


MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


NAME
       mm  -  offline  mail reader for Blue Wave, QWK, OMEN, SOUP
       and OPX packets

SYNOPSIS
       mm [-option1 value]  [-option2  value]  [...]  [filename1]
       [filename2] [...]

DESCRIPTION
       MultiMail is an offline mail packet reader, supporting the
       Blue Wave, QWK, OMEN, SOUP and OPX formats. It uses a sim
       ple curses-based interface.

       SOUP is used for Internet email and Usenet. The other for
       mats are primarily used with dialup (or telnet) BBSes,  to
       save connect time and to provide a better interface to the
       message base.

       Not all packet formats may be available, depending on  how
       the program was compiled.

       This manpage is for version 0.42.

USAGE
       On most screens, the available keystroke commands are dis
       played in the lower part of the screen. In the  mail-read
       ing  window,  pressing  F1  or '?'  will show the commands
       available there.

       The navigation keys, most of  which  work  throughout  the
       program, are briefly summarized only on the packet screen,
       for lack of space. :-)  Basically,  they  consist  of  the
       standard  cursor  and keypad keys, with <Enter> to select.
       For terminals without full support for these keys, aliases
       are available for some of them:

       ESC   = Q
       PgDn  = B
       PgUp  = F
       Right = +
       Left  = -

       (Although   shown   in  capitals,  these  may  be  entered
       unshifted.)

       With "Lynx-style navigation", activated by  the  "UseLynx
       Nav" option, the Left arrow key backs out from any screen,
       while the Right arrow key  selects.  It  also  makes  Left
       equivalent to selecting ".." in the packet list, except at
       the top level (where it's equivalent to  Quit).  The  plus
       and  minus  keys are no longer aliases for Right and Left,
       but perform the same functions as in the traditional navi
       gation system.




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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       Of  special  note  is  the space bar. In most areas of the
       program, it functions as an alias for  PgDn;  but  in  the
       mail-reading  window, it works as a combination PgDn/Enter
       key, allowing you to page through an area with one key.

       In the area list, the  default  view  (selectable  in  the
       .mmailrc)  is of Subscribed areas only, or of Active areas
       (i.e., those with messages) if the  Subscribed  areas  are
       unknown.  By  pressing  L,  you can toggle between Active,
       All, and Subscribed views. (Some formats, like plain  QWK,
       don't  have any way to indicate subscribed areas. In other
       cases, you may have received an abbreviated area list,  so
       that  the  Subscribed  and All views are the same.) In all
       modes, areas with replies always appear, flagged  with  an
       'R' in the leftmost column.

       In the letter list, only unread messages are displayed, by
       default; but you can toggle this by pressing L.  If  there
       are any marked messages, L first switches to a marked-only
       mode, then to all  messages,  then  back  to  unread-only.
       Also,  the  default mode -- unread or all -- can be set in
       the .mmailrc.

       Multiple sort modes are available in the packet and letter
       lists;  you  can  cycle  through them by pressing '$'. The
       default sort modes are set in the .mmailrc.

       As of version 0.41, options can be specified on  the  com
       mand line as well as in the .mmailrc. Option names are the
       same as those which appear  there,  though  they  must  be
       prefaced  by one or two dashes, and should not be followed
       by a colon. There must be a space between the option  name
       and the value; values which include spaces must be quoted.
       All options must be specified before any packet  names  or
       directories  on  the  line.  Finally, options which take a
       filename or path should  always  include  the  full  path.
       (This is not, however, necessary for packet names.)

       Packet names may be specified on the command line, bypass
       ing the  packet  menu.  If  multiple  packets  are  named,
       they'll  be  opened sequentially. If a directory is speci
       fied instead of a file, the packet window will  by  opened
       on  that directory, and no further items will be read from
       the command line. 'T' in the packet menu may need clarifi
       cation:  it  stamps  the highlighted file with the current
       date and time.

       You can abort the program immediately from any screen with
       CTRL-X. You won't be prompted to confirm the exit, but you
       will still  be  prompted  to  save  replies  and  pointers
       (unless  autosaving is set). Note that if you've specified
       multiple packets on the command line, this is the only way
       to terminate the sequence prematurely.




                        December  8, 2001                       2





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       You  can  obtain  a  temporary  command  shell anywhere by
       pressing  CTRL-Z.  In  the  DOSish  ports  (MS-DOS,  OS/2,
       Win32),  it spawns a command shell, and you return to Mul
       tiMail via the "exit" command. In Unix, it relies  on  the
       shell  to put MultiMail in the background; you return with
       "fg". (This has always been available  in  the  Unix  ver
       sions; however, it won't work if MultiMail wasn't launched
       from an interactive shell, or if the shell doesn't support
       it.)

MOUSING
       As  of  version  0.39,  MultiMail  is mousable, on certain
       platforms: X, the Linux console  (with  gpm),  and  Win32.
       (You  can  still  use  selection  with  X and gpm, too; to
       select or paste, hold down the shift key.)

       In each list  window,  button  1  highlights  a  line,  or
       selects  it  (the  same as pressing Enter) if it's already
       highlighted. Double-click to select it immediately.  Click
       on  the  scrollbar to page up or down, or on the line just
       above or below it to scroll a  line  at  a  time.  In  the
       packet,  area,  and letter lists, click on the appropriate
       part of the window title to change the sort or list  type.

       In  the letter window, page up by clicking in the top half
       of the message text, or down (and on to the next  message)
       by  clicking  in  the bottom half (equivalent to the space
       bar). Scroll the message a  single  line  up  or  down  by
       clicking  on the status bars at top and bottom. The status
       flags "Read" and "Marked" can be toggled  by  clicking  on
       them;  clicking on "Save" saves, clicking on "Repl" starts
       a reply (followup; i.e.,  the  same  as  'R'),  and  "Pvt"
       starts  a  private  reply (email or netmail; i.e., same as
       'N').

       In text-entry windows, button 1  works  the  same  as  the
       Enter key; and the dialog boxes work in the obvious way.

       Button 3 backs out of any screen, equivalent to ESC.

SEARCHING
       A  case-insensitive  search  function  is available on all
       screens. Press '/' to specify the text to look for, or '>'
       or '.' to repeat the last search.

       New  searches  (specified  with  '/')  always start at the
       beginning of the list or message.  Repeat  searches  (with
       '>' or '.') start with the line below the current one. You
       can take advantage of this to manually adjust the starting
       point for the next search.

       Searches started in the letter, area or packet lists allow
       the searches to extend below the current list. "Full text"
       searches  all  the  way  through the text of each message;



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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       "Headers" searches only the message  headers  (the  letter
       list), "Areas" only the area list, and "Pkt list" only the
       packet list. So, a "Full text"  search  started  from  the
       packet list will search every message in every packet (but
       only in the current directory).

       When scanning "Full text", the automatic  setting  of  the
       "Read"  marker  is disabled. However, if you find a search
       string in the header of a message and then select it manu
       ally,  the  marker  will be set. But if you start scanning
       from the packet list, and exit the  packet  via  a  repeat
       search, the last-read markers won't be saved.

       Scans of "Headers" or "Full text" that start from the area
       list or packet list will automatically expand  the  letter
       lists  they  descend into.  Similarly, scans that start at
       the packet list will expand the area lists.  Otherwise, if
       you're  viewing  the  short  list, that's all that will be
       searched.

       I hope the above makes some sense. :-) The searching func
       tions are difficult to explain, but easy to use.

OFFLINE CONFIGURATION
       At  present,  offline config is limited to subscribe (add)
       and unsubscribe (drop)  functions.  The  Blue  Wave,  OPX,
       OMEN,  QWKE,  and  QWK Add/Drop (with DOOR.ID) methods are
       supported. (The QMAIL "CONFIG"  method  is  not  supported
       yet.) Offline config is not yet available in SOUP mode.

       In  the  area list, press 'U' or 'Del' to unsubscribe from
       the highlighted area. To subscribe to  a  new  conference,
       first  expand the list ('L'), then highlight the appropri
       ate area and press 'S' or 'Ins'. Dropped areas are  marked
       with  a  minus sign ('-') in the first column; added areas
       with a plus ('+'). In the expanded area list, already-sub
       scribed areas are marked with an asterisk ('*'). (This and
       also applies to the little  area  list.   With  plain  QWK
       packets,  the  asterisk  should  not be relied upon; other
       areas may also be subscribed.) Added or dropped areas  are
       highlighted  in the "Area_Reply" color. Yeah, I'll have to
       change that name now. ;-)

       Pressing 'S' on an area marked with '-', or 'U' on an area
       marked '+' turns the flag off again.

       In  Blue  Wave,  OPX, OMEN or QWKE mode, the list of added
       and dropped areas is read back in when the reply packet is
       reopened.  If  the reply packet has already been uploaded,
       and you're reading a packet with the  altered  area  list,
       this is benign. If it's an older packet, you can alter the
       list before uploading, as  with  reply  messages.  In  QWK
       Add/Drop  mode,  the  changed  area flags are converted to
       reply messages when  the  reply  packet  is  saved.  Note:



                        December  8, 2001                       4





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       Adding  or dropping areas sets the "unsaved replies" flag,
       like entering a reply message, but does not  invoke  auto
       matic reply packet saving until you exit the packet.

       Unfortunately, the OMEN mode has not actually been tested;
       but I believe it conforms to the specs. Reports welcome.

HIDDEN LINES AND ROT13
       In the letter window, you can toggle  viewing  of  Fidonet
       "hidden" lines (marked with a ^A in the first position) by
       pressing 'x'. The lines are shown as part of the text, but
       in  a different color. In Internet email and Usenet areas,
       the full headers of the messages are available in the same
       way  (if provided in the packet -- generally, full headers
       are available in SOUP, and partial extra headers  in  Blue
       Wave).

       Pressing  'd'  toggles  rot13 encoding, the crude "encryp
       tion" method used for spoiler warnings and such, primarily
       on Usenet.

ANSI VIEWER
       If a message contains ANSI color codes, you may be able to
       view it as originally  intended  by  activating  the  ANSI
       viewer.  Press  'v'  to  start it.  Press 'q' to leave the
       ANSI viewer; the navigation keys are the same  as  in  the
       mail-reading window.

       The  ANSI  viewer  includes  support  for animation. While
       within the ANSI viewer, press 'v'  again  to  animate  the
       picture. Press any key to abort the animation.

       The ANSI viewer is also used to display the new files list
       and bulletins, if any are present.

CHARACTER SETS
       MultiMail supports automatic translation between two char
       acter  sets:  the  IBM PC set (Code Page 437), and Latin-1
       (ISO 8859-1). Messages can be in either character set; the
       set  is  determined by the area attributes -- Internet and
       Usenet areas default to Latin-1, while all others  default
       to  IBM -- and by a CHRS or CHARSET kludge, if one is pre
       sent. OMEN packets indicate their  character  set  in  the
       INFOxy.BBS file. MultiMail translates when displaying mes
       sages and creating replies.

       The Unix versions of MultiMail  assume  that  the  console
       uses  Latin-1,  while  the DOSish versions (DOS, OS/2, and
       Win32) assume the IBM PC set. You can  override  this  via
       the  .mmailrc option "Charset", or on a temporary basis by
       pressing 'c'.

       You can also use a different character  set  by  disabling
       the  conversion  in  MultiMail,  and letting your terminal



                        December  8, 2001                       5





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       handle it. For SOUP packets, and for  Internet  or  Usenet
       areas  in other packets, everything will be passed through
       unchanged if you set  MultiMail  to  "Latin-1".  For  most
       other packet types, setting MultiMail to "CP437" will have
       the same effect.

       Beginning with version 0.33, a new character set  variable
       is  available: "outCharset". This is a string which Multi
       Mail puts into the MIME identifier lines in  SOUP  replies
       if the text includes 8-bit characters.  It's also used for
       the pseudo-QP headers which are generated under  the  same
       conditions;  and  when  displaying such headers, MultiMail
       only converts text back to  8-bit  if  the  character  set
       matches. The default is "iso-8859-1".

       By  default,  if  a  header  line in a SOUP reply contains
       8-bit characters, MultiMail now writes  it  out  with  RFC
       2047  (pseudo-QP)  encoding. You can disable this for mail
       and/or news replies via the "UseQPMailHead" and "UseQPNew
       sHead"  options,  though  I don't recommend it. The bodies
       can also be encoded in quoted-printable; this is now on by
       default  for  mail,  and off for news. The options "UseQP
       Mail" and "UseQPNews" toggle QP encoding. (The headers and
       bodies  of  received  messages  will still be converted to
       8-bit.)

       QP decoding is temporarily disabled when  you  toggle  the
       display  of  hidden  lines  ('X') in the letter window, so
       that you can see the raw text of the message.

ADDRESSBOOK
       The addressbook in MultiMail is intended primarily for use
       with  Fido-style Netmail or Internet email areas, in those
       packet types which support these.  However, as of  version
       0.42,  it's  now  possible  to  use the name portion of an
       address  from  the  addressbook  even  when  Fido/Internet
       addressing isn't available, by starting a reply via CTRL-E
       instead of 'E'.

REPLY SPLITTING
       Replies may be split, either  automatically,  or  manually
       via CTRL-B in the reply area. For automatic splitting, the
       default maximum number of lines per part  is  set  in  the
       .mmailrc.  The  split  occurs whenever the reply packet is
       saved. This allows you to defer the split  and  still  re-
       edit  the  whole  reply as one. However, with autosave on,
       the split will occur immediately after  entering  a  reply
       (because  the  save  does,  too).  Setting MaxLines in the
       .mmailrc to 0 disables automatic splitting; manual  split
       ting  is  still allowed. Attempts to split at less than 20
       lines are assumed to be mistakes and are ignored.

ENVIRONMENT
       MultiMail uses the HOME or MMAIL environment  variable  to



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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       find  its configuration file, .mmailrc; and EDITOR for the
       default editor. MMAIL takes precedence over HOME  if  it's
       defined.  If  neither is defined, the startup directory is
       used.

       Depending on the implementation, TMP and/or TEMP may  also
       be  used to specify the directory for temporary files. The
       use of EDITOR can  be  overridden  in  .mmailrc;  however,
       environment variables can't be used within .mmailrc.

       You  should also make sure that your time zone is set cor
       rectly. On many systems, that means setting the  TZ  envi
       ronment  variable. A typical value for this variable is of
       the form "EST5EDT" (that one's for the east coast  of  the
       U.S.A.).

FILES
       The   only  hardwired  file  is  the  configuration  file:
       .mmailrc (mmail.rc in DOS, OS/2 or Win32).  It's  used  to
       specify  the pathnames to MultiMail's other files, and the
       command lines for external programs (the  editor  and  the
       archivers).

       By  default,  the  other permanent files are placed in the
       MultiMail home directory  ($HOME/mmail  or  $MMAIL/mmail).
       For  temporary  directories  and files, MultiMail uses the
       tmpnam()  function  (the  location  is  system-dependent).
       Directories specified in the .mmailrc are created automat
       ically; the default values are shown here:


       ~/mmail
              To store the  tagline  file,  netmail  addressbook,
              etc.

       taglines
              A plain text file, one tagline per line.

       addressbook (address.bk in DOS, OS/2 or Win32)
              A  list  of names and corresponding Fido netmail or
              Internet  email  addresses.  Note   that   Internet
              addresses are prefaced with an 'I'.

       colors Specifies the colors to use. (See README.col.)

       ~/mmail/down
              To store the packets as they came from the bbs.

       ~/mmail/up
              To  store  the  reply  packet(s)  which you have to
              upload to the bbs.

       ~/mmail/save
              The default directory for saving messages.



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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


CONFIG FILE
       The config file (see above) is a plain text  file  with  a
       series  of  values,  one  per  line, in the form "KeyWord:
       Value". The case of the keywords is not signifigant. Addi
       tional,  comment  lines  may  be  present,  starting  with
       replaced by the defaults when you upgrade to  a  new  ver
       sion.)  If any of the keywords are missing, default values
       will be used.

       As of version 0.41, any of these keywords except "Version"
       may  also  be  specified on the command line. Command-line
       options take precedence over those in the config file, but
       their  effect is not guaranteed -- some internal pathnames
       are initialized before the command line is read, for exam
       ple.

       Here are the keywords and their functions:


       Version
              Specifies  the  version  of  MultiMail  which  last
              updated the file. This is used to check whether the
              file should be updated and the "new version" prompt
              displayed. Note that old values are preserved  when
              the  file  is  updated;  the update merely adds any
              keywords that are new. This keyword is also used in
              the colors file.

       UserName
              Your  name  in plain text, e.g., "UserName: William
              McBrine". This is used together  with  InetAddr  to
              create a default "From:" line for SOUP replies; and
              by itself in OMEN for display purposes (the  actual
              From  name is set on upload), and for matching per
              sonal messages.

       InetAddr
              Your  Internet  email  address,  e.g.,   "InetAddr:
              wmcbrine@users.sourceforge.net".  This  is combined
              with the UserName in the form "UserName <InetAddr>"
              ("William      McBrine      <wmcbrine@users.source
              forge.net>") to create a default "From:"  line  for
              SOUP  replies. Note that if neither value is speci
              fied, and nothing is typed manually into the  From:
              field  when  creating a message, no From: line will
              be generated -- which is perfectly acceptable to at
              least some SOUP programs, like UQWK.

       QuoteHead, InetQuote
              These  strings  are  placed at the beginning of the
              quoted text  when  replying  in  normal  or  Inter
              net/Usenet areas, respectively. (The distinction is
              made because the quoting conventions for BBSes  and
              the    Internet    are   different.)    Replaceable



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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


              parameters are indicated with a '%'  character,  as
              follows:

              %f = "From" in original message
              %t = To
              %d = Date (of original message)
              %s = Subject
              %a = Area
              %n = newline (for multi-line headers)
              %% = insert an actual percent character

              Note that you can't put white space at the start of
              one of these strings (it will be eaten by the  con
              fig parser), but you can get around that by putting
              a newline first.

       homeDir
              User's home directory.

       mmHomeDir
              MultiMail's home directory.

       signature
              Path to optional signature file, which should be  a
              simple text file. If specified, it will be appended
              to every message you write.  You  should  give  the
              full path, not just the name.

       editor The  editor  MultiMail uses for replies, along with
              any command-line options. This may also be  a  good
              place to insert spell-checkers, etc., by specifying
              a batch file here. Note that the default  value  is
              just  the  editor  that's (almost) guaranteed to be
              available, for a given OS (although the Unix  "EDI
              TOR" environment variable is checked first), and is
              in no way a preferred editor; you  can  and  should
              change it.

       PacketDir
              Default packet directory.

       ReplyDir
              Default reply packet directory.

       SaveDir
              Default directory for saved messages.

       AddressBook
              Path  and  filename of the address book. (You might
              change this to share it with another  installation,
              but basically this keyword isn't too useful.)

       TaglineFile
              Path  and  filename of the tagline file. This could



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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


              be altered from a batch file to swap  between  dif
              ferent  sets of taglines. (But note that this value
              is only read at  startup.)  You  could  also  share
              taglines  with another program, but be careful with
              that; MultiMail truncates the lines at  76  charac
              ters.

       ColorFile
              Path   and   filename   of  the  colors  file.  See
              README.col.

       UseColors
              Yes/No. This governs whether color is actually ini
              tialized   with  the  start_color()  function.  The
              option is not available in PDCurses versions  (DOS,
              Win32,  OS/2,  XCurses). Note that, even when color
              is disabled here, the colors file  is  still  read;
              but  only  the  Reverse  and Bold options are used.
              When colors are disabled,  the  terminal's  default
              foreground  and  background  colors  are used. It's
              also a crude way  to  implement  transparency  (the
              only  way,  if  you're  not  using  ncurses) -- the
              entire background will be transparent when using an
              appropriate terminal.

       Transparency
              Yes/No. Only available in ncurses. (The option will
              appear, but not work, in non-ncurses,  non-PDCurses
              platforms.)  When  this  is  set  to Yes, all areas
              where the background color is the same as the back
              ground  color  set  in the "Main_Back" line, in the
              colors file, are instead set to the  default  back
              ground  color, and thus become transparent areas in
              those terminal programs, like Eterm and Gnome  Ter
              minal, that support this.

       BackFill
              Yes/No. Normally the background area is filled with
              a checkerboard pattern  (ACS_BOARD  characters,  in
              curses  terms).  You can disable that here, leaving
              those areas as flat background color.  This  option
              is intended mostly to make transparency more effec
              tive, but it might  help  with  any  color  scheme.
              (Unlike   the   previous  two,  it's  available  in
              PDCurses.)

       *UncompressCommand, *CompressCommand
              Command lines (program name, options,  and  option
              ally  the  path)  for the archivers to compress and
              uncompress packets and  reply  packets.  ZIP,  ARJ,
              RAR, LHA and tar/gzip are recognized. The "unknown"
              values are a catch-  all,  attempted  for  anything
              that's  not  recognized  as  one  of the other four
              types; if you have to deal with ARC or  ZOO  files,



                        December  8, 2001                      10





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


              you might define the archiver for them here.

       PacketSort
              The  packet  list  can  be sorted either in inverse
              order of packet date and time (the  newest  at  the
              top), or in alphabetical order by filename.  "Time"
              specifies the former, and "Name" the latter. (Actu
              ally  only the first letter is checked, and case is
              not signifigant. This applies to the other keywords
              of  this  type  (the  kind that have a fixed set of
              values to choose from)  as  well.)  The  sort  type
              specified here is only the default, and can be tog
              gled from the packet window by pressing '$'.

       AreaMode
              The default mode for the area  list:  "All",  "Sub
              scribed",  or  "Active". This is the mode that will
              be used on first opening a packet, but  it  can  be
              changed  by  pressing  L  while in the area list or
              little area list. For a description of  the  modes,
              see USAGE.

       LetterSort
              The sort used by default in the letter list. Can be
              "Subject" (subjects sorted alphabetically,  with  a
              case-insensitive compare), "Number" (sorted by mes
              sage number), "From" or "To". (This can be overrid
              den, as in the packet list.)

       LetterMode
              The  default  mode  for  the  letter list: "All" or
              "Unread". This is the mode used on first opening an
              area;  it can be toggled by pressing L. (The Marked
              view is also available in the letter list, but can
              not be set as the default here.)

       Charset
              The  character  set  that the console is assumed to
              use. Either "CP437" (code page 437, the U.S.  stan
              dard  for  the IBM PC and clones) or "Latin-1" (aka
              ISO-8859-1, the standard for most  other  systems).
              Note  that  the character set of messages is deter
              mined separately (q.v.).

       UseTaglines
              Yes/No. If no, the tagline window is not  displayed
              at all when composing a message.

       AutoSaveReplies
              Yes/No. If yes, the reply packet is saved automati
              cally -- the equivalent of pressing F2, but without
              a  confirmation  prompt  -- whenver the contents of
              the reply area are changed. This can be convenient,
              and  even  a safety feature if your power supply is



                        December  8, 2001                      11





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


              irregular, but it provides less opportunity to take
              back  a  change  (like  deleting a message). If no,
              you're prompted whether  to  save  the  changes  on
              exiting the packet. Note that if you say no to that
              prompt, nothing that you wrote during that  session
              will  be  saved  (unless you saved it manually with
              F2).

       StripSoftCR
              Yes/No. Some messages on Fido-type networks contain
              spurious  instances of character 141, which appears
              as an accented 'i' in  code  page  437.  These  are
              really  so-called "soft returns", where the message
              was wrapped when composing it, but not indicating a
              paragraph  break.  Unfortunately, the character can
              also appear legitimately as that accented  'i',  so
              this  option defaults to no. It can be toggled tem
              porarily via the 'I' key in the letter window,  and
              it doesn't apply to messages in the Latin-1 charac
              ter set. This is now  applied  only  in  Blue  Wave
              mode.

       BeepOnPers
              Yes/No.  If  yes,  MultiMail  beeps when you open a
              message addressed to or from yourself in the letter
              window.  (These  are  the  same  messages which are
              highlighted in the letter list.)

       UseLynxNav
              Yes/No. See the description under USAGE.

       ReOnReplies
              Yes/No. By popular demand. :-) Setting this to "No"
              will  disable  the automatic prefixing of "Re: " to
              the  Subject  when  replying  --  except  in  areas
              flagged  as Internet email or Usenet, where this is
              the standard, and is still upheld.

       QuoteWrapCols
              Numeric. The right margin for  quoted  material  in
              replies (including the quote indicator).

       MaxLines
              Numeric. See the description under REPLY SPLITTING.

       outCharset
              String. See the description under CHARACTER SETS.

       UseQPMailHead
              Yes/No. Controls the use of RFC  2047  encoding  in
              outgoing mail headers.

       UseQPNewsHead
              Yes/No.  Controls  the  use of RFC 2047 encoding in



                        December  8, 2001                      12





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


              outgoing news headers.

       UseQPMail
              Yes/No. Controls the use of quoted-printable encod
              ing in outgoing mail.

       UseQPNews
              Yes/No. Controls the use of quoted-printable encod
              ing in outgoing news.

       ExpertMode
              Yes/No. If set to No, the onscreen help  menus  are
              not shown; instead, the space is used to extend the
              size of info windows by a few lines.

       IgnoreNDX
              Yes/No. This option applies only to QWK packets. If
              set  to yes, the *.NDX files are always ignored, in
              favor of the "new"  indexing  method  that  depends
              only  on  MESSAGES.DAT.  This  method  is  slightly
              slower than the *.NDX-based indexing method (though
              the delay is dwarfed by packet decompression time),
              but the most common problem  with  QWK  packets  is
              corrupt  *.NDX files. MultiMail now recognizes some
              cases  where  the  *.NDX  files  are  corrupt   and
              switches  automatically,  but it doesn't catch them
              all.

UPGRADING
       When you run a new version of MultiMail  (0.19  or  later)
       for the first time, it automatically updates your .mmailrc
       and ColorFile with any new keywords.  (Old  keywords,  and
       the  values  you've  set for them, are preserved. However,
       comments are lost.) Some notes on specific upgrades:

       Version 0.41 adds the .mmailrc option "IgnoreNDX".

       Version 0.39 changes the function  of  the  "Transparency"
       option  slightly.   It  now  operates  on the color set in
       "Main_Back", rather than Black. Also, if you're accustomed
       to  using  the mouse to cut and paste under X or gpm, note
       that you now have to hold down the shift key  while  doing
       this.

       Version  0.38  adds  the  .mmailrc  options  "ExpertMode",
       "Transparency", "UseColors", and "BackFill", while  remov
       ing  the  options "BuildPersArea", "UseScrollBars", "Make
       OldFlags", and "AutoSaveRead".

       Version 0.37 adds the options  "tarUncompressCommand"  and
       "tarCompressCommand".

       Version 0.36 adds "LetterMode" and "AreaMode".




                        December  8, 2001                      13





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       Version 0.33 adds "ReOnReplies", "outCharset", "UseQPMail
       Head",  "UseQPNewsHead",  "UseQPMail"   and   "UseQPNews";
       changes some default values.

       Version 0.32 adds "BuildPersArea" and "MakeOldFlags".

       Version  0.30  adds  "UserName",  "InetAddr", "QuoteHead",
       "InetQuote", and "QuoteWrapCols".

       Version 0.29 adds "UseScrollBars" and "UseLynxNav".

       Version 0.28 adds "MaxLines", "StripSoftCR", and  "BeepOn
       Pers".

       Version  0.26  adds "AutoSaveReplies", "AutoSaveRead", and
       "UseTaglines".

       Version 0.25 adds "Charset",  "PacketSort",  and  "Letter
       Sort".  The  default packet sort is now by time instead of
       name.

       If you're upgrading from 0.19 to 0.20 or  later,  and  you
       have  a  customized  ColorFile,  be  sure  to note the new
       options.

       The ColorFile is new in 0.19. Check it  out  (~/mmail/col
       ors, by default).

       As  of 0.16, the HOME environment variable can be overrid
       den with MMAIL, or omitted altogether.

       If you're upgrading from a version  before  0.9,  and  you
       have existing reply packets (.rep or .new) whose names are
       partly or wholly in uppercase, you  must  rename  them  to
       lowercase  before  version  0.9  or  higher will recognize
       them. (Downloaded packets are not at issue.)

       If you're upgrading from a version below 0.8, you may want
       to  manually delete the /tmp/$LOGNAME directory created by
       previous versions. (0.8 and higher  clean  out  their  own
       temp  directories,  and  use different names for each ses
       sion.)

       If you're upgrading from a version prior  to  0.7,  please
       note  the  changes  in the default directories; previously
       they were "~/mmail/bwdown", etc.

NOTES
       Unlike the other archive types, tar/gzip recompresses  the
       entire packet when updating the .red flags, so it can be a
       bit slow. Also, the supplied command lines assume GNU tar,
       which has gzip built-in. Seperated gunzip/tar and tar/gzip
       command lines are possible, but would require  a  (simple)
       external  script.  MultiMail  only  checks  for  the  gzip



                        December  8, 2001                      14





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       signature, and does not actually verify that  the  gzipped
       file is a tar file.

       OPX  reply  packets  are always created with a .rep exten
       sion, which differs from the behavior of some other  read
       ers.  If you switch from QWK packets to OPX packets on the
       same board, MultiMail will _not_ open an old QWK  .rep  in
       OPX mode, nor vice versa. (It will try, and will terminate
       with "Error opening reply packet".)

       SOUP reply  packets  are  created  with  the  name  "base
       name.rep",  where  basename  is  the  part of the original
       packet name before the first period.  (Unlike  other  for
       mats,  there's  no  actual  standard for this in SOUP, but
       this seems to be the most common form among the SOUP read
       ers  I  surveyed.)   Also, not that I expect anyone to try
       this, but currently MultiMail is only able to  read  reply
       packets generated by other SOUP readers if the replies are
       in 'b' or 'B' mode, and are  one  to  a  file  within  the
       packet.   Most  readers meet the first criterion, but some
       of them batch all mail and news replies into a single file
       for  each type. A future version of MultiMail will be able
       to read these, too.

       When re-editing a reply, it gets pushed to end of the list
       of replies.

       The R)ename function in the packet window can also be used
       to move files between directories; however,  the  destina
       tion filename must still be specified along with the path.

       If you're using the XCurses (PDCurses) version,  and  your
       editor isn't an X app, it will work better if you set Mul
       tiMail's "editor" keyword to "xterm -e filename"  (instead
       of  just  "filename").  I decided not to do this automati
       cally because someone might actually use it with an X edi
       tor.

       Editing  and deletion of old replies are available through
       the REPLY area, which always appears at  the  top  of  the
       area  list.  This  differs  from  Blue Wave and some other
       readers.

       The Escape key works to back out from  most  screens,  but
       after you press it, you'll have to wait a bit for it to be
       sensed (with ncurses; not true with PDCurses).

       Only Blue Wave style taglines (beginning with  "...")  are
       recognized  by  the  tagline  stealer. The tagline must be
       visible on the screen to be taken.

       Netmail only works in Blue Wave, OMEN and OPX  modes,  and
       is  still  slightly  limited. Netmail from points includes
       the point address. Internet email  is  available  in  Blue



                        December  8, 2001                      15





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       Wave  and  OPX modes, for those doors that support it, and
       in SOUP mode, using the same interface as Fido netmail.

AUTHORS
       MultiMail was originally developed under Linux by  Koloss
       vary  Tamas  and Toth Istvan. John Zero was the maintainer
       for versions 0.2 through 0.6; since version 0.7, the main
       tainer    is   William   McBrine   <wmcbrine@users.source
       forge.net>.

       Additional code has been contributed  by  Peter  Karlsson,
       Mark D. Rejhon, Ingo Brueckl, and Robert Vukovic.

BUGS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS
       If your editor produces automatic backup files, you should
       disable this feature, if possible, or wrap it with a batch
       file  to  delete  them when done. MultiMail will erase the
       temporary files it creates itself, but it doesn't know  to
       erase the backup files from an editor.

       The  RSX/NT  version  is  reported to be incompatible with
       4DOS: shelling to external programs (archivers or editors)
       fails.  Thanks  to  Tony  Summerfelt for figuring this one
       out. You can set the MultiMail session to use  COMMAND.COM
       while retaining 4DOS elsewhere.

       Red  Hat  Linux 6.0 (and possibly 6.x) comes with a defec
       tive installation of ncurses. When linked to this,  Multi
       Mail  mostly works, but odd effects appear when scrolling.
       (Users describe it as double-spaced.) The problem  can  be
       fixed  by  reinstalling ncurses from the source -- not the
       source RPM that comes  with  Red  Hat,  but  the  original
       source from the ncurses site (see INSTALL).

       SOUP  area type 'M' is not recognized yet. First I have to
       find a program that can generate one. :-)

       The ANSI viewer eats a lot less memory than  it  used  to,
       though   it   can   still  be  a  problem.  (Each  charac
       ter/attribute pair takes up  four  bytes  in  memory.  But
       lines  which have the same attribute throughout are stored
       as plain text.)

       The new file list and bulletin viewer is, as yet, a  hack.
       A  better  means  of  selecting which ones to view will be
       forthcoming, if I can ever decide just how it should look.
       (Your opinion is welcome.)

       If  you  find  any  bugs,  or  have ideas for improvement,
       please write to me.







                        December  8, 2001                      16


