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MH-MAIL(5mh)                                                      MH-MAIL(5mh)

NAME
       mh-mail - message format for nmh message system

DESCRIPTION
       nmh processes messages in a particular format.  It should be noted that
       although neither Bell nor Berkeley mailers produce message files in the
       format that nmh prefers, nmh can read message files in that format.

       Each  user  possesses a mail drop which initially receives all messages
       processed by post.  inc will read from that mail drop  and  incorporate
       new  messages  found  there into the user's own mail folders (typically
       "+inbox").  The mail drop consists of one or more messages.

       Messages are expected to consist of lines of text.  Graphics and binary
       data  are  not  handled.  No data compression is accepted.  All text is
       clear ASCII 7-bit data.

       The general "memo" framework of RFC 822 is used.  A message consists of
       a block of information in a rigid format, followed by general text with
       no specified format.  The rigidly formatted first part of a message  is
       called the header, and the free-format portion is called the body.  The
       header must always exist, but the body is optional.   These  parts  are
       separated  by  an empty line, i.e., two consecutive newline characters.
       Within nmh, the header and body may be separated by a  line  consisting
       of dashes:

            From: Local Mailbox <user AT example.com>
            To:
            cc:
            Fcc: +outbox
            Subject:

       The  header  is composed of one or more header items.  Each header item
       can be viewed as a single logical line of  ASCII  characters.   If  the
       text  of a header item extends across several real lines, the continua-
       tion lines are indicated by leading spaces or tabs.

       Each header item is called a component and is composed of a keyword  or
       name,  along with associated text.  The keyword begins at the left mar-
       gin, may not contain spaces or tabs, may not exceed 63  characters  (as
       specified  by  RFC  822),  and is terminated by a colon (`:').  Certain
       components (as identified by their keywords) must  follow  rigidly  de-
       fined formats in their text portions.

       The  text  for  most  formatted  components  (e.g.,  "Date:"  and "Mes-
       sage-Id:") is produced automatically.  The only  ones  entered  by  the
       user  are address fields such as "To:", "cc:", etc.  Internet addresses
       are assigned mailbox names and host computer specifications.  The rough
       format  is  "local@domain",  such  as  "MH@UCI", or "MH AT UCI-ICSA.ARPA".
       Multiple addresses are separated by commas.  A missing  host/domain  is
       assumed to be the local host/domain.

       As mentioned above, a blank line (or a line of dashes) signals that all
       following text up to the end of the file is the body.  No formatting is
       expected or enforced within the body.

       Following is a list of header components that are considered meaningful
       to various nmh programs.

       Date:
            Added by post, contains date and time of the message's entry  into
            the mail transport system.

       From:
            This  header is filled in by default with the system's idea of the
            user's local mailbox.  This can be changed with the  Local-Mailbox
            profile  entry.   It contains the address of the author or authors
            (may be more than one if a "Sender:" field  is  present).   For  a
            standard  reply  (using repl), the reply address is constructed by
            checking the following headers (in this order):  "Mail-Reply-To:",
            "Reply-To:", "From:", "Sender:".  A "From:" header MUST exist when
            the message is sent to post, otherwise the  message  will  be  re-
            jected.

       Envelope-From:
            Used  by post to specify a value for the sender's envelope address
            to the mail transport system.  If omitted, post will use the value
            of  the "Sender:" or the "From:" header.  See send(1) for more de-
            tails.

       Mail-Reply-To:
            For a standard reply (using repl), the reply address is  construc-
            ted  by  checking the following headers (in this order): "Mail-Re-
            ply-To:", "Reply-To:", "From:", "Sender:".

       Mail-Followup-To:
            When making a "group" reply (using repl -group), any addresses  in
            this  field  will take precedence, and no other reply address will
            be added to the draft.  If this header is not available, then  the
            return addresses will be constructed from the "Mail-Reply-To:", or
            "Reply-To:", or "From:", along with adding the addresses from  the
            headers "To:", "cc:", as well as adding your personal address.

       Reply-To:
            For  a standard reply (using repl), the reply address is construc-
            ted by checking the following headers (in this  order):  "Mail-Re-
            ply-To:", "Reply-To:", "From:", "Sender:".

       Sender:
            Required  by  post  in the event that the message has multiple ad-
            dresses on the "From:" line.  It is otherwise optional.  This line
            should contain the address of the actual sender.

       To:
            Contains addresses of primary recipients.

       cc:
            Contains addresses of secondary recipients.

       Bcc:
            Still  more  recipients.   However,  the "Bcc:" line is not copied
            onto the message as delivered, so these recipients are not listed.
            nmh uses an encapsulation method for blind copies, see send(1).

       Dcc:
            Still  more  recipients.   However,  the "Dcc:" line is not copied
            onto the messages as delivered.  Recipients on the "Dcc:" line re-
            ceive the same message as recipients on the "To:" and "cc:" lines.
            See send(1) for more details.  Dcc is not supported with the send-
            mail/pipe mail transport method.

       Fcc:
            Causes  post to copy the message into the specified folder for the
            sender, if the message was successfully  given  to  the  transport
            system.

       Message-ID:
            A  unique  message  identifier added by post if the -msgid flag is
            set.

       Subject:
            Sender's commentary.  It is displayed by scan.

       In-Reply-To:
            A commentary line added by repl when replying to a message.

       Resent-Date:
            Added when redistributing a message by post.

       Resent-From:
            Used instead of the "From:" header when post redistributes a  mes-
            sage.  See "From:".

       Resent-To:
            New recipients for a message resent by dist.

       Resent-cc:
            Still more recipients.  See "cc:" and "Resent-To:".

       Resent-Bcc:
            Even more recipients.  See "Bcc:" and "Resent-To:".

       Resent-Fcc:
            Copy resent message into a folder.  See "Fcc:" and "Resent-To:".

       Resent-Message-Id:
            A  unique  identifier  glued on by post if the -msgid flag is set.
            See "Message-Id:" and "Resent-To:".

       Resent:
            Annotation for dist under the -annotate option.

       Forwarded:
            Annotation for forw under the -annotate option.

       Replied:
            Annotation for repl under the -annotate option.

       Attach:
            Used by mhbuild to specify a filename to attach to  this  message.
            See mhbuild(1) for more information.

FILES
       /var/mail/$USER     Location of mail drop.

SEE ALSO
       Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages (RFC 822)

CONTEXT
       None

nmh-1.7.1                         2014-01-08                      MH-MAIL(5mh)