InfoMagic Internet Tools 1993 July/Internet Tools.iso/RockRidge/mail/elm/elm2.4/doc/Ref.guide

Text File | 1993-05-13 | 87.7 KB | 2,447 lines

.\" @(#)$Id: Ref.guide,v 5.25 1993/05/14 03:56:39 syd Exp $
.\"
.\"  Reference guide to the Elm mail system.
.\"  format with
.\"      troff tmac.n Ref.guide > Ref.format
.\"
.\"  Elm is now in the public trust. Bug reports, comments, suggestions, flames
.\"  etc. should go to:
.\"    Syd Weinstein        [e-mail] (dsinc!elm)
.\"
.\"  (C) Copyright 1986,1987 Dave Taylor
.\"  (C) Copyright 1988-1992 Usenet Community Trust
.\"
.\"  $Log: Ref.guide,v $
.\" Revision 5.25  1993/05/14  03:56:39  syd
.\" Moved the new numeric variables to the Numeric Variables section and
.\" applied the quoting/highlight policy to them.
.\" From: [e-mail] (Dave Wolfe)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.24  1993/05/08  20:08:43  syd
.\" add sleepmsg parameter
.\"
.\" Revision 5.23  1993/05/08  20:00:22  syd
.\" fix mail added >From lines
.\" From: Syd
.\"
.\" Revision 5.22  1993/05/08  18:56:16  syd
.\" created a new elmrc variable named "readmsginc".  This specifies an
.\" increment by which the message count is updated.  If this variable is
.\" set to, say, 25, then the message count will only be updated every 25
.\" messages, displaying 0, 25, 50, 75, and so forth.  The default value
.\" of 1 will cause Elm to behave exactly as it currently does in PL21.
.\" From: Eric Peterson <[e-mail]>
.\"
.\" Revision 5.21  1993/04/12  03:15:41  syd
.\" These patches makes 'T' (since it was free) do a Tag and Move command in the
.\" index and alias page, and in the builtin pager.
.\" In the alias help in src/alias.c, there is a tolower done on the character
.\" one wants help for.  This is clearly wrong.
.\" From: Jan Djarv <[e-mail]>
.\"
.\" Revision 5.20  1993/04/12  01:44:20  syd
.\" Update for quotes
.\" From: [e-mail] (Dave Wolfe)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.19  1993/01/27  20:57:47  syd
.\" Corrections to PL21 Alpha docs and consistent punctuation use in help files.
.\" From: [e-mail] (Dave Wolfe)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.18  1993/01/20  04:01:07  syd
.\" Adds a new integer parameter builtinlines.
.\" if (builtinlines < 0) and (the length of the message < LINES on
.\"       screen + builtinlines) use internal.
.\" if (builtinlines > 0) and (length of message < builtinlines)
.\"     use internal pager.
.\" if (builtinlines = 0) or none of the above conditions hold, use the
.\" external pager if defined.
.\" From: "John P. Rouillard" <[e-mail]>
.\"
.\" Revision 5.17  1993/01/19  04:52:19  syd
.\"     add c)hange alias command to alias helpfile
.\"     if a deleted alias is changed, undelete it.  Also added the 'N'
.\" flag to changed aliases to help remind the user.  Documented it.
.\" Note:  if they mark the alias for deletion AFTER making the change it
.\" WILL be deleted. (and marked accordingly)
.\"     modified alias mode title string to indicate when a resync was
.\" needed.
.\"     allow editing alias file when none exist.
.\"     Now aliases are check for illegal characters (and WS) and
.\" addresses are check for illegal WS when they are being entered.  If
.\" anything illegal is found and message is printed and they keep entering
.\" the item until they get it right.
.\"     I fixed a couple of places where int should be long to match
.\" the declared type of alias_rec.length
.\" From: "Robert L. Howard" <[e-mail]>
.\"
.\" Revision 5.16  1992/12/24  23:48:05  syd
.\" make Nroff not use co symbol, just the word
.\" From: Syd via request from Tim Pierce
.\"
.\" Revision 5.15  1992/12/20  05:22:13  syd
.\" Fix formatting and typograpical problems
.\" From: [e-mail] (Dave Wolfe)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.14  1992/12/20  05:06:19  syd
.\" Here are the doc changes for my additions to the alias system and
.\" the new switches to listalias.
.\" From: "Robert L. Howard" <[e-mail]>
.\"
.\" Revision 5.13  1992/12/12  01:27:41  syd
.\" Make verb and pronoun agree.
.\" From: [e-mail] (Dave Wolfe)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.12  1992/12/07  02:41:21  syd
.\" This implements the use of SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2 as discussed on the
.\" mailing list recently, and adds them to the documentation.
.\" From: [e-mail] (Steve Simmons)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.11  1992/11/07  19:37:21  syd
.\" Enhanced printing support.  Added "-I" to readmsg to
.\" suppress spurious diagnostic messages.
.\" From: [e-mail] (Chip Rosenthal)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.10  1992/11/07  16:31:15  syd
.\" another typo (2.4.6 Ref.guide)
.\" From: [e-mail] (David W. Tamkin)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.9  1992/10/30  20:56:37  syd
.\" Things I found in doc/Ref.guide looking over patches 4 & 5:
.\" From: [e-mail] (Dave Wolfe)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.8  1992/10/24  13:53:16  syd
.\" I think all these are typos
.\" From: [e-mail] (Dave Wolfe)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.7  1992/10/24  13:44:41  syd
.\" There is now an additional elmrc option "displaycharset", which
.\" sets the charset supported on your terminal. This is to prevent
.\" elm from calling out to metamail too often.
.\" Plus a slight documentation update for MIME composition (added examples)
.\" From: Klaus Steinberger <[e-mail]>
.\"
.\" Revision 5.6  1992/10/24  13:25:41  syd
.\" In our global elm.rc I keep the four options as below
.\"
.\"     confirmappend = OFF    Don't confirm every append to any file.
.\"     confirmcreate = ON    Confirm creation of every new file.
.\"     confirmfiles = ON    Confirm append to non folder files though.
.\"     confirmfolders = ON    In case someone does not want to be asked
.\"                 every time when creating a new file try
.\"                 to confirm creation of folders though.
.\" From: Jukka Ukkonen <[e-mail]>
.\"
.\" Revision 5.5  1992/10/17  22:58:57  syd
.\" patch to make elm use (or in my case, not use) termcap/terminfo ti/te.
.\" From: Graham Hudspith <[e-mail]>
.\"
.\" Revision 5.4  1992/10/17  22:01:01  syd
.\" corrected typos
.\" From: [e-mail] (David W. Tamkin)
.\"
.\" Revision 5.3  1992/10/11  01:33:36  syd
.\" fixed a bug in the .lp macro in doc/tmac.n.  The lp macros is always
.\" called with a unit specified for the second argument, however, the
.\" macro added a "n" unit specifier to that argument.  The following patch
.\" fixes this problem.
.\"
.\" The various .guide books use the troff .tl macro liberally, but often the
.\" extra ' characters needed at the end of the lines to explicitly specify
.\" the trailing nulls fields were left off.  The following patch fixes the
.\" erroneous lines.
.\" From: Larry Philps <[e-mail]>
.\"
.\" Revision 5.2  1992/10/04  01:15:43  syd
.\" Emphasize that hostdomain, hostname and hostfullname must all be specified
.\" if one is specified in elmrc file.
.\"
.\" Revision 5.1  1992/10/03  20:51:50  syd
.\" Initial checkin as of 2.4 Release at PL0
.\"
.\"
.\"
.po 1i
.ds h0
.ds h1
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.nr Hy 1
.nr Pt 1
.nr Pi 0
.lg 0
.nf
.na
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\f3The Elm Reference Guide\f1
.sp 4
.ps 12
.ss 14
.vs 14
\f2A comprehensive list of all commands,
options and such to the \f3Elm\fP mail system\f1
.sp 3
The Elm Mail System
(Version 2.4)
.sp 2
Syd Weinstein, Elm Coordinator
Datacomp Systems, Inc.
3837 Byron Road
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-2320
.sp
email: elm\s-1@\s+1DSI.COM  or  dsinc\s-1!\s+1elm
.sp |9.0i
\s18\f3\*(ct\f1\s12 Copyright 1986,1987 by Dave Taylor
\s18\f3\*(ct\f1\s12 Copyright 1988-1992 by The USENET Community Trust
.fi
.ad
.bp 1
.sv 5v
.ce 99
.ps 14
.vs 16
\f3The Elm Reference Guide\f1
.ds h0 "Elm Reference Guide
.ds h1
.ds h2 "Version 2.4
.ds f0 "October 1, 1992
.ds f1
.ds f2 "Page %
.sp
.ps 10
.ss 12
.vs 12
(The Elm Mail System, \*(h2)
.sp
\*(f0
.sp 2
Syd Weinstein
Datacomp Systems, Inc.
3837 Byron Road
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-2320
.sp
email: elm\s-1@\s+1DSI.COM  or  dsinc\s-1!\s+1elm
.sp 2
Derived from
\*QThe Elm Mail System, Version 2.0\*U
by
Dave Taylor
Intuitive Systems
Mountain View, California
email: taylor\s-1@\s+1intuitive.com  or  limbo\s-1!\s+1taylor
.ce 0
.sp 3
.hn 1 Introduction

There are many parts to a complex software system and \f3The Elm
Mail System\f1
is no different.  This document describes fully all the options
available in the mailer, including the command line options,
the commands (in considerably more detail than
in \f2The Elm Users Guide\f1) and
the \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file.

To be more explicit, this document covers:
a discussion of
the \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file,
command line options of Elm,
outgoing mail processing,
responses of various commands,
mail archive folders,
the Alias system,
system aliases etc,
more on the Elm utilities,
and a section for expert mail users.

Without any further ado, then, let's get this show on the road!!
.sp
.ne 8    \" footnote for UNIX forces text to next page but leaves footnote & hdr
.hn 1 "The .elm/elmrc File"

Elm, like lots of other software on the
.ux
system, has the ability to automatically read
in a configuration file at each invocation.  The file must be
called \f2elmrc\f1 and reside in the \f2.elm\f1 directory located
in your home directory.  It can have any of the entries below, in any order.
If you are missing any entries, or if you don't have an \f2.elm/elmrc\f1
file, the default values (listed below for each option) or those values specified
by your systems administrator in a system wide \f2elm.rc\f1 file are used.
Note that those options below designated with \*q*\*u can be altered
using Elm via the options screen, while those designated with a
\*q+\*u can be placed
on the options screen using the \f3configoptions\f1 variable.
Also note that when you save a new \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file via the \*q>\*u command
of the options
screen, it is (re)created including only those options that you
have changed via your original \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file or via the options screen.

The format for each line of the \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file is:
.sp
.nf
.ft CW
.zf
.ti +.5i
variable = value\f1
.fi
.sp
.ne 8
.hu String Variables

.lp aliassortby* 1.0i
You can have your alias display sorted by any of the following ways:
.si 1.5i
.lp alias 10n
Sorts according to \f2aliasname\f1 for each address.
.lp name 10n
Sorts according to \f2username\f1 for each address.
.lp text 10n
Presents the aliases in the order found in the
\f2aliases.text\f1 file.
.ei
.in 1.0i    \" ei doesn't restore margin
.sp
Each of these fields can also optionally be prepended with the
sequence \*Qreverse\-\*U to reverse the order of the sort.  This doesn't
imply anything about the order of the message in the \f2aliases.text\f1
file itself and affects only their order on the display screen.  The
default is \f2name\f1 order.

.lp alteditor+ 1.0i
The editor to use when mailing to a message that already includes text,
as the builtin editor cannot handle that situation.  Messages that
already include text are forwarded messages and replies where the
original message is included in the reply.  This value is not needed
if the \f3editor\f1 variable is not set to \*Qbuiltin\*U.

.lp alternatives 1.0i
This is a list of other machine/username combinations
that you receive mail from (forwarded).  This is used
when the \f2group reply\f1 feature is invoked to ensure that
you don't send yourself a copy of the outbound message.
The default is a list of no alternatives.

.lp attribution 1.0i
When you \f3forward\f1 a message or \f3reply\f1 to it, you can
optionally attribute the quoted text to its original author.
Defining the attribution string here allows you to indicate the
form that the attribution should take.  The sequence \*Q%s\*U in the
attribution is replaced by the name of the original author.
Examples are:
.sp
.nf
.in 1.5i
.ft CW
.zf
attribution = According to %s:
attribution = %s writes:
.ft 1
.in 0
.fi

.lp calendar* 1.0i
This is used in conjunction with the \*q<\*u \f2scan message for
calendar entries\f1 command, as the file to append any found
calendar entries to.  The default is \f2calendar\f1 in your home directory.

.lp charset 1.0i
This is the character set used for messages with a
\*QContent-Type: text/plain\*U header.
The default depends on your site's installation, but is usually
US-ASCII. \f3charset\f1 is only recognized if MIME
(Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension)
support is configured. You could set \f3charset\f1 to your preferred
national character set, but be aware that there is currently no way
to change it online. Also you must be aware that Elm probably needs
\f2metamail\f1 to display messages with \f3charset\f1=US-ASCII if you change
\f3charset\f1. Elm tries to know which character set could display US-ASCII
too, but its list of compatible character sets is probably not complete.

.lp displaycharset 1.0i
This is the character set which is supported by your terminal.
The default depends on your site's installation but is usually
US-ASCII. For sites with
.xw
support, ISO-8859-1
is a reasonable default.

.lp compatcharsets 1.0i
This is the list of character sets which are more or less a superset
of US-ASCII. This enables Elm to display messages with \f3charset\f1=US-ASCII
with the builtin pager, or your preferred pager, instead of calling
\f2metamail\f1. \f3compatcharsets\f1 is only recognized if MIME support
is configured. The ISO-8859-X character sets are defaulted.

.lp configoptions 1.0i
This is a list of letters that indicate which of the run-time
configurable options you desire placed on the options screen (see
section 7, \f3Commands\f1, for the \f3options\f1 command).  There
are 22 run-time configurable options, but only room for 15 on a
24-line screen.  The default list is \f2^_cdefsopyv_am_un\f1.  Two
additional characters can be specified for formatting.  Those are \*q_\*u, which
adds a blank line, and \*q^\*u, which places the title message on that line
instead of the bottom of the screen.  The
letters \*qi\*u, \*qq\*u, and \*qx\*u are reserved for \*Qreturn to
index\*U, \*Qquit\*U,
and \*Qexit\*U, respectively, and are not listed as part of the
\f3configoptions\f1
list.  The options controlled by each letter are:
.sp
.in 1.5i
.ta 0.5i
a    A)rrow cursor \f2(arrow)\f1
.br
b    B)order on copy \f2(prefix)\f1
.br
c    C)alendar file \f2(calendar)\f1
.br
d    D)isplay mail using \f2(pager)\f1
.br
e    E)ditor (primary) \f2(editor)\f1
.br
f    F)older directory \f2(maildir)\f1
.br
h    H)old sent message \f2(copy)\f1
.br
j    J) reply editor \f2(alteditor)\f1
.br
k    K) pause after pager \f2(promptafter)\f1
.br
l    A(l)ias Sorting \f2(aliassortby)\f1
.br
m    M)enu display \f2(menu)\f1
.br
n    N)ames only \f2(names)\f1
.br
o    O)utbound mail saved \f2(sentmail)\f1
.br
p    P)rint mail using \f2(print)\f1
.br
r    R)eply copies msg \f2(autocopy)\f1
.br
s    S)orting criteria \f2(sortby)\f1
.br
t    T)ext editor (~e) \f2(easyeditor)\f1
.br
u    U)ser level \f2(userlevel)\f1
.br
v    V)isual Editor (~v) \f2(visualeditor)\f1
.br
w    W)ant Cc: prompt \f2(askcc)\f1
.br
y    Y)our full name \f2(fullname)\f1
.br
z    Z) signature dashes \f2(sigdashes)\f1

.lp easyeditor+ 1.0i
The editor to be used by the \*Q~e\*U escape within the builtin editor.
The default value is the value of the configuration variable \f2emacs_editor\f1
(see \f2The Elm Configuration Guide\f1).

.lp editor* 1.0i
The editor to use when typing in new mail.  If you select
\*Qnone\*U or \*Qbuiltin\*U you'll get a Berkeley Mail style
interface for all mail that doesn't already have text
in the buffer (e.g. a reply, mail with a \*Qsignature\*U, etc.)
There are two possible formats for it, either a command that
can have a filename appended to it before being
executed, or a string that contains the metasequence \*Q%s\*U
which is replaced by the name of the file before being
executed.  Examples of each are:

.nf
.in 1.5i
.ft CW
.zf
editor = emacs \-nw
editor = emacs \-nw %s \-f text-mode \-f turn-on-auto-fill
.ft 1
.in 1.0i
.fi

The default is to use the value of $EDITOR in your
current environment, and if not set, an editor selected by
the person who configured Elm for your system.

.lp escape 1.0i
The character used with the builtin editor (see \f3editor\f1 above)
to escape from text entry to input a command.
When a line begins with this character, the builtin editor interprets it
as a command rather than as text to add.
The default is \*q~\*u (tilde).

.lp fullname* 1.0i
This is the name the mailer uses in messages
you send.  It is highly recommended that you use your
full name and nothing strange or unusual, as that can
appear extremely rude to people receiving your mail.
The default is to use the \*Qgcos\*U field from the \f2/etc/passwd\f1 file
on systems that use this field to store full names, and to use the contents
of the \f2.\|fullname\f1 file in your home directory on other systems.

.lp hostdomain 1.0i
This is the domain name of your system.
This variable is only valid in the system-wide \f2elm.rc\f1 file.
It is only necessary if the value returned by
the \f2getdomainname\f1 system call is incorrect for your mail use or
if that system call is unavailable on your system.
If this variable is specified, then the \f3hostfullname\f1 variable must
also be specified.

.lp hostfullname 1.0i
This is the \*Qfully qualified domain name\*U of your system.
This variable is only valid in the system-wide \f2elm.rc\f1 file.
It is only necessary if the value returned by the \f2getdomainname\f1 and
\f2gethostname\f1 system calls are incorrect for your mail use or if those
system calls are unavailable on your system.  It is required if either
the \f3hostdomain\f1 or the \f3hostname\f1 variables are used within the
system-wide \f2elm.rc\f1 file.

.lp hostname 1.0i
This is the local node-name of your system.
This variable is only valid in the system wide \f2elm.rc\f1 file.
It is only necessary if the value returned by
the \f2gethostname\f1 system call is incorrect for your mail use or if
that system call is unavailable on your system.
If this variable is specified, then the \f3hostfullname\f1 variable must
also be specified.

.lp localsignature 1.0i
See \f3signature\f1.

.lp maildir* 1.0i
This is your folder directory.
When you specify a folder name beginning with the \*q=\*u metacharacter,\s-2\u1\d\s0
.fn
1. Note that \*q%\*u and \*q+\*u are synonymous with \*q=\*u throughout Elm.
.ef
it stands for this directory name.  That is,
if you save a message to folder \f2=stuff\f1
the \*q=\*u is expanded to the current value of \f3maildir\f1.
The default is the directory \f2Mail\fP in your home directory.

.lp pager* 1.0i
This is the program to be used to display messages.  You can
specify \*Qbuiltin\*U or the name of any standard pager.  If you
use \*Qbuiltin+\*U, each screenfull of displayed message is
\*Qpaged\*U from the top of your screen with a title line,
while \*Qbuiltin\*U simply \*Qscrolls up\*U subsequent screenfulls once
it has \*Qpaged\*U the first screenfull.
The default is to use the value of $PAGER in your
current environment, and if not set, a pager selected by
the person who configured Elm for your system, quite likely
\*Qbuiltin+\*U.

.lp precedences 1.0i
Some mail transports look at a \*QPrecedence\*U header in outbound
mail messages to determine how to deliver the message.  The Elm header
editing menu allows you to place a precedence on your mail messages.
By default, Elm allows any value to be specified as the message
precedence.  This option may be used to restrict the allowed precedences
to a particular list.  For example, you might say:

.nf
.in 1.5i
.ft CW
.zf
precedences = special-delivery air-mail first-class bulk junk
.ft 1
.in 1.0i
.fi

Exactly what precedences your mail transport supports and what they
do (if anything at all!) will vary from site to site.

The distinction between the \*QPrecedence\*U and \*QPriority\*U headers
is subtle:  the precedence tells the mail system how to handle the
message and the priority tells the recipient how important the message
is.  Although these are quite different things, they are often related.
This option will also allow you to associate message priorities with
precedences.  For example, you might say:

.nf
.in 1.5i
.ft CW
.zf
precedences = special-delivery:urgent air-mail:urgent first-class bulk junk
.ft 1
.in 1.0i
.fi

In this example, if you select an \*Qair-mail\*U precedence then the
message priority defaults to \*Qurgent\*U.  If you select a
\*Qfirst-class\*U precedence then no special priority is implied.  The
priorities given in this field are used only if you have not already
assigned a priority to your message, and even if one is assigned via
\f3precedences\f1 you can always go back and change it.

.lp prefix+ 1.0i
When you \f3reply\f1 to a message or \f3forward\f1 a message to another person,
you can optionally include the original message.  Defining the
prefix value here allows you to indicate what the prefix of
each included line should be.  The default is \*Q>\ \*U (specified as
\*Q>_\*U \(em underscore is interpreted as space) and is
standard in the
.ux
community.

.lp print* 1.0i
This is the command used for printing mail messages.  There are two
possible formats for the command, depending on whether or not the command
contains the sequence \*Q%s\*U.  In the first form the mail message(s) to
be printed are piped to the specified command.  An example of this
form is:
.sp
.in 1.5i
.ft CW
.zf
print = print \-formfeed
.ft 1
.in 1.0i
.sp
In the second form the mail message(s) to be printed are dumped into
a temporary file, and a \*Q%s\*U in the command string is replaced with
the name of the temporary file.  An example of this form is:
.sp
.in 1.5i
.ft CW
.zf
print = pr %s | lpr
.ft 1
.in 1.0i
.sp
Another significant difference between the two forms is that in the
second form all output from the command is discarded, but in the first
form all output is displayed on the terminal.  For
example, if you wish to use the \*Qpass-through\*U feature to print on
the \*Qaux\*U port of a terminal, you must use the first form.  The second
form is provided for backward compatibility with old versions of Elm.
It is depreciated and might be removed in a future release.  The
default is set by the person who configured Elm for your system.

.lp receivedmail 1.0i
This is the folder to which incoming mail is saved after you've read it.
When you answer \f2no\f1 to \*QKeep unread messages in
your incoming mailbox?\*U or \f2yes\f1 to \*QStore read
messages in your \*Qreceived\*U folder?\*U, this is where the messages go.
The default is \*Q=received\*U, that is,
a folder called \f2received\f1 in your \f3maildir\f1 directory.

.lp remotesignature 1.0i
See \f3signature\f1.

.lp sentmail* 1.0i
This is the folder to which a copy of outgoing mail is automatically
saved.  This is only done if the \f3copy\f1 boolean variable is set
ON.  Also note that if the \f3savename\f1 boolean variable is enabled
then this folder may be ignored since the program may save to a folder
that has the same name as the login of the person you're sending to.
Whether or not a copy is saved, and to what folder, can be changed just
prior to sending a message (see the \f3copy\f1 command of the mail
command sub-menu in section 7, \f3Commands\f1).  The default is
\*Q=sent\*U, that is, a folder called \f2sent\f1 in your \f3maildir\f1
directory.

.lp shell 1.0i
This defines the shell to use when doing \*q!\*u escapes and
such.  The default is to use the value of $SHELL in your
current environment, and if not set, a shell selected by
the person who configured Elm for your system.
Note that the \*q!\*u escape is optional and may not be enabled in your
version of Elm.

.lp signature 1.0i
This defines the file that is automatically appended to all
outbound mail before the editor is invoked.  Furthermore,
if you'd like a different signature file for \*Qlocal\*U
mail and \*Qremote\*U mail (remote being via other hosts),
you can alternatively define two variables, \f3localsignature\f1
and \f3remotesignature\f1, to have the same functionality.
The default is to not have signatures appended to your messages.

.lp sortby* 1.0i
You can have your folder sorted in any of the following ways:
.si 1.5i
.lp from 10n
Sorts according to whom each message is \f2from\f1.
.lp lines 10n
Sorts \f2shortest\f1 to \f2longest\f1 by message.
.lp mailbox 10n
Leaves the messages in the order found in the folder.
.lp received 10n
Sorts \f2least recently received\f1 to \f2most recently received\f1.
.lp sent 10n
Sorts \f2least recently sent\f1 to \f2most recently sent\f1.
.lp status 10n
Sorts by \f2priority\f1, \f2action\f1, \f2new\f1, \f2tagged\f1, then
\f2deleted\f1.
.lp subject 10n
Sorts according to the \f2subject\f1 of each message.
.ei
.in 1.0i    \" ei doesn't restore margin
.sp
Each of these fields can optionally be prepended with the
sequence \*Qreverse\-\*U to reverse the order of the sort.  This doesn't
imply anything about the order of the messages in the folder
itself and affects only their order on the index screen.  The
default is \f2mailbox\f1 order.

.lp tmpdir 1.0i
Use this if you want to define your own directory for the temporary
file Elm creates while running.  This is only necessary if using the
system temporary directory could cause problems, such as when not all
NFS clients mount the common temporary directory, or when the temporary
directory is prone to being cleared periodically.  The default entry
of the system temporary directory is normally OK.

.lp visualeditor+ 1.0i
The editor to be used by the \*Q~v\*U escape within the builtin editor.
The default value is the value of the configuration variable \f2vi_editor\f1
(see \f2The Elm Configuration Guide\f1).

.lp weedout 1.0i
When specifying this option, you can list headers that
you \f2don't\f1 want to see when you are displaying a message.
This list can continue for as many lines as desired, as
long as the continued lines all have leading indentation.
All headers in this entry append to the default weedout list.
There are two special header flags. The first, \*Q*clear-weed-list*\*U,
clears the default list.  The second, \*Q*end-of-user-headers*\*U,
terminates the entry, in case the following lines look like they
might be more headers for the list.
The default \f3weedout\f1 list includes the following header strings:
.sp
.in 1.5i
.ft CW
.zf
.nf
\&>From
\&Apparently-To:
\&Content-Length
\&Content-Transfer-Encoding
\&Content-Type:
\&From
\&In-Reply-To:
\&MIME-Version
\&Message-Id:
\&Newsgroups:
\&Received:
\&References:
\&Status:
\&X-Mailer:
.ft 1
.in 0
.fi
.ne 8
.hu Numeric Variables

.lp bounceback 1.0i
This is a hop count threshold value and allows you to
set up the mailer so that when you send mail more than
\f2n\f1 machines away, it'll automatically include a
\*QCc:\*U to you through the remote machine.  In practice
this should be very rarely used.  Note that this refuses to
bounce mail off an Internet address.  The default is to
have it set to zero, which disables the function.

.lp builtinlines 1.0i
This is used to determine if the builtin pager should be used on some
messages even if you would usually use an external pager program.
There are two ways of determining whether the builtin pager should be
used. If you want any message that is shorter than \f2n\f1 lines to
use the internal pager, set this variable to \f2n\f1.  If you want the
builtin pager to be used if the message is \f2m\f1 lines shorter than
the number of lines on your screen, set this variable to \f2\-m\f1.
Setting this variable to zero will result in the message always being
sent through your external pager.  This variable is used only if
the pager is not set to the builtin pager.  The default is \-3.

.lp readmsginc 1.0i
This variable modifies the display of the message \*QReading in
\f2foldername\f1, message: #\*U, which is displayed when reading a new
folder.  The message count is normally updated as
each message in the folder is read.  If you are on a slow terminal and are
reading a folder with a large number of messages, the time it takes to
redraw the message count can significantly exceed the time it takes to
simply read the folder.
.sp
The \f3readmsginc\f1 variable controls the frequency with which the
message count is updated.  If this parameter is set to 50, the message
count will be updated after every 50 messages (i.e., at 50, 100, 150,
and so forth).  The default value for this parameter is 1.  If a value
of less than 1 is specified for this parameter, the value is ignored,
and the default value is used instead.

.lp sleepmsg 1.0i
This variable modifies the time Elm waits after displaying a transient
message before erasing it and continuing.  It can be set to zero to
suppress the wait entirely.  It is in units of whole seconds.

.lp timeout 1.0i
On more advanced systems, it's nice to start up the
mailer in a window and let it sit in background
until new mail arrives (see \f2wnewmail\f1 for
another window based program), at which point
it can be brought up to the forefront of the system
and read.  In this case, it would be quite convenient
to have the mailer internally resynchronize every
so often.  This option specifies the number of seconds that this occurs.
.sp
This is also useful for non-windowing terminals.  For example, you can
leave Elm running at night (I usually do) and when you
come in in the morning it'll be all ready to read your mail!
.sp
The default is a 300 second (5 minute) timeout period.

.lp userlevel* 1.0i
This is what the program uses to determine the relative level of
sophistication of the user.  The values are \*q0\*u for a new user (the
default), \*q1\*u for someone familiar with Elm,
and \*q2\*u for experts.  Some advanced features are hidden from novice
users, while experts get less verbose prompt messages.
The default is \*q0\*u.
.br
.ne 8
.hu Boolean Variables

The value assigned to boolean variables can be \*QON\*U or \*QOFF\*U only.

.lp alwaysdelete 1.0i
Set ON to set the default answer to the \*QDelete messages?\*U prompt
to \f2yes\f1 (see the \f3quit\f1 command in section 7, \f3Commands\f1,
and the \f3ask\f1 variable below). This default answer also applies to
deletions from the alias system.  The default for \f3alwaysdelete\f1 is
OFF.

.lp alwayskeep 1.0i
Set ON to set the default answer to the \*QKeep unread mail in incoming
mailbox?\*U prompt to \f2yes\f1.  However, if you set \f3alwaysstore\f1
OFF or answer \f2no\fP to the \*QStore read mail in \*Qreceived\*U
folder?\*U prompt, it is presumed that you also want to keep your
unread mail in the incoming mailbox, so the value of \f3alwayskeep\f1
is ignored in those cases. See the \f3quit\f1 command in section 7,
\f3Commands\f1, and the \f3ask\f1 and \f3alwaysstore\f1 variables
below for more details.  The default for \f3alwayskeep\f1 is ON.

.lp alwaysstore 1.0i
Set ON to set the default answer to the \*QStore read mail in
\*Qreceived\*U folder?\*U prompt to \f2yes\f1 (see the \f3quit\f1
command in section 7, \f3Commands\f1, and the \f3ask\f1 variable
below).  The default for \f3alwaysstore\f1 is OFF.

.lp arrow* 1.0i
Sometimes you are forced to use a slow or \*Qdumb\*U terminal.  Set ON
to make the current message pointer the \*Q\->\*U sequence rather than
the inverse bar.  Note that this is overridden by the \*Q\-a\*U command
line option (see section 3, \f3Command Line Options\f1).  The default
is OFF.

.lp ask 1.0i
Set OFF to tell Elm that you'd rather not be asked \*QDelete
messages?\*U and such each time you quit, resynchronize, change
folders, or return from the alias system, but that it should just use
the values of \f3alwaysdelete\f1, \f3alwaysstore\f1, and
\f3alwayskeep\f1 without prompting.  Note that when you quit \f3Elm\fP,
if you use \*qQ\*u instead of \*qq\*u, you will never be questioned,
regardless of how you have \f3ask\f1 set.  See the \f3quit\f1 commands
in section 7, \f3Commands\f1, and the \f3alwaysdelete\f1,
\f3alwayskeep\f1, and \f3alwaysstore\f1 variables above for more
details.  The default for \f3ask\f1 is ON.

.lp askcc+ 1.0i
Set OFF to allow sending mail without being presented the \*QCopies
to:\*U prompt for each message. This still allows you to explicitly
include addresses in the \*QCc:\*U list via either the header editor or
\*Q~c\*U in the builtin editor (see section 8, \f3Using Elm with
\*Qeditor = none\*U\f1).  The default is ON.

.lp autocopy+ 1.0i
Set ON for Elm to automatically copy the text of each message
replied to into the edit buffer.  Otherwise you will be prompted as to
whether you want the message included in your reply. See the
\f3prefix\f1 variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2 for how
copied text is marked.  The default for \f3autocopy\f1 is OFF.

.lp confirmappend 1.0i
Set ON to make Elm ask for permission
to append messages to the end of any file that already exists.
Whether the file is a mail folder in the user's mail directory
or an ordinary file makes no difference.
The default is OFF.

.lp confirmcreate 1.0i
Set ON to make Elm ask for permission before it creates
a new file to store messages in.
It makes no difference whether the new file would be a mail
folder in the user's mail directory or an ordinary file.
The default is OFF.

.lp confirmfiles 1.0i
This allows you to have some last resort control over Elm when a
message would be appended (by copy, save, or auto-cc) to an existing
file which is not a folder in your mail directory (see the
\f3maildir\f1 variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2).  Set ON
to make Elm ask for permission to append a message to the end of
an ordinary file, otherwise it silently adds the message to the end of
the specified file whether it is a folder or not.  The default is OFF.

.lp confirmfolders 1.0i
Set ON to make Elm ask before creating new mail folders in your
mail directory (see the \f3maildir\f1 variable under \f3String
Variables\f1 in section 2), otherwise it silently creates new mail folders
whenever a copy of a message is going to be stored in a folder that
does not already exist.  See the \f3copy\f1, \f3savename\f1, and
\f3forcename\f1 variables below for additional information about
copying messages.  The default for \f3confirmfolders\f1 is OFF.

.lp copy+ 1.0i
Set ON to have silent copies made of all outgoing mail.  Where the copy
of the message is saved is determined by the \f3maildir\f1 and
\f3sentmail\f1 string variables and the \f3savename\f1 and
\f3forcename\f1 boolean variables.  Whether a copy is saved and to
which folder can also be set prior to sending a message \(em see the
\f3copy\f1 command of the mail command sub-menu in section 7,
\f3Commands\f1, for details.  The default for \f3copy\f1 is OFF.

.lp forcename 1.0i
Set ON to force creation of folders for copies of outbound mail by the
recipient name.  For complete details of how to enable automatic
copying of outbound messages, see the \f3copy\f1 and \f3savename\f1
boolean variables.  The default is OFF.

.lp forms 1.0i
Set ON to enable the generation of \*Qforms\*U type messages.  See the
\f2Elm Forms Mode Guide\f1 for further information about mail forms.

.lp keepempty 1.0i
The mail system has a habit of deleting folders when you've removed
everything from them.  Set ON to preserve empty folders as zero-length
files.  Note that this option does not apply to your incoming mailbox.
The default is OFF.

.lp keypad 1.0i
Set ON to indicate that you have an HP terminal and want the
\f2<NEXT>\f1, \f2<PREV>\f1, \f2<HOME>\f1 and \f2<SHIFT-HOME>\f1 keys enabled.
The default is OFF.

.lp menu* 1.0i
Set OFF to inhibit the menu display on all screen displays within
Elm.  Note that this is overridden by the \*Q\-m\*U command line
option (see section 3, \f3Command Line Options\f1).  The default is
ON.

.lp metoo 1.0i
Set ON to get a copy of mail you send to a mailing list you are on,
otherwise you do not get a copy of such messages.  The default is OFF.

.lp names* 1.0i
Set OFF to display the primary recipients' addresses on your screen
with their full names when you send a message.  Set ON to display only
the full names.  The default is ON.

.lp movepage 1.0i
Set ON to enable commands that move through the folder by pages (see
the \*q+\*u, \*q\-\*u, \f2<right>\f1, and \f2<left>\f1 keys in section
7, \f3Commands\f1) to move the current message pointer to the top of
that page of messages.  Set OFF to not alter the current message
pointer location when moving through pages.  The default is OFF.

.lp noheader 1.0i
Set ON to not include the headers of messages when copying a message
into the edit buffer for replying or forwarding (see the \f3autocopy\f1
variable above).  The default is ON.

.lp pointnew 1.0i
Set ON to cause the current message pointer to point to the first new
message in your incoming mailbox when started, instead of at message #1
of the index.  This has no effect for other folders since they are not
expected to have \*Qnew\*U mail.  The default is ON.

.lp promptafter+ 1.0i
Set ON to display a command prompt rather than the index screen when
exiting from an external pager.  This variable has no effect on the
builtin pager.  See the \f3pager\f1 variable under \f3String Variables\f1
in section 2 to specify which pager to use to read messages.

If your external pager immediately exits when it reaches the end of the
message, you should set \f3promptafter\f1 ON so that the last screen of
the displayed message is not immediately replaced by the index screen.
If your external pager doesn't exit until you command it to, you have a
choice.  If you usually want to see the index screen before issuing a
command, setting this variable OFF eliminates the extra keystroke
needed to return to the index screen.  If you usually don't need to see
the index screen before issuing the next command, setting it ON allows
you to enter your next command without waiting for the index screen to
be redrawn.  The default is ON.

.lp resolve 1.0i
Set ON to move the current message pointer to the next message on the
index when a mail message is \*Qdealt with\*U through deleting,
undeleting, saving, forwarding, etc. or set OFF to leave the current
message pointer unchanged.  The default is ON.

.lp savename 1.0i
One of the problems with electronic mail systems is that one tends to
get very large, one-dimensional (flat) files that contain lots of
completely unrelated mail.  Elm can use a more intelligent
algorithm:  for incoming mail, when you \f3save\f1 or \f3copy\f1 it
(see section 7, \f3Commands\f1), the default folder is the login name
of the person who sent you the message (changed by pressing anything
other than \f2<return>\f1 of course).  Similarly, when sending mail,
instead of just blindly saving it to the \f3sentmail\f1 folder,
Elm can save it to a folder that is the login name of the
recipient of the mail.\s-2\u2\d\s0
.fn
2. When sending to a group, it's saved to the login name of the first
person in the list only.
.ef
Set \f3savename\f1 ON to enable this algorithm.

If \f3forcename\f1 is OFF (see above), the copy is saved to that folder
only if the folder already exists.  In practice, this means that
important people that you communicate with (those that you tend to save
mail from) have folders that are actually \f2a recorded log of the
discussion in both directions\f1 and others (random mailings) are all
stuffed in the \f3sentmail\f1 folder for easy perusal and removal (see
the \f3sentmail\f1 variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in section
2).  If you always want to save copies of outgoing messages in separate
folders by recipient login name, you'll want to set \f3forcename\f1
ON.

The default for \f3savename\f1 is ON.

.lp sigdashes+ 1.0i
Set ON to tell Elm that you wish to follow the
convention of prefixing your signature with \*Q\f2newline dash dash
blank newline\f1\*U.  This is placed in your message before your
signature file (see the \f3signature\f1, \f3localsignature\f1, and
\f3remotesignature\f1 variables under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2).
If OFF, the signature file, if any, is placed at
the end of the message without any prefix.  The default is ON.

.lp softkeys 1.0i
Set ON to tell Elm that you have an HP terminal with the
HP 2622 function key protocol and that you'd like to have the function
keys available while in the program.  The default is OFF.

.lp titles 1.0i
Set ON to have the first line of a message titled with:
.sp
.ft CW
.zf
.ps 9
.nf
.tl '           Message \f2N/M\fP from \f2username\fP''\f2date\fP at \f2time\f1      '
.fi
.ps 10
.ft 1
.sp
where all the information is extracted from the message.
This is especially useful if you weed out all the headers of each
message with a large \f3weedout\f1 list (see the \f3weedout\f1 variable
under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2).
The default is ON.

.lp usetite 1.0i
Set ON to enable use of the \f2termcap/terminfo\f1
\f3ti/te\f1 capabilities.
Many terminal emulators require it (not the least of which is the
OpenLook \f2cmdtool\f1).
Some terminal emulators clear the screen on \f3te\f1 (some \f2xterm\f1s).
Set OFF to disable use of \f3ti/te\f1.
Note that this is overridden by the \*Q\-t\*U command line option
(see section 3, \f3Command Line Options\f1).  The default is ON.

.lp weed 1.0i
Set ON to have Elm \*Qweed out\*U certain headers from displayed
messages, that is, not display them.  The \f3weedout\f1 variable under
\f3String Variables\f1 in section 2 allows you to custom define the set of
headers you would like to not have displayed while reading messages.
The default for the \f3weed\f1 variable is ON.
.in 0
.sp
.sp
For a better idea of how this all works, here's my \f2.elm/elmrc\f1
file.  While looking through it, notice that you can have lots of
comments and blank lines for readability and that you can also use
\*Qshell variables\*U and the \*q~\*u (tilde) metacharacter for your home
directory, and they are expanded accordingly when read in by the
mailer.  Note that this was automatically saved by the Elm
program on the fly from the options screen.
.sp
.ft CW
.zf
.nf
  #
  # .elm/elmrc \- options file for the ELM mail system
  #
  # Saved automatically by ELM 2.4 for Dave Taylor
  #

  # For yes/no settings with ?, ON means yes, OFF means no

  # where to save calendar entries
  calendar = ~/.Agenda

  # what editor to use ("none" means simulate Berkeley Mail)
  editor = none

  # the character to use in the builtin editor for entering commands
  escape = ~

  # the full user name for outbound mail
  fullname = Dave Taylor

  # where to save received messages to, default file is "=received"
  receivedmail = $HOME/Mail/received

  # where to save my mail to, default directory is "Mail"
  maildir = /users/taylor/Mail

  # program to use for displaying messages (\'builtin\' is recommended)
  pager = builtin

  # prefix sequence for indenting included message text in outgoing messages...
  prefix = >_

  # how to print a message (\'%s\' is the filename)
  print = lpr \-Plw2 %s

  # where to save copies of outgoing mail to, default file is "=sent"
  sentmail = /users/taylor/Mail/mail.sent

  # the shell to use for shell escapes
  shell = /bin/csh

  # local ".signature" file to append to appropriate messages...
  localsignature = localsig

  # remote ".signature" file to append to appropriate messages...
  remotesignature =  remotesig

  # do we want dashes above signatures? (News 2.11 compatibility and convention)
  sigdashes = ON

  # how to sort folders, "Mailbox" by default
  sortby = Reverse\-Received

  # how to sort the alias list, "Name" by default
  aliassortby = Name

  # should the default be to delete messages we\'ve marked for deletion?
  alwaysdelete = ON

  # should the default be to store read messages to the "received" folder?
  alwaysstore = ON

  # should the default be to keep unread messages in the incoming mailbox?
  alwayskeep = ON

  # should we use the "\->" rather than the inverse video bar?
  arrow = OFF

  # should the message disposition questions be displayed (ON) or
  # auto\-answered (OFF) with the default answers when we resync or change folders?
  ask = ON

  # would you like to be asked for Carbon\-Copies information each msg?
  askcc = ON

  # automatically copy message being replied to into buffer?
  autocopy = OFF

  # threshold for bouncing copies of remote uucp messages...
  # zero = disable function.
  bounceback = 0

  # save a copy of all outbound messages?
  copy = ON

  # do we want to be able to mail out AT&T Mail Forms?
  forms = OFF

  # should we keep folders from which all messages are deleted?
  keepempty = OFF

  # we\'re running on an HP terminal and want HOME, PREV, NEXT, etc...
  keypad = OFF

  # should we display the three\-line \'mini\' menu?
  menu = ON
  # would you like a copy of a message you send to an alias you are on???
  metoo = OFF

  # when using the page commands (+ \- <NEXT> <PREV>) change the current
  # message pointer...?
  movepage = ON

  # just show the names when expanding aliases?
  names = ON

  # when messages are copied into the outbound buffer, don\'t include headers?
  noheader = ON

  # start up by pointing to the first new message received, if possible?
  pointnew = ON

  # prompt for a command after the external pager exits?
  promptafter = ON

  # emulate the mailx message increment mode (only increment after something
  # has been \'done\' to a message, either saved or deleted, as opposed to
  # simply each time something is touched)?
  resolve = ON

  # save messages, incoming and outbound, by login name of sender/recipient?
  savename = ON

  # save outbound messages by login name of sender/recipient even if the
  # associated folder doesn\'t already exist?
  forcename = OFF

  # are we running on an HP terminal and want HOME, PREV, NEXT, etc...?
  # (this implies "keypad=ON" too)
  softkeys = OFF

  # set the main prompt timeout for resynching...
  timeout = 60

  # display message title when displaying pages of message?
  titles = ON

  # are we good at it?  0=beginner, 1=intermediate, 2+ = expert!
  userlevel = 2

  # enable the weedout list to be read?
  weed = ON

  # what headers I DON\'T want to see, ever.
  weedout = "Path:" "Via:" "Sent:" "Date" "Status:" "Original" "Phase"
      "Subject:" "Fruit" "Sun" "Lat" "Buzzword" "Return" "Posted"
      "Telephone" "Postal\-Address" "Origin" "X\-Sent\-By\-Nmail\-V" "Resent"
      "X\-Location" "Source" "Mood" "Neuron" "Libido" "To:" "X\-Mailer:"
      "Full\-Name:" "X\-HPMAIL" "Cc:" "cc:" "Mmdf" "Network\-" "Really\-"
      "Sender:" "Post" "Message\-" "Relay\-" "Article\-" "Lines:"
      "Approved:" "Xref:" "Organization:"     "*end\-of\-user\-headers*"

  # alternative addresses that I could receive mail from (usually a
  # forwarding mailbox) and don\'t want to have listed...
  alternatives = hplabs!taylor  hpldat!taylor  taylor@hplabs  taylor%hpldat
.fi
.br
.ne 5
.sp 2
.hn 1 Command Line Options

There are a number of command line options to the Elm
program, with only one that needs to be remembered: \*Q\-?\*Uor \*Q\-h\*U
for help.

The options are:

.lp \h'24p'\-a 66p
This allows you to have the \*Q\->\*U arrow pointer
rather than the inverse bar.  This can also be set in
the \f2.elm/elmrc\f1
file with the boolean variable \f3arrow\f1.

.lp \h'24p'\-c 66p
Check only.  This is useful for expanding aliases
without sending any mail.  The invocation is similar to
invoking Elm in send-only mode:
.sp
.ft CW
.zf
.ti 1.5i
elm \-c\f2  list-of-aliases\f1

.lp "\h'24p'\-d \f2n\f1" 66p
Set debug level to \f2n\f1.  Useful for debugging the Elm
program, this option will create a file in your home
directory called \f2ELM:debug.info\f1 containing
a running log of what is going on with
the program.  Level \f2n\f1 can be 1 through 11,
where the higher numbers generate more output.
This option might be disabled by the the person who configured
Elm for your system.

.lp "\h'24p'\-f \f2folder\f1" 66p
Read the specified folder rather than the default incoming mailbox.
Note that you can use the same metacharacters (e.g. \*q=\*u) as when
you \f2change folders\f1 from within the program.  You can also use the
same abbreviatory symbols (\*q!\*u, \*q>\*u and \*q<\*u),
but remember to \*Qsingle quote\*U them
in case they have special meaning in the shell you use.

.lp "\h'24p'\-h or \-?" 66p
Help message.  Gives a short list of all these options and exits.

.lp "\h'24p'\-i \f2file\f1" 66p
Include a prepared file in the edit buffer before sending.
This facilitates using Elm with other programs
that interface with mail (like news readers, for example).  There
is an example of how to set up the \f2rn\f1 news reading program to
use Elm in \f2The Elm Users Guide\f1.  The file specified is
copied into the temporary file just before the signature file.

.lp \h'24p'\-k 66p
Keypad enable. This option lets the Elm program
know that you're on an HP terminal, and it can then interpret
the <PREV>, <NEXT> and <HOME>/<SHIFT>-<HOME> keys accordingly.  If you
are not on an HP terminal, it is recommended that you do
NOT use this option. See also the \f3keypad\f1 variable,
described under \f3Boolean Variables\f1 in section 2.

.lp \h'24p'\-K 66p
Keypad + softkeys enable.  The Elm mailer can
use the HP softkeys as an alternative form of
input.  If you specify this option be sure that you're on
an HP terminal that can accept the standard 2622 terminal
escape sequences! See also the \f3softkeys\f1 variable,
described under \f3Boolean Variables\f1 in section 2.

.lp \h'24p'\-m 66p
Inhibit display of the 3-line menu when using the mailer.  This,
of course, gives you three more message headers per page instead.
See also the \f3menu\f1 variable, described under \f3Boolean
Variables\f1 in section 2.

.lp "\h'24p'\-s \f2subject\f1" 66p
In send-only and batch mode, this is how to indicate the subject of the
resulting message.  Please see the section on \f3Non-Interactive
Uses of Elm\f1 in \f2The Elm Users Guide\f1 for more information.

.lp \h'24p'\-t 66p
Disable use of the \f2termcap/terminfo\f1 \f3ti/te\f1 capabilities.
Many terminal emulators require it (not the least of which is the
OpenLook \f2cmdtool\f1).
Some terminal emulators clear the screen on \f3te\f1 (some \f2xterm\f1s).
See also the \f3usetite\f1 variable, described under \f3Boolean
Variables\f1 in section 2.

.lp \h'24p'\-z 66p
This causes Elm not to start if you don't
have any mail, but instead to display the message \*QYou have no
mail.\*U   This emulates the behavior of programs
like \f2Berkeley Mail\f1.

.in 0
All the above options default to reasonable values, so there is
usually no need to use them.  Furthermore, the most used options
are available through the \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file, described in section 2.
.br
.ne 5
.sp
.hn 1 Multi-Media Capabilities of Elm

Elm optionally provides you with some Multi-Media features, which
are compliant
to the MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension) IETF draft.

If the support is compiled into Elm, on the receiving side
Elm accesses Metamail from Nathaniel Borenstein of
Bellcore.  If you receive a MIME compliant message, Elm calls
Metamail automatically to display the message. Metamail
asks you if you want to display each part of the message
and uses the display programs available at your site. This
is controlled through the \f2mailcap\f1 file.

On the sending side, there is a simple mechanism integrated in Elm
to compose MIME compliant messages. If you have one or more key lines
of the form

.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
[\&include \f2file contenttype/subtype encoding\f1]
.ft 1

in the message body, at each
of these key lines, a file is included, and becomes a part
of the message. The text lines before, between and after the \f2include\f1
lines go into extra message parts of type \f2text\f1.

As an example, say you want to include the file \f2foo.gif\f1 into your message,
which is a GIF image, and you want to use \f2base64\f1 encoding, use the
following line:

.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
[\&include foo.gif image/gif base64]
.ft 1

Or you want to include a text file which contains plain ASCII:

.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
[\&include foo.txt text/plain]
.ft 1

The \f2encoding\f1 parameter is optional and the default is \f27bit\f1.

Refer to RFC1341 for valid \f2contenttype/subtype\f1 and \f2encoding\f1
parameter values.
.br
.ne 5
.sp
.hn 1 Special Outgoing Mail Processing

There are a few extra features that Elm offers on
outgoing mail that are worthy of mention.

The first, and probably the most exciting feature,\s-2\u3\d\s0 is the
.fn
3. Unfortunately, at many non-US sites, it's quite probable that
you won't be able to use this feature since you won't have
the \f2crypt()\f1 library available due to licensing restrictions.
.ef
ability to send \f2encrypted\f1 mail! To do this is
extremely simple:  you need merely to have two key lines

.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
[\&encode]
.ft 1
.br
and
.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
[\&clear]
.ft 1

in the message body.

.ne 15
Consider the following outgoing message:
.sp
.nf
.ps 9
.in .5i
.ft CW
.zf
Joe,
Remember that talk we had about Amy?  Well, I talked to my manager
about it and he said...
uhh...better encrypt this...the usual \`key\'...
[\&encode]
He said that Amy was having family problems and that it had been
affecting her work.
Given this, I went and talked to her, and told her I was sorry for
getting angry.  She said that she understood.
We\'re friends again!!
[\&clear]
Exciting stuff, eh?
\h'3i'Mike
.ps 10
.ft 1
.in 0
.fi
.sp
While this is obviously quite readable while being typed into
the editor, as soon as the message is confirmed as wanting
to be sent, the Elm mailer prompts with:
.sp
.nf
.ft CW
.zf
.ps 9
.ti .5i
Enter encryption key: @
.ps 10
.ft 1
.fi
.sp
and accepts a key (a series of 8 or less characters) without
echoing them to the screen.  After entry, it will ask for the
same key again to confirm it, then *\f2poof\f1* it will encrypt and
send the mail.

If you have the \f3copy\f1 option enabled, the program will save
your copy of the message encrypted too.  (This is to ensure
the privacy and security of your mail archive, too.)

If the mailer doesn't ask for the encryption key, it's because
you don't have the \f2[\&encode]\f1 entered as the first 8 characters
of the line.  It MUST be so for this to work!!

On the other end, a person receiving this mail (they must also
be using Elm to receive it, since this mailer has a
unique encryption program) will be reading the
message and then suddenly be prompted:
.sp
.nf
.ft CW
.zf
.ps 9
.ti .5i
Enter decryption key: @
.ft 1
.ps 10
.fi
.sp
and will again be asked to re-enter it to confirm.
The program will then on-the-fly decrypt the mail
and display each line as it is decoded.  The \f2[\&clear]\f1
line signifies that the block to encrypt is done.

Note that it is not possible currently to \f3pipe\f1 or \f3print\f1
encrypted mail.
.sp 2
The other feature on outgoing mail is the ability to
specify what section of the message you want to have
archived (assuming \f3copy\f1 is enabled) and what section
you don't.  This is most useful for sending out source
file listings and so on.

To indicate the end of the section that should be
saved in the archive, you need merely to have the key line
.sp
.nf
.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
[\&nosave]
.ft 1
or
.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
[\&no save]
.ft 1
.fi
.sp
appear by itself on a line.  This key line is removed from
the outgoing mail, and indicates the last line of
the message to be saved.
Other than this, the saved mail is identical to the outgoing mail.
.br
.ne 5
.sp
.hn 1 Customized header lines

The mailer provides a facility for including customized
header lines in the messages you send.
If you have an \f2.elm/elmheaders\f1 file,
the mailer will include its contents
immediately after the regular headers of all outbound  mail.
The mailer supports use of the backquote convention in this file
to run commands and substitute the commands' output for the backquoted
text.
Here's a typical \f2.elm/elmheaders\f1 file:
.sp
.ft CW
.zf
.nf
  Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories
  Phone: [phone]
  Operating-System: \`uname -srv\`
.fi
.ft 1
.sp
These lines will be inserted after all other header lines in the message.
.br
.ne 5
.sp
.hn 1 Commands
.sp

This section discusses each command in the Elm
program in more detail than above, including the
prompts the user can expect upon executing the
command, the meaning of different options, etc.

.lp \h'24p'? 66p
Help.  This command used once puts you in the \f2help\f1
mode, where any key you press results in a one-line description
of the key.  Pressing \*q?\*u again at this point produces a
summary listing each command available.
Pressing \*q.\*u (period) leaves the help mode and returns you to the
command level.

.lp \h'24p'<space> 66p
Display the current message.
<space> is useful for reading through a mail folder.
When issued from the index screen,
it displays the first screen of the current message.
When issued while in the builtin pager,
it pages through the message to the end.
When issued at the end of a message
(with either the builtin pager or an external pager),
it displays the first screen of the next message not marked for deletion.

.lp \h'24p'<return> 66p
Display the current message.
<return> behaves somewhat differently from <space>.
When issued while in the builtin pager,
it scrolls the current message forward one line,
and then when issued at the end of a message
(with either the builtin pager or an external pager),
it redisplays the first screen of the the \f2current\fP message.
The latter is useful in case you have issued a non-pager
command while in the builtin pager and want to restart the display
of the current message.

.lp \h'24p'! 66p
Shell.  This allows you to send a command to the shell without
leaving the program.  Note that it is possible that the person who
installed Elm on your system disabled this feature.

.lp \h'24p'| 66p
Pipe.  This command allows you to pipe the current message
or the set of \f2tagged\f1 messages
through other filters as you desire.  The shell used for
the entire command is either the one specified in
your \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file, or the default shell (see the \f3shell\f1
variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2).

.lp \h'24p'\/ 66p
Pattern match.  This command, at the command level, allows the
user to search through all the \f2from\f1 and \f2subject\f1 lines of
the current folder starting at the current message and
continuing through the end.  If the first character of the
pattern is a \*q/\*u, then Elm tries to match the
specified pattern against \f2any\f1 line in the folder.  Again,
this works from the current message through the
end.  Both searches are case insensitive.

.lp "\h'24p'\- or <left>" 66p
Display the previous page of the message index.

.lp "\h'24p'+ or <right>" 66p
Display the next page of the message index.

.lp \h'24p'<number><return> 66p
Specify new current message.  When you type in any digit, Elm
prompts \*QSet current to : \f2n\f1\*U, where \f2n\f1 is
the digit entered.  Continue entering the full number
and terminate with <return>.  Note that changing the
current message to a message not on the
current page of headers results in a new page
being displayed.

.lp \h'24p'< 66p
Scan message for calendar entries.  A rather novel feature of
the Elm mailer is the ability to automatically incorporate
calendar/agenda information from a mail message into the user's
calendar file.  This is done quite simply; any line that has
the pattern

.ti +.5i
\-> \f2calendar entry\f1

is automatically added to the user's \f3calendar\f1 file
when the \*q<\*u command is used
(see the \f3calendar\f1 variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2).
.sp
For example, let's say we had a message with the text:

.ft CW
.zf
.ps 9
.ti +.5i
Regardless of that meeting, here\'s the seminar stuff:
.br
.ti +.5i
\-> 8/03 3:00pm: AI Seminar with Ira Goldstein of HP Labs
.ft 1
.ps 10

then using the \*q<\*u command would add the line:

.ft CW
.zf
.ps 9
.ti +.5i
8/03 3:00pm: AI Seminar with Ira Goldstein of HP Labs
.ps 10
.ft 1

to the user's \f3calendar\f1 file.

.lp \h'24p'a 66p
Alias.  The alias system is a way by which more complex mail addresses
can be shortened for the mail user.  For example:
.sp
.nf
.ps 9
.ft CW
.zf
.ti +.5i
joe, bleu   =  Joe Bleu  =   [e-mail]
.ft 1
.ps 10
.fi
.sp
which allows mail to \*Qjoe\*U or \*Qbleu\*U with the system expanding
the address properly.  Obviously, this saves having to remember
complex addresses.  A more detailed discussion can
be found in either the section entitled \f2The Alias System\f1 in
this document or \f2The Elm Alias System Users Guide\f1.

.lp \h'24p'b 66p
Bounce mail.  This \*Qremails\*U mail to someone else in such a
way as to make the return address the original sender rather
than you.  The \f3forward\f1 command is similar, but it makes
the return address \f2you\f1 rather than the original sender.

.lp \h'24p'C 66p
Copy to folder.  This command copies the current message or set of
tagged messages to
a folder.  If there is anything in the folder currently the
message is appended to the end, otherwise the folder is created
containing only the newly copied messages.  The prompt for this command
is \*QCopy to folder: \*U.  A response of <return> cancels the command
and returns the user to the command prompt.  The usual filename
metacharacters are available, too.  That is, this command expands filenames
with \*q~\*u (tilde) to your home directory and \*q=\*u to your
\f3maildir\f1 directory, if defined.  This command also allows you to
use \*q>\*u for your \f3receivedmail\f1 folder,
\*q<\*u for your \f3sentmail\f1 folder,
\*q.\*u for the last folder you saved or copied a message to
and \*Q@alias\*U for the default folder for \*Qalias\*U.
If you use a shell wildcard in the file or folder name, you are
given a list of all files or folders which match the wildcard.
Elm uses your shell to find the names, so whatever wildcards you are
used to will work.
Finally, you can also enter \*q?\*u at the prompt
to get detailed help.

.lp \h'24p'c 66p
Change folder.  Specifying this command allows the user to change
the folder that is currently being read.  This is intended
for perusal and reply to previously archived messages.
The prompt is \*QName of new folder: \*U and entering <return>
cancels the operation, while entering a filename causes the program
to read that file as the new folder,
if possible.  This command expands filenames
with \*q~\*u (tilde) to your home directory and \*q=\*u to your
\f3maildir\f1 directory, if defined.  This command also allows you to
use \*q!\*u as an abbreviation for you incoming mailbox,
\*q>\*u for your \f3receivedmail\f1 folder,
\*q<\*u for your \f3sentmail\f1 folder,
\*q.\*u for the last folder you saved or copied a message to
and \*Q@alias\*U for the default folder for \*Qalias\*U.
If you use a shell wildcard in the file or folder name, you are
given a list of all files or folders which match the wildcard.
Elm uses your shell to find the names, so whatever wildcards you are
used to will work.
Finally, you can also enter \*q?\*u at the prompt
to get detailed help.

.lp "\h'24p'd, u" 66p
Delete and undelete.  Neither of these two commands have any prompts
and indicate their action by either adding a \*qD\*u to the current
message index entry (indicating deletion pending) or removing
the \*qD\*u (indicating that the message isn't set for deletion).

.lp \h'24p'<control>-D 66p
This command allows you to easily mark for deletion all messages
that have a specific pattern.  After \f3<control>-D\f1 is pressed,
Elm prompts for the string to match in
either the \f2from\f1 or \f2subject\f1 lines of
the messages.

.lp \h'24p'<control>-U 66p
This is the direct opposite command to the \f3<control>-D\f1 command
\(em all messages
that match the specified pattern have any mark for deletion
removed by this command.

.lp \h'24p'e 66p
Edit mailbox.  This allows you to modify the current mail file at
a single keystroke.  This is mostly useful for editing messages
before saving them.  Modifying headers should be done with extreme
caution, as they contain routing information and other vital stuff
for full functionality.  This command may be disabled by whoever
configured your Elm installation.

.lp \h'24p'f 66p
Forward.  Allows the user to forward the current message to another user.
This copies the message into the edit buffer and allows the user to add
their own message too.  The prompt is \*QForward to:\*U and will expand an alias
if entered.  See also \f3bounce\f1, above.

Elm will ask you if you want to edit the message before sending it.  If you
answer \f2yes\f1, Elm will prepend your prefix string to each line of the
message, and let you edit the result.  If you do not want the prefix string
on each line, answer \f2no\f1; you will have another chance to edit the message
when you get to the \*Qsend\*U menu.  See the \f3prefix\f1 variable
under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2.

.lp \h'24p'g 66p
Group reply.  Identical to \f3reply\f1 below, except that the
response is mailed to \f2all recipients\f1 of the original
message except yourself. See the \f3alternatives\f1
variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2.

.lp \h'24p'h 66p
Display the current message with all headers intact.
When you display a message with other commands,
certain header lines are formatted and others discarded according
to the \f3weedlist\fP variable, described under \f3String
Variables\f1 in section 2.

.lp \h'24p'i 66p
Return to the index screen,
when issued in the builtin pager or at the end of a message with
either the builtin pager or an external pager.

.lp "\h'24p'j or <down>, k or <up>" 66p
These four keys work similarly to what they would do in \f2vi\f1 or
any of the other (precious few) screen oriented
programs.  The \f3j\f1 and \f3<down>\f1 keys move
the current message pointer down to the next message skipping
over any marked deleted (going to
the next page if necessary) and the \f3k\f1 and \f3<up>\f1 keys move
the current
message pointer back to the previous message skipping
over any marked deleted (also changing pages if necessary).

.lp "\h'24p'J, K" 66p
These two keys work similarly to their lower case counterparts,
except that they don't skip over deleted messages.

.lp \h'24p'l 66p
Limit.  This feature allows you to specify a subset of the existing
messages to be dealt with.  For example, let's say we had a folder with
four hundred messages in it, with only four or five different subjects.  We
could then limit what we're dealing with by using the \f3limit\f1
command.  Pressing \f3l\f1 would result in the prompt:
.sp
.nf
.ft CW
.zf
.ti +.5i
Criteria:
.ft 1
.fi
.sp
to which we could answer
\*Qsubject \f2string\f1\*U,
\*Qfrom \f2string\f1\*U or
\*Qto \f2string\f1\*U.  In our example, we could use
\*Qsubject programming\*U
as a criterion for selection.  Once we've limited our selections,
the screen is rewritten with just the selected messages
and the top line changes to have a message like:
.sp
.nf
.ft CW
.zf
.ps 9
.tl ''\0\0\0\0\0Folder is "=elm" with 92 shown out of 124 [Elm 2.4]''
.ps 10
.ft 1
.fi
.sp
We can further limit selections by using the \f3limit\f1 option
repeatedly to enter further criteria.

To clear all the criteria and get back to the \*Qregular\*U display, simply
enter \*Qall\*U as the limiting criteria.  It should be noted that the
selection based on \*Qto\*U isn't fully implemented for this version, so
it is recommended that users stay with \*Qsubject\*U and \*Qfrom\*U as the
basis for their criteria.

.lp \h'24p'm 66p
Mail.  Send mail to a specified user.  The prompt associated
with this command is \*QSend mail to: \*U.  Entering an alias name results
in the full address being rewritten in parenthesis immediately.  This
prompt is followed by \*QSubject: \*U which allows the user to title their
note.  The final prompt is \*QCopies to: \*U, which allows other people
specified to receive \*Qcarbon copies\*U of the message, but see the
\f3askcc\f1 variable under \f3Boolean Variables\f1 in section 2.  Upon
entering all three items the
editor is invoked and the message can be composed.

.lp \h'24p'n 66p
Next message that is not marked for deletion.
Useful for displaying successive messages in a folder.
When issued from the index screen, it displays the current message,
and when issued while in the builtin pager or at the end of a message
(with either the builtin pager or an external pager),
it displays the first screen of the next message not marked for deletion.

.lp \h'24p'o 66p
Options.  This full-screen display allows you to alter the settings
of a number of parameters, including the current sorting method,
the method of printing files, the calendar file, the save file, and
so on.  It's self-documenting (where have you heard \f2that\f1
before?) so isn't explained in too much detail here.  See the
\f3configoptions\f1 variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2.

.lp \h'24p'p 66p
Print.  This allows you to print out the current
message or the tagged messages to a previously defined printer.  See
the \f3print\f1 variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2.

.lp \h'24p'q 66p
Quit.  If you in the pager, you are returned to the index screen. If you are
at the index screen, Elm quits altogether.  However, if you have the
\f3ask\fP variable set ON, Elm first prompts you for the disposition of the
messages in the current folder.  If any messages are marked for deletion, it
asks if you want them deleted.  If the current folder is your incoming
mailbox, you are also asked if read messages should be stored in your
\f3receivedmail\f1 folder,
and if unread messages should be kept in the incoming mailbox.
The default answers to these questions are set by the \f2.elm/elmrc\f1
variables \f3alwaysdelete\f1, \f3alwaysstore\f1, and \f3alwayskeep\f1
(see \f3Boolean Variables\f1 in section 2).
However, if you elect to not store your read messages (i.e. keep them)
it is presumed you want to keep your unread messages, too.

.lp \h'24p'Q 66p
Quick quit.  This behaves similar to the \f3quit\f1 command except that
you are never prompted for answers to the message disposition questions.
Elm disposes of messages according to the values you
have set for \f3alwaysdelete\f1, \f3alwaysstore\f1, and \f3alwayskeep\f1
in your \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file (see \f3Boolean Variables\f1 in section 2).

.lp \h'24p'r 66p
Reply.  Reply to the sender of the current message.  If
the \f3autocopy\f1 variable is set to OFF in your \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file,
Elm prompts \*QCopy message? (y/n)\*U, to which you can specify
whether or not a copy of the source message is to be copied into the edit
buffer.  If copied in, all lines from the message are
prepended with the \f3prefix\f1 character sequence specified in
your \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file (see \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2).

.lp \h'24p's 66p
Save to folder.  This command is like the \f3copy\f1 command, except
that the saved messages are marked for deletion and, if you are
saving just the current message, the current message pointer is
incremented afterwards (see the \f3resolve\f1 variable under \f3Boolean
Variables\f1 in section 2).  This command expands folder names
with \*q~\*u (tilde) to your home directory and \*q=\*u to your
\f3maildir\f1 directory, if defined.  This command also allows you to
use \*q>\*u for your \f3receivedmail\f1 folder,
\*q<\*u for your \f3sentmail\f1 folder (see \f3String Variables\f1 in
section 2),
\*q.\*u (period) for the last folder you saved or copied a message to
and \*Q@alias\*U for the default folder for \*Qalias\*U.

.lp \h'24p't 66p
Tag.
.fn
4. Currently only \f3copy\f1, \f3pipe\f1, \f3print\f1, and \f3save\f1
support this.
.ef
Tag the current message for a later operation.\s-2\u4\d\s0

.lp \h'24p'T 66p
Tag and move to next undeleted message.
This command is like the `Tag' command but also increments the current message
pointer to the next undeleted message.

.lp \h'24p'<control>-T 66p
Tag all messages containing the specified pattern.  Since \f2tagging\f1
messages can occur on screens other than the one being viewed,
Elm first checks to see if any messages are currently
\f2tagged\f1 and ask you if you'd like to remove those tags.  After
that, it will, similar to the \f3<control>-D\f1 command, prompt for
a pattern to match and then mark all messages that contain
the (case insensitive) pattern in either the \f2from\f1 or \f2subject\f1
lines.

.lp \h'24p'x 66p
Exit.  This leaves Elm and discards any changes to the mailbox.
If changes are pending (such as messages marked for deletion) you are
asked to confirm discarding the changes.  If confirmed, no
messages are deleted and the status of all messages is unchanged.  That is,
any messages that were new will remain new instead of being noted as old,
and any messages that were read for the first time
will be again noted as unread.

.lp \h'24p'X 66p
Exit immediately.  This leaves Elm in the quickest possible manner
without even prompting about discarding the changes to the mailbox.
No messages are deleted and the status of all messages is unchanged.  That is,
any messages that were new will remain new instead of being noted as old,
and any messages that were read for the first time
will be again noted as unread.

.in 0
.sp
When you are about to send a message with the \f3forward\f1, \f3mail\f1,
or \f3reply\f1 commands (see above), a small menu of the following
options appears:

.lp \h'24p'c 66p
Specify the folder for saving a copy of the message.
This allows you to override the
\f3copy\f1, \f3forcename\f1 and \f3savename\f1 variables
from your \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file (see \f3Boolean Variables\f1 in
section 2).  It prompts you for the name
of the folder where a copy of the outgoing message is to be saved.  The
default displayed is taken from those three \f2.elm/elmrc\f1
options and can be changed.  This command also allows you to
use \*q>\*u for your \f3receivedmail\f1 folder
and \*q<\*u for your \f3sentmail\f1 folder (see \f3String Variables\f1
in section 2),
and \*q=?\*u to mean \*Qconditionally save by name\*U
and \*q=\*u to mean \*Qunconditionally save by name\*U.
Since you could next enter
the \f3edit headers\f1 command and change the recipients
of your message, the name of the folder under the
two \*Qsave by name\*U options is not established until you enter the \f3send\f1
command.
If you use a shell wildcard in the file or folder name, you are
given a list of all files or folders which match the wildcard.
Elm uses your shell to find the names, so whatever wildcards you are
used to will work.
You can also enter \*q?\*u at the prompt
to get help about saving.

.lp \h'24p'e 66p
Edit message (or form).  Entering this command allows you to edit
the text of your message or form.

.lp \h'24p'f 66p
Forget.  This gets you out of sending a message you started. If you are
in send-only mode, the message is saved to the file \f2Canceled.mail\f1
in your home directory.  Otherwise
it can be restored at the next \f3forward\f1, \f3mail\f1,
or \f3reply\f1 command during the current session of Elm After
issuing one of those commands you will be prompted with \*QRecall last
kept message?\*U

.lp \h'24p'h 66p
Edit headers.  This puts you into the \f2header editing mode\f1, whereby
you can edit any of the various headers of your message.  Like
the options screen, it's self-documenting, so it isn't explained in too much
detail here.

.lp \h'24p'i 66p
Run \f2ispell\f1 (or some other configured spelling correction program).
The outgoing message is run through an interactive spelling correction program
if one is available.  The default spelling program is the GNU \f2ispell\f1 program
unless changed by the person who installed Elm on your system.

.lp \h'24p'm 66p
Make form.  This converts the message you have edited into a form.  See
the \f3forms\f1 variable under \f3Boolean Variables\f1 in section 2 and
\f2The Elm Forms Mode Guide\f1 for more details.

.lp \h'24p's 66p
Send.  This sends the message as is without any further ado.
.in 0
.br
.ne 5
.sp
.hn 1 "Using Elm with \*Qeditor = none\*U"
.sp
The Elm program also supports a builtin editor for simple message
composition that is very (very) similar to the simple line
editor available from the \f2Berkeley Mail\f1 system.

To access it, you need merely to specify \*Q\f3editor=none\f1\*U in
your \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file.
With that, any messages to be composed
that don't already have text in the buffer (e.g. no reply with
the text included, etc.), will use this editor.
.sp
From the builtin editor, the following options are available for use.
Each command here is prefixed with a \*q~\*u (tilde).
You can specify a different \*Qescape\*U character in your \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file,
if you desire (see the \f3escape\f1 variable under \f3String
Variables\f1 in section 2).
.sp

.lp \h'16p'~? .5i
Print a brief help menu.

.lp \h'16p'~b .5i
Change the Blind-Carbon-Copy list.

.lp \h'16p'~c .5i
Change the Carbon-Copy list.

.lp \h'16p'~e .5i
Invoke the \f3easyeditor\f1 editor on the message, if possible
(see the \f3easyeditor\f1 variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in
section 2).

.lp \h'16p'~f .5i
Add the specified message or current message.

.lp \h'16p'~h .5i
Change all the available headers (To, Cc, Bcc, and Subject).

.lp \h'16p'~m .5i
Same as \f3~f\f1, but with the current \f3prefix\f1 (see the
\f3prefix\f1 variable under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2).

.lp \h'16p'~o .5i
Invoke a user specified editor on the message.

.lp \h'16p'~p .5i
Print out, on the screen, the message as typed in so far.

.lp \h'16p'~r .5i
Include (read in) the contents of the specified file.

.lp \h'16p'~s .5i
Change the Subject line.

.lp \h'16p'~t .5i
Change the To list.

.lp \h'16p'~v .5i
Invoke the \f2vi\f1 visual editor on the message.

.lp \h'16p'~< .5i
Execute the specified
.ux
command, entering the output
of the command into the editor buffer upon completion.
For example, \*Q~< who\*U includes the output of
the \f2who\f1 command in your message.

.lp \h'16p'~! .5i
Execute a
.ux
command if one is given (as in \*Q~!ls\*U) or
give the user a shell, either from the \f3shell\f1 variable setting in
the \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file or the default (see the \f3shell\f1 variable
under \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2).

.lp \h'16p'~~ .5i
Add a line prefixed by a single \*q~\*u character.
.in 0
.sp
A useful note is that the \f3~f\f1 and \f3~m\f1 commands invoke the \f2readmsg\f1
command, so you can pass parameters along too.  For example, if we
wanted to include a message from Joe, without any headers, but with each
line prefixed, we could use:
.sp
.nf
.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
\&~m \-n Joe
.ft 1
.fi
.sp
to accomplish the task.

To learn more about how they work, try 'em!
.br
.ne 5
.sp
.hn 1 The Alias System
.sp
As mentioned previously, there exists in the Elm
system a set of aliases that associate
an arbitrary word (such as a persons name) to a complex address or group.
The advantages are readily apparent; rather than
remembering an address of the form:
.sp
.nf
.ps 9
.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
host1!host2! ... !hostN!user
.ft 1
.ps 10
.fi
.sp
the user merely has to remember a single word.

Two alias tables are available for a each
user within Elm,
namely the system alias file and the user's alias file.  The
system alias file is created and maintained (by the system administrator)
by editing the file name defined for \f2SYSTEM_ALIASES\f1 in the
\f2sysdefs.h\f1 file (see \f2The Elm Configuration Guide\f1) and as described
in the documentation with the \f2newalias\f1 command,
then running the \f2newalias\f1 program.

An individual user can also have an alias file which works
in conjunction with the system aliases.  To do this, one
merely needs to enter the alias menu system and create aliases with
the \f3a\f1 (\f3alias current message\f1) or \f3n\f1
(\f3make new alias\f1) commands.
Alternatively, the user can peruse the documentation for the \f2newalias\f1
command and create a file as indicated therein.  After
executing the program, the aliases are available
for use from within Elm.
.sp
Please refer to \f2The Elm Alias Users Guide\f1 for complete details.
.sp 2
Within Elm,
however, the alias system acts as an entirely different program, with
its own display, own commands, and own mini-menu.  The aliases are
presented in a
list similar to the index screen with the following menu:
.sp
.sd
.nf
.ps 9
.ft CW
.zf
.ce 3
Alias commands:  ?=help, <n>=set current to n, /=search pattern
a)lias current message, c)hange, d)elete, e)dit aliases.text, f)ully expand,
l)imit display, m)ail, n)ew alias, r)eturn, t)ag, u)ndelete, or e(x)it
.sp
Alias: @
.sp
.ps 10
.ft 1
.ed
.fi

The commands are:

.lp \h'16p'? .5i
Help.  This command used once puts you in the \f2help\f1
mode, where any key you press will result in a one-line description
of the key.  Pressing \*q?\*u again at this point produces a
summary listing each command available.
Pressing \*q.\*u (period) leaves the help mode and returns you to the
alias command prompt.

.lp "\h'16p'<space> or <return> or v" .5i
Display the current alias address.  The alias address is displayed below
the alias menu.  This command allows you to verify the address for a
person or the contents of a group alias.

.lp \h'16p'$ .5i
Resynchronize the alias text file (\f2$HOME/.elm/aliases.text\f1) and
alias database by rebuilding the database from the text file by running
\f2newalias\f1.  Aliases marked for deletion are removed, tagged aliases
are untagged, and new and changed aliases are recognized.  The alias
screen is updated to reflect these changes.

.lp \h'16p'\/ .5i
Pattern match.  This command allows the
user to search through all the \f2alias\f1 and \f2username\f1
entries in the alias list
starting at the current alias and
continuing through the end.
If the first character of the
pattern is a \*q/\*u, then Elm also includes the \f2comment\f1
and the fully expanded \f2address\f1 fields in the search.
The search is case insensitive.  This allows the user to find a
specific alias in the situation where there are a large number of
aliases.

.lp \h'16p'a .5i
Alias current message.
This allows the user to create an alias that has the
return address of the current message as the address field of
the alias.  It prompts for a unique alias name.  If the alias
name is not unique, you will be asked if you wish to replace
the existing alias.  For further
information, please see \f2The Elm Alias System Users Guide\f1.

.lp \h'16p'c .5i
Change current alias.  This will prompt for changes to the current
names and address.  If other aliases are tagged you will be asked if you
want to create a group alias from the tagged aliases.  The original
alias is replaced with the new information in
your individual alias file (\f2$HOME/.elm/aliases.text\f1) and
then added to the database (at the next alias resync).  Aliases
that have been changed are marked with an \*qN\*u (for new) until
the database is updated.

.lp "\h'16p'd, u" .5i
Delete or undelete an alias.
This allows the user to mark an alias for deletion in the same fashion
as on the index screen.  The deletions are not
actually made until the user returns to the main menu with the \f3r\f1,
\f3q\f1, or \f3i\f1 commands or resyncs
the display with the \f3$\f1 command.  Deletions on system aliases are not
allowed.  These commands (plus the \f3<control>-D\f1
and \f3<control>-U\f1 versions) behave identically to their index screen
counterparts (see section 7, \f3Commands\f1).

.lp \h'16p'e .5i
Edit the \f2.elm/aliases.text\f1 file.  The user alias file is edited
using the editor defined in the \f3editor\f1 variable in your
\f2\&.elm/elmrc\f1 file (see \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2).
\f2newalias\f1 is run after the edit.

.lp \h'16p'f .5i
Display fully expanded alias.  The currently selected
alias is fully expanded and displayed to the user.  This is most useful when
working with group aliases.

.lp \h'16p'l .5i
Limit the display.  You can limit the display by alias type (person/group
or user/system) or by search pattern on name or alias.  Otherwise, this
works exactly like the limit command on the index screen.

.lp \h'16p'm .5i
Send mail to the current alias.  The user is prompted to compose a new
mail message to be sent to the
person or group specified by the selected alias.  If aliases are
tagged the message is mailed to the person(s) and/or group(s)
specified by the tagged aliases.  Tags are cleared after mailing the
message.

.lp \h'16p'n .5i
Make a new user alias.  This prompts for a unique alias name and
then for an address.  If the alias
name is not unique, you are asked if you wish to replace
the existing alias.  If aliases are tagged you are asked if you
want to create a group alias from the tagged aliases.
The information provided is added
to your individual alias file (\f2$HOME/.elm/aliases.text\f1) and
then added to the database at the next alias resync.

.lp "\h'16p'r or q or i" .5i
Return.  Return to the index screen of the Elm program.  Any pending
deletions are processed and newalias is run to update the database.  New
additions are handled at this time as well.

.lp "\h'16p'R or Q or I" .5i
Quick return.  This behaves like the \*qr\*u command except that you are never
prompted for answers to alias disposition questions.
Elm disposes of aliases according to the value
set for the \f3alwaysdelete\f1 variable
in your \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file (see \f3Boolean Variables\f1 in
section 2).

.lp \h'16p't .5i
Tag.
Tag the current alias for a later operation.\s-2\u5\d\s0
.fn
5. Currently only \f3mail\f1, \f3change\f1, and \f2n3w alias\f1 support this.
.ef
This command (plus the \f3<control>-T\f1
version) behaves identically to its index screen
counterpart (see section 7, \f3Commands\f1).

.lp \h'16p'x .5i
Exit alias menu.  Exits the alias menu without processing any
deletions.  Aliases marked for deletion are unmarked and
\f2newalias\f1 is not run, even if alias additions have been made.
.in 0
.sp
Additionally, the movement keys (\*qj\*u, \*qk\*u, \*q+\*u, \*q\-\*u,
etc.) work in the same fashion as on the index screen (see section 7,
\f3Commands\f1).
.br
.ne 5
.sp
.hn 1 Elm and Signals

Elm can handle several standard
.ux
\f2signals\fR to do
some special processing.
Signals are interrupt messages sent from one program to
another.  No detailed messages are sent, but a properly configured
program (such as Elm) can watch for and handle these signals.

In particular, Elm watches for the following signals
and takes these actions:
.lp ALRM .5i
This is the alarm clock signal or time warning.
Elm uses this to wake itself up periodically and check for
new mail.
.lp HUP .5i
This is the hangup notice.
It means that the terminal/modem/whatever which you have been using
with Elm has become detached from the system where Elm
was running.
When Elm gets this signal, it aborts all the pending operations
and exits, leaving your mailbox unchanged.
.lp USR1 .5i
This is the first user-defined signal.
When Elm gets this signal, it receives any pending mail,
performs all the pending operations (deletes), and exits
leaving all unread mail marked as new.
This is the same as giving both the \f3$\f1 and \f3X\f1 commands.
.lp USR2 .5i
This is the second user-defined signal.
When Elm gets this signal, it receives any pending mail,
performs all the pending operations (deletes), and exits,
leaving all unread mail marked as old.
This is the same as giving both the \f3$\f1 and \f3Q\f1 commands.
.in 0
.sp
You would only use these signals yourself under the most unusual
circumstances.  For example, suppose you were using \f3Elm\fR
to read mail on \f2host_1\fR.  You have many messages, most of
which have been read and filed (and therefore deleted), or simply
deleted.  You have not yet resynchronized your mailbox (\f3$\f1
command).  Now you go to lunch.
On your return, you're stopped at the door and told to take care
of an emergency.  You go to another part of the building, and want
to read your mail to see what the emergency is \(em but you can't,
because Elm is still running at your desk.

What you really want is one of the scenarios given in the
description of \f2HUP\f1, \f2USR1\f1 or \f2USR2\f1.
Use your local \f2ps\f1 command to find out what the \f2process number\f1
of your Elm session is.  Then give the command
.sp
.nf
.ft CW
.zf
.ti .5i
kill \-\f2XXX process_number\f1
.fi
.sp
where \f2XXX\f1 is either \*QHUP\*U, \*QUSR1\*U or \*QUSR2\*U and
\f2process_number\f1 is the process number for your remote Elm session.
Your remote session will terminate with the actions noted above.
.br
.ne 5
.sp
.hn 1 Expert Mail Users and Debugging the Mailer

There are some additional facilities available in the Elm
mailer for those people who are knowledgeable about
mail protocols, or trying to debug/track down a problem.

The \f3h\f1 (\f3display with headers\f1) command at the command prompt
displays the current message ignoring the current
setting of the \f3weed\f1 variable (see \f3Boolean Variables\f1 in
section 2).  This is most useful
for answering questions of the form \*QI wonder what
this guy put in his header?\*U and such.  This command
does not show up on the mini-menu because it is somewhat
esoteric, but it does appear on the help screen.

The \f3@\f1 command at the command prompt
outputs a screen of debugging information,
including the number of lines and
offsets of each of the messages in the current mailbox.

The \f3#\f1 command at the command prompt
displays the entire stored \*Qrecord structure\*U for
the current message.

The \f3%\f1 command
displays the full computed return address of the
current message.

Starting up Elm with the \f3\-d\f1 (debug) option (see section 3,
\f3Command Line Options\f1) creates a file called
\f2ELM:debug.info\f1 in your home directory which contains a wealth of useful
information (to me, at least!) to aid in tracking down
what errors are occurring and why.

If there are any problems with Elm,  please try
to recreate the error with the debug option enabled
and set to the highest level (11) before sending defect reports my way.

One final note: all error names reported by the program
are documented in the \f2AT&T System V Interface Definition Reference
Manual\f1 in \f3errno\f1(2).