1 .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
2 .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
4 .\" Gunnar Ritter. All rights reserved.
5 .\" Copyright (c) 2012 - 2014 Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso <sdaoden@users.sf.net>.
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17 .\" This product includes software developed by the University of
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19 .\" This product includes software developed by Gunnar Ritter
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41 .ds UV \\%S-nail dirty
45 .\" If not ~/.mailrc, it breaks POSIX compatibility. And adjust main.c.
50 .ds OU [no v15-compat]
55 .Nd send and receive Internet mail
62 .Op Fl a Ar attachment
65 .Op Fl O Ar mta-option
66 .Op Fl q Ar quote-file
68 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
77 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
85 .Op Fl S Ar variable Ns Op Ns = Ns Ar value
91 .Bd -filled -offset indent -compact
92 .Sy Compatibility note:
93 \*(UA and part of its configuration syntax will change in v15.0.
94 Until then there will exist a partial but growing number of
95 backward and forward compatibility configuration options.
96 To choose the new syntax and behaviour already today, the binary option
99 The manual will refer to it via \*(IN and \*(OU as necessary.
102 \*(UA is a mail processing system with a command syntax reminiscent of
104 with lines replaced by messages.
105 It is intended to provide the functionality of the POSIX
107 command and offers (mostly optional) extensions for line editing, IDNA,
108 MIME, S/MIME, SMTP and POP3 (and IMAP).
109 It is usable as a mail batch language.
111 In the following list of supported command line options,
119 are implemented by means of setting the respective option, as via
122 .Bl -tag -width ".Fl A Ar account"
126 command (see below) for
128 after the startup files have been read.
130 Attach the given file to the message.
131 The same filename conventions as described in the section
135 Make standard input and standard output line-buffered.
137 Send blind carbon copies to the given list of addresses.
139 below goes into more detail on that.
141 Send carbon copies to the given list of addresses.
149 variable, which enables debug messages and disables message delivery.
150 Note that this is not a real `sandbox' mode.
154 variable and thus discard messages with an empty message part body.
155 This is useful for sending messages from scripts.
157 Just check if mail is present in the system mailbox.
158 If yes, return an exit status of zero, a non-zero value otherwise.
160 Save the message to send in a file named after the local part of the
161 first recipient's address.
163 Read in the contents of the user's mbox (or the specified file)
165 when \*(UA is quit, it writes undeleted messages back to this file.
168 is interpreted as described for the
173 is not a direct argument to the flag
175 but is instead taken from the command line after option processing has
178 Print a header summary of all messages and exit.
179 A configurable summary view is available via the
185 variable to ignore tty interrupt signals.
186 .It Fl L Ar spec-list
187 Print a header summary of only those messages that match the given
191 .Sx "Specifying messages"
196 option has been given in addition to
198 then printing of the header summary is suppressed,
199 and \*(UA will instead indicate via its exit status wether
201 matched any messages (`0') or not (`1');
202 note that messages are forcefully suppressed, then, and unless verbosity
203 is explicitly enabled (e.g., by using the
209 variable and thus inhibits the initial display of message headers when
210 reading mail or editing a mail folder.
212 Inhibits reading \*(UR upon startup.
213 This option should be activated for \*(UA scripts that are invoked on
214 more than one machine, because the contents of that file may differ
216 (The same behaviour can be achieved by setting the
217 .Ev NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
218 environment variable.)
219 .It Fl O Ar mta-option
220 Pass the given option through to the mail-transfer-agent (MTA).
221 This option has no effect when mail is send via SMTP.
223 .Ns ` Ns Li "-O-h -Onumber" Ns '
224 to specify the hop count for an old
226 Options set like that persist for an entire (interactive) session.
228 Start the message with the contents of the specified file.
229 May be given in send mode only.
231 Opens any folders read-only.
233 Sets the envelope sender address by passing an
236 option to the MTA when a message is send.
239 argument is given it'll be checked for validity and then fixated to
240 the given value, but otherwise the content of the variable
242 will be used for that purpose \(en i.e., it'll be passed through to
245 option whenever a message is send.
246 A valid non-empty value will also be set as if an additional
247 .Ns ` Ns Li "-Sfrom=VALUE" Ns '
248 option had been used and therefore affect sending of messages via SMTP
249 (as a consideration for `From:').
250 .It Fl S Ar variable Ns Op = Ns value
251 Sets the internal option
253 and, in case of a value option, assigns
256 Even though options set via
258 may be overwritten from within resource files,
259 the command line setting will be reestablished after all resources have
262 Specify the subject on the command line
263 (be careful to quote subjects containing spaces).
265 The message to be sent is expected to contain a message header with
266 `To:', `Cc:', or `Bcc:' fields giving its recipients and `Subject:'
267 giving the subject of the message.
268 Recipients and subject specified on the command line are ignored.
270 Read the system mailbox of
272 (appropriate privileges presumed), and `assume to be'
274 in some aspects, e.g. in respect to expansions of `%' etc.
278 Print \*(UA's version and exit.
282 option causes some verbosity (like printing of certificate chains).
283 Using it twice increases the level of verbosity.
285 Enable tilde escapes even if not in interactive mode.
287 This sets multiple options to prepare \*(UA for working in batch mode
288 (most likely in non-interactive mode):
300 it also enables processing of tilde escapes.
301 E.g., the following should send an email message to `alias'.
303 .Dl printf 'm alias\en~s Subject\enBody\en.\enx\en' | \
304 MAILRC=/dev/null s-nail -n -#
308 .\" .Ss "Sending mail" {{{
310 To send a message to one or more people,
311 \*(UA can be invoked with arguments which are the names of people to
312 whom the mail will be sent.
315 es, plain addresses or full address specifications including user names
317 in which case care for proper quoting may be necessary.
318 If this manual refers to a \fIlist of addresses\fR,
319 then \*(UA expects a comma-separated list of such names.
321 .Sx "Recipient address specifications"
322 below explains the interpretation of names in more detail.
323 The user is then expected to type in his message, followed by a
325 (`^D') at the beginning of a line.
327 .Sx "Replying to or originating mail"
328 describes some features of \*(UA available to help when composing
332 .\" .Ss "Reading mail" {{{
334 When invoked without addressees \*(UA enters interactive mode in which
336 When used like that \*(UA checks the user's mail out of the post office,
337 then prints out a one line header of each message found.
340 option is set \*(UA will only print a notification message and exit if
341 the mailbox is empty.
342 Messages are given numbers (starting at 1) which uniquely identify
343 messages; the current message \(en the dot \(en will be the first
344 message unless the option
346 is set, in which case the last message will be initial dot.
347 (Note this only applies to boxes with all-unread messages.
348 Boxes opened regulary, e.g., via the `-f' command line option, will have
349 the initial dot point to the first unread message.)
351 Messages can be printed with the
353 command, or short: `p'.
354 By default the current message (dot) is printed, but just like many
355 other commands it is possible to specify lists of messages, as is
357 .Sx "Specifying messages" ;
358 e.g., `p:u' will display all unread messages, `p.' will print the dot,
359 `p 1 5' will print the messages 1 and 5 and `p-' and `p+' will print the
360 last and the next message, respectively.
361 Dependent upon the configuration a
362 .Sx "Command line editor"
363 aims at making user experience with the many
368 .\" .Ss "Disposing of mail" {{{
369 .Ss "Disposing of mail"
370 After examining a message the user can
375 Deletion causes the \*(UA program to forget about the message.
376 This is not irreversible;
379 (`u') the message by giving its number,
380 or the \*(UA session can be ended by giving the
383 Deleted messages will, however, usually disappear never to be seen
387 .\" .Ss "Specifying messages" {{{
388 .Ss "Specifying messages"
389 Commands such as print and delete can be given a list of message numbers
390 as arguments to apply to a number of messages at once.
392 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1 2" Ns '
393 deletes messages 1 and 2,
395 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1-5" Ns '
396 will delete the messages 1 through 5.
397 In sorted or threaded mode (see the
402 .Ns ` Ns Li "delete 1-5" Ns '
403 will delete the messages that are located between (and including)
404 messages 1 through 5 in the sorted/threaded order, as shown in the
406 The following special message names exist:
408 .Bl -tag -width ".It .Ar :n:u"
412 All old messages (any not in state read or new).
416 All deleted messages (for the
422 All `flagged' messages.
424 All answered messages
429 All messages marked as draft.
431 \*(OP All messages classified as spam.
435 The message that was previously the current message.
437 The parent message of the current message,
438 that is the message with the Message-ID given in the `In-Reply-To:' field
439 or the last entry of the `References:' field of the current message.
441 The next previous undeleted message,
442 or the next previous deleted message for the
445 In sorted/threaded mode,
446 the next previous such message in the sorted/threaded order.
448 The next undeleted message,
449 or the next deleted message for the
452 In sorted/threaded mode,
453 the next such message in the sorted/threaded order.
455 The first undeleted message,
456 or the first deleted message for the
459 In sorted/threaded mode,
460 the first such message in the sorted/threaded order.
463 In sorted/threaded mode,
464 the last message in the sorted/threaded order.
467 selects the message addressed with
471 is any other message specification,
472 and all messages from the thread that begins at it.
473 Otherwise it is identical to
478 the thread beginning with the current message is selected.
482 All messages that were included in the message list for the previous
484 .It Ar / Ns Ar string
485 All messages that contain
487 in the subject field (case ignored).
494 the string from the previous specification of that type is used again.
495 .It Xo Op Ar @ Ns Ar name-list Ns
498 All messages that contain the given case-insensitive search
500 ession; if the \*(OPal regular expression (see
504 will be interpreted as one if any of the `magic'al regular expression
507 .Ar @ Ns Ar name-list
508 part is missing, the search is restricted to the subject field body,
511 specifies a comma-separated list of header fields to search, as in
513 .Dl '@to,from,cc@Someone i ought to know'
515 The special name `header' (or `<') can be used to search in the header
516 of the message, and the special names `body' (or `>') and `text' (or `=')
517 can be used to perform full text searches \(en whereas the former
518 searches only the body, the latter also searches the message header.
519 In order to search for a string that includes a `@' (commercial at)
522 is effectively non-optional, but may be given as the empty string.
526 By default, this is a case-sensitive search for the complete email
531 only the local part of the addresses is evaluated for the comparison.
535 a case-sensitive search for the complete real name of a sender is
538 .Ns ` Ns Li "(from address)" Ns '
539 expression can be used instead if substring matches are desired.
543 \*(OP IMAP-style SEARCH expressions may also be used.
544 This addressing mode is available with all types of folders;
545 for folders not located on IMAP servers,
546 or for servers unable to execute the SEARCH command,
547 \*(UA will perform the search locally.
548 Strings must be enclosed by double quotes `"' in their entirety
549 if they contain white space or parentheses;
551 only backslash `\e' is recognized as an escape character.
552 All string searches are case-insensitive.
553 When the description indicates that the `envelope' representation of an
554 address field is used,
555 this means that the search string is checked against both a list
558 .Dl ( \*q Ns name Ns \*q \*q Ns source Ns \*q \*q Ns \
559 local-part Ns \*q \*q Ns domain-part Ns \*q )
562 and the addresses without real names from the respective header field.
563 These search expressions can be nested using parentheses, see below for
565 .Bl -tag -width ".It .Ar :n:u"
567 All messages that satisfy the given
569 .It Ar ( criterion1 criterion2 ... criterionN )
570 All messages that satisfy all of the given criteria.
571 .It Ar ( or criterion1 criterion2 )
572 All messages that satisfy either
577 To connect more than two criteria using `or',
578 (or) specifications have to be nested using additional parentheses,
580 .Ns ` Ns Li "(or a (or b c))" Ns ',
582 .Ns ` Ns Li "(or a b c)" Ns '
584 .Ns ` Ns Li "((a or b) and c)" Ns '.
585 For a simple `or' operation of independent criteria on the lowest
587 it is possible to achieve similar effects by using three separate
589 .Ns ` Ns Li "(a) (b) (c)" Ns '.
590 .It Ar ( not criterion )
591 All messages that do not satisfy
593 .It Ar ( bcc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
594 All messages that contain
596 in the `envelope' representation of the `Bcc:' field.
597 .It Ar ( cc \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
598 All messages that contain
600 in the `envelope' representation of the `Cc:' field.
601 .It Ar ( from \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
602 All messages that contain
604 in the `envelope' representation of the `From:' field.
605 .It Ar ( subject \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
606 All messages that contain
608 in the `Subject:' field.
609 .It Ar ( to \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
610 All messages that contain
612 in the `envelope' representation of the `To:' field.
613 .It Ar ( header name \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
614 All messages that contain
619 .It Ar ( body \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
620 All messages that contain
623 .It Ar ( text \*q Ns Ar string Ns Ar \*q )
624 All messages that contain
626 in their header or body.
627 .It Ar ( larger size )
628 All messages that are larger than
631 .It Ar ( smaller size )
632 All messages that are smaller than
635 .It Ar ( before date )
636 All messages that were received before
638 which must be in the form
639 .Li "d[d]-mon-yyyy" ,
640 where `d' denotes the day of the month as one or two digits,
641 `mon' is the name of the month \(en one of
642 `Jan', `Feb', `Mar', `Apr', `May', `Jun',
643 `Jul', `Aug', `Sep', `Oct', `Nov', or `Dec',
644 and `yyyy' is the year as four digits, e.g., "28-Dec-2012".
646 All messages that were received on the specified date.
647 .It Ar ( since date )
648 All messages that were received since the specified date.
649 .It Ar ( sentbefore date )
650 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
651 .It Ar ( senton date )
652 All messages that were sent on the specified date.
653 .It Ar ( sentsince date )
654 All messages that were sent since the specified date.
656 The same criterion as for the previous search.
657 This specification cannot be used as part of another criterion.
658 If the previous command line contained more than one independent
659 criterion then the last of those criteria is used.
663 .\" .Ss "Replying to or originating mail" {{{
664 .Ss "Replying to or originating mail"
667 can be used to set up a response to a message,
668 sending it back to the person who it was from.
669 Text the user types in, up to an end-of-file,
670 defines the contents of the message.
671 While the user is composing a message \*(UA treats lines beginning with
672 the character `~' specially.
673 For instance, typing `~m' (alone on a line) will place a copy of the
674 current message into the response, each line prefixed by the value of
676 Other escapes will set up subject fields,
677 add and delete recipients to the message,
679 and allow the user to escape to an editor to revise the message
680 or to a shell to run some commands.
681 (These options are given in the summary below.)
684 .\" .Ss "Ending a mail processing session" {{{
685 .Ss "Ending a mail processing session"
686 The user can end a \*(UA session by issuing the
689 Messages which have been examined go to the user's mbox file unless they
691 in which case they are discarded.
692 Unexamined messages go back to the post office.
696 When command line history is tracked, an updated history file is
698 None of these actions is performed when the command
700 (`x') is used instead of
705 .\" .Ss "Personal and systemwide distribution lists" {{{
706 .Ss "Personal and systemwide distribution lists"
707 It is possible to create personal distribution lists so that,
708 for instance, the user can send mail to `cohorts'
709 and have it go to a group of people.
710 Such lists can be defined via the
712 command by, e.g., placing lines like
714 .Dl alias cohorts bill ozalp jkf mark kridle@ucbcory
716 in the file \*(ur in the user's home directory.
719 without arguments lists all the currently known aliases.
721 Please note that this mechanism has nothing in common with the system
722 wide aliases that may be used by the local MTA (mail-transfer-agent)
723 and are often tracked in a file
730 Personal aliases will be expanded by \*(UA before the message is sent.
731 They are a convenient alternative to specifying each addressee by
735 .\" .Ss "Recipient address specifications" {{{
736 .Ss "Recipient address specifications"
737 When an address is used to name a recipient (in `To:', `Cc:', or `Bcc:'),
738 names of local mail folders and pipes to external commands may also be
739 specified \(en the message text is then written to them.
740 The rules are: Any name which starts with a `|' (vertical bar) character
741 specifies a pipe \(en the command string following the `|' is executed
742 and the message is sent to its standard input;
743 any other name which contains a `@' (at sign) character is treated as
745 any other name which starts with a `+' (plus sign) character specifies
747 any other name which contains a `/' (slash) character but no `!'
748 (exclamation mark) or `%' (percent sign) character before also specifies
750 what remains is treated as a mail address.
751 Compressed folders are handled as described for the
756 .\" .Ss "Network mail (Internet / ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)" {{{
757 .Ss "Network mail (Internet / ARPA, UUCP, Berknet)"
760 for a description of network addresses.
761 If support for IDNA (internationalized domain names for applications)
762 has been compiled into \*(UA,
763 then the domain name part of network addresses will be converted via
764 IDNA mechanisms as necessary, effectively treating it as a name in the
768 for the complete picture about character sets.
770 \*(UA has a number of options which can be set in the \*(ur file
771 to alter its behavior; e.g.,
776 .Ic "set idna-disable"
777 will disable the mentioned IDNA conversion even if support is available.
778 (These options are summarized below.)
781 .\" .Ss "URL syntax" {{{
783 \*(IN For accessing protocol-specific resources, like an IMAP mailbox,
784 usage of compact and standardized Uniform Resource Locators (URL) has
786 \*(UA expects and understands URLs in the following form;
787 parts in brackets `[]' denote optional parts, optional either because
788 there also exist other ways to define the information in question or
789 because support of the part is protocol-specific \(en
790 e.g., `/path' is used by the IMAP protocol but not by POP3.
792 .Dl PROTO://[USER[:PASSWORD]@]server[:port][/path]
794 In general \*(UA adheres to the following logic scheme when dealing with
795 the necessary informations of a resource:
796 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
798 If no `USER' is given: a variable of the scheme
800 is looked up (`HOST' relates to the `server' specified in the URL),
801 followed by the plain
803 which in turn defaults to
805 which, again, defaults to `getpwuid(getuid())' a.k.a. the current user.
807 If no `PASSWORD' is given: a variable
808 .Va password-USER@HOST
809 is looked up (`HOST' again is the one found in the URL, `USER' is the
810 result of the user lookup described in the former item),
811 followed by the global
813 if still no password is available afterwards, but the (protocols')
814 chosen authentication type requires a password, the user will be
815 prompted on the terminal.
817 Authentication: unless otherwise noted this will first look for
818 .Va PROTO-auth-USER@HOST ,
823 which has a protocol-specific default should none of the variables be
828 For SMTP the rules are a bit more complicated, since \*(UA will always
831 instead of a given SMTP account in respect to S/MIME
834 .Va smime-sign-include-certs )
835 \(en this is because S/MIME verification works relative to the values
836 found in `From:' (or `Sender:').
839 .\" .Ss "MIME types" {{{
841 For any outgoing attachment \*(UA tries to determine the content type.
842 It does this by reading MIME type files whose lines have the following
845 .Dl type/subtype extension [extension ...]
847 where `type/subtype' are strings describing the file contents,
848 and `extension' is the part of a filename starting after the last dot.
849 Any line not immediately beginning with an ASCII alphabetical character
852 .Va mimetypes-load-control
853 can be used to control the sources of MIME types, and the
855 command can be used to show the list of mime types known to \*(UA.
856 If there is a match with the `extension' of the file to attach,
857 the given `type/subtype' pair is used.
858 Otherwise, or if the filename has no extension,
859 the content types `text/plain' or `application/octet-stream' are used,
860 dependent upon file content inspection.
862 .Va mime-allow-text-controls .
865 .\" .Ss "Character sets" {{{
867 \*(OP \*(UA detects the character set of the terminal by using
868 mechanisms that are controlled by the
873 should give an overview); the \*(UA internal variable
875 will be set to the detected terminal character set accordingly
876 and will thus show up in the output of the command
879 However, a user supplied
881 value is not overwritten by this detection mechanism;
882 this feature must be used if the detection doesn't work properly,
883 and it may be used to adjust the name of the locale character set.
884 E.g., on BSD systems one may use a locale with the character set
885 `ISO8859-1', which is not a valid name for this character set;
886 to be on the safe side, one may set
888 to the correct name, `ISO-8859-1'.
890 Note that changing the value doesn't mean much beside that,
891 since several aspects of the real character set are implied by the
892 locale environment of the system,
893 and that stays unaffected by the content of an overwritten
896 (This is mostly an issue when interactively using \*(UA, though.
897 It is actually possible to send mail in a completely "faked" locale
900 If no character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into
903 library has been found), then
905 will be the only supported character set,
906 it is simply assumed that it can be used to exchange 8 bit messages,
907 and the rest of this section does not apply;
908 it may however still be necessary to explicitly set it if automatic
909 detection fails, since in that case it defaults to `ISO-8859-1'.
911 When reading messages, their text is converted into
913 as necessary in order to display them on the users terminal.
914 Unprintable characters and invalid byte sequences are detected
915 and replaced by proper substitution characters
918 was set once \*(UA was started).
920 When sending messages all their parts and attachments are classified.
921 Whereas no character set conversion is performed on those parts which
922 appear to be binary data,
923 the character set being used must be declared within the MIME header of
924 an outgoing text part if it contains characters that do not conform to
925 the set of characters that are allowed by the email standards.
926 Permissible values for character sets can be declared using the
930 which defines a catch-all last-resort fallback character set that is
931 implicitly appended to the list of character-sets in
934 All the specified character sets are tried in order unless the
935 conversion of the part or attachment succeeds.
936 If none of the tried (8 bit) character sets is capable to represent the
937 content of the part or attachment,
938 then the message will not be sent and its text will be saved to
940 In general, if the message `Cannot convert from a to b' appears, either
941 some characters are not appropriate for the currently selected
942 (terminal) character set,
943 or the needed conversion is not supported by the system.
944 In the first case, it is necessary to set an appropriate `LC_CTYPE'
945 locale and/or the variable
948 The best results are usually achieved when \*(UA is run in a UTF-8
949 locale on a UTF-8 capable terminal,
950 in which case the full Unicode spectrum of characters is available.
951 In this setup characters from various countries can be displayed,
952 while it is still possible to use more simple character sets for sending
953 to retain maximum compatibility with older mail clients.
956 .\" .Ss "Command line editor" {{{
957 .Ss "Command line editor"
958 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support a command line editor and
959 command history lists which are saved in between sessions.
960 One may link against fully-fledged external libraries
961 .Ns ( Ns Xr readline 3 ,
963 ) or use \*(UA's own command line editor NCL (nail-command-line)
964 instead, which should work in all environments which comply to ISO
965 C (ISO/IEC 9899:1990/Amendment 1:1995).
966 When an external library is used, interactive behaviour of \*(UA relies
967 on that library and may not correspond one-to-one to what is described
970 Regardless of the actually used command line editor history entries
971 will be created for lines entered in command mode only, and creation of
972 such an entry can be forcefully suppressed by starting the line with
974 Note that history handling is by itself an optional feature and may
975 therefore not be available.
976 For more information see the documentation of the options
979 .Va line-editor-disable ,
984 The builtin \*(UA command line editor supports the following operations;
985 the notation `^-character' stands for the combination of the `control'
986 key plus the mentioned character, e.g., `^A' means "hold control key
987 while adding an A key on top of it":
988 .Bl -tag -width "^M^"
990 Go to the start of the line.
992 Move the cursor backward one character.
994 Forward delete the character under the cursor;
995 quits \*(UA if used on the empty line, unless the
999 Go to the end of the line.
1001 Move the cursor forward one character.
1003 Cancel current operation, full reset.
1004 If there is an active history search or tabulator expansion then this
1005 command will first reset that, reverting to the former line content;
1006 thus a second reset is needed for a full reset in this case.
1007 In all cases \*(UA will reset a possibly used multibyte character input
1010 The same as `backspace': backward delete one character.
1012 \*(OP The same as `horizontal tabulator': try to expand the "word"
1014 Here "expansion" refers to the \*(UA expansion, as documented for
1016 and thus includes shell word expansion (as a last step).
1017 I.e., this is \*(UA "expansion", not what one usually expects from
1020 The same as `ENTER': complete this line of input.
1022 Delete all characters from the cursor to the end of the line.
1026 \*(OP Go to the next history entry.
1028 \*(OP Go to the previous history entry.
1030 \*(OP Complete the current line from (the remaining older) history entries.
1032 The same as `^A' followed by `^K'.
1034 Delete the characters from the one preceding the cursor to the preceding
1037 Move the cursor forward one word boundary.
1039 Move the cursor backward one word boundary.
1042 If problems with commands that are based upon rightwise movement are
1043 encountered, adjustments of the option
1044 .Va line-editor-cursor-right
1045 may solve the problem, as documented for it.
1047 If the terminal produces key sequences which are compatible with
1049 then the left and right cursor keys will map to `^B' and `^F',
1050 respectively, the up and down cursor keys will map to `^P' and `^N',
1051 and the Home/End/PgUp/PgDown keys will call the
1053 command with the respective arguments `0', `$', `-' and `+'
1054 (i.e., perform scrolling through the header summary list).
1057 .\" .Ss "Coloured message display" {{{
1058 .Ss "Coloured message display"
1059 \*(OP \*(UA can be configured to support coloured message display.
1060 Colours are used only when the
1062 environment variable is set and the terminal type can be found in
1064 Beyond that, if a command requires to output through the
1070 must be mentioned in the variable
1072 otherwise no colours will be used regardless of the actual terminal type.
1074 "Coloured message display" can be configured through font attributes
1075 (`ft=' \(en `bold', `invers' and `underline'), foreground (`fg=') and
1076 background (`bg=') colours (`black', `blue', `green', `red', `brown',
1077 `magenta', `cyan' and `white').
1078 Multiple specifications can be joined in a comma separated list, as in
1080 .Dl set colour-msginfo="ft=bold,fg=magenta,bg=cyan"
1082 Options to be set are
1083 .Va colour-msginfo ,
1084 .Va colour-partinfo ,
1088 .Va colour-uheader ,
1090 .Va colour-user-headers ,
1091 which is a list of headers to be colourized via
1093 instead of the default
1095 To forcefully disable colours, set
1096 .Va colour-disable .
1099 .\" .Ss "Commands" {{{
1101 Each command is typed on a line by itself,
1102 and may take arguments following the command word.
1103 The command need not be typed in its entirety \(en
1104 the first command which matches the typed prefix is used.
1107 prints a sorted list of available commands, and the command
1109 when given an argument, will show a documentation string for the
1111 .Ns ` Ns Ic ? Ns Ar unc Ns ' ;
1112 documentation strings are however \*(OP.)
1114 For commands which take message lists as arguments,
1115 if no message list is given,
1116 then the next message forward which satisfies the command's requirements
1118 If there are no messages forward of the current message,
1119 the search proceeds backwards,
1120 and if there are no good messages at all,
1121 \*(UA types `no applicable messages' and aborts the command.
1122 If the command begins with a `#' (number sign) character,
1123 the line is ignored.
1125 The arguments to commands can be quoted, using the following methods:
1126 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
1128 An argument can be enclosed between paired double-quotes `"argument"' or
1129 single-quotes `'argument'';
1130 any white space, shell word expansion, or backslash characters (except
1131 as described next) within the quotes are treated literally as part of
1133 A double-quote will be treated literally within single-quotes and vice
1135 Inside such a quoted string the actually used quote character can be
1136 used nonetheless by escaping it with a backslash `\\', as in
1139 An argument that is not enclosed in quotes, as above, can usually still
1140 contain space characters if those spaces are backslash-escaped.
1142 A backslash outside of the enclosing quotes is discarded
1143 and the following character is treated literally as part of the argument.
1145 An unquoted backslash at the end of a command line is discarded and the
1146 next line continues the command.
1149 Filenames, where expected, are subsequently subjected to the following
1150 transformations, in sequence:
1151 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
1153 If the filename begins with an unquoted plus sign, and the
1155 variable is defined,
1156 the plus sign will be replaced by the value of the
1158 variable followed by a slash.
1161 variable is unset or is set to null, the filename will be unchanged.
1163 Shell word expansions are applied to the filename.
1164 If more than a single pathname results from this expansion and the
1165 command is expecting one file, an error results.
1169 The following commands are available:
1170 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic account"
1172 This is the comment-command and causes the entire line to be ignored.
1173 Note: since it is a normal command you cannot have trailing comments in
1174 lines from resource files etc.
1176 Interprets the remainder of the word as a macro name and passes it
1180 .Ns ` Ns Ic ~ Ns Ar mymacro Ns '
1181 is a shorter synonym for
1182 .Ns ` Ns Ic call Ar mymacro Ns ' .
1184 Print out the preceding message.
1185 If given a numeric argument n,
1186 goes to the n'th previous message and prints it.
1188 Prints a brief summary of commands.
1189 \*(OP Given an argument a synopsis for the command in question is
1191 note it is possible to abbreviate the command and see the expansion
1192 \(en try, e.g., `?h', `?hel' and `?help' and see how the display changes.
1194 Executes the shell (see
1198 ) command which follows.
1204 (ac) Creates, selects or lists an email account.
1205 An account is formed by a group of commands,
1206 primarily of those to set variables.
1208 of which the second is a `{',
1209 the first argument gives an account name,
1210 and the following lines create a group of commands for that account
1211 until a line containing a single `}' appears.
1212 With one argument the previously created group of commands for the
1213 account name is executed, and a
1215 command is executed for the system mailbox or inbox of that account.
1216 Without arguments the list of accounts and their contents are printed.
1218 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1220 set folder=imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example
1222 set from="myname@myisp.example (My Name)"
1223 set smtp=smtp://mylogin@smtp.myisp.example
1227 creates an account named `myisp' which can later be selected by
1228 specifying `account myisp'.
1229 The special account `null' (case-insensitive) always exists.
1231 can be used to localize account settings.
1232 Accounts can be deleted via
1235 (a) With no arguments, prints out all currently-defined aliases.
1236 With one argument, prints out that alias.
1237 With more than one argument,
1238 creates a new alias or changes an old one.
1240 can be used to delete aliases.
1242 (alt) The alternates command is useful if the user has accounts on
1244 It can be used to inform \*(UA that the listed addresses all belong to
1246 When replying to messages \*(UA will not send a copy of the message
1247 to any of the addresses listed on the alternates list.
1248 If the alternates command is given with no argument,
1249 the current set of alternate names is displayed.
1251 (ans) Takes a message list and marks each message as having been
1253 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1254 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
1255 and makes them specially addressable.
1257 \*(OP Only applicable to cached IMAP mailboxes;
1258 takes a message list and reads the specified messages into the IMAP
1261 Calls a macro (see the
1268 \*(OP Only applicable to S/MIME signed messages.
1269 Takes a message list and a file name and saves the certificates
1270 contained within the message signatures to the named file in both
1271 human-readable and PEM format.
1272 The certificates can later be used to send encrypted messages to the
1273 respective message senders by setting
1274 .Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
1277 (ch) Changes the user's working directory to the specified one,
1278 or to the user's login directory, if none was given.
1281 Only applicable to threaded mode.
1282 Takes a message list and makes all replies to these messages invisible
1283 in header summaries,
1284 unless they are in state `new'.
1286 \*(OP (conn) If operating in disconnected mode on an IMAP mailbox,
1287 switch to online mode and connect to the mail server while retaining the
1289 See the description of the
1291 variable for more information.
1293 (c) The copy command does the same thing that
1295 does except that it does not mark the given messages for deletion when
1297 Compressed files and IMAP mailboxes are handled as described for the
1303 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1304 sender address of the first message.
1306 Print the current working directory.
1308 \*(OP (dec) For unencrypted messages,
1309 this command is identical to
1311 Encrypted messages are first decrypted, if possible, and then copied.
1313 \*OP (Dec) Similar to
1315 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1316 sender address of the first message.
1318 (def) Without arguments the current list of macros, including their
1319 content, is printed.
1320 If arguments are given this command defines a macro.
1321 A macro definition is a sequence of commands in the following form:
1322 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1331 A defined macro can be explicitly invoked using
1335 or it can be implicitly invoked by setting the
1338 .Va folder-hook-fullname
1340 Macros can be deleted via
1343 (d) Takes a list of messages as argument and marks them all as deleted.
1344 Deleted messages will not be saved in `mbox',
1345 nor will they be available for most other commands.
1350 \*(OP (disco) If operating in online mode on an IMAP mailbox,
1351 switch to disconnected mode while retaining the mailbox status.
1352 See the description of the
1355 A list of messages may optionally be given as argument;
1356 the respective messages are then read into the cache before the
1357 connection is closed.
1358 Thus `disco *' makes the entire mailbox available for disconnected use.
1359 .It Ic dp Ns \ or Ic dt
1360 Deletes the current message and prints the next message.
1361 If there is no next message, \*(UA says `at EOF'.
1363 Takes a message list and marks each given message as a draft.
1364 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1365 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
1366 and makes them specially addressable.
1368 Echoes its arguments,
1369 resolving special names as documented for the command
1371 The escape sequences `\ea', `\eb', `\ec', `\ef', `\en', `\er', `\et',
1372 `\ev', `\e\e', and `\e0octal-num\fR' are interpreted just as they are by
1374 (proper quoting provided).
1376 (e) Point the text editor at each message from the given list in turn.
1377 Modified contents are discarded unless the
1386 conditional \(em if the condition of a preceeding
1388 was false, check the following condition and execute the following block
1389 if it evaluates true.
1396 conditional \(em if none of the conditions of the preceeding
1400 commands was true, the
1409 conditional execution block.
1411 (ex or x) Effects an immediate return to the Shell without modifying the
1412 user's system mailbox, his `mbox' file, or his edit file in
1414 as well as a possibly tracked command line editor history file.
1416 Print the list of features that have been compiled into \*(UA.
1421 (fl) Takes a message list and marks the messages as `flagged' for
1422 urgent/special attention.
1423 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
1424 it just causes messages to be highlighted in the header summary,
1425 and makes them specially addressable.
1427 (fold) The folder command switches to a new mail file or folder.
1428 With no arguments, it tells the user which file he is currently reading.
1429 If an argument is given, it will write out changes (such as deletions)
1430 the user has made in the current file and read in the new file.
1431 Some special conventions are recognized for the
1434 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ar %:filespec"
1436 (number sign) means the previous file,
1438 (percent sign) means the invoking user's system mailbox
1443 means the system mailbox of `user'
1444 (and never the value of
1446 regardless of its actual setting),
1448 (ampersand) means the invoking user's `mbox' file (see
1452 means a `file' in the
1456 expands to the same value as `filespec',
1457 but the file is handled as a system mailbox by, e.g., the
1464 If the name matches one of the strings defined with the command
1466 it is replaced by its long form and expanded.
1467 If the name ends with `.gz', `.bz2' or `.xz' it is treated as being
1473 respectively, and transparently handled through an intermediate
1474 (un)compression step (using a temporary file) with the respective
1475 utility, which thus must be available in the path.
1476 If `name' refers to a directory with the subdirectories `tmp', `new',
1477 and `cur', then it is treated as a folder in `maildir' format.
1480 .Dl \*(IN protocol://[user[:password]@]host[:port][/path]
1481 .Dl \*(OU protocol://[user@]host[:port][/path]
1483 is taken as an Internet mailbox specification.
1484 The \*(OPally supported protocols are `imap' (IMAP v4r1), `imaps'
1485 (IMAP with SSL/TLS encrypted transport), `pop3' (POP3) and `pop3s' (POP3
1486 with SSL/TLS encrypted transport).
1487 The `[/path]' part is valid only for IMAP; there it defaults to `INBOX'.
1488 Also see the section
1491 \*(OU If `user' contains special characters, in particular `/' or `%',
1492 they must be escaped in URL notation \(en the command
1494 can be used to show the necessary conversion.
1495 The optional `path' part applies to IMAP only;
1496 if it is omitted, the default `INBOX' is used.
1498 If \*(UA is connected to an IMAP server,
1499 a name of the form `@mailbox' refers to the `mailbox' on that server,
1500 but otherwise a `@' prefix has no special meaning.
1502 With no arguments, list the names of the folders in the folder directory.
1503 With an existing folder as an argument,
1504 lists the names of folders below the named folder;
1505 e.\|g. the command `folders @' lists the folders on the base level of
1506 the current IMAP server.
1507 See also the variable
1508 .Va imap-list-depth .
1512 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1513 recipient's address.
1517 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1518 recipient's address.
1522 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
1527 .It Ic followupsender
1530 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
1536 (fwd) Takes a message and the address of a recipient
1537 and forwards the message to him.
1538 The text of the original message is included in the new one,
1539 with the value of the
1541 variable printed before.
1546 commands specify which header fields are included in the new message.
1547 Only the first part of a multipart message is included unless the
1548 .Va forward-as-attachment
1553 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the
1554 recipient's address.
1556 (f) Takes a list of messages and prints their message headers,
1557 piped through the pager if the output does not fit on the screen.
1559 Specifies which header fields are to be ignored with the command
1561 This command has no effect when the
1562 .Va forward-as-attachment
1565 Specifies which header fields are to be retained with the command
1570 This command has no effect when the
1571 .Va forward-as-attachment
1574 Without arguments it lists all currently defined command aliases,
1576 With two arguments it defines a new command alias: the first argument is
1577 the name under which the second should be accessible.
1578 The content of the second argument can be just about anything.
1579 A ghost can be used everywhere a normal command can be used, but always
1580 takes precedence; any arguments that are given to the command alias are
1581 joined onto the alias content, and the resulting string forms the
1582 command line that is, in effect, executed.
1586 .Dl ? ghost ls '!ls -latro'
1589 (h) Lists the current range of headers, which is an 18-message group.
1590 If a `+' argument is given the next 18-message group is printed,
1591 likewise the previous is printed if the argument was `-'.
1600 the list of history entries;
1603 argument selects and shows the respective history entry \(en
1604 press `ENTER' to accept it, and the history entry will become the new
1606 The default mode if no arguments are given is
1609 (ho, also preserve) Takes a message list and marks each message therein
1610 to be saved in the user's system mailbox instead of in `mbox'.
1611 Does not override the
1614 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
1617 command issued after
1619 will display the following message, not the current one.
1621 Part of the nestable
1626 conditional execution construct \(em if the given condition is false
1627 execute the following block.
1628 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1636 Note that POSIX only supports the conditions `[Rr]eceive', `[Ss]end'
1637 and `[Tt]erm' (execute if standard input is a tty).
1638 Extensions are `0' (never execute) and `1' (always execute);
1639 it is also possible to conditionalize upon wether an option is set,
1640 or set to a specific value, by using the `$' conditional trigger, e.g.:
1641 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1645 if $encoding == "UTF-8"
1648 if $encoding != "UTF-8"
1653 The first form simply checks wether an option is set, the other two also
1654 perform value content comparison (equality and non-equality,
1655 respectively); an unset value is treated as the empty string, then.
1656 The \*(OPal regular expression support adds `=~' and `!~' tests, which
1657 treat the right hand side as a regular expression, e.g., `^UTF.*' (see
1661 Add the list of header fields named to the ignored list.
1662 Header fields in the ignore list are not printed on the terminal when
1663 a message is printed.
1664 This command is very handy for suppression of certain machine-generated
1670 commands can be used to print a message in its entirety, including
1672 It lists the current set of ignored fields if no arguments were given.
1674 \*(OP Sends command strings directly to the current IMAP server.
1675 \*(UA operates always in IMAP `selected state' on the current mailbox;
1676 commands that change this will produce undesirable results and should be
1678 Useful IMAP commands are:
1679 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width ".Ic getquotearoot"
1681 Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument and creates it.
1683 (RFC 2087) Takes the name of an IMAP mailbox as an argument
1684 and prints the quotas that apply to the mailbox.
1685 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
1687 (RFC 2342) Takes no arguments and prints the Personal Namespaces,
1688 the Other User's Namespaces and the Shared Namespaces.
1689 Each namespace type is printed in parentheses;
1690 if there are multiple namespaces of the same type,
1691 inner parentheses separate them.
1692 For each namespace a prefix and a hierarchy separator is listed.
1693 Not all IMAP servers support this command.
1699 Prints the names of all available commands, alphabetically sorted.
1701 Can only be used inside of a macro definition block introduced by
1705 and is interpreted as a boolean (value `0' means false, everything
1707 Any option that had been set while `localopts' was in effect will be
1708 reverted to its former value once the block is left / the `account'
1710 .Bd -literal -offset indent
1711 define temporary_settings {
1721 Note that these options stack upon each other, i.e., if macro1 sets
1722 `localopts' and calls macro2, which explicitly resets `localopts', then
1723 any values set within macro2 will still be cleaned up by macro1.
1727 but saves the message in a file named after the local part of the first
1728 recipient's address.
1730 (m) Takes a (list of) recipient address(es) as (an) argument(s),
1731 or asks on standard input if none were given;
1732 then collects the remaining mail content and sends it out.
1734 The given message list is to be sent to `mbox' when \*(UA is quit.
1735 This is the default action unless the
1738 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
1741 command issued after
1743 will display the following message, not the current one.
1752 In the former case all sources are loaded first as necessary.
1754 .Va mimetypes-load-control
1755 option can be used to fine-tune which sources are loaded.
1759 but marks the messages for deletion if they were transferred
1762 Takes a message list and invokes the
1764 on that list, printing a form-feed (`\\f') in between messages.
1768 but also prints ignored header fields and all MIME parts.
1772 but moves the messages to a file named after the local part of the
1773 sender address of the first message.
1775 Checks for new mail in the current folder without committing any changes
1777 If new mail is present, a message is printed.
1781 the headers of each new message are also printed.
1783 (n) (like `+' or `ENTER') Goes to the next message in sequence
1785 With an argument list, types the next matching message.
1793 If the current folder is located on an IMAP or POP3 server,
1794 a `NOOP' command is sent.
1795 Otherwise, no operation is performed.
1799 but also pipes ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
1800 `multipart/alternative' messages.
1802 (pi) Takes a message list and a shell command
1803 and pipes the messages through the command.
1804 Without an argument the current message is piped through the command
1811 every message is followed by a formfeed character.
1818 but also prints out ignored header fields and all parts of MIME
1819 `multipart/alternative' messages.
1826 (p) Takes a message list and types out each message on the user's
1828 If the message is a MIME multipart message,
1829 all parts with a content type of `text' or `message' are shown,
1830 the other are hidden except for their headers.
1831 Messages are decrypted and converted to the terminal character set
1834 (q) Terminates the session, saving all undeleted, unsaved messages in
1835 the current `mbox', preserving all messages marked with
1839 or never referenced in his system mailbox,
1840 and removing all other messages from his system mailbox.
1841 If new mail has arrived during the session,
1842 the message `You have new mail' is given.
1843 If given while editing a mailbox file with the command line flag
1845 then the edit file is rewritten.
1846 A return to the shell is effected,
1847 unless the rewrite of edit file fails,
1848 in which case the user can escape with the exit command.
1856 (rem) Removes the named folders.
1857 The user is asked for confirmation in interactive mode.
1859 (ren) Takes the name of an existing folder
1860 and the name for the new folder
1861 and renames the first to the second one.
1862 Both folders must be of the same type
1863 and must be located on the current server for IMAP.
1865 (R) Reply to originator.
1866 Does not reply to other recipients of the original message.
1868 (r) Takes a message list and sends mail to the sender and all recipients
1869 of the specified messages.
1870 The default message must not be deleted.
1874 but responds to all recipients regardless of the
1882 but responds to the sender only regardless of the
1890 but does not add any header lines.
1891 This is not a way to hide the sender's identity,
1892 but useful for sending a message again to the same recipients.
1894 Takes a list of messages and a user name
1895 and sends each message to the named user.
1896 `Resent-From:' and related header fields are prepended to the new copy
1907 .It Ic respondsender
1911 Add the list of header fields named to the retained list.
1912 Only the header fields in the retain list are shown on the terminal when
1913 a message is printed, all other header fields are suppressed.
1918 commands can be used to print a message in its entirety.
1919 The current set of retained fields is shown if
1921 is used without arguments.
1925 but saves the messages in a file named after the local part of the
1926 sender of the first message instead of taking a filename argument.
1928 (s) Takes a message list and a filename and appends each message in turn
1929 to the end of the file.
1930 If no filename is given, the `mbox' file is used.
1931 The filename in quotes, followed by the line count and character count
1932 is echoed on the user's terminal.
1933 If editing a system mailbox the messages are marked for deletion.
1934 Compressed files and IMAP mailboxes are handled as described for the
1936 command line option above.
1949 Header fields thus marked are filtered out when saving a message by
1951 or when automatically saving to `mbox'.
1952 This command should only be applied to header fields that do not contain
1953 information needed to decode the message,
1954 as MIME content fields do.
1955 If saving messages on an IMAP account ignoring fields makes it
1956 impossible to copy the data directly on the server,
1957 thus operation usually becomes much slower.
1967 Header fields thus marked are the only ones saved with a message when
1970 or when automatically saving to `mbox'.
1974 The use of this command is strongly discouraged since it may strip
1975 header fields that are needed to decode the message correctly.
1977 Takes a message list and marks all messages as having been read.
1979 (se) With no arguments, prints all variable values.
1980 Otherwise, sets an option.
1981 Arguments are of the form `option=value' (no space before or after `='),
1982 or plain `option' if there is no value.
1983 Quotation marks may be placed around any part of the assignment
1984 statement to quote blanks or tabs, e.g.,
1986 .Dl set indentprefix="->"
1988 If an argument begins with `no', as in `set nosave',
1989 the effect is the same as invoking the
1991 command with the remaining part of the variable (`unset save').
1995 except that the options are also exported into the program environment;
1996 since this task requires native host support the command will always
1997 report error if that is not available (but still act like
2000 This operation is a no-op unless all resource files have been loaded.
2004 (sh) Invokes an interactive version of the shell.
2006 Defines a shortcut name and its string for expansion,
2007 as described for the
2010 If used without arguments the currently defined shortcuts are printed.
2014 but performs neither MIME decoding nor decryption so that the raw
2015 message text is shown.
2017 Print the size in characters of each message of the given message-list.
2019 Create a sorted representation of the current folder,
2022 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
2024 Message numbers are the same as in regular mode.
2028 a header summary in the new order is also printed.
2029 Possible sorting criteria are:
2030 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width "subject"
2032 Sort the messages by their `Date:' field,
2033 that is by the time they were sent.
2035 Sort messages by the value of their `From:' field,
2036 that is by the address of the sender.
2040 the sender's real name (if any) is used.
2042 Sort the messages by their size.
2044 \*(OP Sort the message by their spam score, as has been classified via
2048 Sort the messages by their message status (new, read, old, etc.).
2050 Sort the messages by their subject.
2052 Create a threaded order,
2056 Sort messages by the value of their `To:' field,
2057 that is by the address of the recipient.
2061 the recipient's real name (if any) is used.
2064 If no argument is given,
2065 the current sorting criterion is printed.
2067 The source command reads commands from a file.
2069 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and clears their `is-spam' flag.
2071 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and forces the spam detector to forget it
2072 has ever used them to train its Bayesian filter, wether as `ham' or
2075 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and teaches them to the spam detector as
2077 This also clears the `is-spam' flag of the messages in question.
2079 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and rates them using the configured spam
2080 detector, setting their `is-spam' flag as appropriate.
2081 Note that the messages are not modified, and due to that the rating will
2082 get lost once the mailbox is left.
2083 Refer to the manual section
2085 for the complete picture of spam handling in \*(UA.
2087 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and sets their `is-spam' flag.
2089 \*(OP Takes a list of messages and teaches them to the spam detector as
2091 This also sets the `is-spam' flag of the messages in question.
2093 (th) Create a threaded representation of the current folder,
2094 i.\|e. indent messages that are replies to other messages in the header
2095 display and change the
2097 command and the addressing modes such that they refer to messages in the
2099 Message numbers are the same as in unthreaded mode.
2103 a header summary in threaded order is also printed.
2105 Takes a message list and prints the top few lines of each.
2106 The number of lines printed is controlled by the variable
2108 and defaults to five.
2110 Takes a message list and marks the messages for saving in `mbox'.
2111 \*(UA deviates from the POSIX standard with this command,
2114 command issued after `mbox' will display the following message instead
2117 (T) Identical to the
2124 Delete all given accounts.
2125 An error message is printed if a given account is not defined.
2126 Attempts to delete the currently active account are rejected.
2128 Takes a list of names defined by alias commands
2129 and discards the remembered groups of users.
2131 Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been answered.
2133 (unc) Only applicable to threaded mode.
2134 Takes a message list and makes the message and all replies to it visible
2135 in header summaries again.
2136 When a message becomes the current message,
2137 it is automatically made visible.
2138 Also when a message with collapsed replies is printed,
2139 all of these are automatically uncollapsed.
2141 Undefine all given macros.
2142 An error message is printed if a given macro is not defined.
2144 (u) Takes a message list and marks each message as not being deleted.
2146 Takes a message list and
2147 .Ns un Ns Ic draft Ns
2150 Takes a message list and marks each message as not being
2153 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for the
2157 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for the
2161 Remove an existing command
2164 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields.
2169 (U) Takes a message list and marks each message as not having been read.
2171 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields.
2173 Removes the header field names from the list of ignored fields for
2176 Removes the header field names from the list of retained fields for
2179 Takes a list of option names and discards their remembered values;
2185 except that the options are also removed from the program environment;
2186 since this task requires native host support the command will always
2187 report error if that is not available (but still act like
2190 This operation is a no-op unless all resource files have been loaded.
2194 Deletes the shortcut names given as arguments.
2196 Disable sorted or threaded mode
2202 return to normal message order and,
2206 print a header summary.
2211 Decode the given URL-encoded string arguments and show the results.
2213 URL-encode the given arguments and show the results.
2215 Show information about all given options.
2217 \*(OP (verif) Takes a message list and verifies each message.
2218 If a message is not an S/MIME signed message,
2219 verification will fail for it.
2220 The verification process checks if the message was signed using a valid
2222 if the message sender's email address matches one of those contained
2223 within the certificate,
2224 and if the message content has been altered.
2226 (v) Takes a message list and invokes the display editor on each message.
2227 Modified contents are discarded unless the
2231 (w) For conventional messages the body without all headers is written.
2232 The output is decrypted and converted to its native format as necessary.
2233 If the output file exists, the text is appended.
2234 If a message is in MIME multipart format its first part is written to
2235 the specified file as for conventional messages,
2236 and the user is asked for a filename to save each other part.
2237 For convience saving of each part may be skipped by giving an empty value;
2238 the same result can also be achieved by writing it to
2240 For the second and subsequent parts a leading `|' character causes the
2241 part to be piped to the remainder of the user input interpreted as
2243 otherwise the user input is expanded as usually for folders,
2244 e.g., tilde expansion is performed.
2245 In non-interactive mode, only the parts of the multipart message
2246 that have a filename given in the part header are written,
2247 the others are discarded.
2248 The original message is never marked for deletion in the originating
2251 the contents of the destination file are overwritten if the file
2253 No special handling of compressed files is performed.
2258 \*(UA presents message headers in windowfuls as described under the
2261 This command scrolls to the next window of messages.
2262 If an argument is given,
2263 it specifies the window to use.
2264 A number prefixed by `+' or `\-' indicates
2265 that the window is calculated in relation to the current position.
2266 A number without a prefix specifies an absolute window number,
2267 and a `$' lets \*(UA scroll to the last window of messages.
2271 but scrolls to the next or previous window that contains at least one
2272 new or `flagged' message.
2276 .\" .Ss "Tilde escapes" {{{
2278 Here is a summary of the tilde escapes,
2279 which are used to perform special functions when composing messages.
2280 Tilde escapes are only recognized at the beginning of lines.
2281 The name `tilde escape' is somewhat of a misnomer since the actual
2282 escape character can be set by the option
2284 .Bl -tag -width ".Ic ~< filename"
2286 Insert the string of text in the message prefaced by a single `~'.
2287 (If the escape character has been changed,
2288 that character must be doubled
2289 in order to send it at the beginning of a line.)
2290 .It Ic ~! Ar command
2291 Execute the indicated shell
2293 then return to the message.
2295 Same effect as typing the end-of-file character.
2296 .It Ic ~: Ar \*(UA-command Ns \ or Ic ~_ Ar \*(UA-command
2297 Execute the given \*(UA command.
2298 Not all commands, however, are allowed.
2300 Write a summary of command escapes.
2301 .It Ic ~< Ar filename
2304 .It Ic ~<! Ar command
2306 is executed using the shell.
2307 Its standard output is inserted into the message.
2308 .It Ic ~@ Op Ar filename...
2309 With no arguments, edit the attachment list interactively.
2310 If an attachment's file name is left empty,
2311 that attachment is deleted from the list.
2312 When the end of the attachment list is reached,
2313 \*(UA will ask for further attachments until an empty name is given.
2314 If a given file name solely consists of the number sign `#' followed
2315 by a valid message number of the currently active mailbox, the given
2316 message is attached as a MIME `message/rfc822' and the rest of this
2317 section does not apply.
2319 If character set conversion has been compiled into \*(UA, then this mode
2320 gives the user the option to specify input and output character sets,
2321 unless the file extension indicates binary content, in which case \*(UA
2322 asks wether this step shall be skipped for the attachment in question.
2323 If not skipped, then the charset that succeeds to represent the
2324 attachment data will be used in the `charset=' MIME parameter of the
2328 If input and output character sets are specified, then the conversion is
2329 performed on the fly.
2330 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2332 If only an output character set is specified, then the input is assumed
2335 charset and will be converted to the given output charset on the fly.
2336 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2338 If no character sets are specified at all then the algorithm that is
2339 documented in the section
2340 .Sx "Character sets"
2341 is applied, but directly and on the fly.
2342 The user will be asked repeatedly until the desired conversion succeeds.
2344 Finally, if an input-, but no output character set is specified, then no
2345 conversion is ever performed, but the `charset=' MIME parameter will
2346 still be set to the user input.
2348 The character set selection loop can be left by typing `control-C',
2349 i.e., causing an interrupt.
2350 .\" \*(OU next sentence
2351 Note that before \*(UA version 15.0 this terminates the entire
2352 current attachment selection, not only the character set selection.
2355 Without character set conversion support, \*(UA will ask for the input
2356 character set only, and it'll set the `charset=' MIME parameter to the
2357 given input, if any;
2358 if no user input is seen then the
2360 character set will be used for the `charset=' parameter instead.
2361 Note that the file extension check isn't performed in this mode, since
2362 no conversion will take place anyway.
2364 Note that in non-interactive mode, for reproduceabilities sake, there
2365 will always be two questions for each attachment, regardless of wether
2366 character set conversion is available and what the file extension is.
2367 The first asks for the filename, and the second asks for the input
2368 character set to be passed through to the `charset=' MIME parameter;
2369 no conversion will be tried if there is input to the latter question,
2370 otherwise the usual conversion algorithm, as above, is applied.
2371 For message attachments, the answer to the second question is completely
2376 arguments are specified,
2377 they are treated as a comma separated list of files,
2378 which are all expanded and appended to the end of the attachment list.
2379 (Filenames with commas, or with leading or trailing whitespace can only
2380 be added via the command line or the first method.
2381 Message attachments can only be added via the first method;
2382 filenames which clash with message numbers can only be added via the
2383 command line or the second method.)
2384 In this mode the (text) attachments are assumed to be in
2386 encoding, and will be evaluated as documented in the section
2387 .Sx "Character sets" .
2389 Inserts the string contained in the
2391 variable (same as `~i Sign').
2392 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2394 Inserts the string contained in the
2396 variable (same as `~i sign').
2397 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2398 .It Ic ~b Ar name ...
2399 Add the given names to the list of blind carbon copy recipients.
2400 .It Ic ~c Ar name ...
2401 Add the given names to the list of carbon copy recipients.
2403 Read the file specified by the
2405 variable into the message.
2407 Invoke the text editor on the message collected so far.
2408 After the editing session is finished,
2409 the user may continue appending text to the message.
2410 .It Ic ~F Ar messages
2411 Read the named messages into the message being sent, including all
2412 message headers and MIME parts.
2413 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
2414 .It Ic ~f Ar messages
2415 Read the named messages into the message being sent.
2416 If no messages are specified, read in the current message.
2417 Message headers currently being ignored (by the
2421 command) are not included.
2422 For MIME multipart messages,
2423 only the first printable part is included.
2425 Edit the message header fields `From:', `Reply-To:', `Sender:' and
2426 `Organization:' by typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit
2428 The default values for these fields originate from the
2436 Edit the message header fields `To:', `Cc:', `Bcc:', and `Subject:' by
2437 typing each one in turn and allowing the user to edit the field.
2438 .It Ic ~i Ar variable
2439 Insert the value of the specified variable into the message,
2440 adding a newline character at the end.
2441 The message remains unaltered if the variable is unset or empty.
2442 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
2443 .It Ic ~M Ar messages
2444 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
2447 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
2448 .It Ic ~m Ar messages
2449 Read the named messages into the message being sent,
2452 If no messages are specified, read the current message.
2453 Message headers currently being ignored (by the
2457 commands) are not included.
2458 For MIME multipart messages,
2459 only the first printable part is included.
2461 Print out the message collected so far,
2462 prefaced by the message header fields
2463 and followed by the attachment list, if any.
2465 Abort the message being sent,
2466 copying it to the file specified by the
2471 .It Ic ~R Ar filename
2472 Read the named file into the message, indented by
2474 .It Ic ~r Ar filename
2475 Read the named file into the message.
2477 Cause the named string to become the current subject field.
2478 .It Ic ~t Ar name ...
2479 Add the given name(s) to the direct recipient list.
2480 .It Ic ~U Ar messages
2481 Like `~m', but exclude all message headers.
2482 .It Ic ~u Ar messages
2483 Like `~f', but exclude all message headers.
2485 Invoke an alternate editor (defined by the
2487 option) on the message collected so far.
2488 Usually, the alternate editor will be a screen editor.
2489 After the editor is quit,
2490 the user may resume appending text to the end of the message.
2491 .It Ic ~w Ar filename
2492 Write the message onto the named file.
2494 the message is appended to it.
2496 Same as `~q', except that the message is not saved at all.
2497 .It Ic ~| Ar command
2498 Pipe the message through the specified filter command.
2499 If the command gives no output or terminates abnormally,
2500 retain the original text of the message.
2503 is often used as a rejustifying filter.
2507 .\" .Ss "Variable options" {{{
2508 .Ss "Variable options"
2509 Options are controlled via
2513 commands, see the corresponding entries for a syntax description.
2514 An option is also set if it is passed to \*(UA as part of the program
2515 environment (this is not restricted to specific variables as in the
2517 A value given in a startup file overrides a value imported from the
2519 Options may be either binary, in which case it is only significant to
2520 see whether they are set or not;
2521 or string, in which case the actual value is of interest.
2524 .\" .Ss "Binary options" {{{
2525 .Ss "Binary options"
2526 The binary options include the following:
2527 .Bl -tag -width ".Va autoprint"
2528 .It Va add-file-recipients
2529 When file or pipe recipients have been specified,
2530 mention them in the corresponding address fields of the message instead
2531 of silently stripping them from their recipient list.
2532 By default such addressees are not mentioned.
2534 Causes only the local part to be evaluated
2535 when comparing addresses.
2537 Causes messages saved in mbox to be appended to the end rather than
2539 This should always be set.
2540 .It Va ask Ns \ or Va asksub
2541 Causes \*(UA to prompt for the subject of each message sent.
2542 If the user responds with simply a newline,
2543 no subject field will be sent.
2545 Causes the prompts for `Cc:' and `Bcc:' lists to appear after the
2546 message has been edited.
2548 If set, \*(UA asks for files to attach at the end of each message.
2549 An empty line finalizes the list.
2551 Causes the user to be prompted for additional carbon copy recipients (at
2552 the end of each message if
2557 An empty line finalizes the list.
2559 Causes the user to be prompted for additional blind carbon copy
2560 recipients (at the end of each message if
2565 An empty line finalizes the list.
2567 \*(OP Causes the user to be prompted if the message is to be signed at
2568 the end of each message.
2571 variable is ignored when this variable is set.
2573 Causes threads to be collapsed automatically when threaded mode is
2578 Causes the delete command to behave like `dp -';
2579 thus, after deleting a message the next one will be typed automatically.
2581 Causes threaded mode (see the
2583 command) to be entered automatically when a folder is opened.
2585 Enables the substitution of `!' by the contents of the last command line
2587 .It Va batch-exit-on-error
2588 If the batch mode has been enabled via the
2590 command line option, then this variable will be consulted whenever \*(UA
2591 completes one operation (returns to the command prompt); if it is set
2592 then \*(UA will terminate if the last operation generated an error.
2594 Causes automatic display of a header summary after executing a
2598 Sets some cosmetical features to traditional BSD style;
2599 has the same affect as setting
2601 and all other variables prefixed with `bsd';
2602 it also changes the meaning of the \*(UA specific `\\&'
2606 Changes the letters printed in the first column of a header summary
2607 to traditional BSD style.
2609 Changes the display of columns in a header summary to traditional BSD
2612 Changes some informational messages to traditional BSD style.
2614 Causes the `Subject:' field to appear immediately after the `To:' field
2615 in message headers and with the `~h' tilde command.
2617 Changes the output format of the
2619 command to traditional BSD style.
2620 .It Va colour-disable
2621 \*(OP Forcefully disable usage of colours.
2622 Also see the section
2623 .Sx "Coloured message display" .
2625 Prints debugging messages and disables the actual delivery of messages.
2628 this option is intended for \*(UA development only.
2630 \*(OP When an IMAP mailbox is selected and this variable is set,
2631 no connection to the server is initiated.
2632 Instead, data is obtained from the local cache (see
2635 Mailboxes that are not present in the cache
2636 and messages that have not yet entirely been fetched from the server
2638 to fetch all messages in a mailbox at once,
2640 .Ns ` Ns Li copy * /dev/null Ns '
2641 can be used while still in connected mode.
2642 Changes that are made to IMAP mailboxes in disconnected mode are queued
2643 and committed later when a connection to that server is made.
2644 This procedure is not completely reliable since it cannot be guaranteed
2645 that the IMAP unique identifiers (UIDs) on the server still match the
2646 ones in the cache at that time.
2649 when this problem occurs.
2650 .It Va disconnected-USER@HOST
2651 The specified account is handled as described for the
2654 but other accounts are not affected.
2656 When dot is set, a dot (`.') on a line by itself during message input
2657 from a terminal shall be treated as end-of-message (in addition to the
2658 normal end-of-file condition).
2663 is ignored and using a dot is the only method to terminate input mode.
2665 If this variable is set then the editor is started automatically when
2666 composing a message in an interactive mode,
2667 as if the `~e' tilde command had been specified.
2670 variable is implied for this automatically spawned editor session.
2672 When a message is edited while being composed,
2673 its header is included in the editable text.
2674 The `To:', `Cc:', `Bcc:', `Subject:', `From:', `Reply-To:', `Sender:',
2675 and 'Organization:' fields are accepted within the header,
2676 other fields are ignored.
2678 If set, an empty mailbox file is not removed.
2679 This may improve the interoperability with other mail user agents
2680 when using a common folder directory.
2682 If the mailbox is empty \*(UA normally prints `No mail for user' and
2684 If this option is set \*(UA starts even with an empty mailbox.
2690 commands and vice-versa.
2691 .It Va forward-as-attachment
2692 Original messages are normally sent as inline text with the
2695 and only the first part of a multipart message is included.
2696 With this option messages are sent as MIME `message/rfc822' attachments
2697 with all of their parts included.
2702 options are ignored when the
2703 .Va forward-as-attachment
2706 When replying to a message \*(UA normally removes the comment parts of
2708 which by convention contain the full names of the recipients.
2709 If this variable is set such stripping is not performed,
2710 and comments are retained.
2712 Causes the header summary to be written at startup and after commands
2713 that affect the number of messages or the order of messages in the
2714 current folder; enabled by default.
2715 The command line option
2719 .It Va history-gabby
2720 \*(OP Add more entries to the history as is normally done.
2721 .It Va history-gabby-persist
2722 \*(OP \*(UAs own NCL will not save the additional (gabby) history
2723 entries in persistent storage unless this variable is also set.
2727 This option is used to hold messages in the system mailbox by default.
2729 \*(OP Can be used to turn off the automatic conversion of domain names
2730 according to the rules of IDNA (internationalized domain names for
2732 Since the IDNA code assumes domain names are specified with the
2734 character set, an UTF-8 locale charset is required to represent
2735 all possible international domain names (before conversion, that is).
2737 Ignore interrupt signals from the terminal while entering messages;
2738 instead echo them as `@' characters and discard the current line.
2740 Ignore end-of-file conditions (`control-D') on message input,
2741 which instead can be terminated only by entering a
2743 (`.') on a line by itself or by using the `~.' tilde escape.
2744 This option also applies to \*(UA command mode.
2745 .It Va imap-use-starttls
2746 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an unencrypted
2747 IMAP session SSL/TLS encrypted.
2748 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
2749 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the IMAPS method.
2750 .It Va imap-use-starttls-USER@HOST
2752 .Va imap-use-starttls
2753 for a specific account.
2755 This option causes \*(UA to truncate the user's system mailbox instead
2756 of deleting it when it is empty.
2757 This should always be set since it prevents malicious users from
2758 creating fake mail folders in a world-writable spool directory.
2760 When a message is saved it is usually discarded from the originating
2761 folder when \*(UA is quit.
2762 Setting this option causes all saved message to be retained.
2763 .It Va line-editor-disable
2764 Turn off any enhanced command line editing capabilities (see
2765 .Sx "Command line editor"
2768 When a message is replied to and this variable is set,
2769 it is marked as having been answered.
2770 This mark has no technical meaning in the mail system;
2771 it just causes messages to be marked in the header summary,
2772 and makes them specially addressable.
2773 .It Va message-id-disable
2774 By setting this option the generation of `Message-ID:' can be completely
2775 suppressed, effectively leaving this task up to the mail-transfer-agent
2776 (MTA) or the SMTP server.
2777 (According to RFC 5321 your SMTP server is not required to add this
2778 field by itself, so you should ensure that it accepts messages without
2781 Usually, when a group is expanded that contains the sender,
2782 the sender is removed from the expansion.
2783 Setting this option causes the sender to be included in the group.
2784 .It Va mime-allow-text-controls
2785 When sending messages, each part of the message is MIME-inspected in
2786 order to classify the `Content-Type:' and `Content-Transfer-Encoding:'
2787 that is required to send this part over mail transport, i.e.,
2788 a computation rather similar to what the
2790 command produces when used with the
2794 This classification however treats text files which are encoded in
2795 UTF-16 (often found for HTML files) and similar character sets as binary
2796 octet-streams, forcefully changing any `text/plain' or `text/html'
2797 specification to `application/octet-stream';
2798 if that actually happens, then a yet unset charset MIME parameter is set
2799 to `binary', effectively making it impossible for the receiving MUA to
2800 automatically interpret the contents of the part.
2802 If this option is set, and the data was unambiguously identified as text
2803 data at first glance (by a `.txt' or `.html' file extension), then the
2804 original `Content-Type:' will not be overwritten.
2805 .It Va mime-counter-evidence
2806 Normally the `Content-Type:' field is used to decide how to treat
2807 a messages MIME part.
2808 Some MUAs however don't use
2810 or a similar mechanism to correctly classify content,
2811 but simply specify `application/octet-stream',
2812 even for plain text attachments like `text/diff'.
2813 If this variable is set then \*(UA will use the file extension of
2814 attachments to classify such MIME message parts, if possible.
2816 Causes the filename given in the
2819 and the sender-based filenames for the
2823 commands to be interpreted relative to the directory given in the
2825 variable rather than to the current directory,
2826 unless it is set to an absolute pathname.
2828 If set, each message the
2830 command prints out is followed by a formfeed character.
2832 Send messages to the
2834 command without performing MIME and character set conversions.
2835 .It Va pop3-bulk-load
2836 \*(OP When accessing a POP3 server \*(UA loads the headers of the
2837 messages, and only requests the message bodies on user request.
2838 For the POP3 protocol this means that the message headers will be
2840 If this option is set then \*(UA will download only complete messages
2841 from POP3 servers instead.
2844 a macro that temporarily sets this option, then accesses a POP3 account
2845 that is known to only get small text messages, and then unsets this
2848 \*(OP Unless this variable is set the `APOP' authentication method
2849 will be used when connecting to a POP3 server that advertises support.
2850 The advantage of APOP over `USER/PASS' authentication is that the
2851 password is not sent in clear text over the wire and that only a single
2852 packet is sent for the user/password tuple.
2853 .It Va pop3-no-apop-HOST
2854 \*(IN Disables the `APOP' authentication method for a specific host.
2855 .It Va pop3-no-apop-USER@HOST
2856 Disables the `APOP' authentication method for a specific account.
2857 .It Va pop3-use-starttls
2858 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STLS' command to make an unencrypted POP3
2859 session SSL/TLS encrypted.
2860 This functionality is not supported by all servers,
2861 and is not used if the session is already encrypted by the POP3S method.
2862 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-HOST
2864 .Va pop3-use-starttls
2865 for a specific host.
2866 .It Va pop3-use-starttls-USER@HOST
2868 .Va pop3-use-starttls
2869 for a specific account.
2870 .It Va print-all-chars
2871 This option causes all characters to be considered printable.
2872 It is only effective if given in a startup file.
2873 With this option set some character sequences in messages may put the
2874 user's terminal in an undefined state when printed;
2875 it should only be used as a last resort if no working system locale can
2877 .It Va print-alternatives
2878 When a MIME message part of type `multipart/alternative' is displayed
2879 and it contains a subpart of type `text/plain',
2880 other parts are normally discarded.
2881 Setting this variable causes all subparts to be displayed,
2882 just as if the surrounding part was of type `multipart/mixed'.
2884 Suppresses the printing of the version when first invoked.
2885 .It Va quote-as-attachment
2886 If this is set, then the original message is added in its entirety
2887 as a `message/rfc822' MIME attachment when replying to a message.
2888 Note this works regardless of the setting of
2890 .It Va recipients-in-cc
2891 On group replies, specify only the sender of the original mail in `To:'
2892 and mention it's other recipients in the secondary `Cc:'.
2893 .It Va record-resent
2894 If both this variable and the
2901 commands save messages to the
2903 folder as it is normally only done for newly composed messages.
2904 .It Va reply-in-same-charset
2905 If this variable is set \*(UA first tries to use the same character set
2906 of the original message for replies.
2907 If this fails, the mechanism described in
2908 .Sx "Character sets"
2909 is evaluated as usual.
2911 Reverses the sense of
2916 .It Va rfc822-body-from_
2917 This variable can be used to force the display of a so-called `From_'
2918 line for messages that are embedded into an envelope mail via the
2919 `message/rfc822' MIME mechanism.
2921 When the user aborts a message with two `RUBOUT' (interrupt,
2922 `control-C') characters,
2923 \*(UA will copy the partial letter to the file
2925 This option is set by default.
2926 .It Va searchheaders
2927 Expand message-list specifiers in the form `/x:y' to all messages
2928 containing the substring `y' in the header field `x'.
2929 The string search is case insensitive.
2930 .It Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
2931 \*(OP If this variable is set, but
2933 is not, then \*(UA acts as if
2935 had been set to the value of the variable
2937 In effect this combination passes through the message data in the
2938 character set of the current locale (given that
2940 hasn't been set manually), i.e., without converting it to the
2942 fallback character set.
2943 Thus, mail message text will be in `ISO-8859-1' encoding when send from
2944 within a `ISO-8859-1' locale, and in `UTF-8' encoding when send from
2945 within an `UTF-8' locale.
2946 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
2947 the only supported character set is
2950 When sending a message wait until the MTA exits before accepting further
2952 If the MTA returns a non-zero exit status,
2953 the exit status of \*(ua will also be non-zero.
2955 Setting this option causes \*(UA to start at the last message instead of
2956 the first one when opening a mail folder.
2958 Causes \*(UA to use the sender's real name instead of the plain address
2959 in the header field summary and in message specifications.
2961 Causes the recipient of the message to be shown in the header summary
2962 if the message was sent by the user.
2963 .It Va skipemptybody
2964 If an outgoing message does not contain any text in its first or only
2966 do not send it but discard it silently (see also the command line option
2969 .It Va smime-force-encryption
2970 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to refuse sending unencrypted messages.
2972 \*(OP S/MIME sign outgoing messages with the user's private key and
2973 include the user's certificate as a MIME attachment.
2974 Signing a message enables a recipient to verify that the sender used
2975 a valid certificate,
2976 that the email addresses in the certificate match those in the message
2977 header and that the message content has not been altered.
2978 It does not change the message text,
2979 and people will be able to read the message as usual.
2983 .Va smime-sign-include-certs .
2984 .It Va smime-no-default-ca
2985 \*(OP Don't load default CA locations when verifying S/MIME signed
2987 .It Va smtp-use-starttls
2988 \*(OP Causes \*(UA to issue a `STARTTLS' command to make an SMTP session
2990 Not all servers support this command \(en because of common
2991 implementation defects it can't be automatically determined whether
2992 a server supports it or not.
2993 .It Va ssl-no-default-ca
2994 \*(OP Don't load default CA locations to verify SSL/TLS server
2997 \*(OP Accept SSLv2 connections.
2998 These are normally not allowed because this protocol version is insecure.
2999 .It Va keep-content-length
3000 When (editing messages and) writing MBOX mailbox files \*(UA can be told
3001 to keep the `Content-Length:' and `Lines:' header fields that some MUAs
3002 generate by setting this variable.
3003 Since \*(UA does neither use nor update these non-standardized header
3004 fields (which in itself shows one of their conceptual problems),
3005 stripping them should increase interoperability in between MUAs that
3006 work with with same mailbox files.
3007 Note that, if this is not set but
3008 .Va writebackedited ,
3009 as below, is, a possibly performed automatic stripping of these header
3010 fields already marks the message as being modified.
3012 Setting this option enables upward compatibility with \*(UA version 15.0
3013 in respect to which configuration options are available and how they are
3015 This manual uses \*(IN and \*(OU to refer to the new and the old way of
3016 doing things, respectively.
3018 Setting this option, also controllable via the command line option
3020 causes \*(UA to be more verbose, so that, e.g., certificate chains will
3021 be displayed on the users terminal.
3022 Setting this binary options twice increases the level of verbosity, in
3023 which case even details of the actual message delivery and protocol
3024 conversations are also shown.
3027 is sufficient to disable verbosity as such.
3028 .It Va writebackedited
3029 If this variable is set messages modified using the
3033 commands are written back to the current folder when it is quit;
3034 it is only honoured for writable folders in `mbox' format, though.
3035 Note that the editor will be pointed to the raw message content in that
3036 case, i.e., neither MIME decoding nor decryption will have been
3038 and proper RFC 4155 `From ' quoting of newly added or edited content is
3039 also left as an excercise to the user.
3043 .\" .Ss "Value options" {{{
3045 The value options include the following:
3046 .Bl -tag -width ".Va autoprint"
3048 A sequence of characters to print in the `attribute' column of a header
3050 each for one type of messages in the following order:
3051 new (N), unread but old (U), new but read (R), read and old (O), saved
3052 (S), preserved (P), mboxed (M), flagged (F), answered (A), draft (T),
3053 start of a collapsed thread (+), collapsed (\-), classified as spam ($).
3054 The default is `NUROSPMFAT+\-$',
3055 or `NU\ \ *HMFAT+\-$' if
3059 environment variable are set.
3061 Specifies a list of recipients to which a blind carbon copy of each
3062 outgoing message will be sent automatically.
3064 Specifies a list of recipients to which a carbon copy of each outgoing
3065 message will be sent automatically.
3067 Causes sorted mode (see the
3069 command) to be entered automatically with the value of this option as
3070 sorting method when a folder is opened.
3072 The value that should appear in the `charset=' parameter of
3073 `Content-Type:' MIME header fields when no character set conversion of
3074 the message data was performed.
3075 This defaults to `US-ASCII', and the chosen character set should be
3076 `US-ASCII' compatible.
3078 \*(OP The default 8 bit character set that is used as an implied last
3079 member of the variable
3081 Defaults to `UTF-8'.
3082 If no character set conversion capabilities are available in \*(UA then
3083 the only supported character set is
3085 Refer to the section
3086 .Sx "Character sets"
3087 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
3089 The default value for the
3093 \*(OP The colour specification for so-called `From_' lines.
3095 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3096 for the format of the value.
3097 .It Va colour-header
3098 \*(OP The colour specification for header lines.
3100 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3101 for the format of the value.
3102 .It Va colour-msginfo
3103 \*(OP The colour specification for the introductional message info line.
3105 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3106 for the format of the value.
3107 .It Va colour-pagers
3108 \*(OP A comma-separated list of
3110 s for which coloured message display can be used.
3111 Note that only a substring comparison is performed, meaning that the
3112 string `lesser' will match the string `less'.
3114 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3116 The default is set to the sole string `less'.
3117 .It Va colour-partinfo
3118 \*(OP The colour specification for MIME part info lines.
3120 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3121 for the format of the value.
3123 \*(OP A comma-separated list of
3125 inals for which coloured message display can be used.
3128 .Dl cons25,linux,rxvt,rxvt-unicode,\:screen,\:sun,\:vt100,\:vt220,\:\
3129 wsvt25,\:xterm,\:xterm-color
3130 .It Va colour-uheader
3131 \*(OP The colour specification for those header lines that have been
3133 .Va colour-user-headers
3136 .Sx "Coloured message display"
3137 for the format of the value.
3138 .It Va colour-user-headers
3139 A comma separated list of (case-insensitive) header names which should
3140 be colourized with the alternative
3143 The default value is `from,subject'.
3145 The valued option crt is used as a threshold to determine how long
3146 a message must be before
3151 is set without a value then the height of the terminal screen stored in
3152 the system is used to compute the threshold (see
3158 The name of the file to use for saving aborted messages.
3159 This defaults to `dead.letter' in the user's home directory.
3161 The date in a header summary is normally the date of the mailbox `From\ '
3162 line of the message.
3163 If this variable is set, then the date as given in the `Date:' field is
3164 used, converted to local time.
3165 It is possible to control the display of the date by assigning a value,
3168 function will be used to format the date accordingly.
3169 Please read your system manual for the available formats.
3170 Note that the `%n' format should not be used, because \*(UA doesn't
3171 take embedded newlines into account when calculating how many lines fit
3173 .It Va datefield-markout-older
3174 This option, when set in addition to
3176 modifies the display of messages that are not really current in a way
3177 that is rather comparable to the
3182 The interpretation of the value is identical to what has been described
3186 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
3191 A default editor is used if this value is not defined.
3193 Suggestion for the MIME encoding to use in outgoing text messages
3195 Valid values are the default `quoted-printable', `8bit' and `base64'.
3196 `8bit' may cause problems with when transferring mail messages over
3197 channels that are not ESMTP (RFC 1869) compliant.
3198 If there is no need to encode a message,
3199 `7bit' transfer mode is always used regardless of this variable.
3200 Binary data is always encoded as `base64'.
3202 If defined, the first character of this option
3203 gives the character to use in place of `~' to denote tilde escapes.
3205 The name of the directory to use for storing folders of messages.
3206 All folder names that begin with `+' refer to files below it.
3207 The same special conventions as documented for the
3209 command may be used when specifying a new value for
3211 but be aware that the expansion is fully performed immediately.
3212 E.g., if the expanded name refers to an IMAP account, all names that
3213 begin with `+' refer to IMAP mailboxes below the
3217 Note: some IMAP servers do not accept the creation of mailboxes in
3218 the hierarchy base, but require that they are created as subfolders of
3219 `INBOX' \(en with such servers a folder name of the form
3221 .Dl imaps://mylogin@imap.myisp.example/INBOX.
3223 should be used (the last character is the server's hierarchy delimiter).
3224 Folder names prefixed by `+' will then refer to folders below `INBOX',
3225 while folder names prefixed by `@' refer to folders below the hierarchy
3229 namespace command for a method to detect the appropriate prefix and
3232 When a folder is opened and this variable is set,
3233 the macro corresponding to the value of this variable is executed.
3234 The macro is also invoked when new mail arrives,
3235 but message lists for commands executed from the macro
3236 only include newly arrived messages then.
3237 .It Va folder-hook-fullname
3238 When a folder named `fullname' is opened,
3239 the macro corresponding to the value of this variable is executed.
3240 Unlike other folder specifications,
3241 the fully expanded name of a folder, without metacharacters,
3242 is used to avoid ambiguities.
3243 The macro specified with
3245 is not executed if this variable is effective for a folder
3248 ed from within the actually executed macro).
3250 The address (or a list of addresses) to put into the `From:' field of
3251 the message header, quoting RFC 5322:
3252 the author(s) of the message, that is, the mailbox(es) of the person(s)
3253 or system(s) responsible for the writing of the message.
3254 If replying to messages these addresses are handled as if they were in
3258 If the machine's hostname is not valid at the Internet (for example at
3259 a dialup machine) then either this variable or
3264 adds even more fine-tuning capabilities),
3268 contains more than one address,
3271 variable is required (according to the standard RFC 5322).
3273 The string to print before the text of a message with the
3277 .Va forward-as-attachment
3279 Defaults to `-------- Original Message --------' if unset.
3280 No heading is printed if it is set to the empty string.
3282 A format string to use for the header summary,
3286 A `%' character introduces a format specifier.
3287 It may be followed by a number indicating the field width.
3288 If the (possibly implicitly implied) field width is negative, the field
3289 is to be left-aligned.
3290 Valid format specifiers are:
3291 .Bl -tag -offset indent -width "%%"
3295 The date when the message was received.
3297 The indenting level in threaded mode.
3299 The address of the message sender.
3301 The message thread structure.
3302 (Note that this format doesn't support a field width.)
3304 The number of lines of the message.
3308 The number of octets (bytes) in the message.
3310 Message subject (if any).
3312 Message subject (if any) in double quotes.
3314 The position in threaded/sorted order.
3316 A `>' for the current message, otherwise ` '.
3318 A `<' for the current message, otherwise ` '.
3320 The spam score of the message, as has been classified via the command
3326 The default is `%>\&%a\&%m\ %-18f\ %16d\ %4l/%\-5o\ %i%-s',
3327 or `%>\&%a\&%m\ %20-f\ \ %16d\ %3l/%\-5o\ %i%-S' if
3332 .It Va headline-bidi
3333 Bidirectional text requires special treatment when displaying headers,
3334 because numbers (in dates or for file sizes etc.) will not affect the
3335 current text direction, in effect resulting in ugly line layouts when
3336 arabic or other right-to-left text is to be displayed.
3337 On the other hand only a minority of terminals is capable to correctly
3338 handle direction changes, so that user interaction is necessary for
3340 Note that extended host system support is required nonetheless, e.g.,
3341 detection of the terminal character set is one precondition;
3342 and this feature only works in an Unicode (i.e., UTF-8) locale.
3344 In general setting this variable will cause \*(UA to encapsulate text
3345 fields that may occur when printing
3347 (and some other fields, like dynamic expansions in
3349 with special Unicode control sequences;
3350 it is possible to fine-tune the terminal support level by assigning
3352 no value (or any value other than `1', `2' and `3') will make \*(UA
3353 assume that the terminal is capable to properly deal with Unicode
3354 version 6.3, in which case text is embedded in a pair of U+2068 (FIRST
3355 STRONG ISOLATE) and U+2069 (POP DIRECTIONAL ISOLATE) characters.
3356 In addition no space on the line is reserved for these characters.
3358 Weaker support is chosen by using the value `1' (Unicode 6.3, but
3359 reserve the room of two spaces for writing the control sequences onto
3361 The values `2' and `3' select Unicode 1.1 support (U+200E, LEFT-TO-RIGHT
3362 MARK); the latter again reserves room for two spaces in addition.
3364 Use this string as hostname when expanding local addresses instead of
3365 the value obtained from
3369 i.e., in `Message-ID:' and `From:' fields.
3372 transport is not used then it is normally the responsibility of the MTA
3373 to create these fields, \*(IN in conjunction with
3377 also influences the results;
3378 you should produce some test messages with the desired combination of
3385 \*(OP Sets the IMAP authentication method.
3386 Valid values are `login' for the usual password-based authentication
3388 `cram-md5', which is a password-based authentication that does not send
3389 the password over the network in clear text,
3390 and `gssapi' for GSS-API based authentication.
3391 .It Va imap-auth-USER@HOST
3392 Sets the IMAP authentication method for a specific account.
3394 \*(OP Enables caching of IMAP mailboxes.
3395 The value of this variable must point to a directory that is either
3396 existent or can be created by \*(UA.
3397 All contents of the cache can be deleted by \*(UA at any time;
3398 it is not safe to make assumptions about them.
3399 .It Va imap-keepalive
3400 \*(OP IMAP servers may close the connection after a period of
3401 inactivity; the standard requires this to be at least 30 minutes,
3402 but practical experience may vary.
3403 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
3404 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
3406 .It Va imap-list-depth
3407 \*(OP When retrieving the list of folders on an IMAP server, the
3409 command stops after it has reached a certain depth to avoid possible
3411 The value of this variable sets the maximum depth allowed.
3413 If the folder separator on the current IMAP server is a slash `/',
3414 this variable has no effect and the
3416 command does not descend to subfolders.
3418 String used by the `~m', `~M' and `~R' tilde escapes and by the
3420 option for indenting messages,
3421 in place of the normal tabulator character (`^I'), which is the default.
3422 Be sure to quote the value if it contains spaces or tabs.
3424 Pathname of the directory lister to use in the
3426 command when operating on local mailboxes.
3429 .It Va line-editor-cursor-right
3430 \*(OP If the builtin command line editor is used, actions which are
3431 based on rightwise movement may not work on some terminals.
3432 If you encounter such problems, set this variable to the terminal
3433 control sequence that is necessary to move the cursor one column to the
3435 The default is `\\033[C', which should work for most terminals.
3436 Less often occur `\\033OC' and `\\014'.
3437 Note that `ESCAPE' and other control character have to be written as
3438 shell-style escape sequences, e.g., `\\033' for `ESCAPE'.
3440 Is used as the user's mailbox, if set.
3441 Otherwise, a system-dependent default is used.
3442 Supports a logical subset of the special conventions that are documented
3449 The name of the mbox file.
3450 Supports a logical subset of the special conventions that are documented
3456 The fallback default is `mbox' in the user's home directory.
3457 .It Va mimetypes-load-control
3458 This option can be used to control which of the
3460 MIME type databases are loaded by \*(UA.
3461 If the letter `u' (or `U') is part of this options value, then the
3464 file will be loaded (if it exists);
3465 likewise the letter `s' (or `S') controls loading of the system wide
3466 .Pa /etc/mime.types .
3467 If this option is not set \*(UA will try to load both files instead.
3468 Incorporation of the MIME types that are compiled into \*(UA cannot be
3470 .It Va NAIL_EXTRA_RC
3471 The name of an optional startup file to be read after \*(ur.
3472 This variable is ignored if it is imported from the environment;
3473 it has an effect only if it is set in \*(UR or \*(ur to allow bypassing
3474 the configuration with, e.g., `MAILRC=/dev/null'.
3475 Use this file for commands that are not understood by other \*(UA
3478 A string to put at the beginning of each new message.
3479 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
3480 .It Va NAIL_HISTFILE
3481 \*(OP If a command line editor is available then this can be set to
3482 name the (expandable) path of the location of a permanent history file.
3483 .It Va NAIL_HISTSIZE
3484 \*(OP If a command line editor is available this value restricts the
3485 amount of history entries that are saved into a set and valid
3487 A value of less than 0 disables this feature;
3488 note that loading and incorporation of
3490 upon program startup can also be suppressed by doing this.
3491 An unset or invalid value, or 0, causes a default value to be used.
3492 Dependent on the available command line editor this will also define the
3493 number of history entries in memory;
3494 it is also editor-specific wether runtime updates of this value will be
3497 A string to put at the end of each new message.
3498 The escape sequences `\et' (tabulator) and `\en' (newline) are understood.
3500 If this variable has the value `maildir',
3501 newly created local folders will be in `maildir' format.
3503 Checks for new mail in the current folder each time the prompt is
3505 For IMAP mailboxes the server is then polled for new mail,
3506 which may result in delayed operation if the connection to the server is
3508 A `maildir' folder must be re-scanned to determine if new mail has
3511 If this variable is set to the special value `nopoll' an IMAP server is
3512 not actively asked for new mail,
3513 but new mail may still be detected and announced with any other IMAP
3514 command that is sent to the server.
3515 A `maildir' folder is not scanned, then.
3517 In either case the IMAP server may send notifications about messages
3518 that have been deleted on the server by another process or client.
3519 In this case, `Expunged X messages' is printed regardless of this
3521 and message numbers may have changed.
3523 The value to put into the `Organization:' field of the message header.
3525 Pathname of the program to use in the more command or when the
3528 The default paginator is
3531 \*(IN Sets a global fallback password, which is used in case none has
3532 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL and neither is there
3533 a matching `password-USER@HOST' nor a matching `password-HOST';
3534 as a last resort \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal if
3535 the authentication method requires a password.
3536 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
3537 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
3538 .It Va password-HOST
3541 for accounts on a specific host.
3542 .It Va password-USER@HOST
3547 for a specific account.
3549 Set the password for `user' when connecting to `host'.
3550 If no such variable is defined for a host,
3551 the user will be asked for a password on standard input.
3552 Specifying passwords in a startup file is generally a security risk;
3553 the file should be readable by the invoking user only.
3554 .It Va pipe-content/subcontent
3555 When a MIME message part of `content/subcontent' type is displayed or
3557 its text is filtered through the value of this variable interpreted as
3560 The special value `@' can be used to force interpretation of the message
3561 part as plain text, e.g., `set pipe-application/pgp-signature=@' will
3562 henceforth treat signatures as plain text and display them "as is".
3564 Also, if a normal shell command is prefixed with `@', then the command
3565 will only be used to prepare the MIME message part if the message is
3566 displayed by itself, but not when multiple messages are displayed at
3569 Finally, if a normal shell command is prefixed with `@&', then, in
3570 addition to what has been described for the plain `@' shell command
3571 prefix, the command will be run asynchronously, i.e., without blocking
3572 \*(UA, which may be a handy way to display a, e.g., PDF file while also
3573 continuing to read the mail message.
3575 Special care must be taken when using such commands as mail viruses may
3576 be distributed by this method;
3577 if messages of type `application/x-sh' were filtered through the shell,
3579 a message sender could easily execute arbitrary code on the system \*(UA
3581 .It Va pop3-keepalive
3582 \*(OP POP3 servers close the connection after a period of inactivity;
3583 the standard requires this to be at least 10 minutes,
3584 but practical experience may vary.
3585 Setting this variable to a numeric `value' greater than 0 causes
3586 a `NOOP' command to be sent each `value' seconds if no other operation
3589 The string printed when a command is accepted.
3590 Prompting may be prevented by either setting this to the null string
3593 The same XSI escape sequences that are understood by the
3595 command may be used within
3598 In addition, the following \*(UA specific additional sequences are
3600 `\\&', which expands to `?' unless
3602 is set, in which case it expands to `&';
3603 note that "\\& " is the default value for
3605 `\\?', which will expand to `1' if the last command failed, and to `0'
3607 `\\$', which will expand to the name of the currently active
3609 if any, and to the empty string otherwise,
3610 and `\\@', which will expand to the name of the currently active mailbox.
3611 (Note that the prompt buffer is size-limited, excess is cut off.)
3617 to encapsulate the expansions of the `\\$' and `\\@' escape sequences as
3618 necessary to correctly display bidirectional text, this is not true for
3619 the final string that makes up
3621 as such, i.e., real BIDI handling is not supported.
3623 When a newer version of the
3625 .Sx "Command line editor"
3626 is used, any escape sequence must itself be encapsulated with another
3627 escape character for usage with the
3629 mechanism: \*(UA configures the control character `\\01' for this.
3631 If set, \*(UA starts a replying message with the original message
3632 prefixed by the value of the variable
3634 Normally, a heading consisting of `Fromheaderfield wrote:' is printed
3635 before the quotation.
3636 If the string `noheading' is assigned to the
3638 variable, this heading is omitted.
3639 If the string `headers' is assigned, the headers selected by the
3640 .Ic ignore Ns / Ns Ic retain
3641 commands are printed above the message body,
3644 acts like an automatic `~m' tilde escape command, then.
3645 If the string `allheaders' is assigned, all headers are printed above
3646 the message body and all MIME parts are included,
3649 act like an automatic `~M' command.
3651 .Va quote-as-attachment .
3653 \*(OP Can be set in addition to
3655 Setting this turns on a more fancy quotation algorithm in that leading
3656 quotation characters are compressed and overlong lines are folded.
3658 can be set to either one or two (space separated) numeric values,
3659 which are interpreted as the maximum (goal) and the minimum line length,
3660 respectively, in a spirit rather equal to the
3662 program, but line-, not paragraph-based.
3663 If not set explicitly the minimum will reflect the goal algorithmically.
3664 The goal can't be smaller than the length of
3666 plus some additional pad.
3667 Necessary adjustments take place silently.
3669 If defined, gives the pathname of the folder used to record all outgoing
3671 If not defined, then outgoing mail is not saved.
3672 When saving to this folder fails the message is not sent,
3673 but instead saved to
3676 A list of addresses to put into the `Reply-To:' field of the message
3678 Members of this list are handled as if they were in the
3682 When \*(UA initially prints the message headers it determines the number
3683 to print by looking at the speed of the terminal.
3684 The faster the terminal, the more it prints.
3685 This option overrides this calculation and specifies how many message
3686 headers are printed.
3687 This number is also used for scrolling with the
3691 \*(OP A comma-separated list of character set names that can be used in
3692 outgoing Internet mail.
3693 The value of the variable
3695 is automatically appended to this list of character-sets.
3696 If no character set conversion capabilities are compiled into \*(UA then
3697 the only supported charset is
3700 .Va sendcharsets-else-ttycharset
3701 and refer to the section
3702 .Sx "Character sets"
3703 for the complete picture of character set conversion in \*(UA.
3705 An address that is put into the `Sender:' field of outgoing messages,
3706 quoting RFC 5322: the mailbox of the agent responsible for the actual
3707 transmission of the message.
3708 This field should normally not be used unless the `From:' field contains
3709 more than one address, on which case it is required.
3712 address is handled as if it were in the
3716 To use an alternate mail delivery system,
3717 set this option to the full pathname of the program to use.
3718 It may be necessary to set
3719 .Va sendmail-progname
3721 .It Va sendmail-progname
3722 Many systems use a so-called
3724 environment to ensure compatibility with
3726 This works by inspecting the name that was used to invoke the mail
3728 If this variable is set then the mailwrapper (the program that is
3729 actually executed when calling `sendmail') will treat its contents as
3731 The default is `sendmail'.
3733 Pathname of the shell to use in the
3735 command and the `~!' tilde escape.
3736 A default shell is used if this option is not defined.
3738 A string for use with the `~A' tilde escape.
3740 A string for use with the `~a' tilde escape.
3742 Must correspond to the name of a readable file if set.
3743 The file's content is then appended to each singlepart message
3744 and to the first part of each multipart message.
3745 Be warned that there is no possibility to edit the signature for an
3748 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Privacy
3749 Enhanced Mail) format for verification of S/MIME signed messages.
3750 .It Va smime-ca-file
3751 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
3752 verification of S/MIME signed messages.
3753 .It Va smime-cipher-USER@HOST
3754 \*(OP Specifies a cipher to use when generating S/MIME encrypted
3755 messages for the specified account.
3756 RFC 5751 mandates a default of `aes-128' (AES-128 CBC).
3758 The actually available cipher algorithms depend on the cryptographic
3759 library that \*(UA uses; possible values are, in decreasing cipher
3761 `aes-256' (AES-256 CBC), `aes-192' (AES-192 CBC), `aes-128' (AES-128 CBC),
3762 `des3' (DES EDE3 CBC, 168 bits; default if `aes-128' isn't available)
3763 and `des' (DES CBC, 56 bits).
3765 The following ciphers have been obsoleted and are no longer mentioned by
3766 the S/MIME specification (RFC 5751), but may be selected if available:
3767 `rc2-64' (RC2 CBC, 64 bits) and `rc2-40' (RC2 CBC, 40 bits).
3768 .It Va smime-crl-file
3769 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
3770 verifying S/MIME messages.
3771 .It Va smime-crl-dir
3772 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
3773 to use when verifying S/MIME messages.
3774 .It Va smime-encrypt-USER@HOST
3775 \*(OP If this variable is set, messages send to the given receiver are
3776 encrypted before sending.
3777 The value of the variable must be set to the name of a file that
3778 contains a certificate in PEM format.
3780 If a message is sent to multiple recipients,
3781 each of them for whom a corresponding variable is set will receive an
3782 individually encrypted message;
3783 other recipients will continue to receive the message in plain text
3785 .Va smime-force-encryption
3787 It is recommended to sign encrypted messages, i.e., to also set the
3790 .It Va smime-sign-cert
3791 \*(OP Points to a file in PEM format.
3792 For the purpose of signing and decryption this file needs to contain the
3793 user's private key as well as his certificate.
3795 For the purpose of encryption the recipient's public encryption key
3796 (certificate) is expected; the command
3798 can be used to save certificates of signed messages (the section
3799 .Sx "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
3800 gives some details).
3801 This mode of operation is usually driven via
3802 .Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST ,
3804 .It Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST
3807 for a specific account.
3808 For message signing `USER@HOST' is always derived from the value of
3810 (or, if that contains multiple addresses,
3814 When decrypting messages the account is derived from the recipient
3815 fields (`To:' and `Cc:') of the message, which are searched for
3816 addresses for which such a variable is set.
3817 \*(UA always uses the first address that matches,
3818 so if the same message is sent to more than one of the user's addresses
3819 using different encryption keys, decryption might fail.
3820 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs
3821 \*(OP If used, this is supposed to a consist of a comma-separated list
3822 of files, each of which containing a single certificate in PEM format to
3823 be included in the S/MIME message in addition to the
3826 This is most useful for long certificate chains if it is desired to aid
3827 the receiving party's verification process.
3828 Note that top level certificates may also be included in the chain but
3829 don't play a role for verification.
3833 .Va smime-sign-cert-USER@HOST .
3834 .It Va smime-sign-include-certs-USER@HOST
3836 .Va smime-sign-include-certs
3837 for a specific account.
3839 \*(OP Normally \*(UA invokes the program defined via
3841 to transfer messages.
3844 variable will instead cause `SMTP' network connections be made to the
3845 server specified therein in order to directly submit the message.
3846 \*(UA knows about three different "SMTP protocols":
3847 .Bl -bullet -offset indent
3849 The plain `SMTP' protocol (RFC 5321) that normally lives on the
3850 server port 25 and requires setting of the
3851 .Va smtp-use-starttls
3852 variable as above to enter a SSL/TLS encrypted session state.
3853 Assign a value like \*(IN `[smtp://][user[:password]@]server[:port]'
3854 (\*(OU `[smtp://]server[:port]')
3855 to choose this protocol.
3857 Then the so-called `SMTPS' which is supposed to live on server port 465
3858 and is automatically SSL/TLS secured.
3859 Unfortunately it never became a standardized protocol and may thus not
3860 be supported by your hosts network service database
3861 \(en in fact the port number has already been reassigned to other
3864 `SMTPS' is nonetheless a commonly offered "protocol" and thus can be
3865 chosen by assigning a value like \*(IN
3866 `smtps://[user[:password]@]server[:port]'
3867 (\*(OU `smtps://server[:port]');
3868 due to the mentioned problems it is usually necessary to explicitly
3869 specify the port as `:465', however.
3871 Finally there is the `SUBMISSION' protocol (RFC 6409), which usually
3872 lives on server port 587 and is practically identically to the `SMTP'
3873 protocol from \*(UAs point of view beside that; it requires setting the
3874 .Va smtp-use-starttls
3875 variable to enter a SSL/TLS secured session state.
3876 Assign a value like \*(IN `submission://[user[:password]@]server[:port]'
3877 (\*(OU `submission://server[:port]').
3880 The SMTP transfer is executed in a child process, which runs
3881 asynchronously unless either the
3886 If it receives a TERM signal, it will abort and save the message to
3889 \*(OP Sets the SMTP authentication method.
3890 Possible values are `none' (the default), `plain', `login'
3891 as well as the \*(OPal methods `cram-md5' and `gssapi'.
3892 The `none' method doesn't need any user credentials,
3893 `gssapi' requires a user name
3894 and all other methods require a user name and a password.
3901 .Va smtp-auth-password
3903 .Va smtp-auth-user Ns
3905 .It Va smtp-auth-HOST
3908 for SMTP accounts on a specific host.
3909 .It Va smtp-auth-USER@HOST
3912 for a specific account.
3913 (\*(OU For specific values of sender addresses, dependend upon the variable
3916 .It Va smtp-auth-password
3917 \*(OP \*(OU Sets the global fallback password for SMTP authentication.
3918 If the authentication method requires a password, but neither
3919 .Va smtp-auth-password
3921 .Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
3923 \*(UA will ask for a password on the user's terminal.
3924 .It Va smtp-auth-password-USER@HOST
3926 .Va smtp-auth-password
3927 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
3929 .It Va smtp-auth-user
3930 \*(OP \*(OU Sets the global fallback user name for SMTP authentication.
3931 If the authentication method requires a user name, but neither
3934 .Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
3936 \*(UA will ask for a user name on the user's terminal.
3937 .It Va smtp-auth-user-USER@HOST
3940 for specific values of sender addresses, dependent upon the variable
3942 .It Va smtp-hostname
3943 \*(IN Normally \*(UA uses the variable
3945 to derive the necessary `USER@HOST' information to issue a
3946 `MAIL FROM:<>' SMTP command.
3949 can be used to use the `USER' from the SMTP account
3954 and the `HOST' from the content of this variable
3955 (or, if that is the empty string,
3957 or the local hostname as a last resort).
3958 Setting this variable also influences the generated `Message-Id:'.
3960 \*(OP The path to the spam detector.
3961 Note that the path is not expanded, but used "as is".
3962 A fallback path will have been compiled into the \*(UA binary if the
3964 executable had been found during compilation.
3966 \*(OP Can be used to specify the host on which
3968 listens for connections; if not set, defaults to `localhost'.
3970 \*(OP Spam detectors like
3972 decline to work with messages which exceed a specific size;
3973 if this variable is set then \*(UA won't even try to pass messages which
3974 exceed the given limit.
3975 The default is 420000 bytes.
3977 \*(OP Can be used to explicitly specify the port on which
3979 listens for connections.
3981 \*(OP If the spam detector listens on a path-based UNIX domain socket,
3982 then setting this variable to the fully qualified path will force its
3983 usage for communication.
3985 \*(OP This can be used to support multiple, per-used configuration files
3986 of the spam detector.
3987 Note that \*(UA doesn't automatically set this to reflect a possibly set
3991 \*(OP Specifies a directory with CA certificates in PEM (Pricacy
3992 Enhanced Mail) for verification of of SSL/TLS server certificates.
3994 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
3995 for more information.
3997 \*(OP Specifies a file with CA certificates in PEM format for
3998 verification of SSL/TLS server certificates.
4000 .Xr SSL_CTX_load_verify_locations 3
4001 for more information.
4003 \*(OP Sets the file name for a SSL/TLS client certificate required by
4005 .It Va ssl-cert-USER@HOST
4006 Sets an account-specific file name for a SSL/TLS client certificate
4007 required by some servers.
4010 for the specified account.
4011 .It Va ssl-cipher-list
4012 \*(OP Specifies a list of ciphers for SSL/TLS connections.
4015 for more information.
4017 \*(OP Specifies a file that contains a CRL in PEM format to use when
4018 verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
4020 \*(OP Specifies a directory that contains files with CRLs in PEM format
4021 to use when verifying SSL/TLS server certificates.
4023 \*(OP Sets the file name for the private key of a SSL/TLS client
4025 If unset, the name of the certificate file is used.
4026 The file is expected to be in PEM format.
4027 .It Va ssl-key-USER@HOST
4028 Sets an account-specific file name for the private key of a SSL/TLS
4032 for the specified account.
4034 \*(OP Selects the used TLS/SSL protocol version.
4035 The actually available protocol versions depend on the TLS/SSL
4036 library that \*(UA uses; possible values are, from newest to oldest:
4037 `tls1.2', `tls1.1', `tls1', `ssl3' and `ssl2'.
4041 to any of these values will fixate the used protocol, which means that
4042 connections will fail if the server doesn't support it.
4043 The value `auto', which is the default, chooses a compatibility method
4044 that automatically uses the newest protocol version that the server
4045 is capable to understand.
4047 It has to be noted that `auto' is used as a fallback method if
4048 the actual setting of
4050 isn't supported by the used TLS/SSL library \(em in this case an error
4051 message will be printed first, however.
4052 .It Va ssl-method-USER@HOST
4055 for a specific account.
4057 \*(OP Gives the pathname to an entropy daemon socket, see
4059 Note that (as of 2014) not all OpenSSL installations include this
4061 .It Va ssl-rand-file
4062 \*(OP Gives the pathname to a file with entropy data, see
4063 .Xr RAND_load_file 3 .
4064 If the file is a regular file writable by the invoking user,
4065 new data is written to it after it has been loaded.
4067 \*(OP Sets the action to be performed if an error occurs during SSL/TLS
4068 server certificate validation.
4070 `strict' (fail and close connection immediately),
4071 `ask' (ask whether to continue on standard input),
4072 `warn' (print a warning and continue),
4073 `ignore' (do not perform validation).
4074 The default is `ask'.
4075 .It Va ssl-verify-USER@HOST
4078 for a specific account.
4080 If only set without an assigned value, then this option inhibits the
4081 generation of the `Message-Id:' and `User-Agent:' header fields that
4082 include obvious references to \*(UA.
4083 There are two pitfalls associated with this:
4084 First, the message id of outgoing messages is not known anymore.
4085 Second, an expert may still use the remaining information in the header
4086 to track down the originating mail user agent.
4087 If set to the value `noagent', then the mentioned `Message-Id:'
4088 suppression doesn't occur.
4090 If defined, gives the number of lines of a message to be printed out
4091 with the top command;
4092 normally, the first five lines are printed.
4094 The character set of the terminal \*(UA operates on,
4095 and the one and only supported character set that \*(UA can use if no
4096 character set conversion capabilities have been compiled into it,
4097 in which case it defaults to `ISO-8859-1' unless it can deduce a value
4098 from the `LC_CTYPE' locale environment.
4099 Refer to the section
4100 .Sx "Character sets"
4101 for the complete picture about character sets.
4103 \*(IN Sets a global fallback user name, which is used in case none has
4104 been given in the protocol and account-specific URL and there is also
4107 This variable defaults to the value of
4112 for a specific host.
4114 Pathname of the text editor to use in the
4116 command and `~v' tilde escape.
4120 .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT {{{
4122 Besides the variables described above,
4123 \*(UA uses the following environment variables:
4124 .Bl -tag -width ".It Va MAILRC"
4126 The user's preferred width in column positions for the terminal screen
4127 or window (only used during startup).
4129 The user's home directory.
4130 .It Va LANG , Va LC_ALL , Va LC_COLLATE , Va LC_CTYPE , Va LC_MESSAGES
4134 The user's preferred number of lines on a page or the vertical screen or
4135 window size in lines (only used during startup).
4137 Is used as a startup file instead of \*(ur if set.
4138 When \*(UA scripts are invoked on behalf of other users,
4139 this variable should be set to
4141 to avoid side-effects from reading their configuration files.
4143 If this variable is set and
4145 is not, it is treated as a startup configuration file and read.
4146 .It Va NAIL_NO_SYSTEM_RC
4147 If this variable is set then reading of \*(UR at startup is inhibited,
4148 i.e., the same effect is achieved as if \*(UA had been started up with
4152 Changes the letters printed in the first column of a header summary.
4154 \*(OP The terminal type for which output is to be prepared.
4156 Used as directory for temporary files instead of
4160 Can be used to force identification as
4162 i.e., identical to the
4164 command line option.
4170 .Bl -tag -width ".It Pa /etc/mime.types"
4172 File giving initial commands.
4174 System wide initialization file.
4175 .It Pa ~/.mime.types
4176 Personal MIME types.
4177 .It Pa /etc/mime.types
4178 System wide MIME types.
4182 .\" .Sh EXAMPLES {{{
4185 .\" .Ss "Getting started" {{{
4186 .Ss "Getting started"
4187 The \*(UA command has two distinct usages, according to whether one
4188 wants to send or receive mail.
4189 Sending mail is simple: to send a message to a user whose email address
4190 is, say, `<bill@host.example>', use the shell command:
4192 .Dl $ \*(ua bill@host.example
4194 then type your message.
4195 \*(UA will prompt you for a message `Subject:' first;
4196 after that, lines typed by you form the body of the message.
4197 When you reach the end of the message,
4198 type an EOT (`control\-D') at the beginning of a line,
4199 which will cause \*(UA to echo `EOT' and return you to the shell.
4201 If, while you are composing the message you decide that you do not wish
4202 to send it after all, you can abort the letter by typing two `RUBOUT'
4203 (interrupt, `control-C') characters.
4204 Typing a single `RUBOUT' causes \*(UA to print
4205 .Ns ` Ns Li (Interrupt -- one more to kill letter) Ns '.
4206 Typing a second `RUBOUT' causes \*(UA to save your partial letter on the
4209 and abort the letter.
4210 Once you have sent mail to someone, there is no way to undo the act, so
4213 If you want to send the same message to several other people,
4214 you can list their email addresses on the command line.
4215 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4216 $ \*(ua sam@workstation.example bob@server.example
4218 Tuition fees are due next Friday. Don't forget!
4224 will sendout to `<sam@workstation.example>' and `<bob@server.example>'.
4225 To read your mail, simply type
4229 \*(UA will respond by typing its version number and date and then
4230 listing the messages you have waiting.
4231 Then it will type a prompt and await your command.
4232 The messages are assigned numbers starting with 1 \(en you refer to the
4233 messages with these numbers.
4234 \*(UA keeps track of which messages are `new' (have been sent since you
4235 last read your mail) and `read' (have been read by you).
4236 New messages have an `N' next to them in the header listing and old,
4237 but unread messages have a `U' next to them.
4238 \*(UA keeps track of new/old and read/unread messages by putting a
4239 header field called `Status' into your messages.
4241 To look at a specific message, use the
4243 command, which may be abbreviated to simply `t'.
4244 For example, if you had the following messages:
4245 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4246 O 1 drfoo@myhost.example Wed Sep 1 19:52 5/421 "Fees"
4247 O 2 sam@friends.example Thu Sep 2 00:08 30/895
4250 you could examine the first message by giving the command:
4254 which might cause \*(UA to respond with, for example:
4255 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4256 [-- Message 1 -- 5 lines, 421 bytes --]:
4257 From drfoo@myhost.example Wed Sep 1 19:52:25 2004
4261 Tuition fees are due next Wednesday. Don't forget!
4264 Many \*(UA commands that operate on messages take a message number as an
4265 argument, just as the shown
4268 For these commands, there is a notion of a current message.
4269 When you enter the \*(UA program,
4270 the current message is initially the first (or the first recent) one.
4271 Thus, you can often omit the message number and use, for example, `t` to
4272 type the current message.
4273 As a further shorthand, you can type a message by simply giving its
4274 message number \(en hence `1` would type the first message.
4276 Frequently, it is useful to read the messages in your mailbox in order,
4278 You can read the next message in \*(UA by simply typing a newline.
4279 As a special case, you can type a newline as your first command to
4280 \*(UA to type the first message.
4282 If, after typing a message, you wish to immediately send a reply,
4283 you can do so with the command
4287 takes a message number as an argument.
4288 \*(UA then begins a message addressed to the user who sent you the
4289 message and let you type in your letter in reply, followed by
4290 a `control-D' (`^D')at the beginning of a line, as before.
4292 Note that \*(UA copies the subject header from the original message.
4293 This is useful in that correspondence about a particular matter will
4294 tend to retain the same subject heading, making it easy to recognize.
4295 If there are other header fields in the message, like `Cc:',
4296 the information found will also be used.
4298 Sometimes you will receive a message that has been sent to several
4299 people and wish to reply only to the person who sent it.
4301 (with a capital `R') replies to a message, but sends a copy to the
4304 If you wish, while reading your mail, to send a message to someone,
4305 but not as a reply to one of your messages, you can send the message
4308 command, which takes as arguments the names of the recipients you wish
4310 For example, to send a message to `<frank@machine.example>':
4312 .Dl mail frank@machine.example
4314 To delete a message from the mail folder, you can use the command
4316 In addition to not saving deleted messages,
4317 \*(UA will not let you type them, either.
4318 The effect is to make the message disappear altogether, along with its
4321 Many features of \*(UA can be tailored to your liking with the
4323 command; it has two forms, depending on whether you are setting
4324 a `binary' or a `valued' option.
4325 Binary options are either on or off \(en for example, the
4327 option informs \*(UA that each time you send a message, you want it to
4328 prompt you for a `Cc:' header to be included in the message.
4331 option, you would type
4335 Valued options are values which \*(UA uses to adapt to your tastes.
4338 option tells \*(UA where to save messages sent by you,
4339 and is specified by, e.g.,
4343 Note that no spaces are allowed in `set record=Sent'.
4345 \*(UA includes a simple facility for maintaining groups of messages
4346 together in folders.
4347 To use the folder facility, you must tell \*(UA where you wish to keep
4349 Each folder of messages will be a single file.
4350 For convenience, all of your folders are kept in a single directory of
4352 To tell \*(UA where your folder directory is, put a line of the form
4354 .Dl set folder=letters
4357 If, as in the example above, your folder directory does not begin with
4358 a `/', \*(UA will assume that your folder directory is to be found
4359 starting from your home directory.
4361 Anywhere a file name is expected, you can use a folder name, preceded
4363 For example, to put a message into a folder with the
4365 command, you can use:
4369 to save the current message in the `classwork' folder.
4370 If the `classwork' folder does not yet exist, it will be created.
4371 Note that messages which are saved with the
4373 command are automatically removed from your system mailbox.
4375 In order to make a copy of a message in a folder without causing
4376 that message to be removed from your system mailbox, use the
4378 command, which is identical in all other respects to the
4385 can be used to direct \*(UA to the contents of a different folder.
4388 .Dl folder +classwork
4390 directs \*(UA to read the contents of the `classwork' folder.
4391 All of the commands that you can use on your system mailbox are also
4392 applicable to folders, including
4397 To inquire which folder you are currently editing, use `folder' without
4399 And to list your current set of folders, use the
4405 command is available to print out a brief summary of the most important
4408 While typing in a message to be sent to others it is often useful to be
4409 able to invoke the text editor on the partial message, print the
4410 message, execute a shell command, or do some other auxiliary function.
4411 \*(UA provides these capabilities through `tilde escapes',
4412 which consist of a tilde (`~') at the beginning of a line, followed by
4413 a single character which indicates the function to be performed.
4414 For example, to print the text of the message so far, use:
4418 which will print a line of dashes, the recipients of your message, and
4419 the text of the message so far.
4420 A list of the most important tilde escapes is available with `~?'.
4423 .\" .Ss "IMAP or POP3 client setup" {{{
4424 .Ss "IMAP or POP3 client setup"
4425 \*(OP First you need the following data from your ISP:
4426 the host name of the IMAP or POP3 server,
4427 user name and password for this server,
4428 and a notice whether the server uses SSL/TLS encryption.
4429 Assuming the SSL/TLS secured host name of your IMAP account is
4430 `server.myisp.example' and your user name for that server is `mylogin',
4431 you could refer to this account using the
4435 command line option with
4437 .Dl imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
4439 (This string is not necessarily the same as your Internet mail address.)
4440 Even if the server does not accept IMAPS or POP3S connections,
4441 it is possible that it supports the `STARTTLS' method of upgrading
4442 already connected, but not yet authenticated sessions to use SSL/TLS
4444 The only reliable method to see if this works is to try it; enter one of
4446 .Dl set imap-use-starttls
4447 .Dl set pop3-use-starttls
4449 before you initiate the connection, dependent on the actual protocol.
4451 As you probably want messages to be deleted from this account
4452 after saving them, prefix it with `%:'.
4455 command can be used to avoid typing that many characters every time you
4458 .Dl shortcut myisp %:imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
4460 You might want to put this string into a startup file.
4462 is one of those commands that are specific to \*(UA and will thus
4463 confuse other implementations of POSIX
4465 so it should possibly not be placed in \*(ur.
4468 .Dl set NAIL_EXTRA_RC=.\*(uarc
4470 in \*(ur and create a file
4472 containing all the commands that are specific to \*(UA.
4473 You can then access your remote mailbox by invoking
4477 on the command line, or by executing
4482 If you want to use more than one IMAP mailbox on a server,
4483 or if you want to use the IMAP server for mail storage too, the
4485 command (which is also \*(UA-specific) is possibly more appropriate.
4486 You can put the following in
4488 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4490 set folder=imaps://mylogin@server.myisp.example
4491 set record=+Sent MBOX=+mbox outfolder
4495 and can then access incoming mail for this account by invoking
4496 `\*(ua \-A myisp' on the command line or by executing `ac myisp' within
4498 After that, a command like `copy 1 +otherfolder' will refer to
4499 `otherfolder' on the IMAP server.
4500 In particular, `fi&' will change to the `mbox' folder,
4501 and `fi+Sent' will show your recorded sent mail,
4502 with both folders located on the IMAP server.
4504 \*(UA will ask you for a password string each time you connect to
4506 If you can reasonably trust the security of your workstation,
4507 you can give this password in the startup file as
4509 .Dl set password-mylogin@server.myisp.example="SECRET"
4511 You should change the permissions of this file to 0600, see
4514 \*(UA supports different authentication methods for both IMAP and POP3.
4515 If Kerberos is used at your location,
4516 you can try to activate (the optional) GSS-API based authentication via
4518 .Dl set imap-auth=gssapi
4520 The advantage of this method is that \*(UA doesn't need to know your
4521 password at all, nor does it have to send sensitive data over the network.
4522 If that isn't possible, try to use authentication methods that at least
4523 avoid sending the password in clear over the wire, which is especially
4524 important if SSL/TLS cannot be used, e.g.,
4526 .Dl set imap-auth=cram-md5
4528 For POP3 \*(UA will try to use the `APOP' mechanism automatically unless
4529 explicitly disabled.
4530 If the server does not offer any such authentication methods,
4531 conventional user/password based authentication must be used.
4532 It is sometimes helpful, especially when setting up an account or when
4533 there are authentification problems, to enable verbosity by setting the
4535 option \(en \*(UA will display all data sent to the server in clear text
4536 on the screen when this option is set.
4537 (Because this may also include passwords you should take care that no
4538 unauthorized person can look at your terminal when this option is set.)
4540 If you regularly use the same workstation to access IMAP accounts,
4541 you can greatly enhance performance by enabling local caching of IMAP
4543 For any message that has been fully or partially fetched from the server,
4544 a local copy is made and is used when the message is accessed again,
4545 so most data is transferred over the network once only.
4546 To enable the IMAP cache, select a local directory name and put
4548 .Dl set imap-cache=~/localdirectory
4550 in the (\*(UA-specific) startup file.
4551 All files within that directory can be overwritten or deleted by \*(UA
4553 so you should not use the directory to store other information.
4555 Once the cache contains some messages,
4556 it is not strictly necessary anymore to open a connection to the IMAP
4557 server to access them.
4558 When \*(UA is invoked with the option
4563 only cached data is used for any folder you open.
4564 Messages that have not yet been completely cached are not available
4565 then, but all other messages can be handled as usual.
4566 Changes made to IMAP mailboxes in
4568 mode are committed to the IMAP server next time it is being connected to.
4569 Synchronizing the local status with the status on the server is thus
4570 partially within your responsibility;
4571 if you forget to initiate a connection to the server again before you
4572 leave your location,
4573 changes made on one workstation are not available on others.
4574 Also if you alter IMAP mailboxes from a workstation while uncommitted
4575 changes are still pending on another,
4576 the latter data may become invalid.
4577 The same might also happen because of internal server status changes.
4578 You should thus carefully evaluate this feature in your environment
4579 before you rely on it.
4581 Many servers will close the connection after a short period of
4582 inactivity \(en use one of
4584 .Dl set pop3-keepalive=30
4585 .Dl set imap-keepalive=240
4587 to send a keepalive message each 30 seconds for POP3,
4588 or each 4 minutes for IMAP.
4590 If you encounter problems connecting to a SSL/TLS server,
4595 variables (see the OpenSSL FAQ for more information) or specify the
4596 protocol version with
4598 Contact your ISP if you need a client certificate or if verification of
4599 the server certificate fails.
4600 If the failed certificate is indeed valid,
4601 fetch its CA certificate by executing the shell command
4603 .Dl $ </dev/null openssl s_client \-showcerts \-connect \e
4604 .Dl \ \ \ \ \ \ server.myisp.example:imaps 2>&1 | tee log.txt
4608 ) and put it into the file specified with
4610 The data you need is located at the end of the certificate chain
4611 within (and including) the `BEGIN CERTIFICATE'
4612 and `END CERTIFICATE' lines.
4613 Note that the example above is \fBinsecure\fR!
4614 One should use the `-verify' and `-CAfile' options of
4616 to be "on the safe side" regarding the fetched certificates.
4619 .\" .Ss "Reading HTML mail" {{{
4620 .Ss "Reading HTML mail"
4625 utility or another command-line web browser that can write plain text to
4628 .Dl set pipe-text/html="elinks -force-html -dump 1"
4629 .Dl set pipe-text/html="lynx -stdin -dump -force_html"
4631 will cause HTML message parts to be converted into a more friendly form.
4634 .\" .Ss "Viewing PDF attachments" {{{
4635 .Ss "Viewing PDF attachments"
4636 Most PDF viewers do not accept input directly from a pipe.
4637 It is thus necessary to store the attachment in a temporary file first:
4639 .Dl set pipe-application/pdf="@&cat >/tmp/\*(ua$$.pdf; \e
4640 .Dl \ \ \ \ \ \ acroread /tmp/\*(ua$$.pdf; rm /tmp/\*(ua$$.pdf"
4642 Note that security defects are discovered in PDF viewers from time to
4644 Automatical command execution like this can compromise your system
4646 in particular if you stay not always informed about such issues.
4649 .\" .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME" {{{
4650 .Ss "Signed and encrypted messages with S/MIME"
4651 \*(OP S/MIME provides two central mechanisms:
4652 message signing and message encryption.
4653 A signed message contains some data in addition to the regular text.
4654 The data can be used to verify that the message was sent using a valid
4655 certificate, that the sender's address in the message header matches
4656 that in the certificate, and that the message text has not been altered.
4657 Signing a message does not change its regular text;
4658 it can be read regardless of whether the recipient's software is able to
4660 It is thus usually possible to sign all outgoing messages if so desired.
4661 Encryption, in contrast, makes the message text invisible for all people
4662 except those who have access to the secret decryption key.
4663 To encrypt a message, the specific recipient's public encryption key
4665 It is thus not possible to send encrypted mail to people unless their
4666 key has been retrieved from either previous communication or public key
4668 A message should always be signed before it is encrypted.
4669 Otherwise, it is still possible that the encrypted message text is
4672 A central concept to S/MIME is that of the certification authority (CA).
4673 A CA is a trusted institution that issues certificates.
4674 For each of these certificates it can be verified that it really
4675 originates from the CA, provided that the CA's own certificate is
4677 A set of CA certificates is usually delivered with OpenSSL and installed
4679 If you trust the source of your OpenSSL software installation,
4680 this offers reasonable security for S/MIME on the Internet.
4681 In general, a certificate cannot be more secure than the method its CA
4682 certificate has been retrieved with, though.
4683 Thus if you download a CA certificate from the Internet,
4684 you can only trust the messages you verify using that certificate as
4685 much as you trust the download process.
4687 The first thing you need for participating in S/MIME message exchange is
4688 your personal certificate, including a private key.
4689 The certificate contains public information, in particular your name and
4690 your email address, and the public key that is used by others to encrypt
4692 and to verify signed messages they supposedly received from you.
4693 The certificate is included in each signed message you send.
4694 The private key must be kept secret.
4695 It is used to decrypt messages that were previously encrypted with your
4696 public key, and to sign messages.
4698 For personal use it is recommended that you get a S/MIME certificate
4699 from one of the major CAs on the Internet using your WWW browser.
4700 (Many CAs offer such certificates for free.)
4701 You will usually receive a combined certificate and private key in
4702 PKCS#12 format which \*(UA does not directly accept.
4703 To convert it to PEM format, use the following shell command:
4705 .Dl $ openssl pkcs12 \-in cert.p12 \-out cert.pem \-clcerts \-nodes
4707 If you omit the `\-nodes' parameter, you can specifiy an additional `PEM
4708 pass phrase' for protecting the private key.
4709 \*(UA will then ask you for that pass phrase each time it signs or
4713 .Dl set smime-sign-cert-myname@myisp.example=cert.pem
4715 to make this private key and certificate known to \*(UA.
4716 You can now sign outgoing messages.
4722 From each signed message you send,
4723 the recipient can fetch your certificate and use it to send encrypted
4725 Accordingly if somebody sends you a signed message, you can do the same.
4728 command to check the validity of the certificate.
4729 After that, retrieve the certificate and tell \*(UA that it should use
4732 .Dl certsave filename
4733 .Dl set smime-encrypt-USER@HOST=filename
4735 You should carefully consider if you prefer to store encrypted messages
4737 If you do, anybody who has access to your mail folders can read them,
4738 but if you do not, you might be unable to read them yourself later if
4739 you happen to lose your private key.
4742 command saves messages in decrypted form, while the
4747 commands leave them encrypted.
4749 Note that neither S/MIME signing nor encryption applies to message
4750 subjects or other header fields.
4751 Thus they may not contain sensitive information for encrypted messages,
4752 and cannot be trusted even if the message content has been verified.
4753 When sending signed messages,
4754 it is recommended to repeat any important header information in the
4758 .\" .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS" {{{
4759 .Ss "Using CRLs with S/MIME or SSL/TLS"
4760 \*(OP Certification authorities (CAs) issue certificate revocation
4761 lists (CRLs) on a regular basis.
4762 These lists contain the serial numbers of certificates that have been
4763 declared invalid after they have been issued.
4764 Such usually happens because the private key for the certificate has
4766 because the owner of the certificate has left the organization that is
4767 mentioned in the certificate, etc.
4768 To seriously use S/MIME or SSL/TLS verification,
4769 an up-to-date CRL is required for each trusted CA.
4770 There is otherwise no method to distinguish between valid and
4771 invalidated certificates.
4772 \*(UA currently offers no mechanism to fetch CRLs, nor to access them on
4773 the Internet, so you have to retrieve them by some external mechanism.
4775 \*(UA accepts CRLs in PEM format only;
4776 CRLs in DER format must be converted, like, e.\|g.:
4778 .Dl $ openssl crl \-inform DER \-in crl.der \-out crl.pem
4780 To tell \*(UA about the CRLs, a directory that contains all CRL files
4781 (and no other files) must be created.
4786 variables, respectively, must then be set to point to that directory.
4787 After that, \*(UA requires a CRL to be present for each CA that is used
4788 to verify a certificate.
4791 .\" .Ss "Handling spam" {{{
4793 \*(OP \*(UA can make use of spam detection and learning facilities \(en
4794 more precisely, SpamAssassin (\%<http://spamassassin.apache.org>).
4795 A very comprehensive documentation of
4797 can be found at the O'Reilly Commons
4798 (\%<http://commons.oreilly.com/wiki/index.php/SpamAssassin>).
4800 Currently \*(UA supports interaction with
4802 only via its daemonized
4805 server / client pair, which means that, in order to detect and work
4806 with spam through \*(UA, an instance of the
4808 daemon must be running (the examples are equivalent):
4809 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4810 $ spamd -i localhost:2142 -i /tmp/.spamsock -d [-L] [-l]
4811 $ spamd --listen=localhost:2142 --listen=/tmp/.spamsock \\
4812 --daemonize [--local] [--allow-tell]
4817 should only listen on a local, path-based UNIX domain socket instead of
4818 offering its service over the network, it maybe necessary to use
4821 option instead of the shown
4823 In order to support training of the Bayesian classifier through \*(UA,
4825 must have been started with the
4831 is running \*(UA can classify messages by using the client side program,
4834 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4835 $ \*(ua -Sspam-command=/usr/local/bin/spamc \\
4836 -Sspam-socket=/tmp/.spamsock -Sspam-maxsize=500000
4839 The commands offered are
4843 which simply set an `is-spam' flag that can be used for, e.g., message
4846 which passes messages through to the spam detector in order to gain
4847 a spam score and conditionally set the `is-spam' flag accordingly,
4848 as well as the Bayesian filter related
4854 Because messages must exist on local storage in order to be scored (or
4855 used for Bayesian filter training), it is possibly a good idea to
4856 perform the local spam check last:
4857 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4858 define spamdelhook {
4860 spamset (header x-dcc-brand-metrics "bulk")
4861 # Server-side spamassassin(1)
4862 spamset (header x-spam-flag "YES")
4863 del :s # TODO we HAVE to be able to do `spamrate :u ! :s'
4864 # And finally the local spamc(1)
4868 set folder-hook-FOLDER=spamdelhook
4871 See also the documentation for the variables
4881 .\" .Ss "Sending mail from scripts" {{{
4882 .Ss "Sending mail from scripts"
4883 If you want to send mail from scripts, you must be aware that \*(UA
4884 reads the user's configuration files by default.
4885 So unless your script is only intended for your own personal use
4886 (as, e.g., a cron job), you need to circumvent this:
4888 .Dl MAILRC=/dev/null LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 \*(ua \-n
4890 You then need to create a script-local configuration for \*(UA.
4891 This can be done by either pointing the
4893 variable to a custom configuration file,
4894 by passing the configuration in environment variables,
4897 command line option to specify options.
4898 Since many configuration options are not valid shell variables, the
4900 command is useful if the approach via environment variables is used:
4901 .Bd -literal -offset indent
4902 env MAILRC=/dev/null LC_ALL=C password=secret \*(ua -n -Sv15-compat \e
4903 -S 'smtp=smtps://mylogin@some.host:465' -Ssmtp-auth=login \e
4904 -S 'from=scriptreply@domain' \e
4905 -s 'subject' -a attachment_file recipient@domain < content_file
4910 .\" .Sh "SEE ALSO" {{{
4923 .Xr spamassassin 1 ,
4941 .\" .Sh "IMPLEMENTATION NOTES" {{{
4942 .Sh "IMPLEMENTATION NOTES"
4943 The character set conversion uses and relies upon the
4946 Its functionality differs widely between the various system environments
4949 Limitations with IMAP mailboxes are:
4950 It is not possible to edit messages, but it is possible to append them.
4951 Thus to edit a message, create a local copy of it, edit it, append it,
4952 and delete the original.
4953 The line count for the header display is only appropriate if the entire
4954 message has been downloaded from the server.
4955 The marking of messages as `new' is performed by the IMAP server;
4960 will not cause it to be reset, and if the
4962 variable is unset, messages that arrived during a session will not be
4963 in state `new' anymore when the folder is opened again.
4964 Also if commands queued in disconnected mode are committed,
4965 the IMAP server will delete the `new' flag for all messages in the
4967 and new messages will appear as unread when it is selected for viewing
4969 The `flagged', `answered', and `draft' attributes are usually permanent,
4970 but some IMAP servers are known to drop them without notification.
4971 Message numbers may change with IMAP every time before the prompt is
4972 printed if \*(UA is notified by the server that messages have been
4973 deleted by some other client or process.
4974 In this case, `Expunged n messages' is printed, and message numbers may
4977 Limitations with POP3 mailboxes are:
4978 It is not possible to edit messages, they can only be copied and deleted.
4979 The line count for the header display is only appropriate if the entire
4980 message has been downloaded from the server.
4981 The status field of a message is maintained by the server between
4982 connections; some servers do not update it at all, and with a server
4983 that does, the `exit' command will not cause the message status to be
4985 The `newmail' command and the `newmail' variable have no effect.
4986 It is not possible to rename or to remove POP3 mailboxes.
4988 If a `RUBOUT' (interrupt, `control-C') is typed while an IMAP or POP3
4989 operation is in progress, \*(UA will wait until the operation can be
4991 and will then return to the command loop and print the prompt again.
4992 When a second `RUBOUT' is typed while \*(UA is waiting for the operation
4993 to complete, the operation itself will be cancelled.
4994 In this case, data that has not been fetched yet will have to be fetched
4995 before the next command can be performed.
4996 If the cancelled operation was using an SSL/TLS encrypted channel,
4997 an error in the SSL transport will very likely result and render the
4998 connection unusable.
5000 As \*(UA is a mail user agent, it provides only basic SMTP services.
5001 If it fails to contact its upstream SMTP server, it will not make
5002 further attempts to transfer the message at a later time,
5003 and it does not leave other information about this condition than an
5004 error message on the terminal and an entry in
5006 This is usually not a problem if the SMTP server is located in the same
5007 local network as the computer on which \*(UA is run.
5008 However, care should be taken when using a remote server of an ISP;
5009 it might be better to set up a local SMTP server then which just acts as
5012 \*(UA immediately contacts the SMTP server (or
5014 ) even when operating in
5017 It would not make much sense for \*(UA to defer outgoing mail since SMTP
5018 servers usually provide much more elaborated delay handling than \*(UA
5019 could perform as a client.
5020 Thus the recommended setup for sending mail in
5022 mode is to configure a local SMTP server such that it sends outgoing
5023 mail as soon as an external network connection is available again,
5024 i.e., to advise it to do that from a network startup script.
5029 A \fImail\fR command appeared in Version 1 AT&T Unix.
5030 Berkeley Mail was written in 1978 by Kurt Shoens.
5031 This man page is derived from from The Mail Reference Manual originally
5032 written by Kurt Shoens.
5033 "Heirloom Mailx" enhancements are maintained and documented by Gunnar
5035 "S-nail" is maintained and documented by Steffen (Daode) Nurpmeso.
5037 Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form
5038 from IEEE Std 1003.1, 2003 Edition, Standard for Information Technology
5039 \(en Operating System Interface (POSIX), The Open Group Base
5040 Specifications Issue 6, Copyright \(co 2001-2003 by the Institute of
5041 Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc and The Open Group.
5042 In the event of any discrepancy between this version and the original
5043 IEEE and The Open Group Standard, the original IEEE and The Open Group
5044 Standard is the referee document.
5045 The original Standard can be obtained online at
5046 \%<http://www.opengroup.org/unix/online.html>.
5047 Redistribution of this material is permitted so long as this notice
5053 .An "Christos Zoulas" ,
5054 .An "Gunnar Ritter" ,
5055 .An Steffen Po Daode Pc Nurpmeso Aq s-nail-users@lists.sourceforge.net
5058 Too many (see the file `TODO' from the distribution or the repository).