1MH-MAIL(5) [nmh-1.2-20070115cvs] MH-MAIL(5)
2
6 mh-mail - message format for nmh message system
7
9 any nmh command
10
12 nmh processes messages in a particular format. It should be noted that
13 although neither Bell nor Berkeley mailers produce message files in the
14 format that nmh prefers, nmh can read message files in that antiquated
15 format.
16 Each user possesses a mail drop box which initially receives all mes‐
18 sages processed by post. Inc will read from that drop box and incorpo‐
19 rate the new messages found there into the user's own mail folders
20 (typically “+inbox”). The mail drop box consists of one or more mes‐
21 sages.
22 Messages are expected to consist of lines of text. Graphics and binary
24 data are not handled. No data compression is accepted. All text is
25 clear ASCII 7-bit data.
26 The general “memo” framework of RFC-822 is used. A message consists of
28 a block of information in a rigid format, followed by general text with
29 no specified format. The rigidly formatted first part of a message is
30 called the header, and the free-format portion is called the body. The
31 header must always exist, but the body is optional. These parts are
32 separated by an empty line, i.e., two consecutive newline characters.
33 Within nmh , the header and body may be separated by a line consisting
34 of dashes:
35 To:
37 cc:
38 Fcc: +outbox
39 Subject:
40 --------
41 The header is composed of one or more header items. Each header item
43 can be viewed as a single logical line of ASCII characters. If the
44 text of a header item extends across several real lines, the continua‐
45 tion lines are indicated by leading spaces or tabs.
46 Each header item is called a component and is composed of a keyword or
48 name, along with associated text. The keyword begins at the left mar‐
49 gin, may NOT contain spaces or tabs, may not exceed 63 characters (as
50 specified by RFC-822), and is terminated by a colon (`:'). Certain
51 components (as identified by their keywords) must follow rigidly
52 defined formats in their text portions.
53 The text for most formatted components (e.g., “Date:” and “Mes‐
55 sage-Id:”) is produced automatically. The only ones entered by the
56 user are address fields such as “To:”, “cc:”, etc. Internet addresses
57 are assigned mailbox names and host computer specifications. The rough
58 format is “local@domain”, such as “MH@UCI”, or “MH@UCI-ICSA.ARPA”.
59 Multiple addresses are separated by commas. A missing host/domain is
60 assumed to be the local host/domain.
61 As mentioned above, a blank line (or a line of dashes) signals that all
63 following text up to the end of the file is the body. No formatting is
64 expected or enforced within the body.
65 Following is a list of header components that are considered meaningful
67 to various nmh programs.
68 Date:
70 Added by post, contains date and time of the message's entry into
71 the mail transport system.
72 From:
74 Added by post, contains the address of the author or authors (may
75 be more than one if a “Sender:” field is present). For a standard
76 reply (using repl, the reply address is constructed by checking
77 the following headers (in this order): “Mail-Reply-To:”,
78 “Reply-To:”, “From:”, “Sender:”.
79 Mail-Reply-To:
81 For a standard reply (using repl), the reply address is con‐
82 structed by checking the following headers (in this order): “Mail-
83 Reply-To:”, “Reply-To:”, “From:”, “Sender:”.
84 Mail-Followup-To:
86 When making a “group” reply (using repl -group), any addresses in
87 this field will take precedence, and no other reply address will
88 be added to the draft. If this header is not available, then the
89 return addresses will be constructed from the “Mail-Reply-To:”, or
90 “Reply-To:”, or “From:”, along with adding the addresses from the
91 headers “To:”, “cc:”, as well as adding your personal address.
92 Reply-To:
94 For a standard reply (using repl), the reply address is con‐
95 structed by checking the following headers (in this order): “Mail-
96 Reply-To:”, “Reply-To:”, “From:”, “Sender:”.
97 Sender:
99 Added by post in the event that the message already has a “From:”
100 line. This line contains the address of the actual sender.
101 To:
103 Contains addresses of primary recipients.
104 cc:
106 Contains addresses of secondary recipients.
107 Bcc:
109 Still more recipients. However, the “Bcc:” line is not copied
110 onto the message as delivered, so these recipients are not listed.
111 nmh uses an encapsulation method for blind copies, see send.
112 Fcc:
114 Causes post to copy the message into the specified folder for the
115 sender, if the message was successfully given to the transport
116 system.
117 Message-ID:
119 A unique message identifier added by post if the -msgid flag is
120 set.
121 Subject:
123 Sender's commentary. It is displayed by scan.
124 In-Reply-To:
126 A commentary line added by repl when replying to a message.
127 Resent-Date:
129 Added when redistributing a message by post.
130 Resent-From:
132 Added when redistributing a message by post.
133 Resent-To:
135 New recipients for a message resent by dist.
136 Resent-cc:
138 Still more recipients. See “cc:” and “Resent-To:”.
139 Resent-Bcc:
141 Even more recipients. See “Bcc:” and “Resent-To:”.
142 Resent-Fcc:
144 Copy resent message into a folder. See “Fcc:” and “Resent-To:”.
145 Resent-Message-Id:
147 A unique identifier glued on by post if the -msgid flag is set.
148 See “Message-Id:” and “Resent-To:”.
149 Resent:
151 Annotation for dist under the -annotate option.
152 Forwarded:
154 Annotation for forw under the -annotate option.
155 Replied:
157 Annotation for repl under the -annotate option.
158
161 /var/mail/$USER Location of mail drop
162
165 Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages (RFC-822)
166
169 None
170MH.6.8 1 Jul 2003 MH-MAIL(5)