Archive-name: mh-faqLast-modified: $Date: 1993/03/20 16:13:34 $Version: $Revision: 93.3 $  This is a living list of frequently asked questions on the mailer  user interface, Mail Handler, or MH.  The point of this is to  circulate existing information, and avoid rehashing old answers.  Better to build on top than start again.  Please read this document  before ever posting to this newsgroup.  This article is posted monthly.  If it has already expired and  you're not reading this, you can hope that you saved the last bit of  question 3 so that you can get a copy yourself.  Please do not post an answer when someone posts a frequently asked  question, as I will always e-mail a reply.  This ensures that  everybody gets their question answered fully and eliminates  unnecessary traffic in this newsgroup.  Your comments, additions and fixes to this list are welcome: please  send them to Bill Wohler <wohler@sap-ag.de>.  Subject: Table of ContentsFrom: PrefaceLegend: + new, - deleted, ! changedIntroductory 1.  Why should I use MH? 2.  What is the current version/status of MH? 3.  Where can I get MH? 4.  What references exist for MH?!5.  What other MH software is available? 6.  How can I print a MH manual? 7.  How should I report bugs? 8.  How can I convert from my mailer to MH?Building MH 10. What machines does MH run on? 11. How do I build MH? 12. What options should I use? 13. Fixing "post: problem initializing server; [BHST] no servers available" 14. Where can I get POP3? 15. What do I do if scan shows the wrong date? 16. Why slocal writes messages to system maildrop that from(1) can't read. 17. Why does repl add a "Re:" to a message that already has one? 18. Does MH support IMAP2 (RFC 1064)? 19. Why does "mailgroup mail" only affect inc and not slocal?Using MH 30. Where can I read about slocal and the format of the .maildelivery file? 31. How do I include messages in repl with or without ">"? 32. How can I eliminate duplicate copies of letters to myself? 33. How would one go about reading usenet with MH? 34. Can I append MH messages (ie. +inbox/1) to a UNIX mailbox format file? 35. How can I include my signature? 36. What to do with "Problems with edit - draft removed". 37. How do I call my editor with arguments?!38. How do I debug my .maildelivery file?   39. How can I digestify the messages in a folder for mail to another user? 40. Can I run my message through a program (ie. ispell) before sending?   41. Can I append MH messages to a GNU Emacs rmail BABYL-format file? 42. Is there documentation for mh-e? 43. How can I change my return address? 44. How can I change my From header? 45. What to do with "bad address 'xxx' - no at-sign after local-part".+46. How can I search through multiple folders?+47. Why isn't slocal working?+48. Fixing "post: problem initializing server; [RPLY] 503 Sender     already specified" Xmh 50. How can I get xmh to use Emacs as the editor? 51. Does xmh support subfolders? 52. How do I precede included messages with ">" when replying in xmh?Appendix Glossary, Acknowledgements, Warranty Switching xmh's editor babyl2mh.pl inco  Subject: Viewing This ArticleFrom: Preface  To skip to a particular question numbered xx, use "/^F.*xx" with most  pagers.  In GNU Emacs type "M-C-s ^F.*xx", (or C-r to search backwards),  followed by ESC to end the search.  "-xx" is often sufficient.  To skip to new or changed questions, use "/^S.*[!+]" with most pagers and  "M-C-s ^S.*[!+]" in GNU Emacs.  This article is in digest format.  Nn may have already broken this  message into separate articles; if not, then type "G %".  In rn, use  ^G to skip sections.  This article is treated as an outline when edited by GNU Emacs.  Run "M-x describe-mode" to see available outline-mode commands.  Useful commands are "C-c C-s" (show-subtree) and "M-x show-all"  Numbers in square brackets denote the month and year of the last  update.  Subject: Why should I use MH?From: Intro-1  The MH message handling system is a set of electronic mail programs  in the public domain.  If your computer runs UNIX, it can probably  run MH.  The big difference between MH and most other "mail user agents" is  that you can use MH from a UNIX shell prompt.  In MH, each command  is a separate program, and the shell is used as an interpreter.  So,  all the power of UNIX shells (pipes, redirection, history, aliases,  and so on) works with MH--you don't have to learn a new interface.  Other mail agents have their own command interpreter for their  individual mail commands (although the mush mail agent simulates a  UNIX shell).  Because MH commands aren't part of a monolithic mail system, you can  use them at any time; you don't have to start or quit the mail  agent.  Because you use them from a shell prompt, you can use all  the power of the shell.  If your shell has time-saving aliases or functions (and most do),  you'll be able to use them with MH, of course.  And because MH isn't  a monolithic mail agent, you can use MH commands in UNIX shell  scripts, or call them from programs in high-level languages like C.  Unlike most mail agents, MH keeps each message in a separate file.  The filename is the message number.  To rearrange the messages, MH  just changes the filenames.  MH can use standard UNIX filesystem  operations such as removing, copying and linking messages.  The  message files are grouped into one or more folders, which are  actually UNIX directories.  MH is free, powerful, flexible--and the basics are easy to learn.  --Jerry Peek <jerry@ora.com>  Subject: What is the current version/status of MH.From: Intro-2  The current version of MH is 6.8.  This version includes MIME, a multi-media MH package that implements  the new IETF work on Multi-media 822 (MIME).  This allows you to  include things like audio, graphics, and the like, in your mail  messages.  --Marshall Rose <mrose@dbc.mtview.ca.us>  MH now works with Kerberos as well.    In addition, a new program called mhparam extracts arguments from  .mh_profile which is useful in shellscripts.   Please see the file CHANGES in the distribution for more details. [1.93]  Subject: Where can I get MH?From: Intro-3  MH comes standard with:	Control Data Corp. CDC4680-MP . . . EMH Version 1.4.2 (modified MH)	DEC Ultrix 3.1  . . . . . . . . . . MH Version 6.5	DEC Ultrix 4.2A . . . . . . . . . . MH Version 6.7.1	Evans and Sutherland ES/OS 2.3  . . MH Version 6.6	IBM PS/2 AIX 1.2.x  . . . . . . . . MH Version 6.4	IBM RISC System/6000 AIX 3.x  . . . MH Version 6.6	MIPS RISC/OS 4.52 . . . . . . . . . MH Version 6.6	Tektronix UTek  . . . . . . . . . . MH (version unknown)	Table maintained by James R. Hamilton <jrh@jrh.gts.org> [9.92].  via anonymous ftp:						[1.93]    FTP Site:		IP Address:	Path/File Name:		Size:    -----------------------------------------------------------------    ftp.ics.uci.edu	[128.195.1.1]	mh/mh-6.8.tar.Z		1.8MB    louie.udel.edu	[128.175.1.3]	portal/mh-6.8.tar.Z	1.8MB    ftp.uu.net		[192.48.96.9]	mail/mh/tar/mh-6.8.tar.Z-split/	256K*7					README, part01, ..., part08    Or use archie to find a site near you. [12.92]  via uucp:    The following shell script is one example of how to queue jobs for    downloading the files from UUNET via UUCP:	#!/bin/sh	SRC=uunet!~/mail/mh/tar/mh-6.8.tar.Z-split	DST=/usr/spool/uucppublic/mh	uucp -d -r $SRC/README $DST/README	for f in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8	do		uucp -d -r $SRC/part0$f $DST/part0$f	done    UUNET subscribers would then call us normally using uucico.  Others    can use UUNET's 900 number to access UUNET via anonymous uucp.  The    number is 1-900-468-7727.  The login name is "uucp" and there is no    password.  The following is a sample Systems/L.sys entry:    	uunet Any ACU 19200 19004687727 "" \d\r ogin:-\r-ogin: uucp        The modems on the 900 lines are Telebit WorldBlazers.  These modems    negotiate V.32bis, V.32, 2400, 1200, and last with (Turbo)PEP tones.    The cost is 50 cents per minute (as of Jan 93) which will appear on    your next phone bill.  For more information about the 900 service,    retrieve uunet!~/help or send e-mail to postmaster@uunet.uu.net    (uunet!postmaster).  -- Eric Ziegast <ziegast@uunet.uu.net>  via mail:    Send a note to either mail-server@nluug.nl or    archive-server@germany.eu.net with a body containing the following:      send mail/mh/mh-6.8.tar.Z    UK users may be able to use ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk.  Send a note    whose body contains "help" to this address. [12.92]    Send a note to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com whose body contains "help"    on a line by itself get information on getting ftp sources by    mail.  Also include the lines "connect" and "dir /pub/mail/ua/mh"    to see which files are available local to decwrl.  Please do this    as a last resort only.  [1.93]  via U.S. mail:    You can send $75 US to the address below.  This covers    the cost of a 6250 BPI 9-track magtape, handling, and ship-    ping.  In addition, you'll get a laser-printed hard-copy of    the entire MH documentation set.  Be sure to include your    USPS address with your check.  Checks must be drawn on U.S.    funds and should be made payable to:	   Regents of the University of California    The distribution address is:	   Univeristy of California at Irvine	   Office of Academic Computing	   360 Computer Science	   Irvine, CA  92717  USA	   +1 714 856 5153    Sadly, if you just want the hard-copies of the documenta-    tion, you still have to pay the $75.  The tar image has the    documentation source (the manual is in roff format, but the    rest are in TeX format).  Postscript formatted versions of    the TeX papers are available, as are crude tty-conversions    of those papers.  [1.93]  Subject: What references exist for MH?From: Intro-4  Book:    MH & xmh: E-mail for Users & Programmers.  Second edition. Jerry Peek.    ISBN 1-56592-027-9.  $29.95.  728 pages.    O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.    Book Orders:      US and Canada: 800-998-9938. Fax: 707-829-0104.    References to "the MH book" in this document refer to the second    edition of this book (section numbers for the first edition appear    in parenthesis).    To get a list of non-US distributors, send a note to    nuts@ora.com or call +1-707-829-0515.    Examples from this book are in:      ftp.uu.net		[137.39.1.9]	published/oreilly/nutshell/MHxmh/MHxmh2.tar.Z		54KB    There is another book that contains a number of examples of    advanced mail handing using MH as the example message handler.    It's also quite a good reference on e-mail in general.  [12.92]    The Internet Message.  Marshall T. Rose    ISBN 0-13-092941-7.  396 pages.    P T R Prentice Hall  Usenet:    comp.mail.mh (gatewayed to MH-users)  Mailing lists:     General questions/discussion: MH-users@ics.uci.edu     (gatewayed to comp.mail.mh).     MH developers and maintainers: MH-workers@ics.uci.edu.     Please use MH-users-request and MH-workers-request to request     an addition or deletion.  MH-users archives:    ftp.ics.uci.edu	[128.195.1.1]	mh/mh-users/*    The files are in packf(1) format, compressed with compress(1).  To    get them, use anonymous ftp and set "binary" transfer mode.                          mh-users.86.Z	   8549		mh-users.86.scan.Z	  771      mh-users.87.Z	  55449		mh-users.87.scan.Z	 3679      mh-users.88.Z	 182805		mh-users.88.scan.Z	11339      mh-users.89.Z	  89151		mh-users.89.scan.Z	 5522      mh-users.90.Z	 402470		mh-users.90.scan.Z	21551      mh-users.91.Z	 878763		mh-users.91.scan.Z	36992      mh-users.92.Z	1281585		mh-users.92.scan.Z	44975      mh-users.mbox: current archive, uncompressed.    There are directions in the README file.  Basically, you can use    either "msh" or the individual commands "inc -file" to get the    messages into a folder, and then "scan", "pick", "show", and so on    (or your favorite commands in xmh, mh-e, etc.).  --Jerry Peek    <jerry@ora.com>  This document:    via anonymous ftp:      pit-manager.mit.edu  [18.172.1.27]      /pub/usenet/news.answers/mh-faq.Z      ftp.uu.net 	   [137.39.1.9]   /archive/usenet/news.answers/mh-faq.Z      ftp.cs.ruu.nl	   [131.211.80.17]    /pub/NEWS.ANSWERS/mh-faq    via mail:      Each of the following addresses is following by commands which      should be included as the body of the message.            mail-server@pit-manager.mit.edu        send usenet/comp.mail.mh/mh-faq      mail-server@cs.ruu.nl	send pub/NEWS.ANSWERS/mh-faq	  Subject: ! What other MH software is available?From: Intro-5  vmh     Vmh is designed for people using the bulletin-board features    of MH, where mail is stored in packed (single-file) folders.  As    a result, use of this program cannot be mixed with the use of    normal MH commands.  Vmh is a part of the official MH    distribution.  --James Perkins <jamesp@sp-eug.com> [1.93]  xmh    Xmh is a X11 mouse-based MH browsing tool.  It is very powerful    and feature-filled and thus comes with a moderate learning    curve.  Its dependence on the X11 environment makes it very    reconfigurable, but only by people well-versed in X applications    programming.  Its message reply built-in-editor interface is not    always popular among those used to having MH bring up the editor    of their choice.  --James Perkins <jamesp@sp-eug.com>    xmh is part of the standard X Window System distribution from    MIT.  Ultrix also ships dxmail which is similar.    cs.utk.edu 	[128.169.201.1]	pub/xmh.shar.Z		161KB    Here's a version of xmh that includes MIME.  --Harald Tveit    Alvestrand <hta@boheme.er.sintef.no> [1.93]    aun.uninett.no		pub/unix/mixmh-0.2.tar.Z  olmh    Sun's Open Windows 3 comes with a demo for OLIT (Open Look    Interface Toolkit, the Open Look wrapper to Xt) named olmh that    does handle 3rd and subsequent levels of nesting of folders.    --Dale Carstensen <dlc@c3file.c3.lanl.gov>    Obtain the Open Windows 3 distribution CD/ROM from Sun (SPARC    only).  To do this, call 1-800-USA-4SUN and send tone "2" for    telemarketing after it answers.  The 4.1.2 CD/ROM may also have    Open Windows 3.  The list price for the 4.1.2 CD/ROM is $200.  mh-e    Mh-e is the GNU Emacs front end for MH.  It offers all the    functionality of MH, the visual orientation and simplicity of    use of xmh, and full integration with Emacs, including thorough    configurability.  The command set is similar to that of rmail    (the Emacs front end for BSD mail) and BSD mail itself.  On-line    help is available.    Mh-e allows one to read and process mail very quickly: commands    are single characters and completion and defaults are available    for file and folder names.  During a reply, the original message    is displayed simultaneously in another window for easy reference    where a mh-e command can quickly incorporate and format this    text into your reply.    With mh-e you compose outgoing messages in Emacs.  This is a big    plus for Emacs users, but it has been known for non-Emacs users    to be able use mh-e after only learning the most basic cursor    motion commands.  Mh-e is easily configured via the Emacs    edit-options menu, and people familiar with Emacs Lisp will be    able to further reconfigure mh-e beyond recognition.  --Stephen    Gildea <gildea@expo.lcs.mit.edu>    Mh-e is part of the standard GNU Emacs distribution.  Note    that mh-e got much faster in Emacs 18.56.    primost.cs.wisc.edu [128.105.2.115] pub/mh-e.el.Z		36KB    mime-compose.el allows one to easily include MIME components into    a mh-e message.  --Marc Andreessen <marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu>  [1.93]    archive.cis.ohio-state.edu      pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/misc/mime-compose.el.Z	19KB  vmail     Vmail is a curses-based, vi-like message browser which calls on    MH programs to manipulate mail.  It can be used on almost any    terminal.  It organizes mail folders into index pages, from    which a message can be selected to be shown, replied-to,    forwarded, refiled, deleted, and so on.  The vi-like interface    and command keystrokes are comfortable to less-experienced UNIX    users, and it is a small, compact program, unlike the mh-e Emacs    package.    This version of vmail has been bugfixed and enhanced from the    original vmail published on the net in 1987 by J. Zobel.    --James Perkins <jamesp@sp-eug.com> [1.93]