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Annotation of coherent/a/usr/man/COHERENT/mail, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: 
        !             2: 
        !             3: mail                         Overview                        mail
        !             4: 
        !             5: 
        !             6: 
        !             7: 
        !             8: Electronic mail system
        !             9: 
        !            10: 
        !            11: The  COHERENT system  includes a  full-featured,  UNIX-style mail
        !            12: system.  It  consists of a  number of commands  and files through
        !            13: which you  can describe potential  recipients of mail,  either on
        !            14: your  system  or other  systems,  and send  mail  to them  either
        !            15: directly or  via UUCP.  This article describes  the design of the
        !            16: COHERENT mail system,  and introduces the commands and files that
        !            17: compose it.
        !            18: 
        !            19: ***** Structure of the COHERENT Mail System *****
        !            20: 
        !            21: The  COHERENT mail  system has three  major components:  the _u_s_e_r
        !            22: _a_g_e_n_t  (i.e., mmaaiill);  the _r_o_u_t_i_n_g _a_g_e_n_t  (the commands  ssmmaaiill and
        !            23: rrmmaaiill); and the delivery agents (the commands llmmaaiill and uuuuxx).
        !            24: 
        !            25: The user agent collects messages from the user and reads messages
        !            26: from  a  user's  mailbox.  It  hands  to  the  routing agent  for
        !            27: delivery any messages it receives from the user.
        !            28: 
        !            29: The routing  agents decode addresses and decide  how to deliver a
        !            30: message.  They  are the only  components of the  mail system that
        !            31: must run sseettuuiidd to assume the privilege of the superuser rroooott.
        !            32: 
        !            33: The delivery agents move messages to their destination.
        !            34: 
        !            35: The  local delivery  agent,  llmmaaiill, places  messages into  users'
        !            36: mailboxes.   To  discourage  mail  forging,  llmmaaiill does  not  use
        !            37: sseettuuiidd. It  must be run by a privileged  user (generally rroooott) to
        !            38: write into all mail boxes.  As a rule, llmmaaiill is invoked only by a
        !            39: routing agent.
        !            40: 
        !            41: The UUCP delivery agent, uuuuxx, queues messages for transmission to
        !            42: remote systems.   It uses sseettuuiidd  to assume the  identity of user
        !            43: uuuuccpp in order to  write into the necessary spool directories.  It
        !            44: has long  been trivial to  forge messages to  remote systems with
        !            45: uuuuxx; keep this in mind if you plan to use electronic mail for any
        !            46: kind of authorization system.
        !            47: 
        !            48: ssmmaaiill  looks up  each _u_s_e_r in  file /uussrr/lliibb/mmaaiill/aalliiaasseess.  If it
        !            49: finds a match, it uses the matched name in place of _u_s_e_r. If _u_s_e_r
        !            50: is of the form
        !            51: 
        !            52: 
        !            53:         _s_y_s!_u_s_e_r
        !            54: 
        !            55: 
        !            56: or
        !            57: 
        !            58: 
        !            59: 
        !            60: 
        !            61: 
        !            62: 
        !            63: 
        !            64: COHERENT Lexicon                                           Page 1
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        !            66: 
        !            67: 
        !            68: 
        !            69: mail                         Overview                        mail
        !            70: 
        !            71: 
        !            72: 
        !            73:         _s_y_s! ... !_u_s_e_r
        !            74: 
        !            75: 
        !            76: or
        !            77: 
        !            78: 
        !            79:         _u_s_e_r@_s_y_s[._d_o_m_a_i_n]
        !            80: 
        !            81: 
        !            82: it  is  treated  as a  remote  destination.   ssmmaaiill then  invokes
        !            83: command uuuuxx  to pass the message to  _s_y_s, whose responsibility it
        !            84: becomes to pass the message to _u_s_e_r.
        !            85: 
        !            86: If   ssmmaaiill   finds   no   match  in   /uussrr/lliibb/mmaaiill/aalliiaasseess,   or
        !            87: $HHOOMMEE/.aalliiaasseess, however, it attempts to look up each _u_s_e_r in file
        !            88: /eettcc/ppaasssswwdd, to see if this is a local user.  If it does not find
        !            89: _u_s_e_r  in this  file, ssmmaaiill  mails  an error  message back  to the
        !            90: sender.   If, however,  it  does find  _u_s_e_r in  this file,  ssmmaaiill
        !            91: checks   file   $HHOOMMEE/.ffoorrwwaarrdd   for  any   possible   forwarding
        !            92: instructions.  If  this file is absent,  ssmmaaiill passes the message
        !            93: to   llmmaaiill.   llmmaaiill    writes   the   message   into   the   file
        !            94: /uussrr/ssppooooll/mmaaiill/_u_s_e_r.    This   file   is   called   the   user's
        !            95: ``mailbox''.  Note  that _u_s_e_r owns  this file, and  can therefore
        !            96: permit or deny access to her mail by other users.
        !            97: 
        !            98: ***** Files *****
        !            99: 
        !           100: $HHOOMMEE/ddeeaadd.lleetttteerr -- Message that mmaaiill could not send
        !           101: $HHOOMMEE/.aalliiaasseess -- Personal mail alias file for outgoing mail
        !           102: $HHOOMMEE/.ffoorrwwaarrdd -- Forwarding instructions for inbound mail
        !           103: /eettcc/ppaasssswwdd -- User identities
        !           104: /ttmmpp/mmaaiill* -- Temporary and lock files
        !           105: /uussrr/lliibb/mmaaiill/aalliiaasseess -- Aliases of users
        !           106: /uussrr/lliibb/mmaaiill/ffuullllnnaammeess -- Short full name aliases of users
        !           107: /uussrr/lliibb/mmaaiill/ppaatthhss -- Mail routing control file
        !           108: /uussrr/ssppooooll/mmaaiill -- Mailbox directory, filed by user name
        !           109: 
        !           110: ***** See Also *****
        !           111: 
        !           112: aalliiaasseess, ccoommmmaannddss, mmaaiill, mmkkffnnaammeess, mmssgg, nnppttxx, ppaatthhss, uuuuxx
        !           113: 
        !           114: ***** Notes *****
        !           115: 
        !           116: To  mail a  file  to another  user, use  the shell's  redirection
        !           117: operator `<'.  For example, the command
        !           118: 
        !           119: 
        !           120:         mail stephen <bug.report
        !           121: 
        !           122: 
        !           123: mails file bbuugg.rreeppoorrtt to  user sstteepphheenn. The file will be prefixed
        !           124: with  your address,  and suffixed  with your  mail ``signature'',
        !           125: should you have one.
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        !           129: 
        !           130: COHERENT Lexicon                                           Page 2
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