1BURST(1) [nmh-1.3] BURST(1)
2
6 burst - explode digests into messages
7
9 burst [+folder] [msgs] [-inplace | -noinplace] [-quiet | -noquiet]
10 [-verbose | -noverbose] [-version] [-help]
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13 Burst considers the specified messages in the named folder to be Inter‐
14 net digests, and explodes them in that folder.
15 If -inplace is given, each digest is replaced by the “table of con‐
17 tents” for the digest (the original digest is removed). Burst then
18 renumbers all of the messages following the digest in the folder to
19 make room for each of the messages contained within the digest. These
20 messages are placed immediately after the digest.
21 If -noinplace is given, each digest is preserved, no table of contents
23 is produced, and the messages contained within the digest are placed at
24 the end of the folder. Other messages are not tampered with in any
25 way.
26 The -quiet switch directs burst to be silent about reporting messages
28 that are not in digest format.
29 The -verbose switch directs burst to tell the user the general actions
31 that it is taking to explode the digest.
32 It turns out that burst works equally well on forwarded messages and
34 blind-carbon-copies as on Internet digests, provided that the former
35 two were generated by forw or send.
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39 $HOME/.mh_profile The user profile
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43 Path: To determine the user's nmh directory
44 Current-Folder: To find the default current folder
45 Msg-Protect: To set mode when creating a new message
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49 inc(1), msh(1), pack(1), Proposed Standard for Message Encapsulation
50 (RFC-934)
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54 `+folder' defaults to the current folder
55 `msgs' defaults to cur
56 `-noinplace'
57 `-noquiet'
58 `-noverbose'
59
62 If a folder is given, it will become the current folder. If -inplace
63 is given, then the first message burst becomes the current message.
64 This leaves the context ready for a show of the table of contents of
65 the digest, and a next to see the first message of the digest. If
66 -noinplace is given, then the first message extracted from the first
67 digest burst becomes the current message. This leaves the context in a
68 similar, but not identical, state to the context achieved when using
69 -inplace.
70
73 The burst program enforces a limit on the number of messages which may
74 be burst from a single message. This number is on the order of 1000
75 messages. There is usually no limit on the number of messages which
76 may reside in the folder after the bursting.
77 Although burst uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine where one
79 encapsulated message ends and another begins, not all digestifying pro‐
80 grams use an encapsulation algorithm. In degenerate cases, this usu‐
81 ally results in burst finding an encapsulation boundary prematurely and
82 splitting a single encapsulated message into two or more messages.
83 These erroneous digestifying programs should be fixed.
84 Furthermore, any text which appears after the last encapsulated message
86 is not placed in a separate message by burst. In the case of digesti‐
87 fied messages, this text is usually an “End of digest” string. As a
88 result of this possibly un-friendly behavior on the part of burst, note
89 that when the -inplace option is used, this trailing information is
90 lost. In practice, this is not a problem since correspondents usually
91 place remarks in text prior to the first encapsulated message, and this
92 information is not lost.
93MH.6.8 1 June 2008 BURST(1)