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 argu-
ment given to the program. If not
present, or empty, no sequences
are defined. Otherwise, for each
name given, the sequence is first
zeroed 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 have
been seen. If not present, or
empty, no sequences are defined.
Otherwise, for each name given,
the sequence is first zeroed 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 speci-
fied 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 explana-
tion 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 com-
ponent 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 indi-
cate, as local nicknames for hosts
are not replaced with their offi-
cial site names. For each
address, if a host is not given,
then that address on any host is
considered to be you. In addi-
tion, 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 dif-
ferent from the default. This is
superseded by the $MAILDROP envi-
ronment variable. (profile,
default: /usr/mail/$USER)
Signature: Tells inc your mail signature.
This is superseded by the $SIGNA-
TURE 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)
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 will
be presumed to start in the current directory. This is
one of the few exceptions in the MH package where non-
absolute 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 will be pre-
sumed to start from your MH directory.
MH programs also support the following other environment
variables:
$MAILDROP Tells inc the default mail drop. This super-
sedes the MailDrop: profile entry.
$SIGNATURE Tells send and post your mail signature.
This supersedes the Signature: profile entry.
---------------
(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.
$HOME Tells all MH programs your home directory.
$TERM Tells the MH package your terminal type. The
TERMCAP variable is also consulted. In par-
ticular, 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 direc-
tory 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. The $mhfolder environment vari-
able 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 Man-
aging the AIX Operating System.