.\" @(#)$Id: mh6.7.ms,v 1.1 90/07/20 11:10:48 sharpe Exp $.\" Standard -ms macros.\" with the following changes.ds lq \\*Q.ds rq \\*U.DA "April 9, 1990".if n \{\.nr PO 1i.po 1i.\}.EH ''Changes to MH 6.7'%'.OH ''Changes to MH 6.7'%'.TLChanges to.brThe RAND MH Message Handling System:.brUCI version MH 6.7.AUJohn L. Romine.AIComputing Support GroupDepartment of Information and Computer ScienceUniversity of California, IrvineIrvine, CA  92717.AB.PPThis document describes the user\-visible and internal changes to theUCI version of the RAND MH system from MH 6.6to MH 6.7.  The first part should be of interest to all usersof MH, while the latter part is of interest only to MHAdministrators..PPThis document is meant to supplement,not supersede,the standard MH User's manual and MH Administrator's manual..PPComments concerning this documentation should be addressed to themailbox \fBBug\-MH@ICS.UCI.EDU\fP, or \fBucbvax!ucivax!bug-mh\fP..AE.SHACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.LPThe \fIMH\fP system described herein isbased on the original RAND \fIMH\fP system.It has been extensively developed (perhaps too much so) by Marshall T. Roseand John L. Romine at the University of California, Irvine.Einar A. Stefferud, Jerry N. Sweet,and Terry P. Domae provided numerous suggestionsto improve the UCI version of \fIMH\fP..PPOf course,a large number of people have helped \fIMH\fP along.The list of \*(lq\fIMH\fP immortals\*(rq is too long to list here.For this release, numerous \fIMH\-Workers\fP sent in fixes and otherchanges.  A handful of courageous \fIMH\-Workers\fP volunteeredto beta\-test these changes; their help is particularly appreciated..SHDISCLAIMER.LPThe Regents of the University of California wish to make it known that:.QPAlthough each program has been tested by its contributor,no warranty, express or implied,is made by the contributor or the University of California,as to the accuracy and functioning of the programand related program material,nor shall the fact of distribution constitute any such warranty,and no responsibility is assumed by the contributoror the University of California in connection herewith..KS.SHCONVENTIONS.LPIn this document,certain formatting conventions are adhered to:.IPThe names of\s-2UNIX\s+2commands, such as \fIcomp\fPare presented in \fIitalics\fP..IPArguments to programs, such as `msgs' and `\-nobell' aredelimited by single\-quotes..IPText that should be typed exactly as\-is, such as command lines (e.g., \*(lqfolder \-pack\*(rq),are delimited by double\-quotes..IP\s-2UNIX\s+2pathnames and envariables,such as \fB/usr/uci\fP and \fB$SIGNATURE\fP,are presented in \fBbold font\fP..KE.SHGENERAL CHANGES.LPThe author is pleased to announce that there are very fewuser\-visiblechanges to \fIMH\fP 6.7 from the previous \fIMH\fP 6.6 distribution.The majority of development was in the form of bug fixes andslight enhancements.In addition, this release is slightly faster than theprevious release.With a few minor exceptions,it is backward\-compatible with the previous release..PPThe changes were made mainly to generalize the source code tobe compatible with a larger range of systems and compilers.There were many small changes to add declarations for ANSI C compliance.The System 5 support has been brought up to SYS5 R3, and there issupport for Sun OS 4.0..SHUser\-Visible Changes.LPHere a quick summary of thechanges that were made which are not backward\-compatible with theprevious release of \fIMH\fP:.IP repl \w'sortm'u+2nThe `\-format' and `\-noformat' switcheshave not been functional since \fIMH\fP 5, and have been removed.Any users who have these switches in their \fB\&.mh\(ruprofile\fP,will have to remove them..IP sortmPreviously, in most cases \fIsortm\fP would fill\-in anygaps in the numbering of a folder, by renumbering the messages starting with `1'.This will no longer occur; for this behavior,use \*(lqfolder \-pack\*(rq..PP.SHUsing Aliases.LPA new profile entry `Aliasfile:' has been added.  The\fIali\fP\^, \fIsend\fP\^, and \fIwhom\fP programs will look forthis profile entry and treat it as they would an argument to`\-alias'.This should make it easier for novice \fIMH\fP users to beginusing aliases..PP.SHReading Network News & BBoards.LPThe UCI BBoards facility can read local BBoards, and if compiledwith the `bboards: pop' and `pop: on' options, can also read remoteBBoards using the Post Office Protocol (POP ver. 3).With this release,\fIMH\fP can instead be compiled to read the Network News(i.e., USENET) using the Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP)..PPThis capability is enabled by compiling \fIMH\fP withthe `bboards: nntp' and `pop: on' options.Unfortunately, reading remote BBoards via the POP and reading the NetworkNews via the NNTP are mutually exclusive options..PPTo support the NNTP,a new module, \fBuip/pshsbr.c\fP, is compiled and loaded into\fIbbc\fP and \fImsh\fP instead of \fBuip/popsbr.c\fP.The default BBoard is changed from \*(lqsystem\*(rq to \*(lqgeneral\*(rqfor the NNTP..PPWhen reading BBoards,\fIbbc\fP will first look for local BBoards, and then contact theNNTP server to read the Network News.  The location of theNNTP server should be specified with the `nntphost:'entry in the \fBmtstailor\fP file(see the \fIMH\fP Administrator's Guide for details),or may be specified onthe command line with the `\-host' switch..PP.SHFormat Strings.LPThe manual page \fImh\-format\fP\0(5) hasbeen rewritten to give a better explanation of how to write format strings,and how they are interpreted by \fIMH\fP.A line\-by\-linedescription of the default \fIrepl\fP form file (\fBreplcomps\fP)is now included in that manual page..PP.KSSome new format functions were added, and others were augmented:.IP trim \w'date2local'u+2nStrips any leading and trailing white\-space from the current string value..IP date2localWill coerce the date to the local timezone..IP date2gmtWill coerce the date to GMT..IP divideDivides the current numeric value by its argument.This could be useful forbuilding \fIscan\fP format strings which print largemessage sizes in \*(lqKb\*(rq or \*(lqMb\*(rq..IP friendlyIf the address field cannot be parsed,this function will return the text of the address header,instead of a null string..IP szoneA flag indicating whether the timezone was explicitin the date string..KE.SHPROGRAM CHANGES.LPIn addition to the general changes mentioned above,many programs have specific new features added,either by new switches or by expanded functionality.Each command's manual page gives complete information aboutits new options.  Here is a short summary..SHUser Interface Programs.IP anno \w'prompter'u+2nAccepts a `\-nodate' switch which inhibits the date annotation,leaving only the body annotation..IP folderWhen invoked with the `\-pack' switchand the new `\-verbose' switch, \fIfolder\fP willgive information about the actions taken to renumber the folder..IPOn most systems, \fIfolder\fP can now create any non\-existingparent folders of a new sub\-folder..IP forwWhen making digests, \fIforw\fP\^will put the issue and volume numbersin addition to the digest list name, in the digest trailer..IP incDetects NFS write failures, and willnot zero your maildrop in that event..IP mshSupports a variant of the new \fIsortm\fP\^..IP prompterConsiders a period on a line by itself to signify end\-of\-filewhen the `\-doteof' switch is specified..IP replThe `\-[no]format' switches