MH-PROFILE(5,F) AIX Technical Reference MH-PROFILE(5,F)
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mh-profile
PURPOSE
Customizes the Message Handling (MH) Package.
DESCRIPTION
Each user of the Message Handling (MH) Package is expected to have a file named
.mh_profile in the home directory. This file contains a set of user parameters
used by some or all of the MH programs. Each line of the file is in the
following format:
profile-entry: value
PROFILE ENTRIES
Of the possible profile entries, only Path: is required. The others are
optional. Some entries have default values if the entries are not present. In
the notation used in the following list (profile, default) indicates whether
the information is kept in the user's MH profile or context file and indicates
the default value.
Path: Specifies the location of the user_mh_directory
directory. The usual location is $HOME/Mail. (profile,
no default)
context: Declares the location of the MH context file. (profile,
default: user_mh_directory/context)
Current-Folder: Keeps track of the current open folder. (context,
default: inbox)
Previous-Sequence: Names the sequences that should be defined as the msgs
or msg argument given to the program. If not present,
or empty, no sequences are defined. Otherwise, for each
name given, the sequence is first set to zero and then
each message is added to the sequence. (profile, no
default)
Sequence-Negation: Defines the string which, when prefixed to a sequence
name, negates that sequence. Thus, if
Sequence-Negation: is set to "not", "notseen" means all
those messages that are not a member of the sequence
"seen". (profile, no default)
Unseen-Sequence: Names the sequences that are defined as those messages
recently incorporated by the inc command. The show
command removes messages from this sequence after they
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have been seen. If not present, or empty, no sequences
are defined. Otherwise, for each name given, the
sequence is first set to zero and then each message is
added to the sequence. (profile, no default)
mh-sequences: Names the file in each folder that defines public
sequences. To disable the use of public sequences,
leave the value of this entry blank. (profile, default:
.mh_sequences)
atr-seq-folder: Keeps track of the private sequence named seq in the
specified folder. (context, no default)
Editor: Defines the editor to be used by the comp, dist, forw,
and repl commands. (profile, default: prompter)
Msg-Protect: Defines octal protection bits for message files. See
the chmod command in AIX Operating System Commands
Reference for an explanation of the octal number.
(profile, default: 0644)
Folder-Protect: Defines protection bits for folder directories.
(profile, default: 0711)
program: Sets default flags to be used whenever the specified MH
program is invoked. For example, you can override the
Editor: profile component when replying to messages by
adding the profile entry:
repl: -editor /bin/ed
(profile, no defaults)
lasteditor-next: Specifies the editor that is the default editor after
using lasteditor. This takes effect at the What now?
level of the comp, dist, forw, and repl commands. After
editing the draft with lasteditor, the default editor is
set to be nexteditor. If you enter edit without any
arguments to What now?, then nexteditor is used.
(profile, no default)
Folder-Stack: Defines the contents of the folder stack of the folder
command. (context, no default)
Alternate-Mailboxes: Tells the repl and scan commands which addresses are
really yours. In this way, repl knows which addresses
should be included in the reply, and scan knows if the
message really originated from you. Addresses must be
separated by a comma, and the host names listed should
be the official host names for the mailboxes you
indicate, as local nicknames for hosts are not replaced
with their official site names. For each address, if a
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host is not given, then that address on any host is
considered to be you. In addition, an asterisk may
appear at either or both ends of the mailbox and host to
indicate wildcard matching. (profile, default: $LOGNAME)
Draft-Folder: Indicates a default draft folder for the comp, dist,
forw, and repl commands. (profile, no default)
digest-issue-list: Tells forw the last issue of the last volume sent for
the digest list. (context, no default)
digest-volume-list: Tells forw the last volume sent for the digest list.
(context, no default)
MailDrop: Tells inc your mail drop, if different from the default.
This is superseded by the $MAILDROP environment
variable. (profile, default: $HOME/.newmail)
Signature: Tells inc your mail signature. This is superseded by
the $SIGNATURE environment variable. (profile, no
default)
The following profile elements are used whenever a MH program invokes some
other program. You can use .mh_profile to select alternate programs. The
following list gives the default values.
fileproc: /usr/bin/refile
incproc: /usr/bin/inc
installproc: /usr/lib/mh/install-mh
lproc: /bin/pg
mailproc: /usr/bin/mhmail
mhlproc: /usr/lib/mh/mhl
moreproc /bin/pg
mshproc: /usr/bin/msh
packproc: /usr/bin/packf
postproc: /usr/lib/mh/spost(1)
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(1) The spost command uses the address handling capabilities of the sendmail
command. If you do not have sendmail installed on your system, set the
postproc: profile entry to /usr/lib/post.
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rmmproc: none
rmfproc: /usr/bin/rmf
sendproc: /usr/bin/send
showproc: /bin/pg
whatnowproc: /usr/bin/whatnow
whomproc: /usr/bin/whom
When you invoke a MH program, it reads the .mh_profile file by default. If you
define the environment variable $MH, you can specify another profile file. If
the file of $MH is not absolute (does not begin with / ), it is presumed to
start in the current directory. This is one of the few exceptions in the MH
package where nonabsolute path names are not considered relative to your MH
directory.
Similarly, if you define the environment variable $MHCONTEXT, you can specify a
context other than the normal context file (as specified in the MH profile).
If the value of $MHCONTEXT is not absolute, it is presumed to start from your
MH directory.
MH programs also support the following other environment variables:
$MAILDROP Tells inc the default mail drop. This supersedes the MailDrop:
profile entry.
$SIGNATURE Tells send and post your mail signature. This supersedes the
Signature: profile entry.
$HOME Tells all MH programs your home directory.
$TERM Tells the MH package your terminal type. The TERMCAP variable is
also consulted. In particular, these tell scan and mhl how to
clear your terminal and how many columns wide your terminal is.
They also tell mhl how many lines long your terminal screen is.
$editalt Specifies an alternate message. This is set by dist and repl
during edit sessions so that you can read the message being
distributed or replied to. This message is also available through
a link called @ in the current directory if your current directory
and the folder the message lives in are on the same AIX file
system.
$mhdraft Specifies the path of the working draft.
$mhfolder Specifies the folder containing the alternate message. This is set
by dist and repl during edit sessions so you can read other
messages in the current folder besides the one being distributed.
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The $mhfolder environment variable is also set by show, prev, and
next for use by mhl.
FILES
$HOME/.mh_profile The user profile.
user_mh_directory/context The user context file.
folder/.mh_sequences Public sequences for folder.
RELATED INFORMATION
In this book: "environment."
The mh command in AIX Operating System Commands Reference.
The "Overview of the Message Handling Package" in Managing the AIX Operating
System.
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