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1.1 ! root 1: .\" @(MHWARNING) ! 2: .TH MH\-MAIL 5 "April 22, 1986" MH [mh.6] ! 3: .UC 6 ! 4: .SH NAME ! 5: mh\-mail \- message format for MH message system ! 6: .SH SYNOPSIS ! 7: .in +.5i ! 8: .ti -.5i ! 9: any \fIMH\fR command ! 10: .in -.5i ! 11: .SH DESCRIPTION ! 12: \fIMH\fR processes messages in a particular format. ! 13: It should be noted that although neither Bell nor Berkeley mailers produce ! 14: message files in the format that \fIMH\fR prefers, ! 15: \fIMH\fR can read message files in that antiquated format. ! 16: ! 17: Each user possesses a mail drop box which initially receives ! 18: all messages processed by \fIpost\fR\0(8). ! 19: \fIInc\fR\0(1) will read from that drop box and incorporate the new messages ! 20: found there into the user's own mail folders (typically `+inbox'). ! 21: The mail drop ! 22: box consists of one or more messages. ! 23: @BEGIN: MMDFMTS ! 24: To facilitate the ! 25: separation of messages, each message begins and ends with ! 26: a line consisting of nothing but four CTRL\-A (octal 001) ! 27: characters. ! 28: @END: MMDFMTS ! 29: @BEGIN: MHMTS ! 30: To facilitate the ! 31: separation of messages, each message begins and ends with ! 32: a line consisting of nothing but four CTRL\-A (octal 001) ! 33: characters. ! 34: @END: MHMTS ! 35: ! 36: Messages ! 37: are expected to consist of lines of text. ! 38: Graphics and binary data are not handled. ! 39: No data compression is accepted. ! 40: All text is clear ! 41: ASCII 7-bit data. ! 42: ! 43: The general \*(lqmemo\*(rq framework of RFC\-822 is used. ! 44: A message consists of a block of information in a rigid format, ! 45: followed by general text with no specified format. ! 46: The rigidly formatted first part of a message is called the header, ! 47: and the free-format portion is called the body. ! 48: The header must always exist, but the body is optional. ! 49: These parts are separated by an empty line, ! 50: i.e., two consecutive newline characters. ! 51: Within \fIMH\fR, ! 52: the header and body may be separated by a line consisting of dashes: ! 53: ! 54: .nf ! 55: .in +.5i ! 56: .ne 10 ! 57: .eo ! 58: .so @(MHETCPATH)/components ! 59: .ec ! 60: .in -.5i ! 61: .fi ! 62: ! 63: The header is composed of one or more header items. ! 64: Each header item can be viewed as a single logical line of ASCII ! 65: characters. ! 66: If the text of a header item extends across several ! 67: real lines, the continuation lines are indicated by leading ! 68: spaces or tabs. ! 69: ! 70: Each header item is called a component and is composed of a ! 71: keyword or name, along with associated text. ! 72: The keyword begins at the ! 73: left margin, may NOT contain spaces or tabs, may not exceed 63 ! 74: characters (as specified by RFC\-822), and is terminated by a colon (`:'). ! 75: Certain ! 76: components (as identified by their keywords) must follow rigidly ! 77: defined formats in their text portions. ! 78: ! 79: The text for most formatted components ! 80: (e.g., \*(lqDate:\*(rq and \*(lqMessage\-Id:\*(rq) ! 81: is produced automatically. ! 82: The only ones entered by the ! 83: user are address fields such as \*(lqTo:\*(rq, \*(lqcc:\*(rq, etc. ! 84: Internet addresses ! 85: are assigned mailbox names and host computer specifications. ! 86: The ! 87: rough format is \*(lqlocal@domain\*(rq, such as \*(lqMH@UCI\*(rq, ! 88: or \*(lqMH@UCI\-ICSA.ARPA\*(rq. ! 89: Multiple addresses are separated by commas. ! 90: A missing host/domain is assumed to be the local host/domain. ! 91: ! 92: As mentioned above, ! 93: a blank line (or a line of dashes) ! 94: signals that all following text up to the end of the file is the body. ! 95: No formatting is expected or enforced within the body. ! 96: ! 97: Following is a list of header components that are considered ! 98: meaningful to various MH programs. ! 99: .in +.5i ! 100: .ti -.5i ! 101: Date: ! 102: .br ! 103: Added by \fIpost\fR\0(8), ! 104: contains date and time of the message's entry into the transport system. ! 105: ! 106: .ti -.5i ! 107: From: ! 108: .br ! 109: Added by \fIpost\fR\0(8), ! 110: contains the address of the author or authors (may be more than one if a ! 111: \*(lqSender:\*(rq field is present). ! 112: Replies are typically directed to addresses in the \*(lqReply\-To:\*(rq or ! 113: \*(lqFrom:\*(rq field (the former has precedence if present). ! 114: ! 115: .ti -.5i ! 116: Sender: ! 117: .br ! 118: Added by \fIpost\fR\0(8) ! 119: in the event that the message already has a \*(lqFrom:\*(rq line. ! 120: This line contains the address of the actual sender. ! 121: Replies are never sent to addresses in the \*(lqSender:\*(rq field. ! 122: ! 123: .ti -.5i ! 124: To: ! 125: .br ! 126: Contains addresses of primary recipients. ! 127: ! 128: .ti -.5i ! 129: cc: ! 130: .br ! 131: Contains addresses of secondary recipients. ! 132: ! 133: .ti -.5i ! 134: Bcc: ! 135: .br ! 136: Still more recipients. ! 137: However, the \*(lqBcc:\*(rq line is not copied onto the message as delivered, ! 138: so these recipients are not listed. ! 139: \fIMH\fR uses an encapsulation method for blind copies, see \fIsend\fR\0(1). ! 140: ! 141: .ti -.5i ! 142: Fcc: ! 143: .br ! 144: Causes \fIpost\fR\0(8) to copy the message into the specified folder for the ! 145: sender, ! 146: if the message was successfully given to the transport system. ! 147: ! 148: .ti -.5i ! 149: Message\-ID: ! 150: .br ! 151: A unique message identifier added by \fIpost\fR\0(8) if the `\-msgid' flag ! 152: is set. ! 153: ! 154: .ti -.5i ! 155: Subject: ! 156: .br ! 157: Sender's commentary. It is displayed by \fIscan\fR\0(1). ! 158: ! 159: .ti -.5i ! 160: In\-Reply\-To: ! 161: .br ! 162: A commentary line added by \fIrepl\fR\0(1) when replying to a message. ! 163: ! 164: .ti -.5i ! 165: Resent\-Date: ! 166: .br ! 167: Added when redistributing a message by \fIpost\fR\0(8). ! 168: ! 169: .ti -.5i ! 170: Resent\-From: ! 171: .br ! 172: Added when redistributing a message by \fIpost\fR\0(8). ! 173: ! 174: .ti -.5i ! 175: Resent\-To: ! 176: .br ! 177: New recipients for a message resent by \fIdist\fR\0(1). ! 178: ! 179: .ti -.5i ! 180: Resent\-cc: ! 181: .br ! 182: Still more recipients. ! 183: See \*(lqcc:\*(rq and \*(lqResent\-To:\*(rq. ! 184: ! 185: .ti -.5i ! 186: Resent\-Bcc: ! 187: .br ! 188: Even more recipients. ! 189: See \*(lqBcc:\*(rq and \*(lqResent\-To:\*(rq. ! 190: ! 191: .ti -.5i ! 192: Resent\-Fcc: ! 193: .br ! 194: Copy resent message into a folder. ! 195: See \*(lqFcc:\*(rq and \*(lqResent\-To:\*(rq. ! 196: ! 197: .ti -.5i ! 198: Resent\-Message\-Id: ! 199: .br ! 200: A unique identifier glued on by \fIpost\fR\0(8) if the `\-msgid' flag ! 201: is set. ! 202: See \*(lqMessage\-Id:\*(rq and \*(lqResent\-To:\*(rq. ! 203: ! 204: .ti -.5i ! 205: Resent: ! 206: .br ! 207: Annotation for \fIdist\fR\0(1) under the `\-annotate' option. ! 208: ! 209: .ti -.5i ! 210: Forwarded: ! 211: .br ! 212: Annotation for \fIforw\fR\0(1) under the `\-annotate' option. ! 213: ! 214: .ti -.5i ! 215: Replied: ! 216: .br ! 217: Annotation for \fIrepl\fR\0(1) under the `\-annotate' option. ! 218: .in -.5i ! 219: .sp ! 220: .Fi ! 221: ^@(MHDROPLOC)~^Location of mail drop ! 222: .Pr ! 223: None ! 224: .Sa ! 225: \fIStandard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages\fR (aka RFC\-822) ! 226: .De ! 227: None ! 228: .Co ! 229: None ! 230: .En
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