{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "install-mh",
    "section": "8mh",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/install-mh/8mh/json",
    "generated": "2026-05-30T16:07:45Z",
    "synopsis": "/usr/lib/mh/install-mh [-help] [-version] [-auto] [-check]",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "install-mh - initialize the nmh environment\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SYNOPSIS": {
            "content": "/usr/lib/mh/install-mh [-help] [-version] [-auto] [-check]\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "install-mh  creates  the initial setup for a first-time nmh user.  install-mh is installed in\ntwo locations for historical reasons.\n\nThe -auto switch does things as automatically as possible and makes install-mh less chatty.\n\nThe user is prompted for the name of the directory to be designated as the user's nmh  direc‐\ntory.   If  this  directory  does not exist, the user is asked if it should be created.  Nor‐\nmally, this directory should be under the user's home directory, and has the default name  of\n`Mail'.  install-mh writes an initial .mhprofile for the user.\n\nAs  with  all  nmh commands, install-mh first checks for the existence of the $MH environment\nvariable, since that, if set, gives the profile path.  If it isn't set, the $HOME environment\nvariable  is consulted to determine the user's home directory.  If $HOME is not set, then the\n/etc/passwd file is consulted.\n\nWhen creating the user's .mhprofile, install-mh will check for the  existence  of  a  global\nprofile  at  /etc/nmh/mh.profile.  If found, this will be used to initialize the new .mhpro‐\nfile.\n\nThe -check switch checks if nmh is installed.  (This can be used by other programs to  deter‐\nmine if nmh has been installed.)\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "FILES": {
            "content": "$HOME/.mhprofile   The user's profile.\n/etc/nmh/mh.profile Used to initialize user's profile.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "PROFILE COMPONENTS": {
            "content": "Path:               To set the user's nmh directory.\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "CONTEXT": {
            "content": "With -auto, the current folder is changed to “inbox”.\n\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "UNDOING THE INSTALLATION": {
            "content": "If you only ran install-mh to try out nmh briefly, you might like to remove the configuration\nfiles it creates. (This is not obligatory -- install-mh creates only a  few  small  files  so\nsimply leaving them in place will not cause problems.)\n\nMost  nmh configuration information lives in the user's nmh directory; you can print its name\nby running\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "mhpath +",
                    "content": "Basically all plain files in the nmh directory are configuration files and can be removed.\n\nAttention: The nmh directory holds not just configuration files! Its  subdirectories  contain\nall the emails you have written or received with nmh.  Don't delete the nmh directory without\ncarefully checking that there are no mail files that you might want later!\n\nThe only configuration file that lives outside the nmh directory is your  profile  file.  You\ncan print its name by running\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "echo ${MH:-$HOME/.mh-profile}",
                    "content": "If you aren't using nmh any more you can delete this file, too.\n\n\n\n\nnmh-1.7.1                                    2002-11-18                              INSTALL-MH(8mh)"
                }
            ]
        }
    },
    "summary": "install-mh - initialize the nmh environment",
    "flags": [],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": []
}