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   1 .TH MH-PROFILE %manext5% "October 19, 2016" "%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 locale :
  66 locale
  67 .RS 5
  68 Set the locale for all
  69 .B nmh
  70 programs except
  71 .BR post ,
  72 .BR install-mh ,
  73 and
  74 .BR slocal .
  75 See the LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG variables in the "ENVIRONMENT"
  76 section below for a reference on how the locale is set if this profile
  77 component is not used.
  78 .RE
  79 .PP
  80 .BR context :
  81 context
  82 .RS 5
  83 Declares the location of the
  84 .B nmh
  85 context file.  This is overridden by the environment variable
  86 MHCONTEXT.
  87 See the
  88 .B HISTORY
  89 section below.
  90 (profile, default: <nmh\-dir>/context)
  91 .RE
  92 .PP
  93 .BR Current\-Folder :
  94 inbox
  95 .RS 5
  96 Keeps track of the current open folder.
  97 (context, default: folder specified by \*(lqInbox\*(rq)
  98 .RE
  99 .PP
 100 .BR Inbox :
 101 inbox
 102 .RS 5
 103 Defines the name of your default inbox.
 104 (profile, default: inbox)
 105 .RE
 106 .PP
 107 .BR Previous\-Sequence :
 108 .I pseq
 109 .RS 5
 110 Names the sequence or sequences which should be defined as the `msgs' or
 111 `msg' argument given to any
 112 .B nmh
 113 command.  If not present or empty,
 114 no such sequences are defined.  Otherwise, for each name given, the
 115 sequence is first zero'd and then each message is added to the sequence.
 116 Read the
 117 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 118 man page for the details about this sequence.  (profile, no default)
 119 .RE
 120 .PP
 121 .BR Sequence\-Negation :
 122 not
 123 .RS 5
 124 Defines the string which, when prefixed to a sequence name, negates
 125 that sequence.  Hence, \*(lqnotseen\*(rq means all those messages that
 126 are not a member of the sequence \*(lqseen\*(rq.  Read the
 127 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 128 man page for the details.  (profile, no default)
 129 .RE
 130 .PP
 131 .BR Unseen\-Sequence :
 132 unseen
 133 .RS 5
 134 Names the sequence or sequences which should be defined as those
 135 messages which are unread.  The commands
 136 .BR inc ,
 137 .BR rcvstore ,
 138 .BR mhshow ,
 139 and
 140 .B show
 141 will add or remove messages from these
 142 sequences when they are incorporated or read.  If not present or
 143 empty, no such sequences are defined.  Otherwise, each message is
 144 added to, or removed from, each sequence name given.  Read the
 145 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 146 man page for the details about this sequence.
 147 (profile, no default)
 148 .RE
 149 .PP
 150 .BR mh\-sequences :
 151 \&.mh\-sequences
 152 .RS 5
 153 The name of the file in each folder which defines public sequences.
 154 To disable the use of public sequences, leave the value portion of this
 155 entry blank.  (profile, default: \&.mh\-sequences)
 156 .RE
 157 .PP
 158 .BI atr\- seq \- folder :
 159 172\0178\-181\0212
 160 .RS 5
 161 Keeps track of the private sequence called \*(lqseq\*(rq in the specified
 162 folder.  Private sequences are generally used for read\-only folders.
 163 See the
 164 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 165 man page for details about private sequences.
 166 (context, no default)
 167 .RE
 168 .PP
 169 .BR Editor :
 170 vi
 171 .RS 5
 172 Defines the editor to be used by the commands
 173 .BR comp ,
 174 .BR dist ,
 175 .BR forw ,
 176 and
 177 .BR repl .
 178 If not set in profile the value will be taken from the VISUAL and
 179 EDITOR environment variables.
 180 (profile, default: vi)
 181 .RE
 182 .PP
 183 .BR Msg\-Protect :
 184 600
 185 .RS 5
 186 An octal number which defines the permission bits for new message files.
 187 See
 188 .IR chmod (1)
 189 for an explanation of the octal number.  Note that some filesystems,
 190 such as FAT32, do not support removal of read file permissions.
 191 (profile, default: 0600)
 192 .RE
 193 .PP
 194 .BR Folder\-Protect :
 195 700
 196 .RS 5
 197 An octal number which defines the permission bits for new folder
 198 directories.  See
 199 .IR chmod (1)
 200 for an explanation of the octal number.
 201 (profile, default: 700)
 202 .RE
 203 .PP
 204 .BR datalocking :
 205 fcntl
 206 .RS 5
 207 The locking algorithm used to lock changes to any
 208 .B nmh
 209 data files, such as sequences or the context.  The locking algorithm is
 210 any one of the following entries:
 211 .PP
 212 .RS 5
 213 .nf
 214 %supported_locks%
 215 .fi
 216 .RE
 217 .PP
 218 Available locking algorithms can vary depending on what is supported by
 219 the operating system.  Note: currently transactional locking is only
 220 supported on public sequences; see
 221 .IR mh\-sequence (5)
 222 for more information.
 223 (profile, default: fcntl)
 224 .RE
 225 .PP
 226 .IR program :
 227 .I default switches
 228 .RS 5
 229 Sets default switches to be used whenever the mh program
 230 .I program
 231 is invoked.  For example, one could override the \*(lqEditor:\*(rq profile
 232 component when replying to messages by adding a component such as:
 233 .PP
 234 .RS 5
 235 repl: \-editor /bin/ed
 236 .RE
 237 .PP
 238 (profile, no defaults)
 239 .RE
 240 .PP
 241 .IB lasteditor "-next:"
 242 .I nexteditor
 243 .RS 5
 244 Names \*(lqnexteditor\*(rq to be the default editor after using
 245 \*(lqlasteditor\*(rq.  This takes effect at \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt
 246 in
 247 .BR comp ,
 248 .BR dist ,
 249 .BR forw ,
 250 and
 251 .BR repl .
 252 After editing
 253 the draft with \*(lqlasteditor\*(rq, the default editor is set to be
 254 \*(lqnexteditor\*(rq.  If the user types \*(lqedit\*(rq without any
 255 arguments to \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq, then \*(lqnexteditor\*(rq is used.
 256 (profile, no default)
 257 .RE
 258 .PP
 259 .BR Folder\-Stack :
 260 .I folders
 261 .RS 5
 262 The contents of the folder-stack for the
 263 .B folder
 264 command.
 265 (context, no default)
 266 .RE
 267 .PP
 268 .BR Local\-Mailbox :
 269 Your Username <user@some.host>
 270 .RS 5
 271 Tells the various MH tools what your local mailbox is.  If set, will be used
 272 by the default component files by tools like
 273 .B comp
 274 and
 275 .B repl
 276 to construct your default \*(lqFrom\*(rq header.  The text used here will
 277 be copied exactly to your From: header, so it should already be RFC 822
 278 compliant.  If this is set, the
 279 .B Signature
 280 profile entry is NOT used, so it should include a signature as well.  (profile,
 281 default: userid@local.hostname)
 282 .RE
 283 .PP
 284 .BR Alternate\-Mailboxes :
 285 mh@uci\-750a, bug-mh*
 286 .RS 5
 287 Tells
 288 .B repl
 289 and
 290 .B scan
 291 which addresses are really yours.
 292 In this way,
 293 .B repl
 294 knows which addresses should be included in the
 295 reply, and
 296 scan
 297 knows if the message really originated from you.
 298 Addresses must be separated by a comma, and the hostnames listed should
 299 be the \*(lqofficial\*(rq hostnames for the mailboxes you indicate, as
 300 local nicknames for hosts are not replaced with their official site names.
 301 For each address, if a host is not given, then that address on any host is
 302 considered to be you.  In addition, an asterisk (`*') may appear at either
 303 or both ends of the mailbox and host to indicate wild-card matching.
 304 (profile, default: your user-id)
 305 .RE
 306 .PP
 307 .BR Aliasfile :
 308 aliases
 309 .I other-alias
 310 .RS 5
 311 Indicates aliases files for
 312 .BR ali ,
 313 .BR whom ,
 314 and
 315 .BR send .
 316 This may be used instead of the
 317 .B \-alias
 318 .I file
 319 switch.  (profile, no default)
 320 .RE
 321 .PP
 322 .BR Draft\-Folder :
 323 drafts
 324 .RS 5
 325 Indicates a default draft folder for
 326 .BR comp ,
 327 .BR dist ,
 328 .BR forw ,
 329 .BR refile ,
 330 and
 331 .BR repl .
 332 Read the
 333 .IR mh\-draft (5)
 334 man page for details.  (profile, no default)
 335 .RE
 336 .PP
 337 .BI digest\-issue\- list :
 338 1
 339 .RS 5
 340 Tells
 341 .B forw
 342 the last issue of the last volume sent for the digest
 343 .IR list .
 344 (context, no default)
 345 .RE
 346 .PP
 347 .BI digest\-volume\- list :
 348 1
 349 .RS 5
 350 Tells
 351 .B forw
 352 the last volume sent for the digest
 353 .IR list .
 354 (context, no default)
 355 .RE
 356 .PP
 357 .BR MailDrop :
 358 \&.mail
 359 .RS 5
 360 Tells
 361 .B inc
 362 your maildrop, if different from the default.  This is
 363 superseded by the environment variable
 364 MAILDROP.
 365 (profile, default: %mailspool%/$USER)
 366 .RE
 367 .PP
 368 .BR Signature :
 369 RAND MH System (agent: Marshall Rose)
 370 .RS 5
 371 Tells front-end programs such as
 372 .BR comp,
 373 .BR forw,
 374 and
 375 .B repl
 376 your mail signature.  This is superseded by the
 377 environment variable
 378 SIGNATURE .
 379 If
 380 SIGNATURE
 381 is not set and this profile entry is not present, the \*(lqgcos\*(rq field of
 382 the \fI/etc/passwd\fP file will be used.
 383 Your signature will be added to the address
 384 .B send
 385 puts in the \*(lqFrom:\*(rq header; do not include an address in the
 386 signature text.  The \*(lqLocal\-Mailbox\*(rq profile component
 387 supersedes all of this.  (profile, no default)
 388 .RE
 389 .PP
 390 .BR credentials :
 391 \&legacy
 392 .RS 5
 393 Indicates how the username and password credentials will be retrieved
 394 for access to external servers, such as those that provide SMTP or POP
 395 service.  The supported entry values are \*(lqlegacy\*(rq,
 396 .RI \*(lqfile: netrc \*(rq,
 397 and
 398 .RI \*(lqfile\-nopermcheck: netrc \*(rq.
 399 With \*(lqlegacy\*(rq, or if there is no credentials entry, the
 400 username is the first of:
 401 .RS 5
 402 .TP 5
 403 .PD 0
 404 1)
 405 .B \-user
 406 switch to
 407 .BR send ,
 408 .BR post ,
 409 .BR whom ,
 410 .BR inc ,
 411 or
 412 .B msgchk
 413 program
 414 .TP
 415 2)
 416 the login name on the local machine
 417 .PD
 418 .RE
 419 .PP
 420 The password for SMTP services is the first of:
 421 .RS 5
 422 .TP 5
 423 .PD 0
 424 1)
 425 password value from matching entry in file named \*(lq.netrc\*(rq
 426 in the user's home directory
 427 .TP
 428 2)
 429 password obtained by interactively prompting the user
 430 .PD
 431 .RE
 432 .PP
 433 The password for POP service when the
 434 .B \-sasl
 435 switch is used with one of these programs is the login name on the
 436 local machine.
 437 .PP
 438 With a
 439 .RI \*(lqfile: netrc \*(rq
 440 .B credentials
 441 entry, the username is the first of:
 442 .RS 5
 443 .PD 0
 444 .TP 5
 445 1)
 446 .B \-user
 447 switch to program
 448 .TP 5
 449 2)
 450 login name from matching entry in
 451 .I netrc
 452 file
 453 .TP 5
 454 3)
 455 value provided by user in response to interactive query
 456 .PD
 457 .RE
 458 .PP
 459 Similarly, the password is provided either in the
 460 .I netrc
 461 file or interactively.
 462 .I netrc
 463 can be any valid filename, either absolute or relative to Path or
 464 $HOME.  The
 465 .I netrc
 466 file contains authentication information, for each server,
 467 using a line of the following form.  Replace the words
 468 .IR myserver ,
 469 .IR mylogin ,
 470 and
 471 .I mypassword
 472 with your own account information:
 473 .PP
 474 .RS 5
 475 .B machine
 476 .I myserver
 477 .B login
 478 .I mylogin
 479 .B password
 480 .I mypassword
 481 .RE
 482 .PP
 483 This
 484 .I netrc
 485 file must be owned and readable only by you.
 486 .PP
 487 The
 488 .RI \*(lqfile\-nopermcheck: netrc \*(rq
 489 .B credentials
 490 entry is identical in behavior to the \*(lqfile\*(rq entry, with the
 491 exception that the permission checks done by
 492 \*(lqfile\*(rq are not performed.  This entry should be used with
 493 caution and only when absolutely necessary.
 494 (profile, default: legacy)
 495 .RE
 496 .PP
 497 .BR Welcome :
 498 disable
 499 .RS 5
 500 If the Welcome component is not present, or its value is not
 501 .RI \*(lq disable \*(rq,
 502 a welcome message will be displayed the first time that an interactive
 503 .B nmh
 504 program is run after updating the
 505 .B nmh
 506 installation.
 507 The user must press the Enter key to continue.
 508 .PP
 509 If the MHCONTEXT environment variable is set and non-empty (and
 510 the Welcome component is not
 511 .RI \*(lq disable \*(rq),
 512 the welcome message is only displayed if the context file contains a version
 513 reference, and that reference is older than the installed
 514 .B nmh
 515 version.  The version reference is of the form:
 516 .PP
 517 .RS 5
 518 .nf
 519 Version: %nmhversion%
 520 .fi
 521 .RE
 522 .PP
 523 .RE
 524 .SS "Process Profile Entries"
 525 The following profile elements are used whenever an
 526 .B nmh
 527 program invokes some other program such as
 528 .BR more .
 529 The
 530 .I \&.mh\-profile
 531 can be used to select alternate programs if the
 532 user wishes.  The default values are given in the examples.
 533 .PP
 534 If the profile element contains spaces, the element is split at spaces
 535 into tokens and each token is given as a separate argument to the
 536 .IR execvp (2)
 537 system call.  If the element contains shell metacharacters then the entire
 538 element is executed using
 539 .BR /bin/sh .
 540 .RE
 541 .PP
 542 .BR buildmimeproc :
 543 %bindir%/mhbuild
 544 .RS 5
 545 This is the program used by
 546 .B whatnow
 547 to process drafts which are MIME composition files.
 548 .RE
 549 .PP
 550 .BR fileproc :
 551 %bindir%/refile
 552 .RS 5
 553 This program is used to refile or link a message to another folder.
 554 It is used by
 555 .B send
 556 to file a copy of a message into a folder given
 557 by a \*(lqFcc:\*(rq field.  It is used by the draft folder facility in
 558 .BR comp ,
 559 .BR dist ,
 560 .BR forw ,
 561 and
 562 .B repl
 563 to refile a draft
 564 message into another folder.  It is used to refile a draft message in
 565 response to the
 566 .B refile
 567 directive at the \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt.
 568 .RE
 569 .PP
 570 .BR formatproc :
 571 .RS 5
 572 Program called by
 573 .B mhl
 574 to filter a component when it is tagged with the \*(lqformat\*(rq variable
 575 in the mhl filter.  See
 576 .IR mhl (5)
 577 for more information.
 578 .RE
 579 .PP
 580 .BR incproc :
 581 %bindir%/inc
 582 .RS 5
 583 Program called by
 584 .B mhmail
 585 to incorporate new mail when it
 586 is invoked with no arguments.
 587 .RE
 588 .PP
 589 .BR lproc :
 590 more
 591 .RS 5
 592 This program is used to list the contents of a message in response
 593 to the
 594 .B list
 595 directive at the \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq prompt.  It is
 596 also used by the draft folder facility in
 597 .BR comp ,
 598 .BR dist ,
 599 .BR forw ,
 600 and
 601 .B repl
 602 to display the draft message.
 603 (Note that
 604 the environment variable PAGER
 605 supersedes the default built-in pager command.)
 606 .RE
 607 .PP
 608 .BR mailproc :
 609 %bindir%/mhmail
 610 .RS 5
 611 This is the program used to automatically mail various messages
 612 and notifications.  It is used by
 613 .B send
 614 to post failure notices.
 615 It is used to retrieve an external-body with access-type `mail-server'
 616 (such as when storing the body with
 617 .BR mhstore ).
 618 .RE
 619 .PP
 620 .BR mhlproc :
 621 %nmhlibexecdir%/mhl
 622 .RS 5
 623 This is the program used to filter messages in various ways.  It
 624 is used by
 625 .B mhshow
 626 to filter and display the message headers
 627 of MIME messages.  When the
 628 .B \-format
 629 or
 630 .B \-filter
 631 option is used
 632 by
 633 .B forw
 634 or
 635 .BR repl ,
 636 the
 637 .I mhlproc
 638 is used to filter the
 639 message that you are forwarding, or to which you are replying.
 640 When the
 641 .B \-filter
 642 option is given to
 643 .BR send ,
 644 the
 645 .I mhlproc
 646 is used to filter the copy of the message
 647 that is sent to \*(lqBcc:\*(rq recipients.
 648 .RE
 649 .PP
 650 .BR moreproc :
 651 more
 652 .RS 5
 653 This is the program used by
 654 .B mhl
 655 to page the
 656 .B mhl
 657 formatted message when displaying to a terminal.  It is also the default
 658 program used by
 659 .B mhshow
 660 to display message bodies (or message parts) of type text/plain.
 661 (Note that
 662 the environment variable PAGER
 663 supersedes the default built-in pager command.)
 664 .RE
 665 .PP
 666 .BR packproc :
 667 %bindir%/packf
 668 .RS 5
 669 Currently not used.
 670 .RE
 671 .PP
 672 .BR postproc :
 673 %nmhlibexecdir%/post
 674 .RS 5
 675 This is the program used by
 676 .BR send ,
 677 .BR mhmail ,
 678 .BR rcvdist ,
 679 and
 680 .B viamail
 681 (used by the
 682 .B sendfiles
 683 shell script) to
 684 post a message to the mail transport system.  It is also called by
 685 .B whom
 686 (called with the switches
 687 .B \-whom
 688 and
 689 .BR \-library )
 690 to do address verification.
 691 .RE
 692 .PP
 693 .BR rmmproc :
 694 none
 695 .RS 5
 696 This is the program used by
 697 .BR rmm ,
 698 .BR refile ,
 699 and
 700 .B mhfixmsg
 701 to delete a message from a folder.
 702 .RE
 703 .PP
 704 .BR sendproc :
 705 %bindir%/send
 706 .RS 5
 707 This is the program to use by
 708 .B whatnow
 709 to actually send the message
 710 .RE
 711 .PP
 712 .BR showmimeproc :
 713 %bindir%/mhshow
 714 .RS 5
 715 This is the program used by
 716 .B show
 717 to process and display non-text (MIME) messages.
 718 .RE
 719 .PP
 720 .BR showproc :
 721 %nmhlibexecdir%/mhl
 722 .RS 5
 723 This is the program used by
 724 .B show
 725 to filter and display text (non-MIME) messages.
 726 .RE
 727 .PP
 728 .BR whatnowproc :
 729 %bindir%/whatnow
 730 .RS 5
 731 This is the program invoked by
 732 .BR comp ,
 733 .BR forw ,
 734 .BR dist ,
 735 and
 736 .B repl
 737 to query about the disposition of a composed draft message.
 738 .RE
 739 .PP
 740 .BR whomproc :
 741 %bindir%/whom
 742 .RS 5
 743 This is the program used by
 744 .B whatnow
 745 to determine to whom a message would be sent.
 746 .RE
 747 .SS "Profile Lookup"
 748 After consulting .mh_profile,
 749 some programs read an optional profile specified by a
 750 program-specific environment variable,
 751 and then the system-wide profile %nmhetcdir%/mhn.defaults.
 752 These programs are
 753 .BR mhbuild ,
 754 .BR mhshow ,
 755 .BR mhstore ,
 756 and
 757 .BR mhn .
 758 .B mhfixmsg
 759 is similar, but has no optional profile.
 760 .sp
 761 The first occurrence of a component is used,
 762 e.g.\& .mh_profile's trumps $MHSHOW's.
 763 A component with no value still stops further occurrences being used,
 764 but is considered absent.
 765 .PP
 766 The
 767 .I \&.mh\-profile
 768 contains only static information, which
 769 .B nmh
 770 programs will
 771 .B NOT
 772 update.  Changes in context are made to the
 773 .I context
 774 file kept in the users
 775 .B nmh
 776 directory.
 777 This includes, but is not limited to: the \*(lqCurrent\-Folder\*(rq entry
 778 and all private sequence information.  Public sequence information is
 779 kept in each folder in the file determined by the \*(lqmh\-sequences\*(rq
 780 profile entry (default is
 781 .IR \&.mh\-sequences ).
 782 .PP
 783 The
 784 .I \&.mh\-profile
 785 may override the path of the
 786 .I context
 787 file, by specifying a \*(lqcontext\*(rq entry (this must be in
 788 lower-case).  If the entry is not absolute (does not start with a
 789 \*(lq/\*(rq), then it is interpreted relative to the user's
 790 .B nmh
 791 directory.  As a result, you can actually have more than one set of
 792 private sequences by using different context files.
 793 .SH ENVIRONMENT
 794 The operation of
 795 .B nmh
 796 and its commands it also controlled by the
 797 presence of certain environment variables.
 798 .PP
 799 Many of these environment variables are used internally by the
 800 \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq interface.  It's amazing all the information
 801 that has to get passed via environment variables to make the
 802 \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq interface look squeaky clean to the
 803 .B nmh
 804 user, isn't it?  The reason for all this is that the
 805 .B nmh
 806 user
 807 can select
 808 any
 809 program as the
 810 .IR whatnowproc ,
 811 including
 812 one of the standard shells.  As a result, it's not possible to pass
 813 information via an argument list.  The convention is that environment
 814 variables whose names are all upper-case are user-settable; those
 815 whose names are lower-case only are used internally by nmh and should
 816 not generally be set by the user.
 817 .TP
 818 LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, and LANG
 819 These variables are used to set the locale, see locale(1).
 820 The \*(lqlocale\*(rq profile entry supersedes these.
 821 .TP
 822 MAILDROP
 823 This variable tells
 824 .B inc
 825 the default maildrop.  This supersedes the \*(lqMailDrop\*(rq profile entry.
 826 .TP
 827 MAILHOST
 828 This variable tells
 829 .B inc
 830 the POP host to query for mail to incorporate.  See the
 831 .IR inc (1)
 832 man page for more information.
 833 .TP
 834 MH
 835 With this environment variable, you can specify a profile
 836 other than
 837 .I \&.mh\-profile
 838 to be read by the
 839 .B nmh
 840 programs
 841 that you invoke.  If the value of
 842 MH
 843 is not absolute, (i.e., does
 844 not begin with a \*(lq/\*(rq), it will be presumed to start from the current
 845 working directory.  This is one of the very few exceptions in
 846 .B nmh
 847 where non-absolute pathnames are not considered relative to the user's
 848 .B nmh
 849 directory.
 850 .TP
 851 MHBUILD
 852 With this environment variable, you can specify an
 853 additional user profile (file) to be read by
 854 .BR mhbuild ,
 855 in addition to the mhn.defaults profile.
 856 .TP
 857 MHCONTEXT
 858 With this environment variable, you can specify a
 859 context other than the normal context file (as specified in
 860 the
 861 .B nmh
 862 profile).  As always, unless the value of
 863 MHCONTEXT
 864 is absolute, it will be presumed to start from your
 865 .B nmh
 866 directory.
 867 .TP
 868 MHLDEBUG
 869 If this variable is set to a non-null value,
 870 .B mhl
 871 will emit debugging information.
 872 .TP
 873 MHMTSCONF
 874 If this variable is set to a non-null value, it specifies the
 875 name of the mail transport configuration file to use by
 876 .BR post ,
 877 .BR inc ,
 878 and other programs that interact with the mail transport system,
 879 instead of the default.  See
 880 .IR mh-tailor (5).
 881 .TP
 882 MHMTSUSERCONF
 883 If this variable is set to a non-null value, it specifies the name of
 884 a mail transport configuration file to be read in addition to the
 885 default.  See
 886 .IR mh-tailor (5).
 887 .TP
 888 MHN
 889 With this environment variable, you can specify an
 890 additional user profile (file) to be read by
 891 .BR mhn ,
 892 in addition to the mhn.defaults profile.
 893 .B mhn
 894 is deprecated, so support for this variable will
 895 be removed from a future nmh release.
 896 .TP
 897 MHSHOW
 898 With this environment variable, you can specify an
 899 additional user profile (file) to be read by
 900 .BR mhshow ,
 901 in addition to the mhn.defaults profile.
 902 .TP
 903 MHSTORE
 904 With this environment variable, you can specify an
 905 additional user profile (file) to be read by
 906 .BR mhstore ,
 907 in addition to the mhn.defaults profile.
 908 .TP
 909 MHPDEBUG
 910 If this variable is set to a non-null value,
 911 .B pick
 912 will emit a representation of the search pattern.
 913 MHPDEBUG
 914 is deprecated, so support for this variable will
 915 be removed from a future nmh release.  Instead,
 916 .B pick
 917 now supports a
 918 .B \-debug
 919 switch.
 920 .TP
 921 MHTMPDIR, TMPDIR
 922 These variables are searched, in order, for the directory in which to
 923 create some temporary files.
 924 .TP
 925 MHWDEBUG
 926 If this variable is set to a non-null value,
 927 .B nmh
 928 commands that use the
 929 .B Alternate\-Mailboxes
 930 profile entry will display debugging information
 931 about the values in that entry.
 932 .TP
 933 PAGER
 934 If set to a non-null value, this supersedes the value of
 935 the default built-in pager command.
 936 .TP
 937 SIGNATURE
 938 This variable tells
 939 .B send
 940 and
 941 .B post
 942 your mail signature.  This supersedes the \*(lqSignature\*(rq profile entry,
 943 and is not used when the \*(lqLocal\-Mailbox\*(rq profile component is set.
 944 .TP
 945 USER
 946 This variable tells
 947 .B repl
 948 your user name and
 949 .B inc
 950 your default maildrop:  see the \*(lqMailDrop\*(rq profile entry.
 951 .TP
 952 USERNAME_EXTENSION
 953 This variable is for use with username_extension masquerading.  See the
 954 .IR mh-tailor (5)
 955 man page.
 956 .TP
 957 editalt
 958 This is the alternate message.
 959 This is set by
 960 .B dist
 961 and
 962 .B repl
 963 during edit sessions so you can
 964 peruse the message being distributed or replied to.  The message is also
 965 available, when the
 966 .B \-atfile
 967 switch is used,
 968 through a link called \*(lq@\*(rq in the current directory if
 969 your current working directory and the folder the message lives in are
 970 on the same UNIX filesystem, and if your current working directory is
 971 writable.
 972 .TP
 973 mhaltmsg
 974 .B dist
 975 and
 976 .B repl
 977 set
 978 mhaltmsg
 979 to tell the
 980 .I whatnowproc
 981 about an alternate message associated with the
 982 draft (the message being distributed or replied to).
 983 .TP
 984 mhannotate
 985 This is set by
 986 .BR dist ,
 987 .BR forw ,
 988 and
 989 .B repl
 990 if annotations are to occur.
 991 .TP
 992 mhdist
 993 .B dist
 994 sets
 995 mhdist
 996 to tell the
 997 .I whatnowproc
 998 that message re-distribution is occurring.
 999 .TP
1000 mhdraft
1001 This is the path to the working draft.
1002 It is set by
1003 .BR comp ,
1004 .BR dist ,
1005 .BR forw ,
1006 and
1007 .B repl
1008 to tell the
1009 .I whatnowproc
1010 which file to ask \*(lqWhat now?\*(rq
1011 questions about.
1012 .TP
1013 mheditor
1014 This is set by
1015 .BR comp ,
1016 .BR repl ,
1017 .BR forw ,
1018 and
1019 .B dist
1020 to tell the
1021 .I whatnowproc
1022 the user's choice of
1023 editor (unless overridden by
1024 .BR \-noedit ).
1025 .TP
1026 mhfolder
1027 This is the folder containing the alternate message.
1028 It is set by
1029 .B dist
1030 and
1031 .B repl
1032 during edit sessions so you
1033 can peruse other messages in the current folder besides the one being
1034 distributed or replied to.  The environment variable
1035 mhfolder
1036 is also set by
1037 .BR show ,
1038 .BR prev ,
1039 and
1040 .B next
1041 for use by
1042 .BR mhl .
1043 .TP
1044 mhinplace
1045 This is set by
1046 .BR dist ,
1047 .BR forw ,
1048 and
1049 .B repl
1050 if annotations are to occur.
1051 .TP
1052 mhmessages
1053 This is set by
1054 .BR dist ,
1055 .BR forw ,
1056 and
1057 .B repl
1058 if annotations are to occur.
1059 .TP
1060 mhuse
1061 This may be set by
1062 .BR comp .
1063 .SH FILES
1064 .PD 0
1065 .TP 20
1066 $HOME/\&.mh\-profile
1067 The user's profile.
1068 .TP
1069 <mh\-dir>/context
1070 The user's context
1071 .TP
1072 <folder>/\&.mh\-sequences
1073 Public sequences for <folder>.
1074 .PD
1075 .SH "SEE ALSO"
1076 .IR mhbuild (1),
1077 .IR mhshow (1),
1078 .IR mhstore (1),
1079 .IR mh-sequence (5),
1080 .IR nmh (7)
1081 .SH BUGS
1082 There is some question as to what kind of arguments should be placed
1083 in the profile as options.  In order to provide a clear answer, recall
1084 command line semantics of all
1085 .B nmh
1086 programs: conflicting switches
1087 (e.g.
1088 .B \-header
1089 and
1090 .BR \-noheader )
1091 may occur more than one time on the
1092 command line, with the last switch taking effect.  Other arguments, such
1093 as message sequences, filenames and folders, are always remembered on
1094 the invocation line and are not superseded by following arguments of
1095 the same type.  Hence, it is safe to place only switches (and their
1096 arguments) in the profile.
1097 .PP
1098 If one finds that an
1099 .B nmh
1100 program is being invoked again and again
1101 with the same arguments, and those arguments aren't switches, then there
1102 are a few possible solutions to this problem.  The first is to create a
1103 (soft) link in your
1104 .I $HOME/bin
1105 directory to the
1106 .B nmh
1107 program
1108 of your choice.  By giving this link a different name, you can create
1109 a new entry in your profile and use an alternate set of defaults for
1110 the
1111 .B nmh
1112 command.  Similarly, you could create a small shell script
1113 which called the
1114 .B nmh
1115 program of your choice with an alternate set
1116 of invocation line switches (using links and an alternate profile entry
1117 is preferable to this solution).
1118 .PP
1119 Finally, the
1120 .B csh
1121 user could create an alias for the command of the form:
1122 .PP
1123 .RS 5
1124 alias cmd 'cmd arg1 arg2 ...'
1125 .RE
1126 .PP
1127 In this way, the user can avoid lengthy type-in to the shell, and still
1128 give
1129 .B nmh
1130 commands safely.  (Recall that some
1131 .B nmh
1132 commands
1133 invoke others, and that in all cases, the profile is read, meaning that
1134 aliases are disregarded beyond an initial command invocation)