Added several historical source archives from the early days of MH.

[nmh] / docs / historical / mh-jun-1982 / Wishlist

11/14/79
        Allow complex boolean expressions in "pick"

11/14/79
        Add profile switches that will "answer" prompts,
        sa "Draft exists, delete?"

11/14/79
        Have the stand-alone "anno" prompt for component and text.

3/19/80
        More elaborate "<command> -help".  (But see objections in
        /r/phyl/Mail/MH/2)

10/6/80
        MH should be able to pass the terminal type to the editor.

10/23/80
        Mail sent to mailing list aliases should also be sent to "news"
        (Complex problem--but see BSB's msg /r/phyl/Mail/MH/134)

11/21/80
        Allow a "delete-after: <date>" component to MH;  have a
        daemon go thru everyone's MH folders and delete stale
        messages.  (see /r/phyl/Mail/MH/45...)

11/21/81
        Add a -noformat option to mhl--to get rid of " at RAND-UNIX"
        when the message is listed.

1/13/81
        Have a file "/etc/Newsgroups" with lists of people
        who should see certain news, so that systems personnel
        can decide who should see certain topics and not have to
        alter .mh_profiles.

1/15/81
        "ali -user" to give the reverse info from "ali aliasname";
        viz, given a user, what aliases will send mail to him.

1/20/81
        "repl -form formfile"

             or

        There could .mh_profile entries that specify the
        defaults for the various components for messages,
        and all programs like comp & forw could look to
        those instead of looking to a 'compform' or the like.

        Examples:
        From-Component: dave-yost
        Fcc-Component: inbox

1/26/81
        Link messages instead of copying them

1/29/81
        Have "news -folder" change your current folder to the 1st unread
        news folder, thus allowing you to use all the usual MH commands on it.

2/3/81
        "news -inc"

2/9/81
        "All plain files that now reside in 'Mail' should live in a
        subdirectory like 'Mail/M'.  Now I can unprotect the 'Mail'
        directory, so that I can selectively grant snoop permission on any
        folder without fear of making my other miscellaneous files like
        'draft' vulnerable.  All I have to do is protect 'Mail/M'."  --Dave

2/16/81  FROM BERKELEY


    Date: 3 Feb 1981 15:57:05-PST
    From: CSVAX.kas at Berkeley
    Message-ID: <601.350091987@CSVAX.Berkeley>
    To: Day@Rand-Unix, Urban@Rand-Unix
    Subject: Re: Updated MH to run in 4bsd environment
    In-reply-to: Your message of 27 Jan 1981 2011-PST (Tuesday).
    Fcc: mh

    I have finished making the new version of MH run in our 4bsd
    environment.  That is, our version of MH runs compatibly with
    the standard v7 mail program, the Berkeley Mail, UNIX sndmsg, msg,
    and others.  Some of the things I encountered may be of use to
    you in making your distribution of MH easier to install in 4bsd systems.

    So here they are:

    ali.c           Changed to use a #define for the MailAlias file.
                    Should really have created a new strings file for it.

    annotate.c      Now uses the character defined by CBACKUP instead of ,
                    for the backup convention.  We have a line of the form:

                    40 4 * * * find / -name '#*' -atime +3 -exec rm -f {} \;

                    in /usr/lib/crontab and it seemed easier to make MH
                    obey that than to convince users to use ,

    conflict.c      Used to reference ``struct dir'' which in our system at
                    least is defined in /usr/include/sys/dir.h as
                    ``struct direct''

    dist.c          Changed to use CBACKUP, instead of comma

    folder.c        Removed fflush(stdout) after each line of output.  This makes
                    the program appear to run faster.

    forw.c          Changed to use CBACKUP, not comma

    inc.c           Changed to call a program unixtomh (described later) which
                    reads mail in standard unix format and converts it to MH
                    format.  Now has -file filename flag to read messages
                    from a file (many users already have mbox files full of
                    unix format mail. they can do inc -file mbox +mbox to
                    convert this to an MH folder).  Also has -keep to
                    prefer close(creat(mailboxname, 0600)) to unlink to
                    help users preserve a non-publically readable mode on
                    their mail drop.

    mail.c          Renamed mhmail.c to avoid confusion

    mhl.c           Changed to use termlib to clear terminal screen correctly.
                    Fixed its argument processing so it won't try to open flag
                    arguments as files.

    news.c          s/struct dir/struct direct/

    rmf.c           Uses CBACKUP instead of comma

    rmm.c           Uses CBACKUP instead of comma

    scan.c          Has -reverse flag to look at headers newest first.  A user
                    with a HUGE inbox demanded this.

    send.c          Uses CBACKUP instead of comma

    unixtomh.c      Created program to read unix format mail and put it in MH
                    format.  This is invoked by inc.

    mh.h            Although this is the wrong place to do it, added CBACKUP
                    #define to give backup character.  Should really be in
                    strings.

    mailsys.h       Changed path names to end with / to satisfy the assumption
                    in inc.c that they look that way.

    deliver.c       Now makes temporary file in /tmp, not /usr/tmp/mh,
                    doesn't check validity of network addressees,
                    Only outputs From: and Date: in fcc copy of message,
                    invokes /etc/delivermail on all recipients to actually
                    deliver the mail, removed putdate() routine in favor
                    of shared (with unixtomh) version in subs, and now
                    uses #define MAILALIASES.

    Also, a couple of minor notes:  we do not have a strings.h file in
    /usr/include, which I assume gave the return types of routines like
    rindex() and friends.  A number of files include system files as, eg:

    #include <types.h>
    #include <stat.h>

    this requires that you give the preprocessor flag -I/usr/include/sys
    for it to be found.  This creates problems for the make depend stuff
    since include files are not necessarily in /usr/include.  I got around
    this by simply editing out the header file dependencies from the
    Makefiles.

    Finally, to get around the conflict between /usr/bin/file and the MH file
    command, I made a program fakefile which examines its arguments.  If any
    begin with +, it invokes MH file, else /usr/bin/file.  This seems to
    work fine.

    I have everything sccs'd so I can send you sccs source, diffs, new source
    or whatever if you like.

            Kurt Shoens


2/17/81
        Sort folders by time-received.

2/17/81
        Whenever a news topic is created, a suitable message to news.everyone
        should announce that fact and try to sell users on the new topic.

2/18/81
        "... I've been hacking up an MH to
        put the attributes in the file names, format n-aaa, where n is
        the message number, and the a's are the attribute characters,
        initially, only 's' for 'seen' being implemented.  This is VERY
        efficient, and only runs into the original problems Norm pointed
        out...the name is difficult to guess from an environment which
        does not allow wild-cards, such as inside the editor.

        "Personally, I think the advantage gained is well worth the
        messiness.  I would like to be able to say "scan unseen",
        or "file seen +handled", etc.  This can't be done in ANY
        other fashion under UNIX without losing lots of other important
        features, such as preservation on copy."

        /Bruce

2/18/81
        Allow personal alias files.

        Except---
        "No personal aliases because there ain't no way to reply!
        The 733 syntax is totally botched on "file inclusion".
        There should be a meta-syntax for using a file as an
        address, which deliver programs ALL AROUND THE NET could
        use for replies."
        /B

        But---
        "You could have personal aliases if they were expanded into the
        message."
        --dave

2/19/81
        "Screw -time and -numdate.  How about a -display <string> option,
        where <string> is a printf-like format that dictates exactly the
        way you want the scan to look. Something like:

        scan -display '%3(num) %2(mo)/%2(day)/%2(yr) \
        %2(hour):%2(min)-(timezone) \
        %10(from) %40(subject)%(incl)(body)'

        "It has been suggested that the 'ls' command should have an option
        like this, too."

        --dave

2/19/81
        Scan and inc should display control characters in readable form.
        (Except, for example, ^G, ^I)

2/23/81
        encrypted mail

2/23/81
        Integrate MH file naming conventions with Unix naming conventions.
        So, for example, when in the editor, you could reference
        "last" or "+junk/14"

2/24/81
        "Replied-to" Subject fields should somehow keep track of
        the "generation" of the replied-to message.

2/26/81 Dave Clemans, SDC

        Because the ISC system is a UNIX V6 variant, and MH is set up for
        V7, there are a few differences:

        Because of name conflicts between MH programs and ISC programs,
                mail
                news
                file
        are in the directory /misc/bin.  The version of file in /misc/bin
        is a preprocessor; if its argument list has an argument with a '+'
        as its first character, it calls /usr/bin/file.msg, otherwise it
        calls /bin/file.

        MH wants to look at a few environment variables, which don't exist
        on UNIX V6.  They are simulated using the global shell variables of
        the SDC-extended "Harvard" shell.  For people who use the "Harvard"
        shell (hsh), this procedure is handled automatically.  For people
        who use the Berkeley C shell (csh) or people who use the ISC shell,
        a special command has to be run at least once, and possible every
        time that you log in, depending on how often you change things.
        What follows is a short description of that command:

             /misc/bin/mhsetup <login  name>  <home  directory>  <search path>

                                                          Environment Variable
                <login name> is your actual login name          USER
                <home directory> is your login directory        HOME
                <search path> is the PWB/UNIX style path        PATH

        There also has been a few extensions made to MH at SDC.  A short
        list of these are:

        a.  Registered mail: send has a -register and a -noregister switch.
           A receipt is sent back to the sending user when the receiving
           user types "inc" and a registered message is received. (Done by
           adding a "Registered" component to the message)

        b.  Fcc:  Multiple folder names are accepted in this component and
           handled correctly.

        c.  Personal mailing lists:  In addition to the mailing lists
           accepted by the /etc/MailAliases file, users can maintain
           private mailing lists.  These are referenced by addresses of the
           form "<path", where path is the name of the mailing list.  It is
           looked for first in the current directory, and then in the users
           Mail directory.  It should have the same format as a list of
           addresses typed in by hand.

        d.  Automatic forwarding:  If a user has accounts on multiple
           machines, but only uses one of them on a regular basis, it is
           possible to have all messages from those other machines
           automatically forwarded to the machine that is used regularly.
           The same database hook used by this is also used to provide full
           names in addresses:
                (i.e., Full Name <user at host>)
           (Done by having a file with one line for each user, of the format:
                <user>  <flag>  <address>       :<Full Name>
           <user> is the local user name
           <flag> says whether or not to forward
           <address> is the forwarding address
           <Full Name> is the users full name)

        e.  Msg/Sndmsg:  There are msg/sndmsg programs in /misc/bin that
           look very similar to normal ARPAnet msg/sndmsg programs, but
           which interface to MH.

        f.  Repl: repl has "-fccme" and "-nofccme" switches for making file
           copies of replies to messages.

        g.  Next/Prev: next and prev have "-pr" and "-nopr" switches.  They
           have the same effect as the "-pr" and "-nopr" switches in show.

        The "onstruct is recognized and handled correctly.  The only
        transport mechanism available currently is the Berkeley network (from
        2BSD).
        (Hooks do exist to add others, specifically UUCP).  Currently defined
        host names are:
                sdc-70          the R&D 11/70 system
                sdc-net         the 11/45 network support machine

        Two other host names exist for sending mail into the ISC mail system.
        These are "sdc-70x" and "local".

        For any problems, or for more information, send a message to dgc
        dgc

        Dave Clemans
        -----

3/2/81
        repl -use

3/17/81
        Delayed mail delivery:  add a "Deliver-date:" header containing
        the delivery date...

3/18/81
        "send" in the background

4/5/81
        Mail to terminals

        "... the sender would decide which of the four possible
        options to select:
        1. mail only
        2. send to terminal only
        3. send to terminal and also mail
        4. send to terminal if possible, otherwise mail

        "Furthermore, messages added to your mailbox would indicate whether
        they were sent as mail or tty messages, so you could discard
        messages which were intended to be displayed on the the terminal."

        --greep

4/17/81
        Automatic mail agents, per Dave Farber

4/23/81
        <command> -nochangedir

5/7/81
        bcc recipients should SEE the bcc header in their copy of
        the message


5/14/81
        Repl should have an option that includes
        the replied-to message in the body of the
        new message, indented one tabstop, so you
        can intersperse answers with original text.
        (But see objections in mail subsequent to the
        suggestion)

5/26/81
        scan -name;  folder -name
        to return full path names of message files

6/1/81
        You should be able to anti-alias a login id,
        making the user unknown for mail delivery purposes.
                username:<NUL>

7/30/81
        Scansub should insert ">>" if msg body all fits on the scan line.

7/30/81
        Speed MH up by having 2 interfaces: a monolithic environment
        for speed in commonly used commands, and the current MH
        environment for generality.

8/4/81
        Move all the scattered mail alias files to /usr/MailLists.
        Also move /etc/MailAliases and /etc/mh to /usr.

8/17/81
        add a -noreorder switch to request that MH process the msg
        list in the GIVEN order, not in sorted order.

8/20/81
        There should be a common LOGFILE to be written by srvrftp,
        rmail, and deliver.

8/20/81
        An environment variable should be set so that MH can choose
        an editor based on your terminal type.




MAIL ROUTING

        Modularize the delivery process so that new networks can
        be easily incorporated (e.g., SU-DSN is on the arpanet as well as
        the ethernet)

        Host table lookup:  "joe at destination"

        Etc...

9/12/81
        From: wales at UCLA-Security (Rich Wales)
        Subject: mail security and mailing to files/pipes

9/16/81
        From: greep at SU-DSN

        How about an option in comp (along with "list", "edit", "quit", and
        "send") to get a new shell? Sometimes I'm in the middle of composing
        a message and realize there's some program I want to run.

11/3/81
        From: Dave-Yost at RAND-UNIX
        Subject: 'message does not exist'

        If I do something with cur and the message pointed to doesn't
        exist, I think mh should automatically look for the next message.
        Or at least it should be something I can opt for with an entry in
        .mh_profile.

        This I don't need:
          % show      # look at the current message
          % rmm       # decide to junk it
          % ...       # do some other work
          % show      # show current message if not deleted, else next
          Message 18 doesn't exist.

        --dave

11/4/81
        From: Dave-Yost at RAND-UNIX
        Subject: mh vs mail or msg or ms or Berkmail or ...

        I'll tell ya, I'm a fan of mh and everything, but
        mh has GOT to be optionally available as a
        monolithic program within which you give mh
        commands.

        (See /r/phyl/Mail/MH for discussion)

11/24/81
        SUBJECT: An mh argument to specify the profile file
        From: norm at RAND-UNIX

        What the world needs is for every mh command to have an optional
        flag, say "-profile", which introduces an alternative file to be
        used, for all purposes, instead of .mh_profile.

        This capability has a number of obvious and less obvious
        consequences that would make mh a much more powerful system and
        seems to have little adverse impact when not used.


1/24/82
        Subject: mail aliases and automatic forwarding

        MH should provide facilities for a user to
        forward/unforward his mail somewhere easily.
        This does NOT mean telling him that all he has
        to do is write a shell procedure and install it
        in his .mh_receive file.  The MH command I am
        proposing would do that for you, and do the
        appropriate locking against race conditions.
        You need to be able to divert your incoming mail,
        and to set up other aliases to your login name--
        in this case, the command should send a message
        to a system administrator requresting the alias.

        Bell mail allows a user to write, for example,
                Forward to harpo!ber
        in the beginning of your mail spool file to
        forward mail.  (Brian also points out that that is
        also the ONLY aliasing that they provide.)
        I don't think this is such a good idea, since
        it requires knowledge of where the mail spool file is,
        and is susceptible to a race condition if incoming mail
        comes in while you are messing with the spool