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Installation

This section instructs you on how to install and get MHonArc running on your machine. The section covers Unix installation and MS-DOS/Windows installation.

NOTE: For brevity, anything that applies to MS-DOS also applies to Windows.

System Requirements

MHonArc is written in Perl 4. Therefore, you must have Perl 4 or 5 installed on your system. If you do not know if Perl is installed on your system, ask your system administrator.

If Perl is not installed on your system, you can retrieve Perl at <URL:http://www.cis.ufl.edu/perl/ftp.html>. I recommend version 4.0 patchlevel 34, or later. MHonArc has not been tested on earlier versions.

NOTE: MHonArc makes use of the Perl libraries newgetopt.pl and timelocal.pl. These libraries are part of the normal Perl distribution.

Extracting the Distribution File

Before extracting the distribution file, you may want copy the distribution file into scratch directory, and work in there during installation.

Tar/Gzip Distribution

You must have gzip and tar installed on your system. If gzip is not installed, you may obtain gzip at <URL:ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu>. Tar comes with all Unix systems. However, MS-DOS users may have to obtain tar.

To extract the file, type the following command at your shell's prompt:

Unix: zcat MHonArc.tar.gz | tar xvof -

MS-DOS: gunzip -dv MHonArc.tar.gz
tar xvf MHonArc.tar

A directory called "MHonArc" should be created. The directory contains all the files need for installing MHonArc.

NOTE: The actual name of the distribution file may differ from the example given.

Zip Distribution

You must have pkzip or unzip installed on your system.

To extract the file, type the following command at your shell's prompt:

unzip mhonarc.zip
OR

pkunzip -d mhonarc.zip

IMPORTANT: The directory structure of the zip file must be preserved during extraction to insure proper installation.

A directory called "MHonArc" should be created. The directory contains all the files need for installing MHonArc.

NOTE: The actual name of the distribution file may differ from the example given.

Installing the Software

Once you have extracted the distribution file, change your current working directory into the MHonArc directory created during the extraction of the distribution file.

Example: Assuming you are in the directory you extracted the distribution file in, you can type the following on your command-line:

Unix: cd MHonArc

MS-DOS: cd MHONARC

`install.me`

Contained in the MHonArc directory is a Perl program called "install.me". This program will perform the tasks required to install MHonArc on you machine. The install program is capable of running interactively, or in batch.

Interactive Mode

To run install.me in interactive mode, type the following at your shell's prompt:

perl install.me

NOTE: Make sure you are in the same directory as the install.me program.

The program will then prompt you for the necessary information to install MHonArc on your system.

Here's an example (Unix) session:

% perl install.me
MHonArc Installation
====================
The installation process will ask you a series of questions on where
the Perl executable is and where to put MHonArc files.  Just hit <CR>
to accept the default values listed in ()'s.

If directory path does not exist on your system, the installation
program will create the path for you.

-----------------------------------------------
Note:  Make sure all pathnames are absolute.
-----------------------------------------------

Hit <CR> to continue ...
Perl executable ("/usr/local/bin/perl")
-> /usr/bin/perl
Location to install programs ("/usr/local/bin")
-> /mnt/ehood/bin
Location to install libraries ("/usr/local/lib/MHonArc")
-> /mnt/ehood/lib/MHonArc
Install documentation ("y")?  y
Location to install docs ("/usr/local/lib/MHonArc/doc")
-> /mnt/ehood/lib/MHonArc/doc

You've specified the following:
        Perl location: /usr/bin/perl
        Program directory: /mnt/ehood/bin
        Library directory: /mnt/ehood/lib/MHonArc
        Doc directory: /mnt/ehood/lib/MHonArc/doc
Is this correct ("y")?  y
Installing the following into /mnt/ehood/bin
        mhonarc
Installing the following into /mnt/ehood/lib/MHonArc
        base64.pl
        mhexternal.pl
        mhtxthtml.pl
        mhtxtplain.pl
        mhtxtsetext.pl
        qprint.pl
        readmail.pl
Installing the following into /mnt/ehood/lib/MHonArc/doc
        mhonarc.txt
        ...

Batch Mode

To run install.me in batch mode, type the following at your shell's prompt:

perl install.me install.cfg

NOTE: Make sure you are in the same directory as the install.me program.

The install.cfg contains the necessary information for intalling MHonArc on your system. You will need to edit install.cfg to reflect your installation requirements.

Here is an example install.cfg:

# Should executables be installed. 0 => NO, non-zero => YES.
#
$dobin = 1;

# Should libraries be installed. 0 => NO, non-zero => YES.
#
$dolib = 1;

# Should documentation be installed. 0 => NO, non-zero => YES.
#
$dodoc = 1;

# Location for executable.  If using ms-dos, use something like
# 'C:\\BIN'.
#
$bindir  = '/usr/local/bin';

# Location for libraries.  If using ms-dos, use something like
# 'C:\\LIB\\MHONARC'.
#
$libdir  = '/usr/local/lib/MHonArc';

# Location for documents.  If using ms-dos, use something like
# 'C:\\DOC\\MHONARC'.
#
$docdir  = '/usr/local/lib/MHonArc/doc';

# Location of perl executable.  If using ms-dos, use something like
# 'C:\\BIN\\PERL.EXE'.
#
$perlprg = '/usr/local/bin/perl';


1; # DO NOT DELETE THIS LINE

The file is Perl code, and therefore, must follow Perl syntax rules:

Anything following a `#' character is ignored.
Strings values need to be enclosed in quotes.
If you need to use a backslash in a string value, it must be escaped with a backslash. Example: 'C:\\LIB\\MHONARC'. The same applies to the '$' character.
All statements must end with a semi-colon.
The "1;" line must not be deleted.

NOTE: You can verify the syntax of the configuration file by invoking "perl -c" on the file.

After you have successfully executed install.me, MHonArc is ready to use.

MS-DOS Post `install.me` Note

If you would like the ability to run MHonArc like other programs, then create a batch file that contains something like the following:

@ECHO OFF
C:\BIN\PERL.EXE C:\BIN\MHONARC %1 %2 %3 %4 %5 %6 %7 %8 %9

Of course, you will need to change the paths to Perl and MHonArc to suit your systems configuration.

Sample batch files are available in the MHonArc distribution.

Notes on `install.me`

If you do not know the location of the Perl executable on your system, ask your system administrator.
All pathnames must be absolute.
If a path does not exist that you specify, the path will be automatically created if running in interactive mode. In batch mode, all paths specified must already exist.
During the installation process, the main MHonArc source file is modified to be aware of the location of the Perl executable and MHonArc's library files. If you ever need to install MHonArc in a different location, rerun the install.me program.
NOTE: Location of the Perl exectuble is only relevant for Unix systems. MS-DOS systems do not make use of the "#!" line in scripts.
MHonArc requires the use of timelocal.pl and newgetopt.pl. These libraries are part of the normal Perl distribution.

Tested Environments

This section covers software environments MHonArc has worked successfully. Feedback is welcome about other success, or failure, stories covering MHonArc usage in other environments.

Perl

MHonArc is known to work with the following version of Perl 4, or later:

$RCSfile: perl.c,v $$Revision: 4.0.1.7 $$Date: 92/06/08 14:50:39 $ Patch level: 34

MHonArc is known also to work with Perl 5.001m and Perl 5.002 beta2.

NOTE: The version numbers are based upon the Unix versions of Perl. DOS version numbers may differ.

Unix

Mail Software

MH
Elm, Mail, mail, and any other mail software that stores e-mail in UUCP style mailbox format. UUCP format is where mail messages are separated by a line beginning with "From " (I.e. the word "From" followed by a space). You may need to utilize the MSGSEP resource if the message separator is different from standard mailbox files (eg. MMDF format).

News Software

Different news software store messages differently. Messages are either stored in a format similiar to MH or similiar to a mailbox file:

MH style is where the messages are stored in a directory with each post a separate file, and each file has a numeric filename.
Mailbox style is where messages are stored in a single file. You may need to utilize the MSGSEP resource if the message separator is different from standard mailbox files.

MS-DOS

Mail/News Software

MHonArc has been tested under MS-DOS with message files created by the following mail and news programs:

Eudora
WinVN
Windows Trumpet
NUPop

It also works with individual RFC822 mail messages, but you must run MHonArc without a batch file if you need to use redirection. For example:

perl c:\bin\mhonarc <one.msg >one.htm perl c:\bin\mhonarc -add <one.msg