MH-PROFILE(5,F) AIX Technical Reference MH-PROFILE(5,F) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Processed November 7, 1990 MH-PROFILE(5,F) 1 MH-PROFILE(5,F) AIX Technical Reference MH-PROFILE(5,F) 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 Processed November 7, 1990 MH-PROFILE(5,F) 2 MH-PROFILE(5,F) AIX Technical Reference MH-PROFILE(5,F) 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) --------------- (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. Processed November 7, 1990 MH-PROFILE(5,F) 3 MH-PROFILE(5,F) AIX Technical Reference MH-PROFILE(5,F) 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. Processed November 7, 1990 MH-PROFILE(5,F) 4 MH-PROFILE(5,F) AIX Technical Reference MH-PROFILE(5,F) 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. Processed November 7, 1990 MH-PROFILE(5,F) 5