


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 0.46.

USAGE
       On most screens, a summary of the available keystroke com
       mands is displayed in the lower part of the  screen.  (You
       can  disable this, and reclaim some screen real estate, by
       turning on "ExpertMode".) Note that for lack of space, not
       all  commands  are  listed  on  every screen where they're
       available. For example, the search  functions,  which  are
       available  everywhere,  are  summarized only in the packet
       list and address  book.  The  principle,  albeit  not  one
       that's  consistently implemented, is that the summary need
       appear only on the first screen  where  the  commands  are
       available. When in doubt, try one and see if it works. :-)

       In the letter window or ANSI viewer, pressing  F1  or  '?'
       will bring up a window listing the available commands.

       The  basic  navigation keys, available throughout the pro
       gram, 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



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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       "UseLynxNav" option, the Left arrow key backs out from any
       screen,  while  the  Right arrow key selects. The plus and
       minus keys are no longer aliases for Right and  Left,  but
       perform  the  same functions as in the traditional naviga
       tion system.

       Of special note is the space  bar.  In  most  screens,  it
       functions  as an alias for PgDn; but in the letter 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.

       Options can be specified on the command 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, how
       ever, 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



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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       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.

       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
       MultiMail is mousable on certain platforms: X,  the  Linux
       console  (with  gpm), and Win32. (You can still use selec
       tion 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



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       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;
       "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.

FILTERING
       A new twist on searching, as of version 0.43,  is  filter
       ing. This is available in all of the list windows, but not
       the letter or ANSI viewer.  Unlike  searching,  it  always
       applies only to the current list.

       Press  '|'  to bring up the filter prompt, and specify the
       text to filter on. To clear a filter, press '|', and  then
       press  return  at  a blank filter prompt. (A string that's
       not found in the list will have the same  effect.)   Press
       ESC to leave the filter as it was.

       The  list  will now be limited to those items that contain
       the text you entered, and that text will appear at the end
       of  the  window's  title as a reminder. The filter will be
       retained through lower levels,  but  will  be  cleared  by
       exiting  to  a  higher level. Note that a search in, e.g.,
       the letter list will search only the message headers  (and
       only  those  which  are  visible in the list), and not the
       bodies.

       When the filter is active in the letter  list,  the  "All"
       option  in  the  Save  menu  will save only the items that
       match the filter. This can be used as a quick  alternative
       to  marking and saving. You can also combine filtering and



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       marking.

       Changing modes and sort types will not clear the filter. A
       search  in a filtered list will search only the items that
       match the filter.

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:
       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).




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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       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.

       New  in  version  0.43  is support for the '@' color codes
       used by PCBoard and Wildcat. This is on by default in  the
       ANSI  viewer, but it can be toggled to strip the codes, or
       pass them through untranslated, by pressing '@'.

       As of version 0.46, the ANSI viewer also includes  limited
       support  for  AVATAR  (level  0)  and  BSAVE  (text  only)
       screens. These can be toggled via ^V and ^B, respectively.

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
       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



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       MultiMail  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 charac
       ter 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.

ADDRESS BOOK
       The  address  book  in MultiMail is intended primarily for
       use with Fido-style Netmail or Internet  email  areas,  in
       those  packet  types  which support these. When entering a
       message (other than  a  reply)  into  such  an  area,  the
       address book comes up automatically. It's also possible to
       use the name portion of an address from the  address  book
       even  when  Fido/Internet  addressing  isn't available, by
       starting a new message via CTRL-E instead of 'E'.

       You can pull up the address  book  from  most  screens  by
       pressing 'A', which allows you to browse or edit the list.
       While reading in the letter window, you can grab the  cur
       rent  "From:"  address  by  invoking  the address book and
       pressing 'L'.

TAGLINE WINDOW
       From most screens, you can pull up the tagline  window  to
       browse  or edit the list by pressing CTRL-T. As of version
       0.43, you can toggle sorting of the taglines  by  pressing
       '$' or 'S'.

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



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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       splitting 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
       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.

       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 files are placed  in  the  MultiMail
       home directory ($HOME/mmail or $MMAIL). Directories speci
       fied  in  the  .mmailrc  are  created  automatically;  the
       default Unix 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.





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MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


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

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.sf.net". This is combined  with  the
              UserName   in   the   form   "UserName  <InetAddr>"
              ("William McBrine <wmcbrine@users.sf.net>") to cre
              ate  a  default "From:" line for SOUP replies. Note
              that if neither value is specified, 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 pro
              grams, like UQWK.

       QuoteHead, InetQuote
              These strings are placed at the  beginning  of  the
              quoted    text   when   replying   in   normal   or



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              Internet/Usenet areas, respectively. (The  distinc
              tion  is  made  because the quoting conventions for
              BBSes and the Internet are different.)  Replaceable
              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.

       mmHomeDir
              MultiMail's home directory.

       TempDir
              This is the directory where MultiMail puts its tem
              porary files -- by default, as of 0.45, the same as
              mmHomeDir.  The files are actually created within a
              subdirectory of this directory; the subdirectory is
              named  "workNNNN",  where  NNNN  is a random number
              (checked against any existing files or  directories
              before being created).

       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.





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       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
              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 used, or
              monochrome. When colors are  disabled,  the  termi
              nal's  default foreground and background colors are
              used. It's also a crude  way  to  implement  trans
              parency (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



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              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,
              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.)

       ClockMode
              The  display  mode for the clock in the upper right
              corner of  the  letter  window:  "Time"  (of  day),
              "Elapsed"  (since  MultiMail  started  running), or
              "Off".

       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.).



                        December 31, 2003                      12





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       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 -- whenever the  contents  of
              the reply area are changed. This can be convenient,
              and even a safety feature if your power  supply  is
              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.



                        December 31, 2003                      13





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       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
              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
       The basic upgrade procedure is to simply copy the new exe
       cutable over the old one. No other files are needed.  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,  com
       ments are lost.)  Some notes on specific upgrades:

       Version 0.45 adds the .mmailrc option "TempDir". Note that
       temporary files are handled differently in  this  version,
       and  the  TEMP  and TMP environment variables are ignored.
       "homeDir" has been removed.

       Version  0.43  adds  "ClockMode",  and  makes  "UseColors"
       available  in  all  ports.  Also note that CPU usage while
       idle may be higher in some configurations.



                        December 31, 2003                      14





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       Version 0.41 adds the 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 "ExpertMode", "Transparency", "UseCol
       ors", and "BackFill", while removing the  options  "Build
       PersArea",     "UseScrollBars",     "MakeOldFlags",    and
       "AutoSaveRead".

       Version 0.37 adds "tarUncompressCommand" and "tarCompress
       Command".

       Version 0.36 adds "LetterMode" and "AreaMode".

       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



                        December 31, 2003                      15





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       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 signa
       ture, 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



                        December 31, 2003                      16





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       automatically because someone might actually use  it  with
       an X editor.

       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
       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.sf.net>.

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

BUGS AND KNOWN PROBLEMS
       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,
       but  it  can still be a problem. (Each character/attribute
       pair takes up four bytes in memory. But lines  which  have
       the same attribute throughout are stored as plain text.)



                        December 31, 2003                      17





MultiMail(1)                                         MultiMail(1)


       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 31, 2003                      18


