
9755 # Make "file mymbox" and "file myrec" go to..
9756 shortcut mymbox %:+mbox.mbox myrec +sent.mbox
9758 # Not really optional, e.g., for S/MIME
9759 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
9761 # It may be necessary to set hostname and/or smtp-hostname
9762 # if the "SERVER" of mta and "domain" of from don't match.
9763 # The `urlencode' command can be used to encode USER and PASS
9764 set mta=(smtps?|submission)://[USER[:PASS]@]SERVER[:PORT] \e
9765 smtp-auth=login/plain... \e
9768 # Never refuse to start into interactive mode, and more
9770 colour-pager crt= \e
9771 followup-to followup-to-honour=ask-yes \e
9772 history-file=+.\*(uAhist history-size=-1 history-gabby \e
9773 mime-counter-evidence=0xE \e
9774 prompt='[\e${-account-name} \e${-mailbox-display}]? ' \e
9775 reply-to-honour=ask-yes \e
9778 # When `t'yping messages, show only these headers
9779 # (use `T'ype for all headers and `S'how for raw message)
9780 retain date from to cc subject
9782 # Some mailing lists
9783 mlist '@xyz-editor\e.xyz$' '@xyzf\e.xyz$'
9784 mlsubscribe '^xfans@xfans\e.xyz$'
9786 # A real life example of a very huge free mail provider
9788 set folder=~/spool/XooglX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
9789 set from='Your Name <address@examp.ple>'
9790 set mta=smtp://USER:PASS@smtp.gmXil.com smtp-use-starttls
9793 # Here is a pretty large one which does not allow sending mails
9794 # if there is a domain name mismatch on the SMTP protocol level,
9795 # which would bite us if the value of from does not match, e.g.,
9796 # for people who have a sXXXXeforge project and want to speak
9797 # with the mailing list under their project account (in from),
9798 # still sending the message through their normal mail provider
9800 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
9801 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
9802 set mta=smtps://USER:PASS@smtp.yaXXex.ru:465 \e
9803 hostname=yaXXex.com smtp-hostname=
9806 # Create some new commands so that, e.g., `ls /tmp' will..
9807 wysh ghost lls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlrS'
9808 wysh ghost llS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlS'
9809 wysh ghost ls '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFrS'
9810 wysh ghost lS '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFS'
9811 wysh ghost lla '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlr'
9812 wysh ghost llA '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFl'
9813 wysh ghost la '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFr'
9814 wysh ghost lA '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aF'
9815 wysh ghost ll '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFltr'
9816 wysh ghost lL '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFlt'
9817 wysh ghost l '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFtr'
9818 wysh ghost L '!ls ${LS_COLOR_FLAG} -aFt'
9820 # We don't support gpg(1) directly yet. But simple --clearsign'd
9821 # message parts can be dealt with as follows:
9823 wysh set pipe-text/plain=$'@*#++=@\e
9824 < "${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" awk \e
9825 -v TMPFILE="${NAIL_FILENAME_TEMPORARY}" \e'\e
9827 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----/,/^$/{\e
9830 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
9831 system("gpg --verify " TMPFILE " 2>&1");\e
9832 print "--- GPG --verify ---";\e
9836 /^-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----/,\e
9837 /^-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----/{\e
9847 !printf 'Key IDs to gpg --recv-keys: ';\e
9849 gpg --recv-keys ${keyids};
9855 When storing passwords in
9857 appropriate permissions should be set on this file with
9858 .Ql $ chmod 0600 \*(ur .
9861 is available user credentials can be stored in the central
9863 file instead; e.g., here is a different version of the example account
9864 that sets up SMTP and POP3:
9866 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9868 set folder=~/spool/XandeX inbox=+syste.mbox sent=+sent
9869 set from='Your Name <address@exam.ple>'
9871 # Load an encrypted ~/.netrc by uncommenting the next line
9872 #set netrc-pipe='gpg -qd ~/.netrc.pgp'
9874 set mta=smtps://smtp.yXXXXx.ru:465 \e
9875 smtp-hostname= hostname=yXXXXx.com
9876 set pop3-keepalive=240 pop3-no-apop-pop.yXXXXx.ru
9877 ghost xp fi pop3s://pop.yXXXXx.ru
9886 .Bd -literal -offset indent
9887 machine *.yXXXXx.ru login USER password PASS
9891 This configuration should now work just fine:
9894 .Dl $ echo text | \*(uA -vv -AXandeX -s Subject user@exam.ple
9897 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
9898 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
9900 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
9901 message signing and message encryption.
9902 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
9903 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
9904 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
9905 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
9906 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
9907 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
9911 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
9912 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
9913 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
9914 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
9916 It is therefore not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
9917 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
9919 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
9920 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
9924 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
9925 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
9926 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
9927 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
9929 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
9931 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
9932 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
9934 .Va smime-no-default-ca
9935 to avoid using the default certificate and point
9939 to a trusted pool of certificates.
9940 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
9941 certificate has been retrieved with.
9944 The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message exchange is
9945 your personal certificate, including a private key.
9946 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
9947 your email address(es), and the public key that is used by others to
9948 encrypt messages for you,
9949 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
9950 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
9951 The private key must be kept secret.
9952 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
9953 public key, and to sign messages.
9956 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
9957 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
9958 Many CAs offer such certificates for free.
9960 .Lk https://www.CAcert.org
9961 which issues client and server certificates to members of their
9962 community for free; their root certificate
9963 .Pf ( Lk https://\:www.cacert.org/\:certs/\:root.crt )
9964 is often not in the default set of trusted CA root certificates, though,
9965 which means you will have to download their root certificate separately
9966 and ensure it is part of our S/MIME certificate validation chain by
9969 or as a vivid member of the
9971 But let's take a step-by-step tour on how to setup S/MIME with
9972 a certificate from CAcert.org despite this situation!
9975 First of all you will have to become a member of the CAcert.org
9976 community, simply by registrating yourself via the web interface.
9977 Once you are, create and verify all email addresses you want to be able
9978 to create signed and encrypted messages for/with using the corresponding
9979 entries of the web interface.
9980 Now ready to create S/MIME certificates, so let's create a new
9981 .Dq client certificate ,
9982 ensure to include all email addresses that should be covered by the
9983 certificate in the following web form, and also to use your name as the
9987 Create a private key and a certificate request on your local computer
9988 (please see the manual pages of the used commands for more in-depth
9989 knowledge on what the used arguments etc. do):
9992 .Dl openssl req -nodes -newkey rsa:4096 -keyout key.pem -out creq.pem
9995 Afterwards copy-and-paste the content of
9997 into the certificate-request (CSR) field of the web form on the
9998 CAcert.org website (you may need to unfold some
9999 .Dq advanced options
10000 to see the corresponding text field).
10001 This last step will ensure that your private key (which never left your
10002 box) and the certificate belong together (through the public key that
10003 will find its way into the certificate via the certificate-request).
10004 You are now ready and can create your CAcert certified certificate.
10005 Download and store or copy-and-paste it as
10010 In order to use your new S/MIME setup you will have to create
10011 a combined private key/public key (certificate) file:
10014 .Dl cat key.pem pub.crt > ME@HERE.com.paired
10017 This is the file \*(UA will work with.
10018 If you have created your private key with a passphrase then \*(UA will
10019 ask you for it whenever a message is signed or decrypted.
10020 Set the following variables to henceforth use S/MIME (setting
10022 is of interest for verification only):
10024 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10025 set smime-ca-file=ALL-TRUSTED-ROOT-CERTS-HERE \e
10026 smime-sign-cert=ME@HERE.com.paired \e
10027 smime-sign-message-digest=SHA256 \e
10032 From each signed message you send, the recipient can fetch your
10033 certificate and use it to send encrypted mail back to you.
10034 Accordingly if somebody sends you a signed message, you can do the same,
10037 command to check the validity of the certificate.
10040 Variables of interest for S/MIME signing:
10042 .Va smime-ca-file ,
10043 .Va smime-crl-dir ,
10044 .Va smime-crl-file ,
10045 .Va smime-no-default-ca ,
10047 .Va smime-sign-cert ,
10048 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
10050 .Va smime-sign-message-digest .
10053 After it has been verified save the certificate via
10055 and tell \*(UA that it should use it for encryption for further
10056 communication with that somebody:
10058 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10060 set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=FILENAME \e
10061 smime-cipher-USER@HOST=AES256
10065 Additional variables of interest for S/MIME en- and decryption:
10068 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST .
10071 You should carefully consider if you prefer to store encrypted messages
10073 If you do, anybody who has access to your mail folders can read them,
10074 but if you do not, you might be unable to read them yourself later if
10075 you happen to lose your private key.
10078 command saves messages in decrypted form, while the
10082 commands leave them encrypted.
10085 Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to message
10086 subjects or other header fields yet.
10087 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
10088 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
10089 When sending signed messages,
10090 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
10094 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS" {{{
10095 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
10097 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
10098 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
10099 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
10100 declared invalid after they have been issued.
10101 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
10103 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
10104 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
10105 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
10106 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
10107 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
10108 invalidated certificates.
10109 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
10110 the Internet, so you have to retrieve them by some external mechanism.
10113 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
10114 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
10117 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
10120 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
10121 (and no other files) must be created.
10126 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
10127 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
10128 to verify a certificate.
10131 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
10132 .Ss "Handling spam"
10134 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of several spam interfaces for the purpose of
10135 identification of, and, in general, dealing with spam messages.
10136 A precondition of most commands in order to function is that the
10138 variable is set to one of the supported interfaces.
10139 Once messages have been identified as spam their (volatile)
10141 state can be prompted: the
10145 message specifications will address respective messages and their
10147 entries will be used when displaying the
10149 in the header display.
10154 rates the given messages and sets their
10157 If the spam interface offers spam scores those can also be displayed in
10158 the header display by including the
10168 will interact with the Bayesian filter of the chosen interface and learn
10169 the given messages as
10173 respectively; the last command can be used to cause
10175 of messages; it adheres to their current
10177 state and thus reverts previous teachings.
10182 will simply set and clear, respectively, the mentioned volatile
10184 message flag, without any interface interaction.
10193 requires a running instance of the
10195 server in order to function, started with the option
10197 shall Bayesian filter learning be possible.
10199 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10200 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
10201 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \e
10202 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
10206 Thereafter \*(UA can make use of these interfaces:
10208 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10209 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
10210 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
10211 -Sspamc-arguments="-U /tmp/.spamsock" -Sspamc-user=
10213 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=spamc -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
10214 -Sspamc-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \e
10215 -Sspamc-arguments="-d localhost -p 2142" -Sspamc-user=
10219 Using the generic filter approach allows usage of programs like
10221 Here is an example, requiring it to be accessible via
10224 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10225 $ \*(uA -Sspam-interface=filter -Sspam-maxsize=500000 \e
10226 -Sspamfilter-ham="bogofilter -n" \e
10227 -Sspamfilter-noham="bogofilter -N" \e
10228 -Sspamfilter-nospam="bogofilter -S" \e
10229 -Sspamfilter-rate="bogofilter -TTu 2>/dev/null" \e
10230 -Sspamfilter-spam="bogofilter -s" \e
10231 -Sspamfilter-rate-scanscore="1;^(.+)$"
10235 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
10236 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
10237 perform the local spam check last:
10239 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10240 define spamdelhook {
10242 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
10243 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
10244 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
10245 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :sS'
10246 move :S +maybe-spam
10249 move :S +maybe-spam
10251 set folder-hook-FOLDER=spamdelhook
10255 See also the documentation for the variables
10256 .Va spam-interface , spam-maxsize ,
10257 .Va spamc-command , spamc-arguments , spamc-user ,
10258 .Va spamfilter-ham , spamfilter-noham , spamfilter-nospam , \
10261 .Va spamfilter-rate-scanscore .
10269 In general it is a good idea to turn on
10275 twice) if something doesn't work well.
10276 Very often a diagnostic message can be produced that leads to the
10277 problems' solution.
10279 .\" .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup" {{{
10280 .Ss "\*(UA shortly hangs on startup"
10282 This can have two reasons, one is the necessity to wait for a file lock
10283 and can't be helped, the other being that \*(UA calls the function
10285 in order to query the nodename of the box (sometimes the real one is
10286 needed instead of the one represented by the internal variable
10288 You may have varying success by ensuring that the real hostname and
10292 or, more generally, that the name service is properly setup \(en
10295 return what you'd expect?
10296 Does this local hostname has a domain suffix?
10297 RFC 6762 standardized the link-local top-level domain
10301 .\" .Ss "\*(UA exits quick, and output is cleared away" {{{
10302 .Ss "\*(UA exits quick, and output is cleared away"
10304 When this happens even with
10306 set, then this most likely indicates a problem with the creation of
10307 so-called dotlock files: setting
10308 .Va dotlock-ignore-error
10309 should overcome this situation.
10310 This only avoids symptoms, it doesn't address the problem, though.
10311 Since the output is cleared away \*(UA has support for
10312 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor" ,
10313 and switches to the
10315 which causes the output clearance: by doing
10316 .Ql set termcap='smcup='
10317 this mode can be suppressed, and by setting
10319 (twice) the actual problem should be reported.
10322 .\" .Ss "I can't login to Google mail aka GMail" {{{
10323 .Ss "I can't login to Google mail aka GMail"
10325 Since 2014 some free service providers classify programs as
10327 unless they use a special authentification method (OAuth 2.0) which
10328 wasn't standardized for non-HTTP protocol authentication token query
10329 until August 2015 (RFC 7628).
10332 Different to Kerberos / GSSAPI, which is developed since the mid of the
10333 1980s, where a user can easily create a local authentication ticket for
10334 her- and himself with the locally installed
10336 program, that protocol has no such local part but instead requires
10337 a world-wide-web query to create or fetch a token; since there is no
10338 local cache this query has to be performed whenever \*(UA is invoked
10339 from the command line (in interactive sessions situation may differ).
10342 \*(UA doesn't support OAuth.
10343 Because of this it is necessary to declare \*(UA a
10344 .Dq less secure app
10345 (on the providers account web page) in order to read and send mail.
10346 However, it also seems possible to take the following steps instead:
10351 give the provider the number of a mobile phone,
10354 .Dq 2-Step Verification ,
10356 create an application specific password (16 characters), and
10358 use that special password instead of your real Google account password in
10359 \*(UA (for more on that see the section
10360 .Sx "On URL syntax and credential lookup" ) .
10364 .\" .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key won't work" {{{
10365 .Ss "Not \(dqdefunctional\(dq, but the editor key won't work"
10367 It can happen that the terminal library (see
10368 .Sx "On terminal control and line editor",
10371 reports different codes than the terminal really sends, in which case
10372 \*(UA will tell that a key binding is functional, but won't be able to
10373 recognize it because the received data doesn't match anything expected.
10374 The verbose listing of
10376 ings will show the byte sequences that are expected.
10379 To overcome the situation, use, e.g., the program
10381 in conjunction with the
10383 flag if available, to see the byte sequences which are actually produced
10384 by keypresses, and use the variable
10386 to make \*(UA aware of them.
10387 E.g., the terminal this is typed on produces some false sequences, here
10388 an example showing the shifted home key:
10390 .Bd -literal -offset indent
10393 # 1B 5B=[ 31=1 3B=; 32=2 48=H
10398 ? \*(uA -v -Stermcap='kHOM=\eE[H'
10407 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
10417 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
10426 .Xr mailwrapper 8 ,
10431 .\" .Sh HISTORY {{{
10434 M. Douglas McIlroy writes in his article
10435 .Dq A Research UNIX Reader: Annotated Excerpts \
10436 from the Programmer's Manual, 1971-1986
10439 command already appeared in First Edition
10443 .Bd -ragged -offset indent
10444 Electronic mail was there from the start.
10445 Never satisfied with its exact behavior, everybody touched it at one
10446 time or another: to assure the safety of simultaneous access, to improve
10447 privacy, to survive crashes, to exploit uucp, to screen out foreign
10448 freeloaders, or whatever.
10449 Not until v7 did the interface change (Thompson).
10450 Later, as mail became global in its reach, Dave Presotto took charge and
10451 brought order to communications with a grab-bag of external networks
10457 Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens and developed as part of the
10460 distribution until 1995.
10461 Mail has then seen further development in open source
10463 variants, noticeably by Christos Zoulas in
10465 Basing upon this Nail, later Heirloom Mailx, was developed by Gunnar
10466 Ritter in the years 2000 until 2008.
10467 Since 2012 S-nail is maintained by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
10468 This man page is derived from
10469 .Dq The Mail Reference Manual
10470 that was originally written by Kurt Shoens.
10476 .An "Kurt Shoens" ,
10477 .An "Edward Wang" ,
10478 .An "Keith Bostic" ,
10479 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
10480 .An "Gunnar Ritter" ,
10481 .An "Steffen Nurpmeso" Aq Mt s-nail-users@lists.sourceforge.net
10483 .Mt s-mailx@sdaoden.eu ) .
10486 .\" .Sh CAVEATS {{{
10489 \*(ID Interrupting an operation via
10493 is often problematic: many library functions cannot deal with the
10495 that this software (still) performs.
10498 The SMTP and POP3 protocol support of \*(UA is very basic.
10499 Also, if it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
10500 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time (setting
10505 If this is a concern, it might be better to set up a local SMTP server
10506 that is capable of message queuing.
10512 After deleting some message of a POP3 mailbox the header summary falsely
10513 claims that there are no messages to display, you need to perform
10514 a scroll or dot movement to restore proper state.
10516 In threaded display a power user may encounter crashes very
10517 occasionally (this is may and very).
10521 in the source repository lists future directions.