diplodocus.org Git - nmh/blob - docs/historical/mh-jun-1982/MHgenerate

   1                       HOW TO GENERATE AN MH
   2
   3 ASSUMPTIONS/RESTRICTIONS:
   4
   5         All of the code is written for Version  7  C,  and  assumes  the
   6 existence of appropriate Version 7 /usr/include files.  It also uses the
   7 Version  7  stdio  package,  which  is  somewhat  different   from   the
   8 Phototypesetter stdio!
   9
  10         There is moderate usage of Version 7 UNIX features, including:
  11
  12                 ftime() system call
  13                 execlp() & execvp() environment exec calls
  14                 getenv() environment access
  15
  16 also, login has to be changed to add the environment entry  "USER=name".
  17 This is used during scan listings to see if the message "From" should be
  18 replaced by "To:name".  This string is NOT used to determine the  "From:
  19 name" stamp on outgoing mail.
  20
  21         All of these usages ARE replaceable by subroutines which do  the
  22 same thing, only slower.  That is, a line of the form:
  23
  24                 homedir = getenv("HOME");
  25
  26 should be replaced by something like:
  27
  28                 homedir = gethome();
  29
  30 and the routine gethome()  written  to  return  the  home  directory  by
  31 looking through /etc/passwd for the line matching the process' getuid().
  32 This goes for the environment variable "USER" as well.
  33
  34 The routines execlp() & execvp() are simply fancy exec's, which use  the
  35 "PATH"  environment  variable  to  determine the search path by which to
  36 find the executable image.  They can be replaced by routines which use a
  37 default  search list.  They also call a shell to execute the file in the
  38 same way the shell handles shell scripts.
  39
  40
  41
  42 PROCEDURE:
  43
  44
  45 1) Read the MH directory tree onto a file system.
  46    On our system it lives in the directory "/usr/src/cmd/mh".
  47
  48 2) Edit mh.h, and define ARPANET if you are on the ARPANET.
  49    If not, don't define it.  If ARPANET is not defined and if you want to
  50    assign your host a name for address formatting, change HOSTNAME in
  51    adrparse.h.  If you are on VMUNIX, define that in mh.h and set up the
  52    JOBSLIB define in progs/Makefile.
  53
  54 3) Examine the C header files in the "Extras" directory.  Copy  them  to
  55    /usr/include or support/ and modify them for your installation.
  56    If you are going to use mh over uucp and/or ARPANET links, you must edit
  57    your /usr/include/whoami.h to be sure the defines for sysname (uucp) and
  58    HOSTNAME & HOSTNUM (ARPANET) are correct.  If you are not on the
  59    ARPANET, delete HOSTNAME and HOSTNUM from whoami.h.
  60
  61 4) Examine all of the files in the "strings" directory.  These contain
  62    site-dependent strings, such as pathnames for programs used by MH.  Most
  63    of the files contain short descriptions of what the strings are.
  64    'showproc.c' refers to a program which is found as support/l.c and which
  65    is installed as 'c' linked to 'l'.  You may want to use Berkeley's
  66    'more' or some other program here.  The BINDIR and MHDIR entries in
  67    Makefile and */Makefile must agree with the contents of strings/*.c.
  68    Also, the 'file' command in support/news/mh_receive should have the same
  69    path as is in strings/fileproc.c.  Make sure BINDIR (/usr/local as
  70    distributed) is put into everyone's PATH by login or by shell startup
  71    files.
  72    Note:  if you are installing mh `unofficially', and you don't have
  73    permissions to make directories in /usr/spool/ and /etc/, then make
  74    sure the paths in the strings/*.c files and in support/mailsys.h
  75    are directories you have permission to make if they don't exist already.
  76    In particular, /usr/spool/locks/ must be on the same file system as
  77    /usr/spool/mail so that links can be made.  Try /usr/tmp/locks if
  78    you can't mkdir /usr/spool/locks/.
  79
  80 5) Install support/putenv.c into your system libc.a,  or  if  you  don't
  81    want  it as part of your standard C library, move it into subs. (Both
  82    options work equally well for MH!)
  83
  84 6) Copy the file "support/MailAliases" to /etc.  Then you should look at
  85    it and see if you want to add any mail aliases.
  86
  87 7) In the top level directory, utter:
  88
  89         make all
  90
  91    This will make both of the libraries: strings.a and subs.a,  and  all
  92    of the executable modules.
  93    (Ignore the possible error message "nm: sysname.o--no name list")
  94
  95
  96 8) For the 'news' facility of mh to work, you must:
  97         Create a user called 'news' who belongs to the group 'mail',
  98           with password '--none--' in /etc/passwd and /etc/group.
  99         Creat a home directory for news: "/usr/news".
 100         cd /usr/news
 101         /etc/chown news * .??*
 102
 103 9)
 104         make onceonly           This renames conflicting bell
 105                                 programs, and makes requisite
 106                                 directories.
 107
 108         make install            This puts all of the programs,
 109                                 misc files, and man pages
 110                                 into appropriate directories.
 111
 112 10) As SU:
 113         cd progs; make installroot
 114
 115     - If /etc/chown isn't found, try linking /bin/chown to /etc/chown
 116
 117     - If [ isn't found, try linking /bin/test to /bin/[
 118
 119     - If "true" isn't found, create the executable NULL file /bin/true.
 120
 121 That's it.  Take a close look at the Makefile--it does LOTS of work.
 122 Especially note that it renames the V7 `file' program to `filetype'
 123 because for historical and other reasons, mh has its own `file' command.
 124 Also, MH has its own versions of `mail' and `rmail'.  If you don't want
 125 to install everything in standard places, run "make install" with the
 126 variables MHDIR=newdir and BINDIR=newdir pointing wherever you wish.  If
 127 you do this, you probably have to change some of the path names in the
 128 strings files.  For most of them, you can get away with adding profile
 129 entries to change where the default paths are sought.
 130
 131 If you don't have `make':
 132
 133      You'll have to use the make file as a template for commands to give
 134      by  hand.  Basically  each  section  of  the  make file defines the
 135      sequence of shell commands needed to create the object  before  the
 136      `:'.  The list immediately after the `:' specifies the dependencies
 137      for the object--that is, those objects which either  must  be  made
 138      first, or those modules that if they've changed, the object must be
 139      rebuilt.  The following lines (up to the next  object)  are  simply
 140      shell  commands to be executed.  Make knows how to create .o's from
 141      .c's, and the "CFLAGS= -O" at the beginning  tells  it  to  include
 142      optimization when it does a c compile.
 143
 144 If you don't have stdio (i.e. some version 7 C compiler):
 145
 146      Punt.   I  recently  converted  the  whole  package  from  the  old
 147      getc/putc/iobuf    subroutines--including    lots    of   upgrades/
 148      improvements, it took me about a week.  Expect it to take a  couple
 149      of  weeks for someone good to convert back.  Basically, convert the
 150      subroutines, then once you've converted one module (start with show
 151      or  comp),  you'll  find all the rest VERY similar.  Some day I may
 152      split out all of the  system  dependencies,  but  don't  hold  your
 153      breath.
 154
 155
 156
 157 As a last resort:
 158
 159      Feel free to send mail to me, but please don't expect me  to  spend
 160 hours  helping.  Collect  your  questions/problems, and get in touch and
 161 I'll see what I can do.  I can be reached:
 162
 163         via ARPANET:    Borden at Rand-UNIX
 164
 165         Mail:           The Rand Corporation
 166                         1700 Main Street
 167                         Santa Monica, CA 90406
 168
 169 Bruce Borden
 170 April, 1980
 171
 172
 173     If you are accessible via the  arpanet  or  via  uucp  mail,  please
 174 contact the secretary to the Director of the Information Systems Lab at
 175 Rand, and get on our mh-bugs electronic mailing list.  213/393-0411
 176
 177 Dave Yost
 178 Februar