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   1 .TH MH-PROFILE %manext5% "December 21, 2014" "%nmhversion%"
   2 .\"
   3 .\" %nmhwarning%
   4 .\"
   5 .SH NAME
   6 mh-profile \- user profile customization for nmh message handler
   7 .SH DESCRIPTION
   8 Each user of
   9 .B nmh
  10 is expected to have a file named
  11 .I \&.mh\-profile
  12 in his or her home directory.  This file contains
  13 a set of user parameters used by some or all of the
  14 .B nmh
  15 family of programs.  Each entry in the file is of the format
  16 .PP
  17 .RS 5
  18 .IR profile\-component ": " value
  19 .RE
  20 .PP
  21 If the text of profile entry is long, you may extend it across several
  22 real lines by indenting the continuation lines with leading spaces or tabs.
  23 Comments may be introduced by a line starting with `#:':
  24 .PP
  25 .RS 5
  26 .IR # ": "
  27 This is a comment.
  28 .RE
  29 .PP
  30 Blank lines are not permitted in
  31 .IR \&.mh\-profile.
  32 The shell quoting conventions are not available in the
  33 .IR \&.mh\-profile ;
  34 each token is separated by whitespace.
  35 .SS "Standard Profile Entries"
  36 The possible profile components are exemplified below.  The only mandatory
  37 entry is `Path:'.  The others are optional; some have default values if
  38 they are not present.  In the notation used below, (profile, default)
  39 indicates whether the information is kept in the user's
  40 .B nmh
  41 profile or
  42 .B nmh
  43 context, and indicates what the default value is.  Note that a profile
  44 component can only appear once.  Multiple appearances with trigger a
  45 warning that all appearances after the first are ignored.
  46 .PP
  47 Some MH programs, including
  48 .BR mhbuild ,
  49 .BR mhshow ,
  50 and
  51 .BR mhstore ,
  52 have specific profile components that are described in their respective
  53 man pages.  Each component name begins with the name of the program and
  54 is followed by a dash.
  55 .PP
  56 .BR Path :
  57 Mail
  58 .RS 5
  59 Locates
  60 .B nmh
  61 transactions in directory \*(lqMail\*(rq.  This is the
  62 only mandatory profile entry.  (profile, no default)
  63 .RE
  64 .PP
  65 .BR context :
  66 context
  67 .RS 5
  68 Declares the location of the
  69 .B nmh
  70 context file.  This is overridden by the environment variable
  71 MHCONTEXT.
  72 See the
  73 .B HISTORY
  74 section below.
  75 (profile, default: <nmh\-dir>/context)
  76 .RE
  77 .PP
  78 .BR Current\-Folder :
  79 inbox
  80 .RS 5
  81 Keeps track of the current open folder.
  82 (context, default: folder specified by \*(lqInbox\*(rq)
  83 .RE
  84 .PP
  85 .BR Inbox :
  86 inbox
  87 .RS 5
  88 Defines the name of your default inbox.
  89 (profile, default: inbox)
  90 .RE
  91 .PP
  92 .BR Previous\-Sequence :
  93 .I pseq
  94 .RS 5
  95 Names the sequence or sequences which should be defined as the `msgs' or
  96 `msg' argument given to any
  97 .B nmh
  98 command.  If not present or empty,
  99 no such sequences are defined.  Otherwise, for each name given, the
 100 sequence is first zero'd and then each message is added to the sequence.
 101 Read the
 102 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 103 man page for the details about this sequence. (profile, no default)
 104 .RE
 105 .PP
 106 .BR Sequence\-Negation :
 107 not
 108 .RS 5
 109 Defines the string which, when prefixed to a sequence name, negates
 110 that sequence.  Hence, \*(lqnotseen\*(rq means all those messages that
 111 are not a member of the sequence \*(lqseen\*(rq.  Read the
 112 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 113 man page for the details.  (profile, no default)
 114 .RE
 115 .PP
 116 .BR Unseen\-Sequence :
 117 unseen
 118 .RS 5
 119 Names the sequence or sequences which should be defined as those
 120 messages which are unread.  The commands
 121 .BR inc ,
 122 .BR rcvstore ,
 123 .BR mhshow ,
 124 and
 125 .B show
 126 will add or remove messages from these
 127 sequences when they are incorporated or read.  If not present or
 128 empty, no such sequences are defined.  Otherwise, each message is
 129 added to, or removed from, each sequence name given.  Read the
 130 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 131 man page for the details about this sequence.
 132 (profile, no default)
 133 .RE
 134 .PP
 135 .BR mh\-sequences :
 136 \&.mh\-sequences
 137 .RS 5
 138 The name of the file in each folder which defines public sequences.
 139 To disable the use of public sequences, leave the value portion of this
 140 entry blank.  (profile, default: \&.mh\-sequences)
 141 .RE
 142 .PP
 143 .BI atr\- seq \- folder :
 144 172\0178\-181\0212
 145 .RS 5
 146 Keeps track of the private sequence called \*(lqseq\*(rq in the specified
 147 folder.  Private sequences are generally used for read\-only folders.
 148 See the
 149 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 150 man page for details about private sequences.
 151 (context, no default)
 152 .RE
 153 .PP
 154 .BR Editor :
 155 vi
 156 .RS 5
 157 Defines the editor to be used by the commands
 158 .BR comp ,
 159 .BR dist ,
 160 .BR forw ,
 161 and
 162 .BR repl .
 163 If not set in profile the value will be taken from the VISUAL and
 164 EDITOR environment variables.
 165 (profile, default: vi)
 166 .RE
 167 .PP
 168 .BR Msg\-Protect :
 169 600
 170 .RS 5
 171 An octal number which defines the permission bits for new message files.
 172 See
 173 .IR chmod (1)
 174 for an explanation of the octal number.  Note that some filesystems,
 175 such as FAT32, do not support removal of read file permissions.
 176 (profile, default: 0600)
 177 .RE
 178 .PP
 179 .BR Folder\-Protect :
 180 700
 181 .RS 5
 182 An octal number which defines the permission bits for new folder
 183 directories.  See
 184 .IR chmod (1)
 185 for an explanation of the octal number.
 186 (profile, default: 700)
 187 .RE
 188 .PP
 189 .BR datalocking :
 190 fcntl
 191 .RS 5
 192 The locking algorithm used to lock changes to any
 193 .B nmh
 194 data files, such as sequences or the context.  The locking algorithm is
 195 any one of the following entries:
 196 .PP
 197 .RS 5
 198 .nf
 199 %supported_locks%
 200 .fi
 201 .RE
 202 .PP
 203 Available locking algorithms can vary depending on what is supported by
 204 the operating system.  Note: currently transactional locking is only
 205 supported on public sequences; see
 206 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 207 for more information.
 208 (profile, default: fcntl)
 209 .RE
 210 .PP
 211 .IR program :
 212 .I default switches
 213 .RS 5
 214 Sets default switches to be used whenever the mh program
 215 .I program
 216 is invoked.  For example, one could override the \*(lqEditor:\*(rq profile
 217 component when replying to messages by adding a component such as:
 218 .PP
 219 .RS 5
 220 repl: \-editor /bin/ed
 221 .RE
 222 .PP
 223 (profile, no defaults)
 224 .RE
 225 .PP
 226 .IB lasteditor "-next:"
 227 .I nexteditor
 228 .RS 5
 229 Names \*(lqnexteditor\*(rq to be the default editor after using
 230 \*(lqlasteditor\*(rq.  This takes effect at \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt
 231 in
 232 .BR comp ,
 233 .BR dist ,
 234 .BR forw ,
 235 and
 236 .BR repl .
 237 After editing
 238 the draft with \*(lqlasteditor\*(rq, the default editor is set to be
 239 \*(lqnexteditor\*(rq.  If the user types \*(lqedit\*(rq without any
 240 arguments to \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq, then \*(lqnexteditor\*(rq is used.
 241 (profile, no default)
 242 .RE
 243 .PP
 244 .BR Folder\-Stack :
 245 .I folders
 246 .RS 5
 247 The contents of the folder-stack for the
 248 .B folder
 249 command.
 250 (context, no default)
 251 .RE
 252 .PP
 253 .BR Local\-Mailbox :
 254 Your Username <user@some.host>
 255 .RS 5
 256 Tells the various MH tools what your local mailbox is.  If set, will be used
 257 by the default component files by tools like
 258 .B comp
 259 and
 260 .B repl
 261 to construct your default \*(lqFrom\*(rq header.  The text used here will
 262 be copied exactly to your From: header, so it should already be RFC 822
 263 compliant.  If this is set, the
 264 .B Signature
 265 profile entry is NOT used, so it should include a signature as well.  (profile,
 266 default: userid@local.hostname)
 267 .RE
 268 .PP
 269 .BR Alternate\-Mailboxes :
 270 mh@uci\-750a, bug-mh*
 271 .RS 5
 272 Tells
 273 .B repl
 274 and
 275 .B scan
 276 which addresses are really yours.
 277 In this way,
 278 .B repl
 279 knows which addresses should be included in the
 280 reply, and
 281 scan
 282 knows if the message really originated from you.
 283 Addresses must be separated by a comma, and the hostnames listed should
 284 be the \*(lqofficial\*(rq hostnames for the mailboxes you indicate, as
 285 local nicknames for hosts are not replaced with their official site names.
 286 For each address, if a host is not given, then that address on any host is
 287 considered to be you.  In addition, an asterisk (`*') may appear at either
 288 or both ends of the mailbox and host to indicate wild-card matching.
 289 (profile, default: your user-id)
 290 .RE
 291 .PP
 292 .BR Aliasfile :
 293 aliases
 294 .I other-alias
 295 .RS 5
 296 Indicates aliases files for
 297 .BR ali ,
 298 .BR whom ,
 299 and
 300 .BR send .
 301 This may be used instead of the
 302 .B \-alias
 303 .I file
 304 switch.  (profile, no default)
 305 .RE
 306 .PP
 307 .BR Draft\-Folder :
 308 drafts
 309 .RS 5
 310 Indicates a default draft folder for
 311 .BR comp ,
 312 .BR dist ,
 313 .BR forw ,
 314 .BR refile ,
 315 and
 316 .BR repl .
 317 Read the
 318 .IR mh\-draft (5)
 319 man page for details. (profile, no default)
 320 .RE
 321 .PP
 322 .BI digest\-issue\- list :
 323 1
 324 .RS 5
 325 Tells
 326 .B forw
 327 the last issue of the last volume sent for the digest
 328 .IR list .
 329 (context, no default)
 330 .RE
 331 .PP
 332 .BI digest\-volume\- list :
 333 1
 334 .RS 5
 335 Tells
 336 .B forw
 337 the last volume sent for the digest
 338 .IR list .
 339 (context, no default)
 340 .RE
 341 .PP
 342 .BR MailDrop :
 343 \&.mail
 344 .RS 5
 345 Tells
 346 .B inc
 347 your maildrop, if different from the default.  This is
 348 superseded by the environment variable
 349 MAILDROP.
 350 (profile, default: %mailspool%/$USER)
 351 .RE
 352 .PP
 353 .BR Signature :
 354 RAND MH System (agent: Marshall Rose)
 355 .RS 5
 356 Tells front-end programs such as
 357 .BR comp,
 358 .BR forw,
 359 and
 360 .B repl
 361 your mail signature.  This is superseded by the
 362 environment variable
 363 SIGNATURE .
 364 If
 365 SIGNATURE
 366 is not set and this profile entry is not present, the \*(lqgcos\*(rq field of
 367 the \fI/etc/passwd\fP file will be used.
 368 Your signature will be added to the address
 369 .B send
 370 puts in the \*(lqFrom:\*(rq header; do not include an address in the
 371 signature text.  The \*(lqLocal\-Mailbox\*(rq profile component
 372 supersedes all of this.  (profile, no default)
 373 .RE
 374 .PP
 375 .BR credentials :
 376 \&legacy
 377 .RS 5
 378 Indicates how the username and password credentials will be retrieved
 379 for access to external servers, such as those that provide SMTP or POP
 380 service.  The supported entry values are \*(lqlegacy\*(rq,
 381 .RI \*(lqfile: netrc \*(rq,
 382 and
 383 .RI \*(lqfile\-nopermcheck: netrc \*(rq.
 384 With \*(lqlegacy\*(rq, or if there is no credentials entry, the
 385 username is the first of:
 386 .RS 5
 387 .TP 5
 388 .PD 0
 389 1)
 390 .B \-user
 391 switch to
 392 .BR send ,
 393 .BR post ,
 394 .BR whom ,
 395 .BR inc ,
 396 or
 397 .B msgchk
 398 program
 399 .TP
 400 2)
 401 the login name on the local machine
 402 .PD
 403 .RE
 404 .PP
 405 The password for SMTP services is the first of:
 406 .RS 5
 407 .TP 5
 408 .PD 0
 409 1)
 410 password value from matching entry in file named \*(lq.netrc\*(rq
 411 in the user's home directory
 412 .TP
 413 2)
 414 password obtained by interactively prompting the user
 415 .PD
 416 .RE
 417 .PP
 418 The password for POP service when the
 419 .B \-sasl
 420 switch is used with one of these programs is the login name on the
 421 local machine.
 422 .PP
 423 With a
 424 .RI \*(lqfile: netrc \*(rq
 425 .B credentials
 426 entry, the username is the first of:
 427 .RS 5
 428 .PD 0
 429 .TP 5
 430 1)
 431 .B \-user
 432 switch to program
 433 .TP 5
 434 2)
 435 login name from matching entry in
 436 .I netrc
 437 file
 438 .TP 5
 439 3)
 440 value provided by user in response to interactive query
 441 .PD
 442 .RE
 443 .PP
 444 Similarly, the password is provided either in the
 445 .I netrc
 446 file or interactively.
 447 .I netrc
 448 can be any valid filename, either absolute or relative to Path or
 449 $HOME.  The
 450 .I netrc
 451 file contains authentication information, for each server,
 452 using a line of the following form.  Replace the words
 453 .IR myserver ,
 454 .IR mylogin ,
 455 and
 456 .I mypassword
 457 with your own account information:
 458 .PP
 459 .RS 5
 460 .B machine
 461 .I myserver
 462 .B login
 463 .I mylogin
 464 .B password
 465 .I mypassword
 466 .RE
 467 .PP
 468 This
 469 .I netrc
 470 file must be owned and readable only by you.
 471 .PP
 472 The
 473 .RI \*(lqfile\-nopermcheck: netrc \*(rq
 474 .B credentials
 475 entry is identical in behavior to the \*(lqfile\*(rq entry, with the
 476 exception that the permission checks done by
 477 \*(lqfile\*(rq are not performed.  This entry should be used with
 478 caution and only when absolutely necessary.
 479 (profile, default: legacy)
 480 .RE
 481 .SS "Process Profile Entries"
 482 The following profile elements are used whenever an
 483 .B nmh
 484 program invokes some other program such as
 485 .BR more .
 486 The
 487 .I \&.mh\-profile
 488 can be used to select alternate programs if the
 489 user wishes.  The default values are given in the examples.
 490 .PP
 491 If the profile element contains spaces, the element is split at spaces
 492 into tokens and each token is given as a separate argument to the
 493 .IR execvp (2)
 494 system call.  If the element contains shell metacharacters then the entire
 495 element is executed using
 496 .BR /bin/sh .
 497 .RE
 498 .PP
 499 .BR buildmimeproc :
 500 %bindir%/mhbuild
 501 .RS 5
 502 This is the program used by
 503 .B whatnow
 504 to process drafts which are MIME composition files.
 505 .RE
 506 .PP
 507 .BR fileproc :
 508 %bindir%/refile
 509 .RS 5
 510 This program is used to refile or link a message to another folder.
 511 It is used by
 512 .B send
 513 to file a copy of a message into a folder given
 514 by a \*(lqFcc:\*(rq field.  It is used by the draft folder facility in
 515 .BR comp ,
 516 .BR dist ,
 517 .BR forw ,
 518 and
 519 .B repl
 520 to refile a draft
 521 message into another folder.  It is used to refile a draft message in
 522 response to the
 523 .B refile
 524 directive at the \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt.
 525 .RE
 526 .PP
 527 .BR formatproc :
 528 .RS 5
 529 Program called by
 530 .B mhl
 531 to filter a component when it is tagged with the \*(lqformat\*(rq variable
 532 in the mhl filter.  See
 533 .IR mhl (5)
 534 for more information.
 535 .RE
 536 .PP
 537 .BR incproc :
 538 %bindir%/inc
 539 .RS 5
 540 Program called by
 541 .B mhmail
 542 to incorporate new mail when it
 543 is invoked with no arguments.
 544 .RE
 545 .PP
 546 .BR lproc :
 547 more
 548 .RS 5
 549 This program is used to list the contents of a message in response
 550 to the
 551 .B list
 552 directive at the \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt.  It is
 553 also used by the draft folder facility in
 554 .BR comp ,
 555 .BR dist ,
 556 .BR forw ,
 557 and
 558 .B repl
 559 to display the draft message.
 560 (Note that
 561 the environment variable PAGER
 562 supersedes the default built-in pager command.)
 563 .RE
 564 .PP
 565 .BR mailproc :
 566 %bindir%/mhmail
 567 .RS 5
 568 This is the program used to automatically mail various messages
 569 and notifications.  It is used by
 570 .B send
 571 to post failure notices.
 572 It is used to retrieve an external-body with access-type `mail-server'
 573 (such as when storing the body with
 574 .BR mhstore ).
 575 .RE
 576 .PP
 577 .BR mhlproc :
 578 %nmhlibexecdir%/mhl
 579 .RS 5
 580 This is the program used to filter messages in various ways.  It
 581 is used by
 582 .B mhshow
 583 to filter and display the message headers
 584 of MIME messages.  When the
 585 .B \-format
 586 or
 587 .B \-filter
 588 option is used
 589 by
 590 .B forw
 591 or
 592 .BR repl ,
 593 the
 594 .I mhlproc
 595 is used to filter the
 596 message that you are forwarding, or to which you are replying.
 597 When the
 598 .B \-filter
 599 option is given to
 600 .BR send ,
 601 the
 602 .I mhlproc
 603 is used to filter the copy of the message
 604 that is sent to \*(lqBcc:\*(rq recipients.
 605 .RE
 606 .PP
 607 .BR moreproc :
 608 more
 609 .RS 5
 610 This is the program used by
 611 .B mhl
 612 to page the
 613 .B mhl
 614 formatted message when displaying to a terminal.  It is also the default
 615 program used by
 616 .B mhshow
 617 to display message bodies (or message parts) of type text/plain.
 618 (Note that
 619 the vivironment variable PAGER
 620 supersedes the default built-in pager command.)
 621 .RE
 622 .PP
 623 .BR packproc :
 624 %bindir%/packf
 625 .RS 5
 626 Currently not used.
 627 .RE
 628 .PP
 629 .BR postproc :
 630 %nmhlibexecdir%/post
 631 .RS 5
 632 This is the program used by
 633 .BR send ,
 634 .BR mhmail ,
 635 .BR rcvdist ,
 636 and
 637 .B viamail
 638 (used by the
 639 .B sendfiles
 640 shell script) to
 641 post a message to the mail transport system.  It is also called by
 642 .B whom
 643 (called with the switches
 644 .B \-whom
 645 and
 646 .BR \-library )
 647 to do address verification.
 648 .RE
 649 .PP
 650 .BR rmmproc :
 651 none
 652 .RS 5
 653 This is the program used by
 654 .BR rmm ,
 655 .BR refile ,
 656 and
 657 .B mhfixmsg
 658 to delete a message from a folder.
 659 .RE
 660 .PP
 661 .BR sendproc :
 662 %bindir%/send
 663 .RS 5
 664 This is the program to use by
 665 .B whatnow
 666 to actually send the message
 667 .RE
 668 .PP
 669 .BR showmimeproc :
 670 %bindir%/mhshow
 671 .RS 5
 672 This is the program used by
 673 .B show
 674 to process and display non-text (MIME) messages.
 675 .RE
 676 .PP
 677 .BR showproc :
 678 %nmhlibexecdir%/mhl
 679 .RS 5
 680 This is the program used by
 681 .B show
 682 to filter and display text (non-MIME) messages.
 683 .RE
 684 .PP
 685 .BR whatnowproc :
 686 %bindir%/whatnow
 687 .RS 5
 688 This is the program invoked by
 689 .BR comp ,
 690 .BR forw ,
 691 .BR dist ,
 692 and
 693 .B repl
 694 to query about the disposition of a composed draft message.
 695 .RE
 696 .PP
 697 .BR whomproc :
 698 %bindir%/whom
 699 .RS 5
 700 This is the program used by
 701 .B whatnow
 702 to determine to whom a message would be sent.
 703 .RE
 704 .SS "Profile Lookup"
 705 After consulting .mh_profile,
 706 some programs read an optional profile specified by a
 707 program-specific environment variable,
 708 and then the system-wide profile %nmhetcdir%/mhn.defaults.
 709 These programs are
 710 .BR mhbuild ,
 711 .BR mhshow ,
 712 .BR mhstore ,
 713 and
 714 .BR mhn .
 715 .B mhfixmsg
 716 is similar, but has no optional profile.
 717 .sp
 718 The first occurrence of a component is used,
 719 e.g.\& .mh_profile's trumps $MHSHOW's.
 720 A component with no value still stops further occurrences being used,
 721 but is considered absent.
 722 .PP
 723 The
 724 .I \&.mh\-profile
 725 contains only static information, which
 726 .B nmh
 727 programs will
 728 .B NOT
 729 update.  Changes in context are made to the
 730 .I context
 731 file kept in the users
 732 .B nmh
 733 directory.
 734 This includes, but is not limited to: the \*(lqCurrent\-Folder\*(rq entry
 735 and all private sequence information.  Public sequence information is
 736 kept in each folder in the file determined by the \*(lqmh\-sequences\*(rq
 737 profile entry (default is
 738 .IR \&.mh\-sequences ).
 739 .PP
 740 The
 741 .I \&.mh\-profile
 742 may override the path of the
 743 .I context
 744 file, by specifying a \*(lqcontext\*(rq entry (this must be in
 745 lower-case).  If the entry is not absolute (does not start with a
 746 \*(lq/\*(rq), then it is interpreted relative to the user's
 747 .B nmh
 748 directory.  As a result, you can actually have more than one set of
 749 private sequences by using different context files.
 750 .SH ENVIRONMENT
 751 The operation of
 752 .B nmh
 753 and its commands it also controlled by the
 754 presence of certain environment variables.
 755 .PP
 756 Many of these environment variables are used internally by the
 757 \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq interface.  It's amazing all the information
 758 that has to get passed via environment variables to make the
 759 \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq interface look squeaky clean to the
 760 .B nmh
 761 user, isn't it?  The reason for all this is that the
 762 .B nmh
 763 user
 764 can select
 765 any
 766 program as the
 767 .IR whatnowproc ,
 768 including
 769 one of the standard shells.  As a result, it's not possible to pass
 770 information via an argument list. The convention is that environment
 771 variables whose names are all upper-case are user-settable; those
 772 whose names are lower-case only are used internally by nmh and should
 773 not generally be set by the user.
 774 .TP
 775 MAILDROP
 776 This variable tells
 777 .B inc
 778 the default maildrop. This supersedes the \*(lqMailDrop\*(rq profile entry.
 779 .TP
 780 MAILHOST
 781 This variable tells
 782 .B inc
 783 the POP host to query for mail to incorporate.  See the
 784 .IR inc (1)
 785 man page for more information.
 786 .TP
 787 MH
 788 With this environment variable, you can specify a profile
 789 other than
 790 .I \&.mh\-profile
 791 to be read by the
 792 .B nmh
 793 programs
 794 that you invoke.  If the value of
 795 MH
 796 is not absolute, (i.e., does
 797 not begin with a \*(lq/\*(rq), it will be presumed to start from the current
 798 working directory.  This is one of the very few exceptions in
 799 .B nmh
 800 where non-absolute pathnames are not considered relative to the user's
 801 .B nmh
 802 directory.
 803 .TP
 804 MHBUILD
 805 With this environment variable, you can specify an
 806 additional user profile (file) to be read by
 807 .BR mhbuild ,
 808 in addition to the mhn.defaults profile.
 809 .TP
 810 MHCONTEXT
 811 With this environment variable, you can specify a
 812 context other than the normal context file (as specified in
 813 the
 814 .B nmh
 815 profile).  As always, unless the value of
 816 MHCONTEXT
 817 is absolute, it will be presumed to start from your
 818 .B nmh
 819 directory.
 820 .TP
 821 MHLDEBUG
 822 If this variable is set to a non-null value,
 823 .B mhl
 824 will emit debugging information.
 825 .TP
 826 MHMTSCONF
 827 If this variable is set to a non-null value, it specifies the
 828 name of the mail transport configuration file to use by
 829 .BR post ,
 830 .BR inc ,
 831 and other programs that interact with the mail transport system,
 832 instead of the default.  See
 833 .IR mh-tailor (5).
 834 .TP
 835 MHMTSUSERCONF
 836 If this variable is set to a non-null value, it specifies the name of
 837 a mail transport configuration file to be read in addition to the
 838 default.  See
 839 .IR mh-tailor (5).
 840 .TP
 841 MHN
 842 With this environment variable, you can specify an
 843 additional user profile (file) to be read by
 844 .BR mhn ,
 845 in addition to the mhn.defaults profile.
 846 .B mhn
 847 is deprecated, so support for this variable will
 848 be removed from a future nmh release.
 849 .TP
 850 MHSHOW
 851 With this environment variable, you can specify an
 852 additional user profile (file) to be read by
 853 .BR mhshow ,
 854 in addition to the mhn.defaults profile.
 855 .TP
 856 MHSTORE
 857 With this environment variable, you can specify an
 858 additional user profile (file) to be read by
 859 .BR mhstore ,
 860 in addition to the mhn.defaults profile.
 861 .TP
 862 MHPDEBUG
 863 If this variable is set to a non-null value,
 864 .B pick
 865 will emit a representation of the search pattern.
 866 MHPDEBUG
 867 is deprecated, so support for this variable will
 868 be removed from a future nmh release.  Instead,
 869 .B pick
 870 now supports a
 871 .B \-debug
 872 switch.
 873 .TP
 874 MHTMPDIR, TMPDIR
 875 These variables are searched, in order, for the directory in which to
 876 create some temporary files.
 877 .TP
 878 MHWDEBUG
 879 If this variable is set to a non-null value,
 880 .B nmh
 881 commands that use the
 882 .B Alternate\-Mailboxes
 883 profile entry will display debugging information
 884 about the values in that entry.
 885 .TP
 886 PAGER
 887 If set to a non-null value, this supersedes the value of
 888 the default built-in pager command.
 889 .TP
 890 SIGNATURE
 891 This variable tells
 892 .B send
 893 and
 894 .B post
 895 your mail signature. This supersedes the \*(lqSignature\*(rq profile entry,
 896 and is not used when the \*(lqLocal\-Mailbox\*(rq profile component is set.
 897 .TP
 898 USER
 899 This variable tells
 900 .B repl
 901 your user name and
 902 .B inc
 903 your default maildrop:  see the \*(lqMailDrop\*(rq profile entry.
 904 .TP
 905 USERNAME_EXTENSION
 906 This variable is for use with username_extension masquerading.  See the
 907 .IR mh-tailor (5)
 908 man page.
 909 .TP
 910 editalt
 911 This is the alternate message.
 912 This is set by
 913 .B dist
 914 and
 915 .B repl
 916 during edit sessions so you can
 917 peruse the message being distributed or replied to.  The message is also
 918 available, when the
 919 .B \-atfile
 920 switch is used,
 921 through a link called \*(lq@\*(rq in the current directory if
 922 your current working directory and the folder the message lives in are
 923 on the same UNIX filesystem, and if your current working directory is
 924 writable.
 925 .TP
 926 mhaltmsg
 927 .B dist
 928 and
 929 .B repl
 930 set
 931 mhaltmsg
 932 to tell the
 933 .I whatnowproc
 934 about an alternate message associated with the
 935 draft (the message being distributed or replied to).
 936 .TP
 937 mhannotate
 938 This is set by
 939 .BR dist ,
 940 .BR forw ,
 941 and
 942 .B repl
 943 if annotations are to occur.
 944 .TP
 945 mhdist
 946 .B dist
 947 sets
 948 mhdist
 949 to tell the
 950 .I whatnowproc
 951 that message re-distribution is occurring.
 952 .TP
 953 mhdraft
 954 This is the path to the working draft.
 955 It is set by
 956 .BR comp ,
 957 .BR dist ,
 958 .BR forw ,
 959 and
 960 .B repl
 961 to tell the
 962 .I whatnowproc
 963 which file to ask \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq
 964 questions about.
 965 .TP
 966 mheditor
 967 This is set by
 968 .BR comp ,
 969 .BR repl ,
 970 .BR forw ,
 971 and
 972 .B dist
 973 to tell the
 974 .I whatnowproc
 975 the user's choice of
 976 editor (unless overridden by
 977 .BR \-noedit ).
 978 .TP
 979 mhfolder
 980 This is the folder containing the alternate message.
 981 It is set by
 982 .B dist
 983 and
 984 .B repl
 985 during edit sessions so you
 986 can peruse other messages in the current folder besides the one being
 987 distributed or replied to.  The environment variable
 988 mhfolder
 989 is also set by
 990 .BR show ,
 991 .BR prev ,
 992 and
 993 .B next
 994 for use by
 995 .BR mhl .
 996 .TP
 997 mhinplace
 998 This is set by
 999 .BR dist ,
1000 .BR forw ,
1001 and
1002 .B repl
1003 if annotations are to occur.
1004 .TP
1005 mhmessages
1006 This is set by
1007 .BR dist ,
1008 .BR forw ,
1009 and
1010 .B repl
1011 if annotations are to occur.
1012 .TP
1013 mhuse
1014 This may be set by
1015 .BR comp .
1016 .SH FILES
1017 .PD 0
1018 .TP 20
1019 $HOME/\&.mh\-profile
1020 The user's profile.
1021 .TP
1022 <mh\-dir>/context
1023 The user's context
1024 .TP
1025 <folder>/\&.mh\-sequences
1026 Public sequences for <folder>.
1027 .PD
1028 .SH "SEE ALSO"
1029 .IR mhbuild (1),
1030 .IR mhshow (1),
1031 .IR mhstore (1),
1032 .IR mh-sequence (5),
1033 .IR nmh (7)
1034 .SH BUGS
1035 There is some question as to what kind of arguments should be placed
1036 in the profile as options.  In order to provide a clear answer, recall
1037 command line semantics of all
1038 .B nmh
1039 programs: conflicting switches
1040 (e.g.
1041 .B \-header
1042 and
1043 .BR \-noheader )
1044 may occur more than one time on the
1045 command line, with the last switch taking effect.  Other arguments, such
1046 as message sequences, filenames and folders, are always remembered on
1047 the invocation line and are not superseded by following arguments of
1048 the same type.  Hence, it is safe to place only switches (and their
1049 arguments) in the profile.
1050 .PP
1051 If one finds that an
1052 .B nmh
1053 program is being invoked again and again
1054 with the same arguments, and those arguments aren't switches, then there
1055 are a few possible solutions to this problem.  The first is to create a
1056 (soft) link in your
1057 .I $HOME/bin
1058 directory to the
1059 .B nmh
1060 program
1061 of your choice.  By giving this link a different name, you can create
1062 a new entry in your profile and use an alternate set of defaults for
1063 the
1064 .B nmh
1065 command.  Similarly, you could create a small shell script
1066 which called the
1067 .B nmh
1068 program of your choice with an alternate set
1069 of invocation line switches (using links and an alternate profile entry
1070 is preferable to this solution).
1071 .PP
1072 Finally, the
1073 .B csh
1074 user could create an alias for the command of the form:
1075 .PP
1076 .RS 5
1077 alias cmd 'cmd arg1 arg2 ...'
1078 .RE
1079 .PP
1080 In this way, the user can avoid lengthy type-in to the shell, and still
1081 give
1082 .B nmh
1083 commands safely.  (Recall that some
1084 .B nmh
1085 commands
1086 invoke others, and that in all cases, the profile is read, meaning that
1087 aliases are disregarded beyond an initial command invocation)