NAME
mh-mail - message format for nmh message systemSYNOPSIS
any nmh commandDESCRIPTION
nmh processes messages in a particular format. It should be noted that although neither Bell nor Berkeley mailers produce message files in the format that nmh prefers, nmh can read message files in that antiquated format. Each user possesses a mail drop box which initially receives all messages processed by post. Inc will read from that drop box and incorporate the new messages found there into the user's own mail folders (typically “+inbox”). The mail drop box consists of one or more messages. Messages are expected to consist of lines of text. Graphics and binary data are not handled. No data compression is accepted. All text is clear ASCII 7-bit data. The general “memo” framework of RFC-822 is used. A message consists of a block of information in a rigid format, followed by general text with no specified format. The rigidly formatted first part of a message is called the header, and the free-format portion is called the body. The header must always exist, but the body is optional. These parts are separated by an empty line, i.e., two consecutive newline characters. Within nmh , the header and body may be separated by a line consisting of dashes:From: Local Mailbox <[email protected]> To: cc: Fcc: +outbox Subject:
Added by post, contains date and time
of the message's entry into the mail transport system.
From:
This header is filled in by default with the
system's idea of the user's local mailbox. This can be changed with the
Local-Mailbox profile entry. It contains the address of the author or
authors (may be more than one if a “Sender:” field is present).
For a standard reply (using repl), the reply address is constructed by
checking the following headers (in this order):
“Mail-Reply-To:”, “Reply-To:”,
“From:”, “Sender:”. A “From:” header
MUST exist when the message is sent to post, otherwise the message will
be rejected.
Mail-Reply-To:
For a standard reply (using repl), the
reply address is constructed by checking the following headers (in this
order): “Mail-Reply-To:”, “Reply-To:”,
“From:”, “Sender:”.
Mail-Followup-To:
When making a “group” reply
(using repl -group), any addresses in this field will take
precedence, and no other reply address will be added to the draft. If this
header is not available, then the return addresses will be constructed from
the “Mail-Reply-To:”, or “Reply-To:”, or
“From:”, along with adding the addresses from the headers
“To:”, “cc:”, as well as adding your personal
address.
Reply-To:
For a standard reply (using repl), the
reply address is constructed by checking the following headers (in this
order): “Mail-Reply-To:”, “Reply-To:”,
“From:”, “Sender:”.
Sender:
Required by post in the event that the
message has multiple addresses on the “From:” line. It is
otherwise optional. This line should contain the address of the actual
sender.
To:
Contains addresses of primary
recipients.
cc:
Contains addresses of secondary
recipients.
Bcc:
Still more recipients. However, the
“Bcc:” line is not copied onto the message as delivered, so
these recipients are not listed. nmh uses an encapsulation method for
blind copies, see send(1).
Dcc:
Still more recipients. However, the
“Dcc:” line is not copied onto the messages as delivered.
Recipients on the “Dcc:” line receive the same messsage as
recipients on the “To:” and “cc:” lines. See
send(1) for more details.
Fcc:
Causes post to copy the message into
the specified folder for the sender, if the message was successfully given to
the transport system.
Message-ID:
A unique message identifier added by
post if the -msgid flag is set.
Subject:
Sender's commentary. It is displayed by
scan.
In-Reply-To:
A commentary line added by repl when
replying to a message.
Resent-Date:
Added when redistributing a message by
post.
Resent-From:
Added when redistributing a message by
post.
Resent-To:
New recipients for a message resent by
dist.
Resent-cc:
Still more recipients. See “cc:”
and “Resent-To:”.
Resent-Bcc:
Even more recipients. See “Bcc:”
and “Resent-To:”.
Resent-Fcc:
Copy resent message into a folder. See
“Fcc:” and “Resent-To:”.
Resent-Message-Id:
A unique identifier glued on by post if
the -msgid flag is set. See “Message-Id:” and
“Resent-To:”.
Resent:
Annotation for dist under the
-annotate option.
Forwarded:
Annotation for forw under the
-annotate option.
Replied:
Annotation for repl under the
-annotate option.
FILES
^/var/mail/$USER~^Location of mail drop
SEE ALSO
Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages (RFC-822)CONTEXT
None11 June 2012 | MH.6.8 |