InfoMagic Internet Tools 1993 July/Internet Tools.iso/RockRidge/mail/elm/elm2.4/doc/Config.guid

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.\" @(#)$Id: Config.guid,v 5.8 1993/04/12 04:00:55 syd Exp $
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.\"  A guide to the ELM alias system and so on.
.\"  format with:
.\"      'troff tmac.n Config.guid > Config.fmtd'
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.\"  (C) Copyright 1986,1987 Dave Taylor
.\"  (C) Copyright 1988-1992 Usenet Community Trust
.\"  Elm is now in the public trust. Bug reports, comments, suggestions, flames
.\"  etc. should go to:
.\"    Syd Weinstein        [e-mail] (dsinc!elm)
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.\"  $Log: Config.guid,v $
.\" Revision 5.8  1993/04/12  04:00:55  syd
.\" remove unused ALIAS parameters
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.\" Revision 5.7  1993/04/12  01:47:45  syd
.\" Update for quotes
.\" From: [e-mail] (Dave Wolfe)
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.\" Revision 5.6  1992/12/24  23:48:05  syd
.\" make Nroff not use co symbol, just the word
.\" From: Syd via request from Tim Pierce
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.\" Revision 5.5  1992/11/27  02:51:18  syd
.\" Make the docs catch up with the code, config.changes -> config.over
.\" From: Syd
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.\" Revision 5.4  1992/11/22  00:49:31  syd
.\" Add support for a "config.over" file to override Configure decisions.
.\" From: [e-mail] (Chip Rosenthal)
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.\" Revision 5.3  1992/10/24  13:51:44  syd
.\" More typos
.\" From: [e-mail] (Dave Wolfe)
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.\" Revision 5.2  1992/10/11  01:15:53  syd
.\" A cleaned up Config.guid follows.  Corrected some spelling errors,
.\" and played with some formatting:
.\" From: David Barr <[e-mail]>
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.\" Revision 5.1  1992/10/03  20:51:50  syd
.\" Initial checkin as of 2.4 Release at PL0
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.tm Have we been run through "tbl" first?? I hope so!
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\f3Elm Configuration Guide\f1
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\f2How to install and customize the Elm mail system\f1
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The Elm Mail System
(Version 2.4)
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Syd Weinstein, Elm Coordinator
Datacomp Systems, Inc.
3837 Byron Road
Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006-2320
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email: elm\s-1@\s+1DSI.COM  or  dsinc\s-1!\s+1elm
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\s18\f3\*(ct\f1\s12 Copyright 1986,1987 by Dave Taylor
\s18\f3\*(ct\f1\s12 Copyright 1988-1992 by The USENET Community Trust
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\f3Elm Configuration Guide\f1
.ds h0 "Elm Configuration Guide
.ds h1
.ds h2 "Version 2.4
.ds f0 "October 1, 1992
.ds f1
.ds f2 "Page %
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(The Elm Mail System, \*(h2)
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\*(f0
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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
This document is intended as a supplement to the \f2Elm Users Guide\f1
and \f2Elm Reference Guide\f1
and should be of interest mainly to people at a site installing,
maintaining, and/or modifying the source code to the Elm mail system.
.sp
It is \f2required\f1 that installation be done by using the
\f2Configure\f1 script supplied with the system.  Please see the
file \f2Instruct\f1 for further information on running \f2Configure\f1.
.sp
The remainder of this document discusses the various questions
asked by the \f2Configure\f1 script and the
options available via direct editing of various files and
parameters.  As indicated above, almost all of the sites that install
Elm should find the \f2Configure\f1 script more than
sufficient.
.hu Using \f2Configure\fP

\f2Configure\fP is a shell script that automatically determines the
type of system it is running on and tunes the parameters of Elm to fit
that system and its environment.  Where the installer has a choice, it
asks questions of the installer.  \f2Configure\fP provides its own
instructions when run, so they are not repeated here.  However, when
the installer is presented with a choice, this next section explains
some of the options available.  Not all the questions or options to
those questions are explained here.
.sp
.ne 6
\f3Use fcntl style locking?\f1
.br
\f3Use flock style locking?\f1
.br
\f3Use dotlock (.lock) style locking?\f1
.sp
Elm, like all Mail User Agents (MUAs), has times when it needs exclusive
access to the mail spool file.  There are three methods of locking the
mail spool file: \f2.lock\f1 files, \f2fcntl\f1, and \f2flock\f1.
\&\f2.lock\f1 files is the original method,
and is used by MUAs and Mail Transport Agents (MTAs).  Whenever
possible \f2.lock\f1 files should be enabled to assure backwards
compatibility with older MUAs and MTAs.
.sp
BSD systems introduced \f2flock\f1 style locking.  It uses the
\f2flock(2)\f1 system call
to lock the file on the local node.  System V later introduced
\f2fcntl\f1 style locking, which can also use a protocol for remote locking
across the network.  Where both styles are available, it is advisable
to use both, unless you are sure that only one is in use at your site.
Under many System V Release 4 (SVR4) systems, they both use the same underlying
system call (\f2flock\f1 is translated into \f2fcntl\f1 style locking),
so for that version of
.ux ,
\f2flock\f1 is not needed and \f2fcntl\f1 style alone can be used.
.sp
.ne 4
\f3Enable calendar feature?\f1
.sp
Elm has a feature to take specially marked lines within mail messages
and add them to a file for use by the system calendar program.  The
command to do this extraction needs to be enabled to work.  There is
also a follow on question regarding the name of the calendar file:
.sp
.ti .5i
\f3Default calendar file?\f1
.sp
which is usually \f2calendar\f1 on most systems.  This file resides in
the user's home directory, not their \f2.elm\f1 directory.
.sp
.ne 5
\f3Does your /etc/passwd file keep full names in Berkeley/V7 format (name
first thing after \*q:\*u in GCOS field)?\f1
.sp
Elm uses the full name from the password file if it is available.
There are two major ways this name is stored.  Berkeley/V7 systems
place the name as the entire GCOS field string, that is it starts
directly after the \*q:\*u that delimits the fields.  USG (UNIX Systems
Group, or AT&T) systems put the user's name after a department number
and separate it from that number by a hyphen (\*q\-\*u).
The end of the user's full
name in these systems is a \*q(\*u.  Look at your \f2/etc/passwd\f1 file and if
either version applies, answer \f2yes\f1 to this question; if neither
applies, answer \f2no\f1.  Elm can still get the user's name from the
\&\f2.fullname\f1 file in their home directory.
.sp
.ne 6
\f3Every now and then someone has a gethostname()/uname() that lies about
the hostname but can't be fixed for political or economic reasons.
Would you like to pretend gethostname()/uname() isn't there and maybe
compile in the hostname?\f1
.sp
Elm needs to know the correct name of the host on which it is executing
to be able to create the proper headers for the outbound mail.  Some
systems use one name for uucp and another name for the system and
others just don't reply to the subroutines with the proper name.  In
this case it will be necessary to compile in the name.  In all other
cases this should not be needed.  It is provided just in case there is
a problem with your system.
.sp
.ne 4
\f3Honors Content-Length: header?\f1
.sp
Starting with SVR4, many of the MTAs are
binary transparent.  This allows for sending binary messages, such as
encoded voice or graphics.  In doing so, they no longer can tolerate changes in
the message content by the mailers to aid in determining the start of
the next message.  To solve this problem the \f3Content-Length:\f1 header was
added.  Elm generates the \f3Content-Length:\f1 header, but to make full use
of it, Elm should also not escape such sequences as \*QFrom \*U at the
start of a line of the message.  If your MTA (mailer)
does honor the \f3Content-Length:\f1 header for determining the start of the
next message, answer this question \f2yes\f1.
.sp
Along the same lines, but now obsolete and being phased out, is a
problem where an MTA thinks a message is terminated
by a single lone period on a line.  \f2sendmail\f1 has an option to turn off
this behavior and this option is set by default in \f2Configure\f1.  If your
mailer cannot turn off this option, add a line to \f2sysdefs.SH\f1 to define
the symbol \f3NEED_LONE_PERIOD_ESCAPE\f1.  This symbol turns a line with
a lone period into a period and a blank to avoid this problem.
This symbol is ignored if the \*QHonors Content-Length: header?\*U question
is answered \f2yes\f1.
.sp
.ne 4
\f3Does your mailer understand INTERNET addresses?\f1
.sp
Elm works with systems that can process the \*q@\*u character of
Internet format addresses or with the \*q!\*u format of \f2uucp\f1
addresses.  If your MTA understands the \*q@\*u format addresses, they
should be used and this question answered \f2yes\f1.  If messages
bounce when you send them with \*q@\*u format addresses (such as
\*[e-mail]\*U), then answer this question \f2no\f1.
.sp
.ne 4
\f3Am I going to be running as a setgid program?\f1
.sp
On USG and many other type systems, access to the mailboxes and
the mailbox directory is via the group permissions.  The MUAs,
such as Elm, need write access in this directory to be able
to move the mailbox around for internal editing and to create lock
files.  If the permissions on your mailbox directory are \*Qdrwxrwxr-x\*U
(no write access for \*Qothers\*U),
then Elm needs to be a \f2setgid\f1 program.
.sp
.ne 4
\f3What is the default editor on your system?\f1
.sp
If no editor is specified in the user's \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file, this is
which editor to use.  The editor is used to compose outbound mail
messages.
.sp
.ne 4
\f3What pager do you prefer to use with Elm?\f1
.sp
This is the standard pager to use for reading messages.  Besides the
usual system pagers, two Elm specific internal options exist: \f2builtin\f1
and \f2builtin+\f1.  The \f2builtin\f1 pager is faster to execute but much less
flexible than the system provided pagers.  The \f2builtin+\f1 pager just clears
the page before displaying the next page, otherwise the two versions
are identical.
.hu Other Configurable Parameters
The following parameters rarely need to be changed, but are provided if
you need them.  \f2Configure\fP does not prompt for their values.  To
change them, edit the \f2hdrs/sysdefs.h\f1 file directly after running
\f2Configure\f1.
.lp MAX_IN_WEEDLIST 1.0i
The maximum number of headers that can be specified in the weedout
list of the \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file.  A suggested alternative approach if this
number is too small is to specify initial substrings in the file
rather than increasing the number.  For example, say you want to
weedout the headers \*QLatitude:\*U and \*QLatitudinal-Coords:\*U, you
could simply specify \*QLatitud\*U and match them both!  Furthermore
you could also specify headers like \*QX\-\*U and remove all the user
defined headers!
.lp MAX_HOPS 1.0i
When using the \f3group reply\f1 command, this is the maximum number of
hops that a message can have taken.  This is used to try to optimize the
return address (remove cyclic loops and so on) and regular use
should show that the default of 35 is plenty more than you'll
ever need!
.lp system_text_file 1.0i
This is the source text file for the system level aliases.
See either the \f2newalias\f1 man page or \f2The Elm
Alias System Users Guide\f1 for further details.
.lp system_hash_file 1.0i
This is the file that contains the hashed version of the system
aliases generated by \f2newalias\f1.
.lp system_data_file 1.0i
This is the other file the \f2newalias\f1 command installs in the system
alias area and contains the actual addresses for each of the aliases
contained in the hashed data file.
.lp DEBUGFILE 1.0i
The name of the file to put in the user's home directory if they choose to
use the \f3\-d\f1 (\f3debug\f1) option.
.lp OLDEBUG 1.0i
The name of the file to save the previous debug output as (this feature
was added to ensure that users wanting to mail bug reports wouldn't
automatically overwrite the debug log of the session in question).
.lp temp_lock_dir 1.0i
Directory for lock files for XENIX.
.lp temp_file 1.0i
Temporary file for sending outbound messages.
.lp temp_form_file 1.0i
A place to store temporary forms (for Forms Mode) while answering them.
.lp temp_mbox 1.0i
Place to keep a copy of the incoming mailbox to avoid collisions with newer
mail.
.lp temp_print  1.0i
File to use when creating a printout of a message.
.lp temp_edit 1.0i
File to use when editing the mailbox file on XENIX.
.lp temp_uuname 1.0i
Where to redirect output of the \f2uuname\f1 command.
.lp mailtime_file 1.0i
File to compare date to to determine if a given message is new
since the last time the mail was read or not.
.lp readmsg_file 1.0i
File to use when communicating with the \f2readmsg\f1 program (see
that program for more information).
.lp smflags  1.0i
Defines the options to hand to \f2sendmail\f1 if and when the program
chooses to use it.
.lp smflagsv 1.0i
Defines the options to hand to \f2sendmail\f1 in verbose voyeur mode.
.lp mailer 1.0i
If you don't have \f2sendmail\f1, this is the mailer that'll be used.
.lp helpfile 1.0i
The help file name prefix.
.lp ELMRC_INFO 1.0i
The file containing textual messages associated with each
Elm variable setting in the user's \f2.elm/elmrc\f1
file.  This is used when the user chooses to save the
options from within the main program.
.lp elmrcfile 1.0i
The name of the automatic control file within the \f2.elm\f1
directory (by default \f2elmrc\f1).
.lp old_elmrcfile 1.0i
When a new \f2elmrc\f1 file is saved, the old one is also saved by
renaming it to whatever this identifier is set to.
.lp system_rc_file 1.0i
The name of the global \f2elmrc\f1 file (default is \f2$lib/elm.rc\f1).  This
is where the system administrator puts global default values for any
parameters controlled by the \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 file.
.lp mailheaders  1.0i
The name of the optional file that users may have that is
included in the headers of each outbound message.
.lp dead_letter 1.0i
If the user decides not to send a message it is instead saved
to this filename in their home directory.
.lp unedited_mail 1.0i
In the strange case when the mailer suddenly finds all the directories
it uses shut off (like \f2/usr/mail\f1 and \f2/tmp\f1)
then it'll put the current
mailbox into this file in the user's home directory.
.lp newalias 1.0i
How to install new aliases (note that you MUST have the \f3\-q\f1 option!).
.lp readmsg 1.0i
What the \f2readmsg\f1 program is installed as.
.hu Runtime configuration \(em the global \f2$lib/elm.rc\fP file

No global default file is provided as part of the installation of
Elm.  If you wish to override any default parameters for all
users, create a file as defined in the \f3system_rc_file\f1 above.  An
easy way to create it is to copy a saved \f2.elm/elmrc\f1 and edit it
to remove all user-specific parameters.  Of particular interest are
three additional parameters you may set: \f3hostdomain\f1, \f3hostfullname\f1,
and \f3hostname\f1.  See \f3String Variables\f1 in section 2
of the \f2Elm Reference Guide\f1 for details on these variables.
.hu When \f2Configure\fP Fails

The \f2Configure\f1 script has run successfully tens of thousands of
times.  But maybe your system is the one in ten thousand that will
confuse it.  For example, \f2Configure\f1 assumes that if your system
has a feature it would like, then it should be used.  If vendors never
made mistakes, then that might be a good assumption.  In reality,
\f2Configure\f1 might want to use a feature you'd prefer it didn't.
.sp
When \f2Configure\f1 completes its examination of your system, it
gives you a final chance to make changes.  When \f2Configure\f1 asks
.sp
.ti .5i
\f3If you need to edit config.sh, do it as a shell escape here:\f1
.sp
you may briefly jump out of \f2Configure\f1 to make changes.  For
example, if \f2vi\f1 is your preferred editor, type \f3!vi config.sh\f1.
.sp
Unfortunately, \f2Configure\f1 makes the same mistakes every time it
runs.  This means that if you ever apply updates or changes to the
Elm system and rerun \f2Configure\f1, you will have to manually make
the same configuration changes.  Or more likely, you'll forget that
the changes are required.
.sp
The solution to this problem is to create a \f2config.over\f1 file
in the Elm base directory.  This file may contain any valid \f2sh\f1
commands, and is loaded by \f2Configure\f1 immediately before the
\f2config.sh\f1 file is created.
For example, supposed that \f2Configure\f1 creates a \f2config.sh\f1
file with the definition
.sp
.ti .5i
\f3d_feature=define\f1
.sp
but instead you want it to say
.sp
.ti .5i
\f3d_feature=undef\f1
.sp
All you need to do is create a \f2config.over\f1 file and put that
final line in it.