{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "inc",
    "section": "1",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/inc/1/json",
    "generated": "2026-09-01T10:30:44Z",
    "synopsis": "inc [-help] [-version] [+folder] [-audit audit-file] [-noaudit] [-changecur | -nochangecur]\n[-form formfile] [-format string] [-file name] [-silent | -nosilent] [-truncate |\n-notruncate] [-width columns] [-host hostname] [-port portname/number] [-user username]\n[-proxy command] [-sasl | -nosasl] [-saslmech mechanism] [-authservice service] [-tls]\n[-initialtls] [-notls] [-certverify | -nocertverify] [-snoop]",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "inc - incorporate new mail to an nmh folder\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "inc [-help] [-version] [+folder] [-audit audit-file] [-noaudit] [-changecur | -nochangecur]\n[-form formfile] [-format string] [-file name] [-silent | -nosilent] [-truncate |\n-notruncate] [-width columns] [-host hostname] [-port portname/number] [-user username]\n[-proxy command] [-sasl | -nosasl] [-saslmech mechanism] [-authservice service] [-tls]\n[-initialtls] [-notls] [-certverify | -nocertverify] [-snoop]\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "inc  incorporates  mail  from  the user's incoming mail drop into an nmh folder.  If the mail\ndrop is a file, it can be in mbox or MMDF format.  If the mail drop is a directory it is con‐\nsidered to be in Maildir format.\n\nYou may specify which folder to use with +folder.  If no folder is specified, then  inc  will\nuse  either  the  folder  given  by a (non-empty) “Inbox” entry in the user's profile, or the\nfolder named “inbox”.  If the specified (or default) folder doesn't exist, the user  will  be\nqueried prior to its creation.\n\nWhen  the  new  messages are incorporated into the folder, they are assigned numbers starting\nwith the next highest number for the folder.  As the messages are processed, a  scan  listing\nof the new mail is produced.\n\nThe  newly  created messages will have a mode of 0600, see chmod(1), on filesystems that sup‐\nport it.  Alternatively, a “Msg-Protect: nnn” profile entry gives the mode to use, in  octal.\nFor  all  subsequent  operations on these messages, this initially assigned mode will be pre‐\nserved.\n\nIf the switch -audit audit-file is specified (usually as a default switch in the user's  pro‐\nfile),  then inc will append a header line and a line per message to the specified audit-file\nwith the format:\n\n<<inc>> date\n<scan line for first message>\n<scan line for second message>\n<etc.>\n\nThis is useful for keeping track of volume and source of incoming  mail.   Eventually,  repl,\nforw,  comp,  and  dist  may also output audit information to this (or another) file, perhaps\nwith “Message-Id” information to keep an exact correspondence history.  “Audit-file”  is  as‐\nsumed to be in the user's nmh directory unless a full path is specified.\n\ninc will incorporate even improperly formatted messages into the user's nmh folder, inserting\na blank line prior to the offending component and printing a comment identifying the bad mes‐\nsage.\n\nIn  all cases, except the use of -file name (see below), the user's mail drop will be zeroed,\nunless the -notruncate switch is given.\n\nIf the profile entry “Unseen-Sequence” is present and non-empty, then inc will  add  each  of\nthe  newly  incorporated  messages to each sequence named in the profile entry.  inc will not\nzero each sequence prior to adding messages.\n\nThe interpretation of the -form formatfile, -format string, and -width  columns  switches  is\nthe same as in scan(1).\n\nBy  using the -file name switch, one can direct inc to incorporate messages from a file other\nthan the user's mail drop.  Note that the named file will not be zeroed, unless the -truncate\nswitch is given.\n\nThe -file switch does not support the use of standard input.  Instead, the  rcvstore  command\ncan be used to incorporate mail from the standard input stream.\n\nIf  the environment variable $MAILDROP is set, then inc uses it as the location of the user's\nmail drop instead of the default (the -file name switch still overrides this,  however).   If\nthis  environment variable is not set, then inc will consult the profile entry “MailDrop” for\nthis information.  If the value found is not absolute, then it is interpreted relative to the\nuser's nmh directory.  If the value is not found, then inc will look in the  standard  system\nlocation for the user's mail drop.\n\nThe  -silent switch directs inc to be quiet and not ask any questions at all.  This is useful\nfor putting inc in the background and going on to other things.\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "Using POP",
                    "content": "inc will normally check local mail drops for mail, as  covered  above.   But  if  the  option\n“pophost” is set in “mts.conf”, or if the -host hostname switch is given, or if the $MAILHOST\nenvironment  variable  is set, then inc will query this POP service host for mail to incorpo‐\nrate.  If $MAILHOST is set and -host is specified as well, the command-line switch will over‐\nride the environment variable.  The -port switch specifies the port name or  number  used  to\nconnect to the POP server.  If unspecified, the default is “pop3”.\n\nTo  specify a username for authentication with the POP server, use the -user username switch.\nThe credentials profile entry in mh-profile(5) describes the ways to supply  a  username  and\npassword.\n\nIf passed the -proxy command switch, inc will use the specified command to establish the con‐\nnection  to the POP server.  The string %h in the command will be substituted by the hostname\nto connect to.\n\nFor debugging purposes, you may give the switch -snoop, which will allow you to  monitor  the\nPOP transaction.  If -sasl -saslmech xoauth2 is used, the HTTP transaction is also shown.\n\nIf  nmh has been compiled with SASL support, the -sasl switch will enable the use of SASL au‐\nthentication.  Depending on the SASL mechanism used, this may require an additional  password\nprompt  from the user (but the netrc file can be used to store this password, as described in\nmh-profile(5)).  The -saslmech switch can be used to select a particular SASL mechanism.\n\nIf SASL authentication is successful, inc will attempt to negotiate a security layer for ses‐\nsion encryption.  Encrypted traffic is labelled with  `(encrypted)'  and  `(decrypted)'  when\nviewing  the  POP transaction with the -snoop switch; see post(8)'s description of -snoop for\nits other features.\n\nIf nmh has been compiled with OAuth support, the -sasl and -saslmech  xoauth2  switches  will\nenable  OAuth  authentication.   The  -user switch must be used, and the user-name must be an\nemail address the user has for the service, which must be  specified  with  the  -authservice\nservice switch.  Before using this, the user must authorize nmh by running mhlogin and grant‐\ning authorization to that account.  See mhlogin(1) for more details.\n\nIf nmh has been compiled with TLS support, the -tls and -initialtls switches will require the\nnegotiation  of TLS when connecting to the remote POP server. The -tls switch will direct inc\nto negotiate TLS as part of the normal POP protocol using the STLS command.  The  -initialtls\nswitch will direct inc to negotiate TLS immediately after the connection has taken place, be‐\nfore  any  POP  commands  are  sent  or received.  Data encrypted by TLS is labeled `(tls-en‐\ncrypted)' and `(tls-decrypted)' when viewing the POP transaction with the -snoop switch.  The"
                },
                {
                    "name": "-notls",
                    "content": "When using TLS the default is to verify the remote certificate and  SubjectName  against  the\nlocal trusted certificate store.  This can be controlled by the -certverify and -nocertverify\nswitches.  See your OpenSSL documentation for more information on certificate verification.\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "FILES": {
            "content": "$HOME/.mhprofile   The user's profile.\n/etc/nmh/mts.conf   mts configuration file.\n/var/mail/$USER     Location of the system mail drop.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "PROFILE COMPONENTS": {
            "content": "Path:               To determine the user's nmh directory.\nAlternate-Mailboxes:\nTo determine the user's mailboxes.\nInbox:              To determine the inbox.\nFolder-Protect:     To set mode when creating a new folder.\nMsg-Protect:        To set mode when creating a new message and audit-file.\nUnseen-Sequence:    To name sequences denoting unseen messages.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "mhmail(1), scan(1), mh-mail(5), mh-profile(5), mhlogin(1), post(8), rcvstore(1)\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DEFAULTS": {
            "content": "+folder             defaulted by “Inbox” above.",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "-noaudit",
                    "content": ""
                },
                {
                    "name": "-changecur",
                    "content": "-format             As described above."
                },
                {
                    "name": "-nosilent",
                    "content": ""
                },
                {
                    "name": "-nosasl",
                    "content": "-notruncate         Unless -file name is given.\n-width              The width of the terminal.\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "CONTEXT": {
            "content": "The  folder  into  which messages are being incorporated will become the current folder.  The\nfirst message incorporated will become the current message, unless the -nochangecur option is\nspecified.  This leaves the context ready for a show of the first new message.\n\nnmh-1.8                                      2016-11-02                                     INC(1mh)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "inc - incorporate new mail to an nmh folder",
    "flags": [
        {
            "flag": "",
            "long": null,
            "arg": null,
            "description": "When using TLS the default is to verify the remote certificate and SubjectName against the local trusted certificate store. This can be controlled by the -certverify and -nocertverify switches. See your OpenSSL documentation for more information on certificate verification."
        }
    ],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "mhmail",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mhmail/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "scan",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/scan/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "mh-mail",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mh-mail/5/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "mh-profile",
            "section": "5",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mh-profile/5/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "mhlogin",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mhlogin/1/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "post",
            "section": "8",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/post/8/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "rcvstore",
            "section": "1",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/rcvstore/1/json"
        }
    ]
}