MultiMail(1)MultiMail(1)NAME
mm - offline mail reader for Blue Wave, QWK, OMEN, SOUP and OPX packets
SYNOPSIS
mm [-option1 value] [-option2 value] [...] [filename1] [filename2]
[...]
DESCRIPTION
MultiMail is an offline mail packet reader, supporting the Blue Wave,
QWK, OMEN, SOUP and OPX formats. It uses a simple curses-based inter‐
face.
SOUP is used for Internet email and Usenet. The other formats are pri‐
marily used with dialup (or telnet) BBSes, to save connect time and to
provide a better interface to the message base.
Not all packet formats may be available, depending on how the program
was compiled.
This manpage is for version 0.49.
USAGE
On most screens, a summary of the available keystroke commands is dis‐
played in the lower part of the screen. (You can disable this, and
reclaim some screen real estate, by turning on "ExpertMode".) Note that
for lack of space, not all commands are listed on every screen where
they're available. For example, the search functions, which are avail‐
able everywhere, are summarized only in the packet list and address
book. The principle, albeit not one that's consistently implemented, is
that the summary need appear only on the first screen where the com‐
mands are available. When in doubt, try one and see if it works. :-)
In the letter window or ANSI viewer, pressing F1 or '?' will bring up a
window listing the available commands.
The basic navigation keys, available throughout the program, consist of
the standard cursor and keypad keys, with <Enter> to select. For termi‐
nals without full support for these keys, aliases are available for
some of them:
ESC = Q
PgDn = B
PgUp = F
Right = +
Left = -
(Although shown in capitals, these may be entered unshifted.)
With "Lynx-style navigation", activated by the "UseLynxNav" option, the
Left arrow key backs out from any screen, while the Right arrow key
selects. The plus and minus keys are no longer aliases for Right and
Left, but perform the same functions as in the traditional navigation
system.
Of special note is the space bar. In most screens, it functions as an
alias for PgDn; but in the letter window, it works as a combination
PgDn/Enter key, allowing you to page through an area with one key.
In the area list, the default view (selectable in the .mmailrc) is of
Subscribed areas only, or of Active areas (i.e., those with messages)
if the Subscribed areas are unknown. By pressing L, you can toggle
between Active, All, and Subscribed views. (Some formats, like plain
QWK, don't have any way to indicate subscribed areas. In other cases,
you may have received an abbreviated area list, so that the Subscribed
and All views are the same.) In all modes, areas with replies always
appear, flagged with an 'R' in the leftmost column.
In the letter list, only unread messages are displayed, by default; but
you can toggle this by pressing L. If there are any marked messages, L
first switches to a marked-only mode, then to all messages, then back
to unread-only. Also, the default mode -- unread or all -- can be set
in the .mmailrc.
Multiple sort modes are available in the packet and letter lists; you
can cycle through them by pressing '$'. The default sort modes are set
in the .mmailrc.
Options can be specified on the command line as well as in the
.mmailrc. Option names are the same as those which appear there,
though they must be prefaced by one or two dashes, and should not be
followed by a colon. There must be a space between the option name and
the value; values which include spaces must be quoted. All options must
be specified before any packet names or directories on the line.
Finally, options which take a filename or path should always include
the full path. (This is not, however, necessary for packet names.)
Packet names may be specified on the command line, bypassing the packet
menu. If multiple packets are named, they'll be opened sequentially. If
a directory is specified instead of a file, the packet window will by
opened on that directory, and no further items will be read from the
command line. 'T' in the packet menu may need clarification: it stamps
the highlighted file with the current date and time.
You can abort the program immediately from any screen with CTRL-X. You
won't be prompted to confirm the exit, but you will still be prompted
to save replies and pointers (unless autosaving is set). Note that if
you've specified multiple packets on the command line, this is the only
way to terminate the sequence prematurely.
You can obtain a temporary command shell anywhere by pressing CTRL-Z.
In the DOSish ports (MS-DOS, OS/2, Win32), it spawns a command shell,
and you return to MultiMail via the "exit" command. In Unix, it relies
on the shell to put MultiMail in the background; you return with "fg".
(This has always been available in the Unix versions; however, it won't
work if MultiMail wasn't launched from an interactive shell, or if the
shell doesn't support it.)
MOUSING
MultiMail is mousable on certain platforms: X, the Linux console (with
gpm), and Win32. (You can still use selection with X and gpm, too; to
select or paste, hold down the shift key.)
In each list window, button 1 highlights a line, or selects it (the
same as pressing Enter) if it's already highlighted. Double-click to
select it immediately. Click on the scrollbar to page up or down, or on
the line just above or below it to scroll a line at a time. In the
packet, area, and letter lists, click on the appropriate part of the
window title to change the sort or list type.
In the letter window, page up by clicking in the top half of the mes‐
sage text, or down (and on to the next message) by clicking in the bot‐
tom half (equivalent to the space bar). Scroll the message a single
line up or down by clicking on the status bars at top and bottom. The
status flags "Read" and "Marked" can be toggled by clicking on them;
clicking on "Save" saves, clicking on "Repl" starts a reply (followup;
i.e., the same as 'R'), and "Pvt" starts a private reply (email or net‐
mail; i.e., same as 'N').
In text-entry windows, button 1 works the same as the Enter key; and
the dialog boxes work in the obvious way.
Button 3 backs out of any screen, equivalent to ESC.
SEARCHING
A case-insensitive search function is available on all screens. Press
'/' to specify the text to look for, or '>' or '.' to repeat the last
search.
New searches (specified with '/') always start at the beginning of the
list or message. Repeat searches (with '>' or '.') start with the line
below the current one. You can take advantage of this to manually
adjust the starting point for the next search.
Searches started in the letter, area or packet lists allow the searches
to extend below the current list. "Full text" searches all the way
through the text of each message; "Headers" searches only the message
headers (the letter list), "Areas" only the area list, and "Pkt list"
only the packet list. So, a "Full text" search started from the packet
list will search every message in every packet (but only in the current
directory).
When scanning "Full text", the automatic setting of the "Read" marker
is disabled. However, if you find a search string in the header of a
message and then select it manually, the marker will be set. But if you
start scanning from the packet list, and exit the packet via a repeat
search, the last-read markers won't be saved.
Scans of "Headers" or "Full text" that start from the area list or
packet list will automatically expand the letter lists they descend
into. Similarly, scans that start at the packet list will expand the
area lists. Otherwise, if you're viewing the short list, that's all
that will be searched.
I hope the above makes some sense. :-) The searching functions are dif‐
ficult to explain, but easy to use.
FILTERING
A new twist on searching, as of version 0.43, is filtering. This is
available in all of the list windows, but not the letter or ANSI
viewer. Unlike searching, it always applies only to the current list.
Press '|' to bring up the filter prompt, and specify the text to filter
on. To clear a filter, press '|', and then press return at a blank fil‐
ter prompt. (A string that's not found in the list will have the same
effect.) Press ESC to leave the filter as it was.
The list will now be limited to those items that contain the text you
entered, and that text will appear at the end of the window's title as
a reminder. The filter will be retained through lower levels, but will
be cleared by exiting to a higher level. Note that a search in, e.g.,
the letter list will search only the message headers (and only those
which are visible in the list), and not the bodies.
When the filter is active in the letter list, the "All" option in the
Save menu will save only the items that match the filter. This can be
used as a quick alternative to marking and saving. You can also combine
filtering and marking.
Changing modes and sort types will not clear the filter. A search in a
filtered list will search only the items that match the filter.
OFFLINE CONFIGURATION
At present, offline config is limited to subscribe (add) and unsub‐
scribe (drop) functions. The Blue Wave, OPX, OMEN, QWKE, and QWK
Add/Drop (with DOOR.ID) methods are supported. (The QMAIL "CONFIG"
method is not supported yet.) Offline config is not yet available in
SOUP mode.
In the area list, press 'U' or 'Del' to unsubscribe from the high‐
lighted area. To subscribe to a new conference, first expand the list
('L'), then highlight the appropriate area and press 'S' or 'Ins'.
Dropped areas are marked with a minus sign ('-') in the first column;
added areas with a plus ('+'). In the expanded area list, already-sub‐
scribed areas are marked with an asterisk ('*'). (This and also applies
to the little area list. With plain QWK packets, the asterisk should
not be relied upon; other areas may also be subscribed.) Added or
dropped areas are highlighted in the "Area_Reply" color. Yeah, I'll
have to change that name now. ;-)
Pressing 'S' on an area marked with '-', or 'U' on an area marked '+'
turns the flag off again.
In Blue Wave, OPX, OMEN or QWKE mode, the list of added and dropped
areas is read back in when the reply packet is reopened. If the reply
packet has already been uploaded, and you're reading a packet with the
altered area list, this is benign. If it's an older packet, you can
alter the list before uploading, as with reply messages. In QWK
Add/Drop mode, the changed area flags are converted to reply messages
when the reply packet is saved. Note: Adding or dropping areas sets the
"unsaved replies" flag, like entering a reply message, but does not
invoke automatic reply packet saving until you exit the packet.
Unfortunately, the OMEN mode has not actually been tested; but I
believe it conforms to the specs. Reports welcome.
HIDDEN LINES AND ROT13
In the letter window, you can toggle viewing of Fidonet "hidden" lines
(marked with a ^A in the first position) by pressing 'x'. The lines are
shown as part of the text, but in a different color. In Internet email
and Usenet areas, the full headers of the messages are available in the
same way (if provided in the packet -- generally, full headers are
available in SOUP, and partial extra headers in Blue Wave).
Pressing 'd' toggles rot13 encoding, the crude "encryption" method used
for spoiler warnings and such, primarily on Usenet.
ANSI VIEWER
If a message contains ANSI color codes, you may be able to view it as
originally intended by activating the ANSI viewer. Press 'v' to start
it. Press 'q' to leave the ANSI viewer; the navigation keys are the
same as in the mail-reading window.
The ANSI viewer includes support for animation. While within the ANSI
viewer, press 'v' again to animate the picture. Press any key to abort
the animation.
The ANSI viewer is also used to display the new files list and bul‐
letins, if any are present.
New in version 0.43 is support for the '@' color codes used by PCBoard
and Wildcat. This is on by default in the ANSI viewer, but it can be
toggled to strip the codes, or pass them through untranslated, by
pressing '@'.
As of version 0.46, the ANSI viewer also includes limited support for
AVATAR (level 0) and BSAVE (text only) screens. These can be toggled
via ^V and ^B, respectively.
CHARACTER SETS
MultiMail supports automatic translation between two character sets:
the IBM PC set (Code Page 437), and Latin-1 (ISO 8859-1). Messages can
be in either character set; the set is determined by the area
attributes -- Internet and Usenet areas default to Latin-1, while all
others default to IBM -- and by a CHRS or CHARSET kludge, if one is
present. OMEN packets indicate their character set in the INFOxy.BBS
file. MultiMail translates when displaying messages and creating
replies.
The Unix versions of MultiMail assume that the console uses Latin-1,
while the DOSish versions (DOS, OS/2, and Win32) assume the IBM PC set.
You can override this via the .mmailrc option "Charset", or on a tempo‐
rary basis by pressing 'c'.
You can also use a different character set by disabling the conversion
in MultiMail, and letting your terminal handle it. For SOUP packets,
and for Internet or Usenet areas in other packets, everything will be
passed through unchanged if you set MultiMail to "Latin-1". For most
other packet types, setting MultiMail to "CP437" will have the same
effect.
Beginning with version 0.33, a new character set variable is available:
"outCharset". This is a string which MultiMail puts into the MIME iden‐
tifier lines in SOUP replies if the text includes 8-bit characters.
It's also used for the pseudo-QP headers which are generated under the
same conditions; and when displaying such headers, MultiMail only con‐
verts text back to 8-bit if the character set matches. The default is
"iso-8859-1".
By default, if a header line in a SOUP reply contains 8-bit characters,
MultiMail now writes it out with RFC 2047 (pseudo-QP) encoding. You can
disable this for mail and/or news replies via the "UseQPMailHead" and
"UseQPNewsHead" options, though I don't recommend it. The bodies can
also be encoded in quoted-printable; this is now on by default for
mail, and off for news. The options "UseQPMail" and "UseQPNews" toggle
QP encoding. (The headers and bodies of received messages will still be
converted to 8-bit.)
QP decoding is temporarily disabled when you toggle the display of hid‐
den lines ('X') in the letter window, so that you can see the raw text
of the message.
ADDRESS BOOK
The address book in MultiMail is intended primarily for use with Fido-
style Netmail or Internet email areas, in those packet types which sup‐
port these. When entering a message (other than a reply) into such an
area, the address book comes up automatically. It's also possible to
use the name portion of an address from the address book even when
Fido/Internet addressing isn't available, by starting a new message via
CTRL-E instead of 'E'.
You can pull up the address book from most screens by pressing 'A',
which allows you to browse or edit the list. While reading in the let‐
ter window, you can grab the current "From:" address by invoking the
address book and pressing 'L'.
TAGLINE WINDOW
From most screens, you can pull up the tagline window to browse or edit
the list by pressing CTRL-T. As of version 0.43, you can toggle sorting
of the taglines by pressing '$' or 'S'.
REPLY SPLITTING
Replies may be split, either automatically, or manually via CTRL-B in
the reply area. For automatic splitting, the default maximum number of
lines per part is set in the .mmailrc. The split occurs whenever the
reply packet is saved. This allows you to defer the split and still re-
edit the whole reply as one. However, with autosave on, the split will
occur immediately after entering a reply (because the save does, too).
Setting MaxLines in the .mmailrc to 0 disables automatic splitting;
manual splitting is still allowed. Attempts to split at less than 20
lines are assumed to be mistakes and are ignored.
ENVIRONMENT
MultiMail uses the HOME or MMAIL environment variable to find its con‐
figuration file, .mmailrc; and EDITOR for the default editor. MMAIL
takes precedence over HOME if it's defined. If neither is defined, the
startup directory is used.
The use of EDITOR can be overridden in .mmailrc; however, environment
variables can't be used within .mmailrc.
You should also make sure that your time zone is set correctly. On many
systems, that means setting the TZ environment variable. A typical
value for this variable is of the form "EST5EDT" (that one's for the
east coast of the U.S.A.).
FILES
The only hardwired file is the configuration file: .mmailrc (mmail.rc
in DOS, OS/2 or Win32). It's used to specify the pathnames to Multi‐
Mail's other files, and the command lines for external programs (the
editor and the archivers).
By default, the other files are placed in the MultiMail home directory
($HOME/mmail or $MMAIL). Directories specified in the .mmailrc are cre‐
ated automatically; the default Unix values are shown here:
~/mmail
To store the tagline file, netmail addressbook, etc.
taglines
A plain text file, one tagline per line.
addressbook (address.bk in DOS, OS/2 or Win32)
A list of names and corresponding Fido netmail or Internet email
addresses. Note that Internet addresses are prefaced with an
'I'.
colors Specifies the colors to use. (See README.col.)
~/mmail/down
To store the packets as they came from the bbs.
~/mmail/up
To store the reply packet(s) which you have to upload to the
bbs.
~/mmail/save
The default directory for saving messages.
CONFIG FILE
The config file (see above) is a plain text file with a series of val‐
ues, one per line, in the form "KeyWord: Value". The case of the key‐
words is not signifigant. Additional, comment lines may be present,
starting with replaced by the defaults when you upgrade to a new ver‐
sion.) If any of the keywords are missing, default values will be used.
As of version 0.41, any of these keywords except "Version" may also be
specified on the command line. Command-line options take precedence
over those in the config file, but their effect is not guaranteed --
some internal pathnames are initialized before the command line is
read, for example.
Here are the keywords and their functions:
Version
Specifies the version of MultiMail which last updated the file.
This is used to check whether the file should be updated and the
"new version" prompt displayed. Note that old values are pre‐
served when the file is updated; the update merely adds any key‐
words that are new. This keyword is also used in the colors
file.
UserName
Your name in plain text, e.g., "UserName: William McBrine". This
is used together with InetAddr to create a default "From:" line
for SOUP replies; and by itself in OMEN for display purposes
(the actual From name is set on upload), and for matching per‐
sonal messages.
InetAddr
Your Internet email address, e.g., "InetAddr:
wmcbrine@users.sf.net". This is combined with the UserName in
the form "UserName <InetAddr>" ("William McBrine
<wmcbrine@users.sf.net>") to create a default "From:" line for
SOUP replies. Note that if neither value is specified, and noth‐
ing is typed manually into the From: field when creating a mes‐
sage, no From: line will be generated -- which is perfectly
acceptable to at least some SOUP programs, like UQWK.
QuoteHead, InetQuote
These strings are placed at the beginning of the quoted text
when replying in normal or Internet/Usenet areas, respectively.
(The distinction is made because the quoting conventions for
BBSes and the Internet are different.) Replaceable parameters
are indicated with a '%' character, as follows:
%f = "From" in original message
%t = To
%d = Date (of original message)
%s = Subject
%a = Area
%n = newline (for multi-line headers)
%% = insert an actual percent character
Note that you can't put white space at the start of one of these
strings (it will be eaten by the config parser), but you can get
around that by putting a newline first.
mmHomeDir
MultiMail's home directory.
TempDir
This is the directory where MultiMail puts its temporary files
-- by default, as of 0.45, the same as mmHomeDir. The files are
actually created within a subdirectory of this directory; the
subdirectory is named "workNNNN", where NNNN is a random number
(checked against any existing files or directories before being
created).
signature
Path to optional signature file, which should be a simple text
file. If specified, it will be appended to every message you
write. You should give the full path, not just the name.
editor The editor MultiMail uses for replies, along with any command-
line options. This may also be a good place to insert spell-
checkers, etc., by specifying a batch file here. Note that the
default value is just the editor that's (almost) guaranteed to
be available, for a given OS (although the Unix "EDITOR" envi‐
ronment variable is checked first), and is in no way a preferred
editor; you can and should change it.
PacketDir
Default packet directory.
ReplyDir
Default reply packet directory.
SaveDir
Default directory for saved messages.
AddressBook
Path and filename of the address book. (You might change this to
share it with another installation, but basically this keyword
isn't too useful.)
TaglineFile
Path and filename of the tagline file. This could be altered
from a batch file to swap between different sets of taglines.
(But note that this value is only read at startup.) You could
also share taglines with another program, but be careful with
that; MultiMail truncates the lines at 76 characters.
ColorFile
Path and filename of the colors file. See README.col.
UseColors
Yes/No. This governs whether color is used, or monochrome. When
colors are disabled, the terminal's default foreground and back‐
ground colors are used. It's also a crude way to implement
transparency (the only way, if you're not using ncurses) -- the
entire background will be transparent when using an appropriate
terminal.
Transparency
Yes/No. Only available in ncurses. (The option will appear, but
not work, in non-ncurses, non-PDCurses platforms.) When this is
set to Yes, all areas where the background color is the same as
the background color set in the "Main_Back" line, in the colors
file, are instead set to the default background color, and thus
become transparent areas in those terminal programs, like Eterm
and Gnome Terminal, that support this.
BackFill
Yes/No. Normally the background area is filled with a checker‐
board pattern (ACS_BOARD characters, in curses terms). You can
disable that here, leaving those areas as flat background color.
This option is intended mostly to make transparency more effec‐
tive, but it might help with any color scheme. (Unlike the pre‐
vious two, it's available in PDCurses.)
*UncompressCommand, *CompressCommand
Command lines (program name, options, and optionally the path)
for the archivers to compress and uncompress packets and reply
packets. ZIP, ARJ, RAR, LHA and tar/gzip are recognized. The
"unknown" values are a catch- all, attempted for anything that's
not recognized as one of the other four types; if you have to
deal with ARC or ZOO files, you might define the archiver for
them here.
PacketSort
The packet list can be sorted either in inverse order of packet
date and time (the newest at the top), or in alphabetical order
by filename. "Time" specifies the former, and "Name" the lat‐
ter. (Actually only the first letter is checked, and case is not
signifigant. This applies to the other keywords of this type
(the kind that have a fixed set of values to choose from) as
well.) The sort type specified here is only the default, and can
be toggled from the packet window by pressing '$'.
AreaMode
The default mode for the area list: "All", "Subscribed", or
"Active". This is the mode that will be used on first opening a
packet, but it can be changed by pressing L while in the area
list or little area list. For a description of the modes, see
USAGE.
LetterSort
The sort used by default in the letter list. Can be "Subject"
(subjects sorted alphabetically, with a case-insensitive com‐
pare), "Number" (sorted by message number), "From" or "To".
(This can be overridden, as in the packet list.)
LetterMode
The default mode for the letter list: "All" or "Unread". This is
the mode used on first opening an area; it can be toggled by
pressing L. (The Marked view is also available in the letter
list, but cannot be set as the default here.)
ClockMode
The display mode for the clock in the upper right corner of the
letter window: "Time" (of day), "Elapsed" (since MultiMail
started running), or "Off".
Charset
The character set that the console is assumed to use. Either
"CP437" (code page 437, the U.S. standard for the IBM PC and
clones) or "Latin-1" (aka ISO-8859-1, the standard for most
other systems). Note that the character set of messages is
determined separately (q.v.).
UseTaglines
Yes/No. If no, the tagline window is not displayed at all when
composing a message.
AutoSaveReplies
Yes/No. If yes, the reply packet is saved automatically -- the
equivalent of pressing F2, but without a confirmation prompt --
whenever the contents of the reply area are changed. This can be
convenient, and even a safety feature if your power supply is
irregular, but it provides less opportunity to take back a
change (like deleting a message). If no, you're prompted whether
to save the changes on exiting the packet. Note that if you say
no to that prompt, nothing that you wrote during that session
will be saved (unless you saved it manually with F2).
StripSoftCR
Yes/No. Some messages on Fido-type networks contain spurious
instances of character 141, which appears as an accented 'i' in
code page 437. These are really so-called "soft returns", where
the message was wrapped when composing it, but not indicating a
paragraph break. Unfortunately, the character can also appear
legitimately as that accented 'i', so this option defaults to
no. It can be toggled temporarily via the 'I' key in the letter
window, and it doesn't apply to messages in the Latin-1 charac‐
ter set. This is now applied only in Blue Wave mode.
BeepOnPers
Yes/No. If yes, MultiMail beeps when you open a message
addressed to or from yourself in the letter window. (These are
the same messages which are highlighted in the letter list.)
UseLynxNav
Yes/No. See the description under USAGE.
ReOnReplies
Yes/No. By popular demand. :-) Setting this to "No" will disable
the automatic prefixing of "Re: " to the Subject when replying
-- except in areas flagged as Internet email or Usenet, where
this is the standard, and is still upheld.
QuoteWrapCols
Numeric. The right margin for quoted material in replies
(including the quote indicator).
MaxLines
Numeric. See the description under REPLY SPLITTING.
outCharset
String. See the description under CHARACTER SETS.
UseQPMailHead
Yes/No. Controls the use of RFC 2047 encoding in outgoing mail
headers.
UseQPNewsHead
Yes/No. Controls the use of RFC 2047 encoding in outgoing news
headers.
UseQPMail
Yes/No. Controls the use of quoted-printable encoding in outgo‐
ing mail.
UseQPNews
Yes/No. Controls the use of quoted-printable encoding in outgo‐
ing news.
ExpertMode
Yes/No. If set to No, the onscreen help menus are not shown;
instead, the space is used to extend the size of info windows by
a few lines.
IgnoreNDX
Yes/No. This option applies only to QWK packets. If set to yes,
the *.NDX files are always ignored, in favor of the "new" index‐
ing method that depends only on MESSAGES.DAT. This method is
slightly slower than the *.NDX-based indexing method (though the
delay is dwarfed by packet decompression time), but the most
common problem with QWK packets is corrupt *.NDX files. Multi‐
Mail now recognizes some cases where the *.NDX files are corrupt
and switches automatically, but it doesn't catch them all.
UPGRADING
The basic upgrade procedure is to simply copy the new executable over
the old one. No other files are needed. When you run a new version of
MultiMail (0.19 or later) for the first time, it automatically updates
your .mmailrc and ColorFile with any new keywords. (Old keywords, and
the values you've set for them, are preserved. However, comments are
lost.) Some notes on specific upgrades:
Version 0.48 adds the .mmailrc option "Mouse", which allows you to
enable or disable mouse input (for instance, if you don't want to see
the mouse cursor).
Version 0.45 adds "TempDir". Note that temporary files are handled dif‐
ferently in this version, and the TEMP and TMP environment variables
are ignored. "homeDir" has been removed.
Version 0.43 adds "ClockMode", and makes "UseColors" available in all
ports. Also note that CPU usage while idle may be higher in some con‐
figurations.
Version 0.41 adds the option "IgnoreNDX".
Version 0.39 changes the function of the "Transparency" option
slightly. It now operates on the color set in "Main_Back", rather than
Black. Also, if you're accustomed to using the mouse to cut and paste
under X or gpm, note that you now have to hold down the shift key while
doing this.
Version 0.38 adds "ExpertMode", "Transparency", "UseColors", and "Back‐
Fill", while removing the options "BuildPersArea", "UseScrollBars",
"MakeOldFlags", and "AutoSaveRead".
Version 0.37 adds "tarUncompressCommand" and "tarCompressCommand".
Version 0.36 adds "LetterMode" and "AreaMode".
Version 0.33 adds "ReOnReplies", "outCharset", "UseQPMailHead", "UseQP‐
NewsHead", "UseQPMail" and "UseQPNews"; changes some default values.
Version 0.32 adds "BuildPersArea" and "MakeOldFlags".
Version 0.30 adds "UserName", "InetAddr", "QuoteHead", "InetQuote", and
"QuoteWrapCols".
Version 0.29 adds "UseScrollBars" and "UseLynxNav".
Version 0.28 adds "MaxLines", "StripSoftCR", and "BeepOnPers".
Version 0.26 adds "AutoSaveReplies", "AutoSaveRead", and "UseTaglines".
Version 0.25 adds "Charset", "PacketSort", and "LetterSort". The
default packet sort is now by time instead of name.
If you're upgrading from 0.19 to 0.20 or later, and you have a custom‐
ized ColorFile, be sure to note the new options.
The ColorFile is new in 0.19. Check it out (~/mmail/colors, by
default).
As of 0.16, the HOME environment variable can be overridden with MMAIL,
or omitted altogether.
If you're upgrading from a version before 0.9, and you have existing
reply packets (.rep or .new) whose names are partly or wholly in upper‐
case, you must rename them to lowercase before version 0.9 or higher
will recognize them. (Downloaded packets are not at issue.)
If you're upgrading from a version below 0.8, you may want to manually
delete the /tmp/$LOGNAME directory created by previous versions. (0.8
and higher clean out their own temp directories, and use different
names for each session.)
If you're upgrading from a version prior to 0.7, please note the
changes in the default directories; previously they were
"~/mmail/bwdown", etc.
NOTES
Unlike the other archive types, tar/gzip recompresses the entire packet
when updating the .red flags, so it can be a bit slow. Also, the sup‐
plied command lines assume GNU tar, which has gzip built-in. Seperated
gunzip/tar and tar/gzip command lines are possible, but would require a
(simple) external script. MultiMail only checks for the gzip signature,
and does not actually verify that the gzipped file is a tar file.
OPX reply packets are always created with a .rep extension, which dif‐
fers from the behavior of some other readers. If you switch from QWK
packets to OPX packets on the same board, MultiMail will _not_ open an
old QWK .rep in OPX mode, nor vice versa. (It will try, and will termi‐
nate with "Error opening reply packet".)
SOUP reply packets are created with the name "basename.rep", where
basename is the part of the original packet name before the first
period. (Unlike other formats, there's no actual standard for this in
SOUP, but this seems to be the most common form among the SOUP readers
I surveyed.) Also, not that I expect anyone to try this, but currently
MultiMail is only able to read reply packets generated by other SOUP
readers if the replies are in 'b' or 'B' mode, and are one to a file
within the packet. Most readers meet the first criterion, but some of
them batch all mail and news replies into a single file for each type.
A future version of MultiMail will be able to read these, too.
When re-editing a reply, it gets pushed to end of the list of replies.
The R)ename function in the packet window can also be used to move
files between directories; however, the destination filename must still
be specified along with the path.
If you're using the XCurses (PDCurses) version, and your editor isn't
an X app, it will work better if you set MultiMail's "editor" keyword
to "xterm -e filename" (instead of just "filename"). I decided not to
do this automatically because someone might actually use it with an X
editor.
Editing and deletion of old replies are available through the REPLY
area, which always appears at the top of the area list. This differs
from Blue Wave and some other readers.
The Escape key works to back out from most screens, but after you press
it, you'll have to wait a bit for it to be sensed (with ncurses; not
true with PDCurses).
Only Blue Wave style taglines (beginning with "...") are recognized by
the tagline stealer. The tagline must be visible on the screen to be
taken.
Netmail only works in Blue Wave, OMEN and OPX modes, and is still
slightly limited. Netmail from points includes the point address.
Internet email is available in Blue Wave and OPX modes, for those doors
that support it, and in SOUP mode, using the same interface as Fido
netmail.
AUTHORS
MultiMail was originally developed under Linux by Kolossvary Tamas and
Toth Istvan. John Zero was the maintainer for versions 0.2 through 0.6;
since version 0.7, the maintainer is William McBrine
<wmcbrine@users.sf.net>.
Additional code has been contributed by Peter Karlsson, Mark D. Rejhon,
Ingo Brueckl, Robert Vukovic and Mark Crispin.
BUGS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS
The RSX/NT version is reported to be incompatible with 4DOS: shelling
to external programs (archivers or editors) fails. Thanks to Tony Sum‐
merfelt for figuring this one out. You can set the MultiMail session to
use COMMAND.COM while retaining 4DOS elsewhere.
Red Hat Linux 6.0 (and possibly 6.x) comes with a defective installa‐
tion of ncurses. When linked to this, MultiMail mostly works, but odd
effects appear when scrolling. (Users describe it as double-spaced.)
The problem can be fixed by reinstalling ncurses from the source -- not
the source RPM that comes with Red Hat, but the original source from
the ncurses site (see INSTALL).
SOUP area type 'M' is not recognized yet. First I have to find a pro‐
gram that can generate one. :-)
The ANSI viewer eats a lot less memory than it used to, but it can
still be a problem. (Each character/attribute pair takes up four bytes
in memory. But lines which have the same attribute throughout are
stored as plain text.)
The new file list and bulletin viewer is, as yet, a hack. A better
means of selecting which ones to view will be forthcoming, if I can
ever decide just how it should look. (Your opinion is welcome.)
If you find any bugs, or have ideas for improvement, please write to
me.
July 19, 2007 MultiMail(1)
