BCI NET/BCI NET Dec 94.iso/archives/networking/mail/gdmail_1.2.lha/README

Text File | 1994-09-29 | 10.3 KB | 262 lines

                                  GDMail


GDMail is a GadTools adaptation of Dmail by Matt Dillon.  It is designed
to be a drop-in replacement for Dmail in any system using AmigaDOS 2.04
or better.  For this reason there is no particular documentation
provided (or required) for GDMail - my desire was that its operation
should be self evident.

The Dmail sources that were retained came from the following distibution.

  DMAIL v1.12 distribution June 1989  (AmigaUUCP_1.16D)

The sources have been changed so significantly that there is no reason to
contact Matt Dillon if you are having trouble - contact me instead.

Like Dmail, GDMail is a CLI program.


New Features
------------

    UUdecode / UUencode / File Attachments

GDMail supports mailing and receiving of uuencoded files.  If GDMail
finds the header for a uuencoded file in the message that you are
currently reading, it will enable the "Decode Files" button.  If you
activate this button, a file containing all uuencoded sections from the
message will be created and your uudecode program will be executed on it.
The decoded file(s) will appear in the current directory.

If you wish to send a file or files, this is done by specifying binary or
ASCII attachments to go with your message.  The binary attachments will
be uuencoded before they are sent.


    MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) support

GDMail supports mailing and receiving of MIME formated messages.  If GDMail
finds a Content-Type header in the message that you are currently reading,
it will ask what you want to do with it.  You can choose to view it or
ignore it.  If you choose to view it, all of the contents will be displayed
as you have configured your mailcap file.

For this feature to work metamail and its associated utilities must be in
your path, and the mailcap file must be properly configured.  GDMail
supports MetaMail2.3a for the Amiga, the latest release for Amiga that I
have seen.  Also, due to some limitations in the MetaMail programs, the
compose functions as specified in the mailcap file are not invoked.  Thus
8SVX audio and IFF ILBM image types have hardcoded conversions: 8SVXtoUlaw,
and ILBMtoGIF.  Worse yet, the 8SVXtoUlaw program provided will not work
and an ILBMtoGIF converter is not supplied.  In both cases the program must
accept two arguments: first the name of the source file and second the name
of the destination file.

To fix a number of problems, I have produced a special version of mailto
(mailtogd) that MUST be used in place of the metamail mailto.  Therefore
this program must be in the path.  I reccommend copying it to the metamail
bin directory.

If you wish to send a MIME message, this is done by specifying attachments
to go with your message and activating the MIME button in the MailSend
window.  Make sure the types of the attachments are set correctly.  Your
message and the attachments will be formed into a MIME message.

There are two options that can be applied to the MIME feature of GDMail.
These options are set in the .dmailrc file.  Normally GDMail will not
use the metamail MIME functions if the Content-Type is text/plain and it
will always query before invoking metamail. You can set GDMail to treat
text/plain like any other Content-Type by placing the line
  set text_plain_is_mime TRUE
in the .dmailrc file.  You can also have GDMail automatically skip the
query before invoking the MIME functions.  This line would set this mode.
  set mime_automatic TRUE
If you do not want either of these options, I recommend that you place
the following lines in your .dmailrc file.
  set mime_automatic (TRUE)
  set text_plain_is_mime (TRUE)


    PGP decryption

If GDMail finds the header for a PGP message or signature in the message
that you are currently reading, it will ask what you want to do with it.
You can choose to decrypt it and read it or ignore it.  If you choose to
decrypt it, the PGP program will prompt for the pass phrase (if you have
one) for your PGP private key.

For this feature to work PGP must be in the path.  I've tested GDMail
with PGP 2.3a.3 .

If you wish to send a PGP encrypted message or signature, currently you
will have to use the PGPSendMail utility that comes with PGP.


    App Window

The Mail Send window (do not confuse this with the larger Mail Read
window) is an App Window.  You may drag and drop any file icons onto
this window that you wish to have attached to the message that you are
going to send.  Any dropped icons are assumed to be binary files, if they
are ASCII you can change them as you would any other attachment.


    Receipt Request

Receipt Requests are somewhat like registered mail for paper mail.
GDMail implements both sides of the Return-Receipt-To: field.  By
selecting the Request Receipt button in the Send window, you can
request that a receipt be sent to you when the recipient reads the mail
you sent.  But, not all mail readers support this field and many, like
GDMail, allow the recipient to stop the receipt from being sent.

The path GDMail places in this field will not be correct for all
situations, and my situation is one of those, so you can expect that
this is going to be fixed.  My node name is stan and my domain name is
dres.dnd.ca, but the powers that be have determined (they do have their
reasons) that my mail address is [e-mail] (the node name is
dropped).  GDMail sets the field to be [e-mail] which is
incorrect.

If you receive mail that contains this field, a requester will appear
that asks if you want to send the requested receipt.

This method of requesting receipts cannot work with MIME mail currently
due to the problem with extra fields mentioned in the MIME section.


    Other

One other small change that should probably be mentioned.  When printing
messages containing uuencoded files, the uuencoded data will be removed
for the print out.  A notice will appear in its place.


.dmailrc
--------

The only changes, which support uuencoding and uudecoding, are four new
variables for the .dmailrc file (yes the original name was retained).
Two of these variables specify the instructions that must be executed to
uuencode and uudecode files.  Another variable "uufile" is available to
indicate where the filename goes in the uuencode instruction.  I use UUxT,
which operates like an archiver, so these lines in my .dmailrc file look
as shown below.

  set uuencode "hd1:pd/uuxt/uuxt a t:gd_tmp $uufile$"
  set uudecode "hd1:pd/uuxt/uuxt x t:gd_tmp"

Note that the resulting file from a uuencode must be be called t:gd_tmp.
Note also that uudecode does not require a filename since this
information is part of the uuencoded file.

There are also new variables for MIME support.  See the MIME section.

GDMail no longer pays any attention to any commands in the .dmailrc file
other than the set command.  The other commands were not applicable to
the GadTools environment.


Bugs
----

If you use GDMail to send mail to yourself directly (via To:, Cc: or
Bcc:) such that your sendmail writes directly into your UUMAIL:$username$
file rather than mailing it to another host, this file may become
corrupted since GDMail is still using the file for its mail reading
operation.


Future
------

I may integrate PGP mail send into GDMail rather than relying on the
PGP sendmail, although to do so sounds like work without benefit.

If there are other features that you think GDMail needs, let me know.


Special Thanks
--------------

Special thanks go to Alan Kramer for beta testing GDMail.  He is a tireless
nit-picking bug finder and GDMail is better for it.


Contact
-------

If you have problems or suggestions for improvements, in order of
preference, I can be reached at;

  [e-mail]
  [e-mail]
  [e-mail]

  Stan Burton
  1978 26 St. SE
  Medicine Hat, AB
  T1A 2G8

  [phone]  (evenings)


Things To Do
------------

Add quoted message introduction line, ex. "In message <xxx> you wrote:"
Add introduction lines for attachments
Autodetect the type of gif, jpeg and perhaps other files by their filename
  extensions
Handle attachment file names that include spaces
Add a commonly used addresses "phonebook"
Fix support for compose lines in the mailcap file.


History
-------

-- 1.2 ------------------------
I believe that I have successfully localized the GDMail GUI.  Since I
  am competant in English only, some one else will have to do the
  translation.  Send me a copy so I can distribute it.
Fixed bug where long Subject lines would foul up the following message
  causing the wrong (usually the first) message to be displayed instead.
Added X-Mailer header to default headers
Modified the metamail program mailto to eliminate some of the problems
  that it was causing, i.e. the requirement for a particular order of
  headers and the movement of extra headers to the body of the message.
Fixed a serious bug in the MIME support code that would cause improper
  handling of most MIME messages - not the ones I used as samples of
  course.
Added file notification to the mail file so that if mail comes in while
  the GDMail Read window is open it is automatically added to the mail
  messages list.

-- 1.1 ------------------------
Support for reply receipts has been added.  If a message containing this
  field is received, a message will be displayed asking if you want to
  send a receipt.  This field can also be set for messages that you send.
Workbench screen is forced to front when the Send window opens.  This
  accomodates editors that use other screens.
Fixed bug in Send list handling that temporarily stopped displaying the
  attachment list after a return to the editor.
It is now possible to multiple select received messages and submit them as
  a group for UUdecoding or MIME display.  This makes it possible to view
  or decode split messages.  NOTE that the list gadget will not indicate
  that more than one message has been selected.
Added support for some MIME handling control options.  See docs
Added support for MIME reading and sending.  See docs for limitations and
  conditions.
Added version string to GDMail and a version menu item that displays the
  string.
GDMail was looking for the sequence "begin 644 " to detect the start of a
  uuencoded section.  This sequence is the most common but it is really
  aggravating when you get a uuencoded message with a different permission
  number and you can't easily decode it.  So GDMail now looks for
  "begin ddd " where d is a digit.

-- 1.0 ------------------------
< first release >