~ubuntu-branches/debian/sid/alpine/sid : revision 18

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Alpine Technical Notes

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Version 2.11, August 2013

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Table of Contents

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Introduction

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* Design Goals

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* Alpine Components

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Background Details

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* Domain Names

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* RFC 2822 Compliance

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* SMTP and Sendmail

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* Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)

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* Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)

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* Folder Collections

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Building and Installation

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* Compile-time Options

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* Including LDAP Functionality

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* Including Kerberos 5 Functionality

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* Other Alpine Compile-time Options

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* IMAPd Compile-time Options

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* Building the Alpine Programs

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* Installing Alpine and Pico on UNIX Platforms

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* Installing PC-Alpine

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* Installing IMAPd

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* Support Files and Environment Variables: UNIX Alpine

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* Support Files, Environment Variables, and Registry Values: PC-Alpine

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Command Line Arguments

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* Alpine

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* Pico

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* Pilot

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Configuration and Preferences

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* Alpine Configuration

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* General Configuration Variables

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* Configuration Features

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* Hidden Config Variables and Features

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* Retired Variables

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* Tokens for Index and Replying

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* Conditional Inclusion of Text for Reply-Leadin, Signatures, and

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Templates

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* Per Server Directory Configuration

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* Color Configuration

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* Index Line Color Configuration

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* Role Configuration

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* Filtering Configuration

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* Scoring Configuration

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* Other Rules Configuration

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* Search Rules Configuration

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* Patterns

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* Configuring News

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Configuration Notes

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+ Alpine in Function Key Mode

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+ Domain Settings

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+ Syntax for Collections

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+ Syntax for Folder Names

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+ Server Name Syntax

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+ Folder Namespaces

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+ What is a Mail Drop?

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+ Sorting a Folder

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+ Alternate Editor

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+ Signatures and Signature Placement

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+ Feature List Variable

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+ Configuration Inheritance

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+ Using Environment Variables

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+ SMTP Servers

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+ MIME.Types file

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+ Color Details

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+ S/MIME Overview

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+ Additional Notes on PC-Alpine

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Behind the Scenes

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* Address Books

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* Remote Configuration

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* Checkpointing

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* Debug Files

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* INBOX and Special Folders

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* Internal Help Files

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* International Character Sets

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* Interrupted and Postponed Messages

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* Message Status

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* MIME: Reading a Message

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* MIME: Sending a Message

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* New Mail Notification

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* NFS

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* Printers and Printing

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* Save and Export

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* Sent Mail

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* Spell Checker

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* Terminal Emulation and Key Mapping

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Introduction

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Design Goals

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Throughout _Alpine_ development, we have had to strike a balance between the

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need to include features which advanced users require and the need to keep

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things simple for beginning users. To strike this balance, we have tried to

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adhere to these design principles:

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- The model presented to the user has to be simple and clear.

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Underlying system operation is hidden as much as possible.

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- It's better to have a few easily understood commands that can be

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repeated than to have some more sophisticated command that will do

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the job all at once.

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- Whenever the user has to select a command, file name, address,

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etc., the user should be given (or can get) a menu from which to make

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the selection. Menus need to be complete, small, organized and well

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thought out.

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- _Alpine_ must provide immediate feedback for the user with each

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operation.

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- _Alpine_ must be very tolerant of user errors. Any time a user is

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about to perform an irreversible act (send a message, expunge

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messages from a folder), _Alpine_ should ask for confirmation.

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- Users should be able to learn by exploration without fear of doing

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anything wrong. This is an important feature so the user can get

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started quickly without reading any manuals and so fewer manuals are

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required.

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- The core set of _Alpine_ functions should be kept to a minimum so

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new users don't feel "lost" in seemingly extraneous commands and

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concepts.

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Just as there were goals relating to the look and feel of _Alpine_, there

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were equally important goals having to do with _Alpine_'s structure-the

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things that users never see but still rely on every time they use _Alpine_.

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While _Alpine_ can be used as a stand-alone mail user agent, one of its

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strongest assets is its use of the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)

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for accessing remote email folders. In addition, _Pine_ (the predecessor of

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_Alpine_) was one of the first programs to support the Multipurpose Internet

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Mail Extensions (MIME) specification. With MIME, _Alpine_ users can reliably

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send any binary file to any other person on the Internet who uses a MIME

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compliant email program.

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The decision to use IMAP and MIME reflects the importance of

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interoperability, standardization and robustness in _Alpine_. As you work

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with _Alpine_ more, you will see other features which reflect the same

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values. For example, _Alpine_ enforces strict compliance with RFC 2822,

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implements a strong mail folder locking mechanism and verifies a process

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before overwriting any files (e.g. addressbook, expunging messages).

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Alpine Components

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If you have picked up the _Alpine_ distribution, then you already know that

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_Alpine_ comes in a few different pieces. They are:

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_Alpine_

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The main code from which the _Alpine_ program is compiled.

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_Pico_

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_Pico_ is the name for the _Alpine_ composer. The _Pico_ code is used

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in two ways: (1) it is compiled on its own to be a stand-alone editor

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and, (2) it is compiled as a library for _Alpine_ to support

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composition of messages within _Alpine_. _Pico_ is _Alpine_'s

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internal editor invoked when users need to fill in header lines or

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type the text of an email message.

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_Imap_

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An API for IMAP. Includes the C-Client library, which is compiled

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into _Alpine_, and the IMAP server _IMAPd_. C-Client implements the

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IMAP protocol and also negotiates all access between _Alpine_ and the

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mail folders it operates on, even if the folders are local. The

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C-Client routines are used for email folder parsing and interpreting

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MIME messages. _IMAPd_ is a separate server that handles IMAP

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connections from any IMAP-compliant email program. When _Alpine_

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accesses a remote mailbox, the _Alpine_ program is the IMAP client

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and the _IMAPd_ program is the IMAP server. Of course, _Alpine_ can

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use any IMAP-compliant IMAP server, not just _IMAPd_.

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Background Details

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Domain Names

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Domain names are used to uniquely name each host on the Internet. A domain

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name has a number of parts separated by periods. Each label represents a

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level in the hierarchy. An example of a name is:

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olive.cac.washington.edu

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In this domain name the top-level label is _edu_, indicating it is at an

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educational institution, the second-level label is _washington_, indicating

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the University of Washington. _cac_ is a specific department within the

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University of Washington, and _olive_ is the host name. The top-level names

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are assigned by Internet organizations, and other names are assigned at the

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appropriate level. The Domain Name Service, DNS, is the distributed database

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used to look up these names.

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_Alpine_ relies on domain names in multiple places. A domain name is

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embedded into the message-id line generated for each piece of email. A

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domain name is needed to contact an IMAP server to get access to remote

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INBOXes and folders. Most importantly, domain names are needed to construct

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the From: line of your outgoing messages so that people on the Internet will

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be able to get email back to you.

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On UNIX systems, you can set the domain via the user-domain variable in the

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_Alpine_ configuration file, or rely on the file /etc/hosts which usually

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sets the name of the local host. While _Alpine_ can often deliver email

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without the domain name being properly configured, it is best to have this

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set correctly. Problems can usually be solved by adjusting the system's

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entry in the /etc/hosts file. The fully-qualified name should be listed

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before any abbreviations. For example,

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128.95.112.99 olive.cac.washington.edu olive

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is preferred over

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128.95.112.99 olive olive.cac.washington.edu

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On PCs, the task of configuring the domain name is a bit different. Often

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times PCs do not have domain names-they have _IP addresses_. IP addresses

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are the numbers which uniquely identify a computer on the network. The way

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you configure your IP address depends on the networking software which you

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use on the PC. You can refer to the documentation which came with your

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networking software or see the PC specific installation notes for help

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configuring the IP address with your network software.

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With PCs, it is vital that users set the variable user-domain in the _Alpine_

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configuration file (PINERC).

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Details on configuring _Alpine_ with correct domain names can be found in

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the Domain Settings section of this document.

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_________________________________________________________________

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RFC 2822 Compliance

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_Alpine_ tries to adhere to RFC 2822 fairly strictly.

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As far as outgoing email is concerned, _Alpine_ fully-qualifies addresses

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whenever possible. They are even displayed in fully-qualified form on the

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terminal as the user composes a message. This makes addresses more clear and

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gives a hint to the user that the network extends beyond the local

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organization. _Alpine_ implements fully-qualified domain names by tacking on

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the local domain to all unqualified addresses which a user types in. Any

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address which does not contain an "@" is considered unqualified.

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The format for addresses allows for spaces and special characters in the

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full name of an address. For this reason, commas are required to separate

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addresses. If any special characters as defined in RFC 2822 appear in the

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full name, quotes are required around the address. _Alpine_ will insert the

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quotes automatically if needed. The common cases where this happens are with

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periods after initials and parentheses.

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_Alpine_ expects dates to be in the standard RFC 822 format which is

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something like:

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[www, ] dd mmm yy hh:mm[:ss] [timezone]

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It will attempt to parse dates that are not in this format. When an

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unparsable date is encountered it is shown as question marks in the FOLDER

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INDEX screen.

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_________________________________________________________________

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SMTP and Sendmail

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_Alpine_ is a _user agent_ not a _message transfer agent_ (MTA). In plain

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English, that means _Alpine_ does not know how to interact with other

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computers on the Internet to deliver or receive email. What _Alpine_ does

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know how to do is help users read, organize and create email. The "dirty

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work" of delivering and accepting email is handled by other programs.

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All outgoing email is delivered to an SMTP server or to a mail transfer

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agent. A common mail transfer agent is sendmail. The usual method of

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delivery used by _Alpine_ is to use either a local or a remote SMTP server.

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The selection of which MTA to use depends on the settings of smtp-server,

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sendmail-path, and compile-time options. The first MTA specified in the

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following list is used:

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1. _sendmail-path_ in /usr/local/lib/pine.conf.fixed

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2. _smtp-server_ in /usr/local/pine.conf.fixed

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3. _sendmail-path_ specified on the command line.

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4. _smtp-server_ specified on the command line.

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5. _sendmail-path_ in the user's .pinerc file.

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6. _smtp-server_ in the user's .pinerc file.

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7. _sendmail-path_ in /usr/local/lib/pine.conf

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8. _smtp-server_ in /usr/local/pine.conf

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9. DF_SENDMAIL_PATH defined at compile time.

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10. SENDMAIL and SENDMAILFLAGS defined at compile time.

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If the _sendmail-path_ form is used, a child process is forked, and the

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specified command is executed with the message passed on standard input.

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Standard output is then passed back and displayed for the user. _NOTE: The

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program MUST read the message to be posted on standard input, AND operate in

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the style of sendmail's "-t" option. This method is not recommended unless

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there are special reasons you want to do this. _

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If an _smtp-server_ is specified, _Alpine_ operates as an SMTP client. SMTP

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stands for _Simple Mail Transfer Protocol_; it specifies the rules by which

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computers on the Internet pass email to one another. In this case, _Alpine_

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passes outgoing email messages to a designated SMTP server instead of to a

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mail transfer program on the local machine. A program on the server then

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takes care of delivering the message. To make _Alpine_ operate as an SMTP

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client, the smtp-server variable must be set to the IP address or host name

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of the SMTP server within your organization. This variable accepts a comma

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separated list of servers, so you can specify multiple alternate SMTP

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servers. _PC-Alpine_ only runs as an SMTP client so the _smtp-server_ option

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is mandatory.

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For UNIX _Alpine_, if neither _smtp-server_ or _sendmail-path_ is set, the

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default sendmail program is invoked with the "-bs -odb -oem" flags, and the

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message is sent using the SMTP protocol.

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_________________________________________________________________

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Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP)

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IMAP is a remote access protocol for message stores. _Alpine_ uses IMAP to

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get at messages and folders which reside on remote machines. With IMAP,

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messages are kept on the server. An IMAP client (such as _Alpine_) can

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request specific messages, headers, message structures, message parts, etc.

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The client can also issue commands which delete messages from folders on the

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server. IMAP's closest kin is POP, the Post Office Protocol, which works by

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transferring an entire mailbox to the client where all the mail is kept. For

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a comparison of IMAP and POP, see the paper "Comparing Two Approaches to

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Remote Mailbox Access: IMAP vs. POP" by Terry Gray. A more detailed

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exploration of message access may be found in the paper " Message Access

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Paradigms and Protocols."

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IMAP Features:

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* Allows access to mail folders from more than one client computer.

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* Works well over low-bandwidth lines because information is sent in small

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pieces as needed by the user. For example, only header information is

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sent to build index lists, and if someone sends a large audio file via

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MIME, you can choose when (or if) you want to get that part of the

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message.

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* Email can be delivered and stored on a well-maintained and reliable

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server which is "always-up".

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* Folders can be accessed and manipulated from anywhere on the Internet.

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* Users can get to messages stored in different folders within the same

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_Alpine_ session.

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* Allows use of IMAP server for searching and parsing.

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* The latest revision of IMAP (IMAP4) also provides for disconnected

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operation, including resynchronization of message state between mail

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servers and message caches on clients. _Alpine_ does not support this

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capability, however.

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IMAP4rev1 is described in RFC 3501. Further information about IMAP may be

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obtained from the University of Washington's IMAP Information Center.

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_Alpine_ is an IMAP4rev1 client.

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_________________________________________________________________

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Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)

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MIME is a way of encoding a multipart message structure into a standard

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Internet email message. The parts may be nested and may be of seven

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different types: Text, Audio, Image, Video, Message, Application and

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Multipart (nested). The MIME specification allows email programs such as

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_Alpine_ to reliably and simply exchange binary data (images, spreadsheets,

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etc.). MIME includes support for international character sets, tagging each

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part of a message with the character set it is written in, and providing

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7-bit encoding of 8-bit character sets.

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The MIME standard was officially published in June of 1992 as RFC 1341 and

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subsequently revised in RFC 2045 when it became a full Internet Standard.

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_Pine_ 3.0 was one of the first email programs to Implement MIME. Now, there

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are dozens of commercial and freely available MIME-capable email programs.

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In addition, MIME is being added to newsreaders so MIME messages can be

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posted and read in USENET newsgroups.

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The MIME standard also includes support for non-ASCII text in message

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headers through the extensions described in RFC 1342 and subsequently

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revised in RFC 2047.

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An actual MIME message looks something like this:

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Date: Tue, 12 Mar 1996 15:39:35 -0800 (PST)

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From: David L Miller <dlm@cac.washington.edu>

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To: David L Miller <dlm@cac.washington.edu>

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Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Test_MIME_message_with_RFC-1522_headers_=28=E1?= =?i

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so-8859-1?Q?=E2=E3=29?=

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Message-Id: <Pine.ULT.3.92.960312150851.21583I-101000@shiva2.cac.washington.edu

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>

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Mime-Version: 1.0

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Content-Type: MULTIPART/MIXED; BOUNDARY="0-1737669234-826673975=:21583"

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Content-Id: <Pine.ULT.3.92.960312153928.21583O@shiva2.cac.washington.edu>

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This message is in MIME format. The first part should be readable text,

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while the remaining parts are likely unreadable without MIME-aware tools.

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Send mail to mime@docserver.cac.washington.edu for more info.

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--0-1737669234-826673975=:21583

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Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII

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Content-ID: <Pine.ULT.3.92.960312153104.21583L@shiva2.cac.washington.edu>

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The text of the message would go here. It is readable if

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one doesn't mind wading around a little bit of the MIME

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formatting. After this is a binary file in base 64

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encoding.

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|\ | |\/| David L. Miller dlm@cac.washington.edu (206) 685-6240

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|/ |_ | | Software Engineer, Pine Development Team (206) 685-4045 (FAX)

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University of Washington, Networks & Distributed Computing, JE-20

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4545 15th Ave NE, Seattle WA 98105, USA

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--0-1737669234-826673975=:21583

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Content-Type: APPLICATION/ZIP; NAME="test.zip"

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Content-Transfer-Encoding: BASE64

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Content-ID: <Pine.ULT.3.92.960312153638.21583N@shiva2.cac.washington.edu>

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Content-Description: Test Attachment

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UEsDBBQAAAAIAGh8bCBbZKT4ygIAAHgFAAAEAAAAdGVzdIVUX2vbMBB/16c4

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9rSBNyjsYX1UHSUROLInycv2qNhKI5ZYxlLa5dvvpDRLw6CFgJF09/t3Rxo3

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WDBDD43rPJjJQpxMbw9m+h3AbyHuLLSDe7JTcPGUbtYm7NzwGP3wBYQnnT8c

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7NQ5s4djsC8t4QbmYE6wsfjpLTy7uPPHCOPk/ATPk4vRDmS008GF4PzwPich

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zY3m4LfxOQlPNy4GcEO3P/a2h2j/xGyp9ONpco+7CHf33+4/393ff4XNibzL

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c1UVfXJXQIdIBRx877b4TYy9C3Fym2NEyzsX/pNDet8dD3aIJiagLbo2wwnG

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4zT6cK66ZLK1NhH9J4tcZQEy7OxkNyd4nMwQbV9glP7JZb87E3O32fgnm7We

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XQ8+us4SM47WTCkgMPt9enc2ZAW5c+Pj7o32l0IXXk/r8pSRE3A4jqOfIqqF

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G+PFlSdRDOaQduXNESTwtDcYfJ8191gWXUjYmOJ43Oxdh11JTzRuSPcY37+B

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vNqmf0O5RB1G27mt64rLCp4X8pW1L6BvxunCeYHNk3F7s9lb+GAwyvAhOyNE

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Lxm0gv9gUnH9C+o5rKlacrHQtYAZV2VF+UoBrSp8kJIKzZkqgP1sJFMKagl8

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1VSczQqy5noJki2onIGuQS+5AlXPNfaxArgoq3aGwJDq6lZDxVdcU82RKMG/

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4JArTVKzYrJc4pE+8CoJpGIGc65FIp8jO4WGSs3LtqISmlY2tUKyVMUFETWw

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H0xoUMvE8KbXB4aC6EPFzrDiF6iGlZxWBeFixiUrdXJb1kKx7y2C4hPM6Iou

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WI4hdVyO6yXVqkZqiXmottLJ9lzWK1LVKttqk8oZ1TS1NrJGS5jqeslQI0aK

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ieCvzNlgNZJqiccCc5WafLxmKdii4gsmSvYpISkteamzkRwXJiG5SoUpcERK

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8xIE8QQ7o+eh5WAUy1qYRP8rioip/maI+OfyF1BLAQIUAxQAAAAIAGh8bCBb

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ZKT4ygIAAHgFAAAEAAAAAAAAAAEAAACkgQAAAAB0ZXN0UEsFBgAAAAABAAEA

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MgAAAOwCAAAAAA==

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--0-1737669234-826673975=:21583--

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For details about _Alpine_'s implementation of MIME, see the two MIME

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sections "MIME: Reading a Message" and "MIME: Sending a Message" later in

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this document.

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_________________________________________________________________

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Folder Collections

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Folder Collections are _Alpine_'s way of dealing with more than a single

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group of folders.

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For a more complete description of Folder Collections, see the section on

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"Syntax for Collections."

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The _Alpine_ distribution is designed to require as little configuration and

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effort at compile time as possible. Still, there are some _Alpine_ behaviors

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which are set at the time you compile _Alpine_. For each of these, there is

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a reasonable (our opinion) default built into the code, so most systems

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administrators will have no need for these steps.

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Building and Installation

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Compile-time Options

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_Alpine_'s UNIX build environment is based on Autotools (the GNU Build

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System). Once you've unpacked the source distribution find the file

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configure in the top-level directory. You may look at the many options

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available by typing

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./configure --help

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or you could just try building with the command

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./configure

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followed by

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make

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Note, while the UW IMAP Toolkit (whose c-client library _Alpine_ uses for

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mailbox access) build is not based on Autotools, _Alpine_'s configure script

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should set an appropriate make target and compilation options for most

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systems.

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Some of the following can only be set when you build. Others, however, can

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be overridden by command-line flags to _Alpine_ or settings in _Alpine_'s

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user or system configuration files. Some of the options which can be set

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when building:

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Including LDAP Functionality

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By default, the configure script will attempt to find the LDAP library

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support for you. If you are having trouble with LDAP take a look at the

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configure options

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--with-ldap-dir=DIR

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Specify the root of the LDAP lib/include path.

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--with-ldap-include-dir=DIR

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Specify the LDAP include path.

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--with-ldap-lib-dir=DIR

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Specify the LDAP library path.

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--without-ldap

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Disable LDAP support.

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_Alpine_ uses LDAPv3 protocol. When using the LDAPv3 protocol, the results

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are assumed to be in the UTF-8 character set, which _Alpine_ handles well.

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If the LDAP server returns non-ascii data which is not encoded as UTF-8 you

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will probably run into problems.

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Including Kerberos 5 Functionality

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This works analogously to the LDAP build. By default, the configure script

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will attempt to find the Kerberos library support for you. If you are having

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trouble with Kerberos take a look at the configure options

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--with-krb5-dir=DIR

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Specify the root of the Kerberos lib/include path.

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--with-krb5-include-dir=DIR

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Specify the Kerberos include path.

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--with-krb5-lib-dir=DIR

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Specify the Kerberos library path.

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--without-krb5

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Disable Kerberos support.

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Other Alpine Compile-time Options

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--disable-nls

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Do not use Native Language Support. NLS refers to the use of GNU

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gettext utilities to localize a program, in the sense that English is

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translated to some other language. At the time this was written the

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low-level support for NSL is included in _Alpine_ but no translations

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have been done. If there is no translation available, that means that

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disabling NLS will make no difference. If you have trouble building

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which is due to gettext or libintl you could try this option, or one

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of the following.

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--with-libintl-prefix[=DIR]

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--without-libintl-prefix

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--with-ssl-dir=DIR

522

Specify the root of the SSL lib/include path (OpenSSL).

523

--with-ssl-include-dir=DIR

524

Specify the SSL include path.

525

--with-ssl-lib-dir=DIR

526

Specify the SSL library path.

527

--with-ssl-certs-dir=DIR

528

Specify the path to the SSL certificates directory.

529

--without-ssl

530

Disable SSL support.

531

--without-pthread

532

Do not test for nor build with POSIX thread support, which is used

533

only for the Busy-Cue in the status line at this time.

534

--without-smime

535

Disable S/MIME support.

536

--disable-debug

537

Never create debug files.

538

--with-smtp-msa=PATH

539

Local Mail Submission Agent (sendmail, by default).

540

--with-smtp-msa-flags=FLAGS

541

MSA flags for SMTP on stdin/stdout (-bs -odb -oem).

542

543

There are many more options which you can see using the

544

545

./configure --help

546

547

command.

548

549

IMAPd Compile-time Options

550

551

There are no options or settings required for the version of _IMAPd_

552

distributed with _Alpine_. If you need to be doing more complex

553

modifications to IMAP, then you should pick up the IMAP development package

554

and work with that code. The developer's version of IMAP is available for

555

anonymous ftp from ftp.cac.washington.edu in the directory mail. The file is

556

called imap.tar.Z. Unless it has changed since _Alpine_ was released, the

557

directory imap in the _Alpine_ distribution is the IMAP development package.

558

559

The c-client library has not been converted to use the GNU Build System's

560

autotools. The _Alpine_ configure script will try to correctly guess the

561

arguments needed for the c-client make command and will build the library,

562

but if you need to change anything you should take a look at imap/docs/BUILD

563

for more detailed instructions.

564

_________________________________________________________________

565

566

Building the Alpine Programs

567

568

You may have already compiled _Alpine_ and tried it out. If so, great! If

569

not, you should be able to do it without too much trouble by following these

570

step-by-step instructions:

571

572

1. Make sure you're in the root of the _Alpine_ source. When you type ls

573

you should see the following files and directories (or something close

574

to it):

575

aclocal.m4 config.sub imap Makefile.am packages web

576

alpine configure include Makefile.in pico

577

build.bat configure.ac install-sh mapi pith

578

build.cmd contrib LICENSE missing po

579

config.guess depcomp ltmain.sh mkinstalldirs README

580

config.rpath doc m4 NOTICE VERSION

581

2. Give the command ./configure Configure should grind away for a few

582

minutes.

583

3. When configure is complete, give the command make. If make stops and

584

asks

585

586

Do you want to build with IPv6 anyway? Type y or n please:

587

you should answer with a 'y'. The compiler should grind away for a few

588

minutes. The _Alpine_ binary will end up in .../alpine/alpine and the

589

Pico and Pilot binaries in .../pico/pico and .../pico/pilot. Other

590

binaries you may be interested in are .../alpine/rpdump and

591

.../alpine/rpload and c-client binaries in the directories

592

.../imap/imapd, .../imap/ipopd, .../imap/mailutil, and so on.

593

4. If you need to try again, make sure you're getting a clean start by

594

giving the command make clean.

595

_________________________________________________________________

596

597

Installing Alpine and Pico on UNIX Platforms

598

599

Installing _Alpine_ and _Pico_ is simple. You take the program files which

600

you have just transferred or built and you move them to the correct

601

directory on your system. Most often the binaries go in /usr/local/bin

602

though sometimes they are placed in /usr/bin. All the help text is compiled

603

into _Alpine_ so there are no _required_ auxiliary files. Instead of copying

604

the binaries manually, you may use make install to install them.

605

606

There are three optional auxiliary files: /usr/local/lib/pine.info,

607

/usr/local/lib/pine.conf, and /usr/local/lib/pine.conf.fixed. The file

608

pine.info contains text on how to get further help on the local system. It

609

is part of the help text for the main menu and should probably refer to the

610

local help desk or the system administrator. If this file doesn't exist a

611

generic version which suggests ``talking to the computer support staff at

612

your site'' is shown. The file pine.conf is used to set system-wide default

613

configurations for _Alpine_. The file pine.conf.fixed is also used to set

614

system-wide default configurations for _Alpine_. The difference between

615

these two files is that configuration variables set in the pine.conf.fixed

616

file may not normally be over-ridden by a user. See the section on Alpine

617

Configuration later in this document for details about the pine.conf and

618

pine.conf.fixed files.

619

_________________________________________________________________

620

621

Installing PC-Alpine

622

623

The PC-Alpine distribution comes as a .zip file. To install, unzip the files

624

to a directory where you would like the program to reside. Modern Windows

625

versions come with the capability of unzipping .zip files. Failing that, you

626

can use one of the many .zip file extractors out there. Following current

627

Windows conventions, a common directory into which the files could be

628

extracted would be C:\Program Files\PC-Alpine\.

629

630

Having extracted PC-Alpine's .zip file to the directory of choice, you can

631

now run that directory's alpine.exe, which is the actual PC-Alpine program.

632

For convenience, you could place shortcuts to it on the task bar, start

633

menu, etc.

634

635

Upon first running PC-Alpine, you may be asked where you would like to

636

access your Configuration file (called the _pinerc_). This is useful in

637

accessing already existing configuration files, and it does not matter where

638

this file gets created. If you are connecting to an IMAP server to access

639

your email, it is also possible to store this Configuration data on that

640

server, which facilitates accessing the same configuration from multiple

641

machines (in fact, your configuration may have already been set up this way

642

for use with other _Alpine_ programs).

643

644

After having established the location of the configuration file, it may be

645

necessary to specify a few configuration settings before reading or sending

646

mail. You may be prompted for the following (which may also be edited from

647

the (S)etup (C)onfig screen from the Main Menu):

648

649

Folder to open as inbox (or _inbox-path_) - This can be an inbox residing

650

on an IMAP or POP3 server, or one residing locally. An example of an INBOX

651

for an IMAP server is: {server.example.com}INBOX.

652

653

User-id, Personal name, and host/domain, which are to be used as your

654

email address.

655

656

SMTP server to forward message - You must enter your SMTP server before

657

you can send any messages.

658

659

At this point, you will be able to read and send email messages. There are,

660

however, many more preferences that you can set in the Configuration screen.

661

_________________________________________________________________

662

663

Installing IMAPd

664

665

When the _Alpine_ distribution is built on a UNIX system, the IMAP server

666

binary, imapd, is compiled. Installing imapd requires placing the binary in

667

the appropriate directory, usually /usr/etc, and adding entries to

668

/etc/services and /etc/inetd.conf or their counterparts.

669

670

Instead of including installation instructions here we'll just include a

671

pointer to detailed instructions in the c-client distribution. Please take a

672

look at the file imap/docs/BUILD in the source tree.

673

_________________________________________________________________

674

675

Support Files and Environment Variables: UNIX Alpine

676

677

This section lists the various files which _Alpine_ uses which are not email

678

folders. All of these are the default names of files, they may vary based on

679

_Alpine_'s configuration.

680

/usr/local/lib/pine.conf

681

Pine's global configuration file.

682

/usr/local/lib/pine.conf.fixed

683

Non-overridable global configuration file.

684

/usr/local/lib/pine.info

685

Local pointer to system administrator.

686

~/.pinerc

687

Personal configuration file for each user.

688

~/.pinercex

689

Personal exceptions configuration file for each user.

690

~/.addressbook

691

Personal addressbook

692

~/.newsrc

693

Personal USENET subscription list. This is shared with other

694

newsreading programs.

695

~/.pine-debugX

696

The files created for debugging _Alpine_ problems. By default, there

697

are 4 .pine-debug files kept at any time.

698

~/.signature

699

A signature file which will be included in all outgoing email

700

messages.

701

~/.pine-interrupted-mail

702

The text of a message which was interrupted by some unexpected error

703

which _Alpine_ detected.

704

~/mail/postponed-msgs

705

A folder of messages which the user chose to postpone.

706

/etc/mailcap

707

System-wide mail capabilities file. Only used if $MAILCAPS not set.

708

~/.mailcap

709

Personal mail capabilities file. Combines with system-wide mailcap.

710

Only used if $MAILCAPS not set.

711

712

The location of the following support files may be controlled by variables

713

in the personal or global _Alpine_ configuration file: signature,

714

addressbook and its index file, postponed messages, and newsrc.

715

716

Unix _Alpine_ uses the following environment variables:

717

TERM

718

Tells _Alpine_ what kind of terminal is being used.

719

DISPLAY

720

Determines if _Alpine_ will try to display IMAGE attachments.

721

TMPDIR, TMP, or TEMP

722

Specifies location of temporary storage area, first one set wins

723

SHELL

724

If not set, default is /bin/sh

725

MAILCAPS

726

A semicolon delimited list of path names to mailcap files.

727

_________________________________________________________________

728

729

Support Files, Environment Variables, and Registry Settings: PC-Alpine

730

731

This section lists the various files which _PC-Alpine_ uses which are not

732

normal mail folders. All of these are the default names of files, they may

733

vary based on _Alpine_'s configuration.

734

735

$PINERC or <PineRC registry value> or $HOME\PINE\PINERC or <PINE.EXE

736

dir>\PINERC

737

Path to (required) personal configuration file.

738

$PINERCEX or $HOME\PINE\PINERCEX or <PINE.EXE dir>\PINERCEX

739

Path to personal exceptions configuration file.

740

$PINECONF

741

Path of optional global configuration file.

742

<PINERC directory>\ADDRBOOK

743

Personal addressbook

744

<PINERC directory>\PINEDEBG.TXT

745

Location of _Alpine_ debug file.

746

<PINERC directory>\MAILCAP and/or <PINE.EXE dir>\MAILCAP

747

These paths are only used if $MAILCAPS not set.

748

$HOME\NEWSRC or <PINERC directory>\NEWSRC

749

Personal USENET subscription list. This may be shared with other

750

newsreading programs.

751

$HOME\MAIL\INTRUPTD

752

The text of a message which was interrupted by some unexpected error

753

which _Alpine_ detected.

754

$HOME\MAIL\POSTPOND

755

A folder of messages which the user chose to postpone.

756

757

Registry Values:

758

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\University of Washington\Alpine\1.0

759

_Pinedir_: The directory that contains the _Alpine_ executable.

760

_PineEXE_: The name of the _Alpine_ executable (most commonly

761

"alpine.exe").

762

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\University of Washington\Alpine\1.0

763

_PineRC_: The path that points to the default pinerc to use.

764

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Clients\Mail\Alpine

765

_DLLPath_: The path that points to _Alpine_'s pmapi32.dll.

766

HKLM\Software\Clients\Mail\Alpine\shell\open\command

767

_(Default)_: When set as the default mailer, this is the command that

768

is run by external programs.

769

HKLM\Software\Clients\Mail\Alpine\Protocols\Mailto\DefaultIcon

770

_(Default)_: This points to the icon to display in relation to

771

_Alpine_'s mailto URL rendering.

772

HKLM\Software\Clients\Mail\Alpine\Protocols\Mailto\shell\open\command

773

_(Default)_: This value is the command that gets run by external

774

programs when a mailto URL is run with _PC-Alpine_ set as the default

775

mailer.

776

HKLM\Software\Clients\News\Alpine\shell\open\command

777

_(Default)_: When set as the default newsreader, this is the command

778

that is run by external programs.

779

HKLM\Software\Clients\News\Alpine\Protocols\news\DefaultIcon

780

_(Default)_: This points to the icon to display in relation to

781

_Alpine_'s news URL rendering.

782

HKLM\Software\Clients\News\Alpine\Protocols\news\shell\open\command

783

_(Default)_: This value is the command that gets run by external

784

programs when a news URL is run with _Alpine_ set as the default

785

newsreader.

786

HKLM\Software\Clients\News\Alpine\Protocols\nntp\DefaultIcon

787

_(Default)_: This points to the icon to display in relation to

788

_Alpine_'s nntp URL rendering.

789

HKLM\Software\Clients\News\Alpine\Protocols\nntp\shell\open\command

790

_(Default)_: This value is the command that gets run by external

791

programs when a nntp URL is run with _Alpine_ set as the default

792

newsreader.

793

794

_Alpine_'s personal configuration file may be in the same directory as the

795

executable, or if that is inconvenient because the executable is on a shared

796

or read-only drive, then it can be in a file named by the $PINERC

797

environment variable, or in $HOME\ALPINE\PINERC, where if not set, $HOME

798

defaults to the root of the current working drive.

799

800

Most of the other support files key off of the location of the PINERC file.

801

However, in the case of the NEWSRC file, the path $HOME\NEWSRC is checked

802

first. Also, the postponed messages and interrupted message folders are

803

placed in the default folder collection, normally in the directory

804

$HOME\MAIL.

805

806

The location of the following support files may be controlled by variables

807

in the personal or global _Alpine_ configuration file: signature,

808

addressbook (and its index file), postponed messages, and newsrc.

809

810

_PC-Alpine_ uses the following environment variables:

811

PINERC

812

Overrides default path to pinerc file.

813

PINERCEX

814

Overrides default path to personal exceptions configuration file.

815

PINECONF

816

Optional path to global _Alpine_ config file.

817

HOME

818

If not set, _Alpine_ uses the root of the current drive, e.g. C:

819

TMPDIR, TMP, or TEMP

820

Specifies location of temporary storage area, first one set wins

821

COMSPEC

822

Specifies shell for external commands.

823

MAILCAPS

824

A semicolon delimited list of path names to mailcap files.

825

826

Command Line Arguments

827

828

Alpine

829

830

_Alpine_ and _PC-Alpine_ can accept quite a few command-line arguments. Many

831

of these arguments overlap with variables in the _Alpine_ configuration

832

file. If there is a difference, then a flag set in the command line takes

833

precedence. Both _Alpine_ and _PC-Alpine_ expect command line arguments

834

(other than addresses) to be preceded by the "-" (dash) as normally used by

835

UNIX programs.

836

837

_[addresses]_

838

Send-to: If you give _Alpine_ an argument or arguments which do not

839

begin with a dash, _Alpine_ treats them as email addresses. _Alpine_

840

will startup in the composer with a message started to the addresses

841

specified. Once the message is sent, the _Alpine_ session closes.

842

Standard input redirection is allowed. Separate multiple addresses

843

with a space between them. Addresses are placed in the "To" field

844

only.

845

< _file_

846

_Alpine_ will startup in the composer with _file_ read into the body

847

of the message. Once the message is sent, the _Alpine_ session

848

closes.

849

-attach _file_

850

Go directly into composer with given file attached.

851

-attachlist _file-list_

852

Go directly into composer with given files attached. This must be the

853

last option on the command line.

854

-attach_and_delete _file_

855

Go directly into composer with given file attached, delete when

856

finished.

857

-aux _local_directory_

858

_PC-Alpine_ only. This tells _PC-Alpine_ the local directory to use

859

for storing auxiliary files, like debug files, address books, and

860

signature files. The pinerc may be local or remote.

861

-nosplash

862

_PC-Alpine_ only. This tells _PC-Alpine_ to not display the splash

863

screen upon startup. This may be helpful for certain troubleshooting

864

or terminal server scenarios.

865

-bail

866

If the personal configuration file doesn't already exist, exit. This

867

might be useful if the configuration file is accessed using some

868

remote filesystem protocol. If the remote mount is missing this will

869

cause _Alpine_ to quit instead of creating a new pinerc.

870

-c _n_

871

When used with the -f option, apply the _n_th context. This is used

872

when there are multiple folder collections (contexts) and you want to

873

open a folder not in the primary collection.

874

-conf

875

Configuration: Prints a sample system configuration file to the

876

screen or standard output. To generate an initial system

877

configuration file, execute

878

alpine -conf > /usr/local/lib/pine.conf

879

To generate a system configuration file using settings from an old

880

system configuration file, execute

881

alpine -P old-pine.conf -conf > /usr/local/lib/pine.conf

882

A system configuration file is not required.

883

-convert_sigs _-p pinerc_

884

Convert signatures contained in signature files into literal

885

signatures.

886

-copy_abook _<local_abook_file> <remote_abook_folder>_

887

Copy an address book file to a remote address book folder. If the

888

remote folder doesn't exist, it will be created. If it exists but the

889

first message in the folder isn't a remote address book header

890

message, the copy will be aborted. This flag will not usually be used

891

by a user. Instead, the user will create a remote address book from

892

within _Alpine_ and copy entries from the local address book by using

893

aggregate Save in the address book screen.

894

-copy_pinerc _<local_pinerc_file> <remote_pinerc_folder>_

895

Copy a pinerc configuration file to a remote pinerc folder. If the

896

remote folder doesn't exist, it will be created. If it exists but the

897

first message in the folder isn't a remote pinerc header message, the

898

copy will be aborted. This flag may be useful to users who already

899

have a local pinerc file and would like to convert it to a remote

900

pinerc folder and use that instead. This gives a way to bootstrap

901

that conversion without having to manually reset all of the variables

902

in the remote pinerc folder.

903

-d _debug-level_

904

Debug Level: Sets the level of debugging information written by

905

_Alpine_. _Debug-level_ can be set to any integer 0-9. A debug level

906

of 0 turns off debugging for the session. (Actually there are some

907

levels higher than 9, but you probably don't want to see them.

908

Sensitive authentication information is hidden at levels less than

909

10.)

910

-d _keywords_

911

You may use a more detailed version of the debugging flag to set the

912

debug level in separate parts of _Alpine_. The possibilities are

913

flush, timestamp, imap=0..4, tcp, numfiles=0..31, and verbose=0..9.

914

_Flush_ causes debugging information to be flushed immediately to the

915

debug file as it is written. _Verbose_ is the general debugging

916

verbosity level. _Timestamp_ causes timestamps to be added to the

917

debug file, which is useful when you are trying to figure out what is

918

responsible for delays. _Numfiles_ sets the number of debug files

919

saved. _Imap_ sets the debug level for the debugging statements

920

related to the conversation with the IMAP server, and more generally,

921

for the debugging related to _Alpine_'s interaction with the C-Client

922

library. If _imap_ is set higher than 4, sensitive authentication

923

information will be included in the debug file. _Tcp_ adds more

924

TCP/IP debugging information.

925

-f _folder_

926

Startup folder: _Alpine_ will open this folder in place of the

927

standard INBOX.

928

-F _file_

929

Open named text file for viewing and forwarding.

930

-h

931

Help: Prints the list of available command-line arguments to the

932

screen.

933

-i

934

_Alpine_ will start up in the FOLDER INDEX screen instead of the MAIN

935

MENU.

936

Configuration equivalent: _initial-keystroke-list=i_.

937

-I _a,b,c,..._

938

Initial Keystrokes: _Alpine_ will execute this comma-separated

939

sequence of commands upon startup. This allows users to get _Alpine_

940

to start in any of its menus/screens. You cannot include any input to

941

the composer in the initial keystrokes. The key <Return> is

942

represented by a ``CR'' in the keystroke list; the spacebar is

943

designated by the letters ``SPACE''. Control keys are two character

944

sequences beginning with ``^'', such as ``^I''. A tab character is

945

``TAB''. Function keys are ``F1'' - ``F12'' and the arrow keys are

946

``UP'', ``DOWN'', ``LEFT'', and ``RIGHT''. A restriction is that you

947

can't mix function keys and character keys in this list even though

948

you can, in some cases, mix them when running _Alpine_. A user can

949

always use only _character_ keys in the startup list even if he or

950

she is using _function_ keys normally, or vice versa. If an element

951

in this list is a string of characters surrounded by double quotes

952

(") then it will be expanded into the individual characters in the

953

string, excluding the double quotes.

954

Configuration equivalent: _initial-keystroke-list_

955

-install

956

For _PC-Alpine_ only, this option prompts for some basic setup

957

information, then exits.

958

-k

959

Function-Key Mode: When invoked in this way, _Alpine_ expects the

960

input of commands to be function-keys. Otherwise, commands are linked

961

to the regular character keys.

962

Configuration equivalent: _use-function-keys_ included in

963

_feature-list_.

964

-n _n_

965

Message-Number: When specified, _Alpine_ starts up in the FOLDER

966

INDEX screen with the current message being the specified message

967

number.

968

-nowrite_password_cache

969

This tells _Alpine_ to use the local password cache if there is one,

970

but to never offer writing new passwords to the cache.

971

-o _folder_

972

Opens the INBOX (or a folder specified via the -f argument) ReadOnly.

973

-p _pinerc_

974

Uses the named file as the personal configuration file instead of

975

_~/.pinerc_ or the default PINERC search sequence _PC-Alpine_ uses.

976

Pinerc may be either a local file or a remote configuration folder.

977

-P _pinerc_

978

Uses the named file as the system wide configuration file instead of

979

_/usr/local/lib/pine.conf_ on UNIX, or nothing on _PC-Alpine_. Pinerc

980

may be either a local file or a remote configuration folder.

981

-passfile _passfile_

982

This tells _Alpine_ what file should be used as the password file.

983

This should be a fully-qualified filename.

984

-pinerc _file_

985

Output fresh pinerc configuration to _file_, preserving the settings

986

of variables that the user has made. Use _file_ set to ``-'' to make

987

output go to standard out.

988

-r

989

Restricted Mode: For UNIX _Alpine_ only. _Alpine_ in restricted mode

990

can only send email to itself. Save and export are limited.

991

-registry _cmd_

992

For _PC-Alpine_ only, this option affects the values of _Alpine_'s

993

registry entries. Possible values for _cmd_ are set, noset, clear,

994

clearsilent, and dump. _Set_ will always reset _Alpine_'s registry

995

entries according to its current settings. _NoSet_ will never set any

996

values in the registry, but it will still use the values already set

997

in the registry. _Clear_ will clear the registry values. _Clearsilent_

998

will silently clear the registry values. _Dump_ will display the

999

values of current registry settings. Note that the dump command is

1000

currently disabled. Without the -registry option, _PC-Alpine_ will

1001

write values into the registry only if there currently aren't any

1002

values set.

1003

-sort _key_

1004

Sort-Key: Specifies the order messages will be displayed in for the

1005

FOLDER INDEX screen. _Key_ can have the following values: arrival,

1006

date, subject, orderedsubj, thread, from, size, score, to, cc,

1007

arrival/reverse, date/reverse, subject/reverse, orderedsubj/reverse,

1008

thread/reverse, from/reverse, size/reverse, score/reverse,

1009

to/reverse, and cc/reverse. The default value is "arrival". The _key_

1010

value reverse is equivalent to arrival/reverse.

1011

Configuration equivalent: _sort-key_.

1012

-supported

1013

Some options may or may not be supported depending on how _Alpine_

1014

was compiled. This is a way to determine which options are supported

1015

in the particular copy of _Alpine_ you are using.

1016

-install

1017

For _PC-Alpine_ only, this option removes references to Alpine in

1018

Windows settings. The registry settings are removed and the password

1019

cache is cleared.

1020

-url _url_

1021

Open the given URL.

1022

-v

1023

Version: Print version information to the screen.

1024

-version

1025

Version: Print version information to the screen.

1026

-x _exceptions_config_

1027

Configuration settings in the exceptions config override your normal

1028

default settings. _Exceptions_config_ may be either a local file or a

1029

remote pinerc folder.

1030

-z

1031

Enable Suspend: When run with this flag, the key sequence ctrl-z will

1032

suspend the _Alpine_ session.

1033

Configuration equivalent: _enable-suspend_ included in

1034

_feature-list_.

1035

-_option_=_value_

1036

Assign _value_ to the config option _option_. For example,

1037

_-signature-file=sig1_ or _-feature-list=signature-at-bottom_. (Note:

1038

feature-list values are additive and features may be preceded with

1039

no- to turn them off).

1040

1041

Pico

1042

1043

The following command line options are supported in _Pico_:

1044

1045

+_n_

1046

Causes _Pico_ to be started with the cursor located _n_ lines into

1047

the file. (Note: no space between "+" sign and number)

1048

1049

-a

1050

Display all files and directories, including those beginning with a

1051

period (.).

1052

1053

-b

1054

Enable the option to Replace text matches found using the "Where is"

1055

command. This now does nothing. Instead, the option is always turned

1056

on (as if the -b flag had been specified).

1057

1058

-d

1059

Rebind the "delete" key so the character the cursor is on is rubbed

1060

out rather than the character to its left.

1061

1062

-e

1063

Enable file name completion.

1064

1065

-f

1066

Use function keys for commands. _This option supported only in

1067

conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA telnet._

1068

1069

-g

1070

Enable "Show Cursor" mode in file browser. Cause cursor to be

1071

positioned before the current selection rather than placed at the

1072

lower left of the display.

1073

1074

-k

1075

Causes "Cut Text" command to remove characters from the cursor

1076

position to the end of the line rather than remove the entire line.

1077

1078

-m

1079

Enable mouse functionality. This only works when _Pico_ is run from

1080

within an X Window System "xterm" window.

1081

1082

-n_n_

1083

The -n_n_ option enables new mail notification. The _n_ argument is

1084

optional, and specifies how often, in seconds, your mailbox is

1085

checked for new mail. For example, -n60 causes _Pico_ to check for

1086

new mail once every minute. The default interval is 180 seconds,

1087

while the minimum allowed is 30. (Note: no space between "n" and the

1088

number)

1089

1090

-o _dir_

1091

Sets operating directory. Only files within this directory are

1092

accessible. Likewise, the file browser is limited to the specified

1093

directory subtree.

1094

1095

-p

1096

Preserve the "start" and "stop" characters, typically Ctrl-Q and

1097

Ctrl-S, which are sometimes used in communications paths to control

1098

data flow between devices that operate at different speeds.

1099

1100

-q

1101

TermdefWins. Termcap or terminfo escape sequences are used in

1102

preference to default escape sequences.

1103

1104

-Q _quotestr_

1105

Set the quote string. Especially useful when composing email, setting

1106

this allows the quote string to be checked for when Justifying

1107

paragraphs. A common quote string is "> ".

1108

1109

-r_n_

1110

Sets column used to limit the "Justify" command's right margin.

1111

1112

-t

1113

Enable "tool" mode. Intended for when _Pico_ is used as the editor

1114

within other tools (e.g., Elm, Pnews). _Pico_ will not prompt for

1115

save on exit, and will not rename the buffer during the "Write Out"

1116

command.

1117

1118

-v

1119

View the file only, disallowing any editing.

1120

1121

-version

1122

Print version information.

1123

1124

-w

1125

Disable word wrap (thus allow editing of long lines).

1126

1127

_Note: Pico will break any lines over 255 characters when reading a

1128

file, regardless of word wrapping._

1129

1130

-x

1131

Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen.

1132

1133

-z

1134

Enable ^Z suspension of _Pico_.

1135

1136

Pilot

1137

1138

The following command line options are supported in _Pilot_:

1139

1140

-a

1141

Display all files including those beginning with a period (.).

1142

1143

-f

1144

Use function keys for commands. _This option supported only in

1145

conjunction with UW Enhanced NCSA telnet._

1146

1147

-g

1148

Enable "Show Cursor" mode. Cause cursor to be positioned before the

1149

current selection rather than placed at the lower left of the

1150

display.

1151

1152

-m

1153

Enable mouse functionality. This only works when _Pilot_ is run from

1154

within an X Window System "xterm" window.

1155

1156

-n_n_

1157

The -n_n_ option enables new mail notification. The _n_ argument is

1158

optional, and specifies how often, in seconds, your mailbox is

1159

checked for new mail. For example, -n60 causes _Pilot_ to check for

1160

new mail once every minute. The default interval is 180 seconds,

1161

while the minimum allowed is 30. (Note: no space between "n" and the

1162

number)

1163

1164

-o _dir_

1165

Sets operating directory. Only files within the specified directory

1166

are accessible and browsing is limited to the specified directory

1167

subtree.

1168

1169

-v

1170

Enable single vertical column display.

1171

1172

-x

1173

Disable keymenu at the bottom of the screen.

1174

1175

-z

1176

Enable ^Z suspension of _Pilot_.

1177

1178

Configuration and Preferences

1179

1180

Alpine Configuration

1181

1182

There is very little in _Alpine_ which _requires_ compile-time

1183

configuration. In most cases, the compiled-in preferences will suit users

1184

and administrators just fine. When running _Alpine_ on a UNIX system, the

1185

default built-in configuration can be changed by setting variables in the

1186

system configuration files, /usr/local/lib/pine.conf or

1187

/usr/local/lib/pine.conf.fixed. (Actually, these files can be changed using

1188

the configure arguments --with-system-pinerc=VALUE or

1189

--with-system-fixed-pinerc=VALUE.) The location of the pine.conf file can be

1190

changed with the -P command line argument. Both _Alpine_ and _PC-Alpine_

1191

also use personal (user-based) configuration files. On UNIX machines, the

1192

personal configuration file is the file ~/.pinerc. For _PC-Alpine_ systems,

1193

the personal configuration file is in $PINERC or <PineRC registry value> or

1194

${HOME}\ALPINE\PINERC or <ALPINE.EXE dir>\PINERC. Or the personal

1195

configuration file can be specified with the -p command line argument.

1196

1197

All of these configuration files, other than the fixed system config

1198

pine.conf.fixed on UNIX systems, may optionally be remote configuration

1199

files instead of local files. This is discussed further in the following

1200

section and in Remote Configuration.

1201

1202

After the personal configuration, _Alpine_ may optionally use a personal

1203

exceptions configuration file which is specified with the command line

1204

option "-x exceptions_config". "Exceptions_config" may also be either a

1205

local file or a remote configuration folder. For Unix _Alpine_, if you don't

1206

have a "-x" command line option, _Alpine_ will look for the file ".pinercex"

1207

in the same local directory that the regular config file is located in. If

1208

the regular config file is remote then Unix _Alpine_ looks in the home

1209

directory for ".pinercex".

1210

1211

For _PC-Alpine_, if you don't have a "-x" command line option, _PC-Alpine_

1212

will use the value of the environment variable $PINERCEX. If that is not

1213

set, _PC-Alpine_ will look for the local file "PINERCEX" in the same local

1214

directory that the regular config file is located in. If the regular config

1215

file is remote then _PC-Alpine_ looks in the local directory specfied by the

1216

"-aux local_directory" command line argument, or the directory

1217

${HOME}\ALPINE, or in <ALPINE.EXE directory>.

1218

1219

The syntax of a non-list configuration variable is this:

1220

1221

1222

1223

If the value is absent then the variable is unset. To set a variable to the

1224

empty value two double quotes (""). This is equivalent to an absent value

1225

except that it overrides any system-wide default value that may be set.

1226

Quotes may be used around any value. All values are strings and end at the

1227

end of the line or the closing quote. Leading and trailing space is ignored

1228

unless it is included in the quotes. There is one variable,

1229

_use-only-domain-name_, for which the only appropriate values are _yes_ and

1230

_no_. That's because it is a variable from the early days of _Alpine_ before

1231

features existed.

1232

1233

There is also a second type of variable, lists. A list is a comma-separated

1234

list of values. The syntax for a list is:

1235

1236

<variable> = <value> [, <value> , ... ]

1237

1238

A list can be continued on subsequent lines by beginning the line with

1239

white-space. Both the per-user and global configuration files may contain

1240

comments which are lines beginning with a #.

1241

1242

For UNIX _Alpine_, there are five ways in which each variable can be set. In

1243

decreasing order of precedence they are:

1244

1. the system-wide _fixed_ configuration file

1245

2. a command line argument

1246

3. the personal exceptions file

1247

4. the personal configuration file

1248

5. the system-wide configuration file.

1249

1250

If the variable is not set in any of those places, there is a default

1251

setting in the source code.

1252

1253

So, system-wide fixed settings always take precedence over command line

1254

flags, which take precedence over per-user exception settings, which take

1255

precedence over per-user settings, which take precedence over system-wide

1256

configuration settings. _PC-Alpine_ has the same list, except that it does

1257

not use a system-wide _fixed_ configuration file. This can be modified

1258

slightly by using inheritance, which is covered below.

1259

1260

You may get a sample/fresh copy of the system configuration file by running

1261

_alpine -conf_. The result will be printed on the standard output with very

1262

short comments describing each variable. (The online help in the Setup

1263

screens provides much longer comments.) If you need to fix some of the

1264

configuration variables, you would use the same template for the fixed

1265

configuration file as for the regular system-wide configuration file. (If it

1266

isn't clear, the purpose of the fixed configuration file is to allow system

1267

administrators to restrict the configurability of _Alpine_. It is by no

1268

means a bullet-proof method.) _Alpine_ will automatically create the

1269

personal configuration file the first time it is run, so there is no need to

1270

generate a sample. _Alpine_ reads and writes the personal configuration file

1271

occasionally during normal operation. Users will not normally look at their

1272

personal configuration file, but will use the Setup screens from within

1273

_Alpine_ to set the values in this file. If a user does add additional

1274

comments to the personal configuration file they will be retained.

1275

1276

References to environment variables may be included in the _Alpine_

1277

configuration files. The format is $variable or ${variable}. The character ~

1278

will be expanded to the $HOME environment variable. For a more complete

1279

explanation of how environment variables work, see the section Using

1280

Environment Variables.

1281

1282

When environment variables are used for _Alpine_ settings which take lists,

1283

you must have an environment variable set for each member of the list. That

1284

is, _Alpine_ won't properly recognize an environment variable which is set

1285

equal to a comma-delimited list. It is OK to reference unset environment

1286

variables in the _Alpine_ configuration file, which will expand to nothing.

1287

1288

Remote and Local Configuration

1289

1290

There are two types of storage for configuration information. _Local_

1291

configuration files are used by default. These are just regular files on the

1292

UNIX system or on the PC. _Remote_ configuration folders are stored on an

1293

IMAP server. The advantage of using a remote configuration is that the same

1294

information may be accessed from multiple platforms. For example, if you use

1295

one computer at work and another at home, the same configuration could be

1296

used from both places. A configuration change from one place would be seen

1297

in both places. Technical information about remote configuration is in

1298

Remote Configuration.

1299

1300

Generic and Exceptional Configuration

1301

1302

If you use _Alpine_ from more than one platform it may be convenient to

1303

split your configuration information into two pieces, a generic piece and

1304

exceptions which apply to a particular platform. For example, suppose you

1305

use _Alpine_ from home and from work. Most of your configuration settings

1306

are probably the same in both locations, so those settings belong in the

1307

generic settings configuration. However, you may use a different SMTP server

1308

and INBOX from home than you do from work. The "smtp-server" and

1309

"inbox-path" variables could be part of your exceptional configuration so

1310

that they could be different in the two places.

1311

1312

You can use the command line option "-x config" to split your configuration

1313

into generic and exceptional pieces. Config may be either local or remote.

1314

1315

For most people, splitting the configuration information into two pieces is

1316

only going to be useful if the generic information is accessed remotely. If

1317

you already have a local pinerc file with settings you like you may find

1318

that the command Setup/RemoteConfigSetup will be useful in helping you

1319

convert to a remote configuration. The command line flag copy_pinerc may

1320

also be useful.

1321

1322

Configuration Inheritance

1323

1324

Configuration inheritance is a power user feature. It is confusing and not

1325

completely supported by the configuration user interface.

1326

1327

For configuration variables which are lists, like "smtp-server" or

1328

"incoming-folders", the inheritance mechanism makes it possible to _combine_

1329

the values of options from different configuration locations instead of

1330

_replacing_ the value. Configuration Inheritance has more information about

1331

how inheritance is used.

1332

_________________________________________________________________

1333

1334

General Configuration Variables

1335

1336

The following is a list of all _Alpine_ configuration variables, in

1337

alphabetical order. Note that not all variables apply to all versions of

1338

_Alpine_ and that some variables are only applicable in a system

1339

configuration file and some are only applicable in a personal configuration

1340

file. These are configuration _variables_. Configuration Features are in a

1341

separate section.

1342

1343

_addrbook-sort-rule_

1344

This variable sets up the default address book sorting. Currently,

1345

_Alpine_ will accept the values _dont-sort_,

1346

_fullname-with-lists-last_, _fullname_, _nickname-with-lists-last_, and

1347

_nickname_. The default is to sort by fullname with lists last. If

1348

you use an address book from more than one computer and those

1349

computers sort the address book differently then the sort order will

1350

be the order where the last change to the address book was made.

1351

There are two reasons the sorting might be different on different

1352

systems. First, the addrbook-sort-rule may be set differently in the

1353

two places. Second, the collation rules on the two computers may be

1354

different. For example, one system might ignore special characters

1355

while the other doesn't or one may sort upper and lower case letters

1356

together while the other doesn't. In any case, the order you see is

1357

the order on the system where the last change was made, for example

1358

by an address book edit or a Take Address command.

1359

This option is displayed as "Addressbook Sort Rule".

1360

_address-book_

1361

A list of personal address books. Each entry in the list is an

1362

optional nickname followed by a pathname or file name relative to the

1363

home directory. The nickname is separated from the rest of the line

1364

with whitespace. Instead of a local pathname or file name, a remote

1365

folder name can be given. This causes the address book to be a Remote

1366

address book. Remote folder syntax is discussed in Syntax for Remote

1367

Folders. This list of address books will be combined with the

1368

global-address-book list to arrive at the complete set of address

1369

books.

1370

_addressbook-formats_

1371

This option specifies the format that address books are displayed in.

1372

By default, address books are displayed with the nicknames in the

1373

first column, the fullnames in the second column, and addresses in

1374

the third column. The system figures out reasonable defaults for the

1375

widths of the columns. An address book may be given a different

1376

format by listing special tokens in the order you want them to

1377

display. The possible tokens are NICKNAME, FULLNAME, ADDRESS, FCC,

1378

and COMMENT. More details are included in the online help for this

1379

variable.

1380

_alt-addresses_

1381

This option provides a place for you to list alternate email

1382

addresses you may have. Each address in the list should be the actual

1383

email address part of an address, without the full name field or the

1384

angle brackets. For example:

1385

1386

user@example.com

1387

The matching is case-insensitive, so this would match any of

1388

User@example.com, user@Example.Com, or USER@EXAMPLE.COM as well.

1389

If set, the option affects the behavior of the Reply command and the

1390

"+" symbol in the MESSAGE INDEX, which denotes that a message has

1391

been addressed specifically to you.

1392

In the default INDEX display the personal name (or email address) of

1393

the person listed in the message's "From:" header field is usually

1394

displayed except when that address is yours or one of your alternate

1395

addresses. In that case you will usually see the name of the first

1396

person specified in the message's "To:" header field with the prefix

1397

"To: " prepended.

1398

With respect to Reply, the reply-to-all option will exclude addresses

1399

listed here.

1400

The feature copy-to-address-to-from-if-it-is-us is somewhat related

1401

to this option.

1402

In addition to a list of actual addresses, you may use regular

1403

expressions (as used with egrep with the ignore case flag) to

1404

describe the addresses you want to match. _Alpine_ will somewhat

1405

arbitrarily interpret your entry as a regular expression if it

1406

contains any of the characters *, |, +, ?, {, [, ^, $, or \.

1407

Otherwise, it will be treated literally. The feature

1408

disable-regular-expression-matching-for-alternate-addresses may be

1409

used to turn off regular expression processing regardless of whether

1410

or not special characters appear in the entry.

1411

A description of how regular expressions work is beyond the scope of

1412

this help text, but some examples follow.

1413

The entry

1414

1415

.*@example.com

1416

in the alt-addresses list would mean that any address with a domain

1417

name of example.com (such as fred@example.com or wilma@example.com)

1418

will be considered one of your alternate addresses. Strictly

1419

speaking, the dot in example.com ought to be escaped with a

1420

backslash, as in example\.com, and a dollar sign anchor ought to come

1421

at the end of the expression to prevent a match of example.com.org.

1422

Complicating things further, the dollar sign is special in the

1423

_Alpine_ configuration (it signifies environment variable expansion)

1424

so the dollar sign should be doubled or backslash escaped for

1425

_Alpine_'s sake. Quotes around the whole expression will not escape the

1426

dollar sign successfully. So this example should look like

1427

1428

.*@example\.com$$

1429

The entry

1430

1431

^fred[0-9]*@example.com$$

1432

would match fred3@example.com or fred17@example.com as well as

1433

fred@example.com.

1434

You could match all addresses that look like fred+stuff@example.com

1435

for any value of stuff with the entry

1436

1437

^fred\+.*@example.com$$

1438

Notice that you have to escape the plus sign with a backslash because

1439

plus is a special character in regular expressions. If you wanted to

1440

match plain fred as well as fred+stuff the expression

1441

1442

^fred(()|\+.*)@example.com$$

1443

would do it, but it would be easier to just add fred@example.com as a

1444

separate entry.

1445

One more example, a match of all first-level subdomains, is given by

1446

1447

^fred@[[:alnum:]_-]*\.example\.com$$

1448

Because the regular expression matching is based on an old library

1449

(hs_regex) the regular expressions might not work exactly as you

1450

expect, but they should be close.

1451

This option is displayed as "Alternate Addresses".

1452

_bugs-additional-data_

1453

System-wide configuration files only. Program/Script used by _Report

1454

Bug_ command. Output from the program/script is captured and attached

1455

to the bug report.

1456

_bugs-fullname_, _bugs-address_, _local-fullname_, _local-address_,

1457

_suggest-fullname_, and _suggest-address_

1458

System-wide configuration files only. These are used by the bug

1459

report commands which can be accessed from some of the Help screens.

1460

_busy-cue-rate_

1461

When _Alpine_ is delayed for some reason it usually shows that

1462

something is happening with a small animated display in the status

1463

message line near the bottom of the screen. This option sets how

1464

frequently the characters (for example, a spinning bar) in the active

1465

status message lines are updated. At most, it can be set to be

1466

udpated 20 times per second.

1467

Setting this value to zero will prevent display of the animations

1468

altogether.

1469

The option busy-cue-spinner-only can be used to remove the randomness

1470

from this animated display.

1471

_character-set_

1472

This is now obsolete, replaced by three separate variables:

1473

_display-character-set_, _keyboard-character-set_, and

1474

_posting-character-set_. See the section on International Character

1475

Sets for more details.

1476

_color-style_

1477

UNIX _Alpine_ only (color is automatically on with _PC-Alpine_). If

1478

the terminal or terminal emulator you are using is capable of

1479

displaying colors, this variable controls whether or not color will

1480

be used in _Alpine_. If you turn color on and things are set up

1481

correctly, you should see color appear on the screen immmediately.

1482

Modern terminal emulators are usually capable of displaying colors.

1483

This variable may be set to any of the following values:

1484

1485

no-color

1486

Don't use color.

1487

1488

use-termdef

1489

In order to decide if your terminal is capable of color,

1490

_Alpine_ looks in the terminal capabilities database, TERMINFO

1491

or TERMCAP, depending on how _Alpine_ was compiled. This is a

1492

good option to choose if you switch between a color and a

1493

non-color terminal with the same _Alpine_ configuration.

1494

_Alpine_ will know to use color on the color terminal because it

1495

is described in the termcap entry, and _Alpine_ will know to

1496

use black and white on the non-color terminal. Color Details

1497

has more information about configuring a termcap entry for

1498

color. This is usually something a system administrator does.

1499

1500

force-ansi-8color

1501

Because setting up a termcap entry is confusing and because the

1502

terminal capabilities database is often not correctly

1503

configured for color, this choice and the next may be easier

1504

for you to use. If your terminal emulator responds to ANSI

1505

color escape sequences, which many do, this option will cause

1506

_Alpine_ to believe your terminal will respond to the escape

1507

sequences which produce eight different foreground and

1508

background colors. The escape sequences used to set the

1509

foreground colors are

1510

1511

ESC [ 3 <color_number> m

1512

1513

where the color_number is an ASCII digit between 0 and 7. The

1514

numbers 0 through 7 should correspond to the colors black, red,

1515

green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, and white. Some terminal

1516

emulators use a pre-ANSI scheme which swaps the colors blue and

1517

red and the colors yellow and cyan. This will cause the default

1518

colors to be different, but other than that things should work

1519

fine. There is also a 9th color available, the last one shown,

1520

which is the default color from the terminal emulator. When

1521

used as a background color some people refer to this color as

1522

"transparent", which is why the letters "TRAN" are shown in the

1523

color swatch of the SETUP COLOR screen. The foreground

1524

transparent color is shown as the color of the "TRAN" text.

1525

(The transparent color will not work correctly in a PC-Alpine

1526

configuration.) The escape sequences used to set the background

1527

colors are the same as for the foreground colors except a "4"

1528

replaces the "3".

1529

1530

Note: With the Tera Term terminal emulator this setting works

1531

well. You should also have the Tera Term "Full color" option

1532

turned OFF. You may find the "Full color" option in Tera Term's

1533

"Setup" menu, in the "Window" submenu.

1534

1535

force-ansi-16color

1536

Many terminal emulators know about the same eight colors above

1537

plus eight more. This option attempts to use all 16 colors. The

1538

same escape sequences as for the eight-color terminal are used

1539

for the first eight colors. The escape sequences used to set

1540

foreground colors 8-15 are the same as for 0-7 except the "3"

1541

is replaced with a "9". The background color sequences for

1542

colors 8-15 are the same as for 0-7 except the "4" is replaced

1543

with "10". You can tell if the 16 colors are working by turning

1544

on this option and then going into one of the color

1545

configuration screens, for example, the configuration screen

1546

for Normal Color. If you see 16 different colors to select from

1547

(plus a 17th for the transparent color), it's working.

1548

1549

force-xterm-256color

1550

Some versions of xterm (and some other terminal emulators) have

1551

support for 256 colors. The escape sequences used to set the

1552

foreground colors are

1553

1554

ESC [ 38 ; 5 ; <color_number> m

1555

1556

where the color_number is an ASCII digit between 0 and 255.

1557

Background colors are the same with the 38 replaced with a 48.

1558

The numbers 0 through 15 are probably similar to the 16 color

1559

version above, then comes a 6x6x6 color cube, followed by 24

1560

colors of gray. The terminal default (transparent) color is the

1561

257th color at the bottom. Some terminal emulators will

1562

misinterpret these escape sequences causing the terminal to

1563

blink or overstrike characters or to do something else

1564

undesirable.

1565

1566

The PuTTY terminal emulator has an option called "Allow

1567

terminal to use xterm 256-colour mode" which allows PuTTY to

1568

work well with this 256-color setting.

1569

1570

There are two other possible color values which may be useful in some

1571

situations. In the color configuration screens there will sometimes

1572

be a color which has the label "NORM" inside its color swatch. If

1573

this is selected the corresponding foreground or background Normal

1574

Color will be used. Another similar color is the one that has the

1575

label "NONE" inside its color swatch. The meaning of this setting is

1576

that no color changing will be done. This NONE color is only useful

1577

in contexts where _Alpine_ is already coloring the text some color

1578

other than the Normal Color. For example, if the Reverse Color is set

1579

then the current line in the MESSAGE INDEX will be colored. If one of

1580

the index symbols (for example, the Index-to-me Symbol) has the NONE

1581

color as its background then the symbol's foreground color will be

1582

used to draw the actual text but the background color will be the

1583

same as whatever the background color already was. The color values

1584

which end up in the configuration file for these special values are

1585

the 11-character words "norm-padded", "none-padded", and

1586

"transparent".

1587

The normal default is "no-color".

1588

Once you've turned on color you may set the colors of many objects on

1589

the screen individually. The Color Configuration section has more

1590

information, or you may just try it by running the "Setup" command

1591

and typing "K" for Kolor to enter the color configuration screen

1592

(Kolor instead of Color because C means Config). Most categories of

1593

color which _Alpine_ supports are configurable there. Index line

1594

color is configured separately.

1595

_composer-word-separators_

1596

This option affects how a "word" is defined in the composer. The

1597

definition of a word is used when using the Forward Word and Backward

1598

Word commands in the composer, as well as when using the spell

1599

checker. Whitespace is always considered a word separator.

1600

Punctuation (like question marks, periods, commas, and so on) is

1601

always a word separator if it comes at the end of a word. By default,

1602

a punctuation character which is in the middle of a word does not

1603

break up that word as long as the character before and the character

1604

after it are both alphanumeric. If you add a character to this option

1605

it will be considered a word separator even when it occurs in the

1606

middle of an alphanumeric word. For example, if you want to skip

1607

through each part of an address instead of skipping the whole address

1608

at once you might want to include"@" and "." in this list. If you

1609

want the word-skipper to stop on each part of a UNIX filename you

1610

could add "/" to the list. The equal sign and dash are other

1611

possibilities you might find helpful.

1612

_composer-wrap-column_

1613

This option specifies an aspect of _Alpine_'s Composer. This gives

1614

the maximum width that auto-wrapped lines will have. It's also the

1615

maximum width of lines justified using the ^J Justify command. The

1616

normal default is _74_. The largest allowed setting is normally _80_

1617

in order to prevent very long lines from being sent in outgoing mail.

1618

When the mail is actually sent, trailing spaces will be stripped off

1619

of each line.

1620

_current-indexline-style_

1621

current-indexline-style.

1622

_customized-hdrs_

1623

You may add your own custom headers to outgoing messages. Each header

1624

you specify here must include the header tag (Reply-To:, Approved:,

1625

etc.) and may optionally include a value for that header. If you want

1626

to see these custom headers each time you compose a message, you must

1627

add them to your default-composer-hdrs list, otherwise they become

1628

part of the rich header set which you only see when you press the

1629

rich header command. (If you are looking for a way to change which

1630

headers are _displayed_ when you view a message, take a look at the

1631

viewer-hdrs option instead.) Here's an example which shows how you

1632

might set your From address

1633

1634

From: Full Name <user@example.com>

1635

and another showing how you might set a Reply-To address

1636

1637

Reply-To: user@example.com

1638

You may also set non-standard header values here. For example, you

1639

could add

1640

1641

Organization: My Organization Name

1642

or even

1643

1644

X-Favorite-Colors: Purple and Gold

1645

If you include a value after the colon then that header will be

1646

included in your outgoing messages unless you delete it before

1647

sending. If a header in the Customized-Headers list has only a tag

1648

but no value, then it will not be included in outgoing messages

1649

unless you edit a value in manually. For example, if

1650

1651

Reply-To:

1652

is in the list, then the Reply-To header will be available for

1653

editing but won't be included unless a value is added while in the

1654

composer.

1655

It's actually a little more complicated than that. The values of

1656

headers that you set with the Customized-Headers option are defaults.

1657

If the message you are about to compose already has a value for a

1658

header, that value is used instead of a value from your

1659

Customized-Headers. For example, if you are Replying to a message the

1660

Subject field will already be filled in. In that case, if the

1661

Customized-Headers list contains a Subject line, the custom subject

1662

will _NOT_ be used. The subject derived from the subject of the

1663

message you are Replying to will be used instead.

1664

It is also possible to make header setting even more complicated and

1665

more automatic by using Roles, but if all you want to do is set a

1666

default value for a header, you don't need to think about Roles.

1667

If you change your From address you may also find it useful to add

1668

the changed From address to the alt-addresses configuration option.

1669

Limitation: Because commas are used to separate the list of

1670

Customized-Headers, it is not possible to have the value of a header

1671

contain a comma. Nor is there currently an "escape" mechanism

1672

provided to make this work.

1673

This option is displayed as "Customized Headers".

1674

_dead-letter-files_

1675

This option affects _Alpine_'s behavior when you cancel a message

1676

being composed. _Alpine_'s usual behavior is to write the canceled

1677

message to a file named "dead.letter" in your home directory, or

1678

"DEADLETR" when using _PC-Alpine_, overwriting any previous message.

1679

If you set this option to a value higher than one, then that many

1680

copies of dead letter files will be saved. For example, if you set

1681

this option to "3" then you may have files named "DEADLETR",

1682

"DEADLETR2", and "DEADLETR3"; or "dead.letter", "dead.letter2", and

1683

"dead.letter3". In this example, the most recently cancelled message

1684

will be in "dead.letter", and the third most recently cancelled

1685

message will be in "dead.letter3". The fourth most recently cancelled

1686

message will no longer be saved.

1687

If you set this option to zero, then NO record of canceled messages

1688

is maintained.

1689

If the feature Quell-Dead-Letter-On-Cancel is set, that overrides

1690

whatever you set for this option. If this option had existed at the

1691

time, then the Quell feature would not have been added, but it is

1692

still there for backwards compatibility. So, in order for this option

1693

to have the desired effect, make sure the Quell feature is turned

1694

off.

1695

_default-composer-hdrs_

1696

You can control which headers you want visible when composing

1697

outgoing email using this option. You can specify any of the regular

1698

set, any Rich Header, or any Customized-Hdrs which you have already

1699

defined. If you use this setting at all, you must specify all the

1700

headers you want to see, you can't just add to the regular header

1701

set. The default set is To:, Cc:, Attchmnt:, and Subject:.

1702

Note that the "Newsgroups:" header will be abbreviated in the

1703

Composer display, but should be spelled out in full here.

1704

This option is displayed as "Default Composer Headers".

1705

_default-fcc_

1706

The name of the folder to which all outgoing mail goes is set here.

1707

The compiled-in default is _sent-mail_ (UNIX) or _sentmail_ (PC). It

1708

can be set to "" (two double quotes with nothing between them) to

1709

turn off saving copies of outgoing mail. If _default-fcc_ is a

1710

relative file name, then it is relative to your default collection

1711

for saves (see folder-collections).

1712

This option is displayed as "Default Fcc (File carbon copy)".

1713

_default-saved-msg-folder_

1714

This option determines the default folder name for _Saves_... If this

1715

is not a path name, it will be in the default collection for saves.

1716

Any valid folder specification, local or IMAP, is allowed. This

1717

default folder only applies when the saved-msg-name-rule doesn't

1718

override it. Unix _Alpine_ default is normally _saved-messages_ in

1719

the default folder collection. _PC-Alpine_ default is _SAVEMAIL_

1720

(normally stored as _SAVEMAIL.MTX_).

1721

This option is displayed as "Default Saved Message Folder".

1722

_disable-these-authenticators_

1723

This variable is a list of SASL (Simple Authentication and Security

1724

Layer) authenticators which will be disabled. SASL is a mechanism for

1725

authenticating to IMAP, POP3, SMTP, and other network servers.

1726

_Alpine_ matches its list of supported authenticators with the server

1727

to determine the most secure authenticator that is supported by both.

1728

If no matching authenticators are found, _Alpine_ will revert to

1729

plaintext login (or, in the case of SMTP, will be unable to

1730

authenticate at all).

1731

The candidates for disabling are listed below. There may be more if

1732

you compile _Alpine_ with additional authenticators and/or a newer

1733

version of the c-client library.

1734

+ GSSAPI

1735

+ CRAM-MD5

1736

+ PLAIN

1737

+ LOGIN

1738

Normally, you will not disable any authenticators. There are two

1739

exceptions:

1740

1. You use a broken server that advertises an authenticator, but does

1741

not actually implement it.

1742

2. You have a Kerberos-capable version of _Alpine_ and the server is

1743

also Kerberos-capable, but you can not obtain Kerberos credentials

1744

on the server machine, thus you desire to disable GSSAPI (which in

1745

turn disables _Alpine_'s Kerberos support).

1746

It is never necessary to disable authenticators, since _Alpine_ will

1747

try other authenticators before giving up. However, disabling the

1748

relevant authenticator avoids annoying error messages.

1749

_disable-these-drivers_

1750

This variable is a list of mail drivers which will be disabled. The

1751

candidates for disabling are listed below. There may be more in the

1752

future if you compile _Alpine_ with a newer version of the c-client

1753

library.

1754

+ mbox

1755

+ mbx

1756

+ mh

1757

+ mix

1758

+ mmdf

1759

+ mtx

1760

+ mx

1761

+ news

1762

+ phile

1763

+ tenex

1764

+ unix

1765

The _mbox_ driver enables the following behavior: if there is a file

1766

called mbox in your home directory, and if that file is either empty

1767

or in Unix mailbox format, then every time you open _INBOX_ the _mbox_

1768

driver will automatically transfer mail from the system mail spool

1769

directory into the mbox file and delete it from the spool directory.

1770

If you disable the _mbox_ driver, this will not happen.

1771

It is not recommended to disable the driver which supports the system

1772

default mailbox format. On most non-SCO systems, that driver is the

1773

_unix_ driver. On most SCO systems, it is the _mmdf_ driver. The

1774

system default driver may be configured to something else on your

1775

system; check with your system manager for additional information.

1776

It is most likely not very useful for you to disable any of the

1777

drivers other than possibly _mbox_. You could disable some of the

1778

others if you know for certain that you don't need them but the

1779

performance gain in doing so is very modest.

1780

_display-character-set_

1781

See the discussion in International Character Sets for details.

1782

_display-filters_

1783

This option defines a list of text-filtering commands (programs or

1784

scripts) that may be used to filter text portions of received

1785

messages prior to their use (e.g., presentation in the "Message Text"

1786

display screen). For security reasons, the full path name of the

1787

filter command must be specified.

1788

Display filters do not work with _PC-Alpine_.

1789

The command is executed and the message is piped into its standard

1790

input. The standard output of the command is read back by _Alpine_.

1791

The __TMPFILE__ token (see below) overrides this default behavior.

1792

The filter's use is based on the configured _trigger_ string. The

1793

format of a filter definition is:

1794

1795

1796

You can specify as many filters as you wish, separating them with a

1797

comma. Each filter can have only one trigger and command. Thus, two

1798

trigger strings which invoke the same command require separate filter

1799

specifications.

1800

The _trigger_ is simply text that, if found in the message, will

1801

invoke the associated command. If the trigger contains any space

1802

characters, it must be placed within quotes. Likewise, should you

1803

wish a filter to be invoked unconditionally, define the trigger as

1804

the null string, "" (two consecutive double-quote characters). If the

1805

trigger string is found anywhere in the text of the message the

1806

filter is invoked. Placing the trigger text within the tokens defined

1807

below changes where within the text the trigger must be before

1808

considering it a match.

1809

Trigger Modifying Tokens:

1810

1811

__CHARSET(string)__

1812

This token tells _Alpine_ to invoke the supplied command if the

1813

text is in a character set matching string (e.g., ISO-8859-2 or

1814

ISO-2022-JP).

1815

1816

__LEADING(string)__

1817

This token tells _Alpine_ to invoke the supplied command if the

1818

enclosed string is found to be the first non-whitespace text.

1819

NOTE: Quotes are necessary if string contains the space

1820

character.

1821

1822

__BEGINNING(string)__

1823

This token tells _Alpine_ to invoke the supplied command if the

1824

enclosed string is found at the beginning of any line in the

1825

text.

1826

NOTE: Quotes are necessary if string contains the space

1827

character.

1828

1829

The "command" and "arguments" portion is simply the command line to

1830

be invoked if the trigger string is found. Below are tokens that

1831

_Alpine_ will recognize and replace with special values when the

1832

command is actually invoked.

1833

Command Modifying Tokens:

1834

1835

__TMPFILE__

1836

When the command is executed, this token is replaced with the

1837

path and name of the temporary file containing the text to be

1838

filtered. _Alpine_ expects the filter to replace this data with

1839

the filter's result. NOTE: Use of this token implies that the

1840

text to be filtered is not piped into standard input of the

1841

executed command and its standard output is ignored. _Alpine_

1842

restores the tty modes before invoking the filter in case the

1843

filter interacts with the user via its own standard input and

1844

output.

1845

1846

__RESULTFILE__

1847

When the command is executed, this token is replaced with the

1848

path and name of a temporary file intended to contain a status

1849

message from the filter. _Alpine_ displays this in the message

1850

status field.

1851

1852

__DATAFILE__

1853

When the command is executed, this token is replaced with the

1854

path and name of a temporary file that _Alpine_ creates once

1855

per session and deletes upon exit. The file is intended to be

1856

used by the filter to store state information between instances

1857

of the filter.

1858

1859

__PREPENDKEY__

1860

When the command is executed, this token indicates that a

1861

random number will be passed down the input stream before the

1862

message text. This number could be used as a session key. It

1863

does not appear as a command-line argument. It is sent in this

1864

way to improve security. The number is unique to the current

1865

_Alpine_ session and is only generated once per session.

1866

1867

The feature disable-terminal-reset-for-display-filters is related.

1868

Performance caveat/considerations:

1869

Testing for the trigger and invoking the filter doesn't come for

1870

free. There is overhead associated with searching for the trigger

1871

string, testing for the filter's existence and actually piping the

1872

text through the filter. The impact can be reduced if the Trigger

1873

Modifying Tokens above are employed.

1874

Limitation:

1875

If Header Colors are being used, the sequences of bytes which

1876

indicate color changes will be contained in the text which is passed

1877

to the display-filter. If this causes problems you'll need to turn

1878

off Header Colors. The thirteen bytes which indicate a color change

1879

are the character \377 followed by \010 for a foreground color or

1880

\011 for a background color. Then comes eleven characters of RGB data

1881

which looks something like 255, 0,255, depending on the particular

1882

color, of course.

1883

_download-command_

1884

This option affects the behavior of the _Export_ command. It

1885

specifies a Unix program name, and any necessary command line

1886

arguments, that _Alpine_ can use to transfer the exported message to

1887

your personal computer's disk.

1888

_download-command-prefix_

1889

This option is used in conjunction with the _download-command_

1890

option. It defines text to be written to the terminal emulator (via

1891

standard output) immediately prior to starting the download command.

1892

This is useful for integrated serial line file transfer agents that

1893

permit command passing (e.g., Kermit's APC method).

1894

_editor_

1895

UNIX _Alpine_ only. Sets the name of the alternate editor for

1896

composing mail (message text only, not headers). It will be invoked

1897

with the "^_" command or it will be invoked automatically if the

1898

enable-alternate-editor-implicitly feature is set.

1899

_empty-header-message_

1900

When sending, if both the To and Cc fields are empty and you are

1901

sending the message to a Bcc, _Alpine_ will put a special address in

1902

the To line. The default value is "undisclosed-recipients: ;". The

1903

reason for this is to avoid embarrassment caused by some Internet

1904

mail transfer software that interprets a "missing" To: header as an

1905

error and replaces it with an Apparently-to: header that may contain

1906

the addresses you entered on the Bcc: line, defeating the purpose of

1907

the Bcc. You may change the part of this message that comes before

1908

the ": ;" by setting the _empty-header-message_ variable to something

1909

else.

1910

_fcc-name-rule_

1911

Determines default folder name for fcc when composing. Currently,

1912

_Alpine_ will accept the values _default-fcc_, _by-recipient_, or

1913

_last-fcc-used_. If set to _default-fcc_, then _Alpine_ will use the

1914

value defined in the default-fcc variable (which itself has a

1915

default) for the Fcc header field. If set to _by-recipient_, then

1916

_Alpine_ will use the name of the recipient as a folder name for the

1917

fcc. The relevant recipient is the first address in the To field. If

1918

set to "last-fcc-used", then _Alpine_ will offer to Fcc to whatever

1919

folder you used previously. In all cases, the field can still be

1920

edited after it is initially assigned. If the fcc field in the

1921

address book is set for the first To address, that value over-rides

1922

any value derived from this rule.

1923

_feature-list_

1924

This is a list of the many features (options) which may be turned on

1925

or off. There is a separate section titled Configuration Features

1926

which explains each of the features. There is some additional

1927

explanation about the _feature-list_ variable itself in Feature List

1928

Variable.

1929

_file-directory_

1930

_PC-Alpine_ only. This value affects the Composer's "^J Attach"

1931

command, the Attachment Index Screen's "S Save" command, and the

1932

Message Index's "E Export" command.

1933

Normally, when a filename is supplied that lacks a leading "path"

1934

component, _Alpine_ assumes the file exists in the user's home

1935

directory. Under Windows operating systems, this definition isn't

1936

always clear. This feature allows you to explictly set where _Alpine_

1937

should look for files without a leading path.

1938

NOTE: this feature's value is ignored if either use-current-dir

1939

feature is set or the PINERC has a value for the operating-dir

1940

variable.

1941

_folder-collections_

1942

This is a list of one or more collections where saved mail is stored.

1943

See the sections describing folder collections and collection syntax

1944

for more information. The first collection in this list is the

1945

default collection for _Save_s, including default-fcc's.

1946

_folder-extension_

1947

_PC-Alpine_ only. File extension used for local folder names. This is

1948

.MTX by default.

1949

_folder-reopen-rule_

1950

_Alpine_ normally checks for new mail in the currently open folder

1951

and in the INBOX every few minutes.

1952

There are some situations where automatic new-mail checking does not

1953

work. For example, if a mail folder is opened using the POP protocol

1954

or a newsgroup is being read using the NNTP protocol, then new-mail

1955

checking is disabled.

1956

It may be possible to check for new mail in these cases by reopening

1957

the folder. _Alpine_ does not do this for you automatically, but you

1958

may do the commands manually to cause this to happen. You reopen by

1959

going back to the folder list screen from the message index screen

1960

with the "<" command, and then going back into the message index

1961

screen with the ">" command. (Actually, any method you would normally

1962

use to open a folder will work the same as the "<" followed by ">"

1963

method. For example, the GoTo Folder command will work, or you may

1964

use L to go to the Folder List screen and Carriage Return to reopen

1965

the folder.)

1966

There are some cases where _Alpine_ knows that reopening the folder

1967

should be useful as a way to discover new mail. At the time of this

1968

writing, connections made using the POP protocol, news reading using

1969

the NNTP protocol, local news reading, and local ReadOnly folders

1970

which are in the traditional UNIX or the MMDF format all fall into

1971

this category. There are other cases where it _may_ be a way to

1972

discover new mail, but _Alpine_ has no way of knowing, so it might

1973

also just be an exercise in futility. All remote, ReadOnly folders

1974

other than those listed just above fall into this category. The

1975

setting of this option together with the type of folder controls how

1976

_Alpine_ will react to the apparent attempt to reopen a folder.

1977

If you don't reopen, then you will just be back in the message index

1978

with no change. You left the index and came back, but the folder

1979

remained "open" the whole time. However, if you do reopen the folder,

1980

the folder is closed and then reopened. In this case, the current

1981

state of the open folder is lost. The New status, Important and

1982

Answered flags, selected state, Zoom state, collapsed or expanded

1983

state of threads, current message number, and any other temporary

1984

state is all lost when the reopen happens. For POP folders (but not

1985

NNTP newsgroups) the Deleted flags are also lost.

1986

In the possibilities listed below, the text says "POP/NNTP" in

1987

several places. That really implies the case where _Alpine_ knows it

1988

is a good way to discover new mail, which is more than just POP and

1989

NNTP, but POP and NNTP are the cases of most interest. This option

1990

probably has more possible values than it deserves. They are:

1991

1992

Always reopen

1993

_Alpine_ will not ask whether you want to reopen but will just

1994

do the reopen whenever you type a command that implies a

1995

reopen, regardless of the access method. In other words, it is

1996

assumed you would always answer Yes if asked about reopening.

1997

1998

Yes for POP/NNTP, Ask about other remote [Yes]

1999

_Alpine_ will assume a Yes answer if the access method is POP

2000

or NNTP, but will ask you whether to reopen other remote

2001

folders, with a default answer of Yes.

2002

2003

Yes for POP/NNTP, Ask about other remote [No]

2004

_Alpine_ will assume a Yes answer if the access method is POP

2005

or NNTP, but will ask you whether to reopen other remote

2006

folders, with a default answer of No.

2007

2008

Yes for POP/NNTP, No for other remote

2009

_Alpine_ will assume a Yes answer if the access method is POP

2010

or NNTP, and will assume a No answer for all other remote

2011

folders.

2012

2013

Always ask [Yes]

2014

_Alpine_ will not differentiate based on access method. It will

2015

always ask for all remote folders, with a default answer of

2016

Yes.

2017

2018

Always ask [No]

2019

_Alpine_ will not differentiate based on access method. It will

2020

always ask for all remote folders, with a default answer of No.

2021

2022

Ask about POP/NNTP [Yes], No for other remote

2023

_Alpine_ will ask if the access method is POP or NNTP, with a

2024

default answer of Yes. It will never attempt to reopen other

2025

remote folders.

2026

2027

Ask about POP/NNTP [No], No for other remote

2028

This is the default. _Alpine_ will ask if the access method is

2029

POP or NNTP, with a default answer of No. It will never attempt

2030

to reopen other remote folders.

2031

2032

Never reopen

2033

_Alpine_ will never attempt to reopen already open folders.

2034

2035

Remember, wherever it says POP or NNTP above it really means POP or

2036

NNTP or any of the other situations where it is likely that reopening

2037

is a good way to discover new mail.

2038

There is an alternative that may be of useful in some situations.

2039

Instead of manually checking for new mail you can set up a Mail Drop

2040

and automatically check for new mail.

2041

_folder-sort-rule_

2042

This option controls the order in which folder list entries will be

2043

presented in the FOLDER LIST screen. Choose one of the following:

2044

2045

_Alphabetical_

2046

sort by alphabetical name independent of type

2047

2048

_Alpha-with-dirs-last_

2049

sort by alphabetical name grouping directory entries to the end

2050

of the list

2051

2052

_Alpha-with-dirs-first_

2053

sort by alphabetical name grouping directory entries to the

2054

start of the list

2055

2056

The normal default is _Alphabetical_.

2057

_font-name_

2058

Winsock version of _PC-Alpine_ only.

2059

_font-size_

2060

Winsock version of _PC-Alpine_ only.

2061

_font-style_

2062

Winsock version of _PC-Alpine_ only.

2063

_forced-abook-entry_

2064

System-wide _Alpine_ configuration files only. Force these address

2065

book entries into all writable personal address books. This is a list

2066

variable. Each item in the list has the form:

2067

2068

Nickname | Fullname | Address

2069

with optional whitespace in all the obvious places.

2070

_form-letter-folder_

2071

A Form Letter Folder is a mail folder that is intended to contain

2072

messages that you have composed and that are intended to be sent in

2073

their original form repeatedly.

2074

Setting this variable will alter _Alpine_'s usual behavior when you

2075

execute the Compose command. Normally, _Alpine_ offers a chance to

2076

continue a postponed or interrupted message should one or the other

2077

exist. When this variable is set to a folder name that exists,

2078

_Alpine_ will also offer the chance to select a message from the

2079

folder to insert into the composer, much like when continuing a

2080

postponed message. The difference, however, is that _Alpine_ will not

2081

automatically delete the selected message from the Form Letter

2082

Folder.

2083

Setting this variable will also affect _Alpine_'s behavior when you

2084

Postpone a message from the composer. Normally, _Alpine_ simply

2085

stashes the message away in your Postponed-Folder. Regardless of the

2086

specified folder's existence, _Alpine_ will ask which folder you

2087

intend the message to be stored in. Choose the "F" option to store

2088

the message in your Form Letter Folder. This is the most common way

2089

to add a message to the folder.

2090

Another method of adding messages to the folder is via the _Alpine_

2091

composer's Fcc: field. If you are sending a message that you expect

2092

to send in the same form again, you can enter the Form Letter

2093

Folder's name in this field. _Alpine_, as usual, will copy the

2094

message as it's sent. Note, when you later select this message from

2095

your Form Letter Folder, it will have the same recipients as the

2096

original message.

2097

To delete a message from the Form Letter Folder, you can either

2098

select the folder from a suitable FOLDER LIST screen, or use the

2099

Delete command in the MESSAGE INDEX offered when selecting from the

2100

folder as part of the Compose command. You can delete a Form Letter

2101

Folder just as any other folder from a suitable FOLDER LIST screen.

2102

You may find that the Roles facility can be used to replace the Form

2103

Letter Folder.

2104

_global-address-book_

2105

A list of shared address books. Each entry in the list is an optional

2106

nickname followed by a pathname or file name relative to the home

2107

directory. A SPACE character separates the nickname from the rest of

2108

the line. Instead of a local pathname or file name, a remote folder

2109

name can be given. This causes the address book to be a Remote

2110

address book. Remote folder syntax is discussed in Syntax for Remote

2111

Folders. This list will be added to the address-book list to arrive

2112

at the complete set of address books. Global address books are

2113

defined to be ReadOnly.

2114

_goto-default-rule_

2115

This value affects _Alpine_'s behavior when using the _Goto_ command.

2116

There are five possible values for this option:

2117

2118

_folder-in-first-collection_

2119

_Alpine_ will offer the most recently visited folder in the

2120

default collection found in the "Collection List" screen as the

2121

default.

2122

2123

_inbox-or-folder-in-first-collection_

2124

If the current folder is _INBOX_, _Alpine_ will offer the most

2125

recently visited folder in the default collection found in the

2126

"Collection List" screen. If the current folder is other than

2127

_INBOX_, _INBOX_ is offered as the default.

2128

2129

_inbox-or-folder-in-recent-collection_

2130

This is _Alpine_'s default behavior. If the current folder is

2131

_INBOX_, _Alpine_ will offer the last open folder as the

2132

default. If the current folder is other than _INBOX_, _INBOX_

2133

is offered as the default.

2134

2135

_first-collection-with-inbox-default_

2136

Instead of offering the most recently visited folder in the

2137

default collection, the default collection is offered but with

2138

_INBOX_ as the default folder. If you type in a folder name it

2139

will be in the default collection. If you simply accept the

2140

default, however, your _INBOX_ will be opened.

2141

2142

_most-recent-folder_

2143

The last accepted value simply causes the most recently opened

2144

folder to be offered as the default regardless of the currently

2145

opened folder.

2146

2147

NOTE: The default while a newsgroup is open remains the same; the

2148

last open newsgroup.

2149

_header-general-background-color_

2150

_header-general-foreground-color_

2151

Header Colors.

2152

_image-viewer_

2153

This variable names the program to call for displaying parts of a

2154

MIME message that are of type IMAGE. If your system supports the

2155

_mailcap_ system, you don't need to set this variable.

2156

_inbox-path_

2157

This specifies the name of the folder to use for the _INBOX_. By

2158

default this is unset and the system's default is used. The most

2159

common reason for setting this is to open an IMAP mailbox for the

2160

_INBOX_. For example, _{imap5.u.example.edu}inbox_ will open the

2161

user's standard _INBOX_ on the mail server, _imap5_.

2162

_incoming-archive-folders_

2163

This is like read-message-folder, only more general. This is a list

2164

of folder pairs, with the first separated from the second in the pair

2165

by a space. The first folder in a pair is the folder you want to

2166

archive, and the second folder is the folder that read messages from

2167

the first should be moved to. Depending on how you define the

2168

auto-move-read-msgs feature, you may or may not be asked when you

2169

leave the first folder if you want read messages to be moved to the

2170

second folder. In either case, moving the messages means they will be

2171

deleted from the first folder.

2172

If these are not path names, they will be in the default collection

2173

for _Save_s. Any valid folder specification, local or remote (via

2174

IMAP), is allowed. There is no default.

2175

_incoming-check-interval_

2176

This option has no effect unless the feature

2177

enable-incoming-folders-checking is set, which in turn has no effect

2178

unless incoming-folders is set.

2179

This option specifies, in seconds, how often _Alpine_ will check for

2180

new mail and state changes in Incoming Folders when Incoming Folders

2181

Checking is turned on. The default is 3 minutes (180). This value

2182

applies only to folders that are local to the system that _Alpine_ is

2183

running on or that are accessed using the IMAP protocol. The similar

2184

option incoming-check-interval-secondary applies to all other

2185

monitored folders.

2186

_incoming-check-interval-secondary_

2187

This option has no effect unless the feature

2188

enable-incoming-folders-checking is set, which in turn has no effect

2189

unless incoming-folders is set.

2190

This option together with the option incoming-check-interval

2191

specifies, in seconds, how often _Alpine_ will check for new mail and

2192

state changes in Incoming Folders when Incoming Folders Checking is

2193

turned on. The default for this option is 3 minutes (180). For

2194

folders that are local to this system or that are accessed using the

2195

IMAP protocol the value of the option incoming-check-interval is

2196

used. For all other monitored folders, the value of this option is

2197

used.

2198

The reason there are two separate options is because it is usually

2199

less expensive to check local and IMAP folders than it is to check

2200

other types, like POP or NNTP folders. You may want to set this

2201

secondary value to a higher number than the primary check interval.

2202

_incoming-check-list_

2203

This option has no effect unless the feature

2204

enable-incoming-folders-checking is set, which in turn has no effect

2205

unless incoming-folders is set.

2206

When monitoring the Incoming Message Folders for Unseen messages

2207

Alpine will normally monitor all Incoming Folders. You may use this

2208

option to restrict the list of monitored folders to a subset of all

2209

Incoming Folders.

2210

_incoming-check-timeout_

2211

This option has no effect unless the feature

2212

enable-incoming-folders-checking is set, which in turn has no effect

2213

unless incoming-folders is set.

2214

Sets the time in seconds that Alpine will attempt to open a network

2215

connection used for monitoring for Unseen messages in Incoming

2216

Folders. The default is 5. If a connection has not completed within

2217

this many seconds Alpine will give up and consider it a failed

2218

connection.

2219

_incoming-folders_

2220

This is a list of one or more folders other than _INBOX_ that may

2221

receive new messages. This list is slightly special in that it is

2222

always expanded in the folder lister. In the future, it may become

2223

more special. For example, it would be nice if _Alpine_ would monitor

2224

the folders in this list for new mail.

2225

_incoming-startup-rule_

2226

This rule affects _Alpine_'s behavior when opening the _INBOX_ or

2227

another folder from the "INCOMING MESSAGE FOLDERS". This rule tells

2228

_Alpine_ which message to make the current message when an incoming

2229

folder is opened. There are seven possible values for this option:

2230

2231

_first-unseen_

2232

The current message will be the first unseen message which has

2233

not been marked deleted, or the last message if all of the

2234

messages have been seen. This is the default setting.

2235

2236

_first-recent_

2237

This is similar to _first-unseen_. Instead of first unseen it

2238

is the first recent message. A message is considered to be

2239

recent if it arrived since the last time the folder was open

2240

(by any mail client, not just the current one). So this option

2241

causes the current message to be set to the first

2242

undeleted-recent message, or the last message if none is both

2243

undeleted and recent.

2244

2245

_first-important_

2246

This will result in the current message being set to the first

2247

message marked Important (but not Deleted). If no messages are

2248

marked Important, then it will be the last message.

2249

2250

_first-important-or-unseen_

2251

This selects the minimum of the first unseen and the first

2252

important messages.

2253

2254

_first-important-or-recent_

2255

This selects the first of the first recent and the first

2256

important messages.

2257

2258

_first_

2259

Set the current message to the first undeleted message unless

2260

all are deleted. In that case set it to the last message.

2261

2262

_last_

2263

Set the current message to the last undeleted message unless

2264

all are deleted. In that case set it to the last message.

2265

2266

_incoming-unseen-background-color_

2267

_incoming-unseen-foreground-color_

2268

Incoming Unseen Color.

2269

_index-answered-background-color_

2270

_index-answered-foreground-color_

2271

_index-arrow-background-color_

2272

_index-arrow-foreground-color_

2273

_index-deleted-background-color_

2274

_index-deleted-foreground-color_

2275

_index-from-background-color_

2276

_index-from-foreground-color_

2277

_index-highpriority-background-color_

2278

_index-highpriority-foreground-color_

2279

_index-important-background-color_

2280

_index-important-foreground-color_

2281

_index-lowpriority-background-color_

2282

_index-lowpriority-foreground-color_

2283

_index-new-background-color_

2284

_index-new-foreground-color_

2285

_index-opening-background-color_

2286

_index-opening-foreground-color_

2287

_index-recent-background-color_

2288

_index-recent-foreground-color_

2289

_index-subject-background-color_

2290

_index-subject-foreground-color_

2291

_index-to-me-background-color_

2292

_index-to-me-foreground-color_

2293

_index-unseen-background-color_

2294

_index-unseen-foreground-color_

2295

Index Colors.

2296

_index-format_

2297

This option is used to customize the content of lines in the MESSAGE

2298

INDEX screen. Each line is intended to convey some amount of

2299

immediately relevant information about each message in the current

2300

folder.

2301

_Alpine_ provides a pre-defined set of informational fields with

2302

reasonable column widths automatically computed. You can, however,

2303

replace this default set by listing special tokens in the order you

2304

want them displayed.

2305

The list of available tokens is here.

2306

Spaces are used to separate listed tokens. Additionally, you can

2307

specify how much of the screen's width the taken's associated data

2308

should occupy on the index line by appending the token with a pair of

2309

parentheses enclosing either a number or percentage. For example,

2310

"SUBJECT(13)" means to allocate 13 characters of space to the subject

2311

column, and "SUBJECT(20%)" means to allocate 20% of the available

2312

space to the subjects column, while plain "SUBJECT" means the system

2313

will attempt to figure out a reasonable amount of space.

2314

There is always one space between every pair of columns, so if you

2315

use fixed column widths (like 13) you should remember to take that

2316

into account. Several of the fields are virtually fixed-width, so it

2317

doesn't make much sense to specify the width for them. The fields

2318

STATUS, FULLSTATUS, IMAPSTATUS, MSGNO, the DATE fields, SIZE, and

2319

DESCRIPSIZE all fall into that category. You _may_ specify widths for

2320

those if you wish, but you're probably better off letting the system

2321

pick those widths.

2322

The default is equivalent to:

2323

2324

index-format=STATUS MSGNO SMARTDATETIME24 FROMORTO(33%) SIZENARROW SUBJKEY(6

2325

7%)

2326

This means that the four fields without percentages will be allocated

2327

first, and then 33% and 67% of the _remaining_ space will go to the

2328

from and subject fields. If one of those two fields is specified as a

2329

percentage and the other is left for the system to choose, then the

2330

percentage is taken as an absolute percentage of the screen, not of

2331

the space remaining after allocating the first four columns. It

2332

doesn't usually make sense to do it that way. If you leave off all

2333

the widths, then the subject and from fields (if both are present)

2334

are allocated space in a 2 to 1 ratio, which is almost exactly the

2335

same as the default.

2336

What you are most likely to do with this configuration option is to

2337

specify which fields appear at all, which order they appear in, and

2338

the percentage of screen that is used for the from and subject fields

2339

if you don't like the 2 to 1 default.

2340

If you want to retain the default format that _Pine_ 4.64 had, use

2341

2342

Index-Format=STATUS MSGNO DATE FROMORTO(33%) SIZE SUBJKEY(67%)

2343

_and_ set the feature Disable-Index-Locale-Dates.

2344

_initial-keystroke-list_

2345

This is a comma-separated list of keystrokes which _Alpine_ executes

2346

on startup. Items in the list are usually just characters, but there

2347

are some special values. _SPACE,_ _TAB,_ and _CR_ mean a space

2348

character, tab character, and a carriage return, respectively. _F1_

2349

through _F12_ stand for the twelve function keys. _UP, DOWN, LEFT,

2350

_and_ RIGHT _stand for the arrow keys. Control characters are

2351

represented with _^<char>_. A restriction is that you can't mix

2352

function keys and character keys in this list even though you can, in

2353

some cases, mix them when running _Alpine_. A user can always use

2354

only _character_ keys in the startup list even if he or she is using

2355

_function_ keys normally, or vice versa. If an element in this list is

2356

a string surrounded by double quotes (") then it will be expanded

2357

into the individual characters in the string, excluding the double

2358

quotes.

2359

_kblock-passwd-count_

2360

System-wide _Alpine_ configuration files only. Number of times a user

2361

will have to enter a password when they run the keyboard lock command

2362

in the main menu.

2363

_keyboard-character-set_

2364

See the discussion in International Character Sets for details.

2365

_keylabel-background-color_

2366

_keylabel-foreground-color_

2367

KeyLabel Color.

2368

_keyname-background-color_

2369

_keyname-foreground-color_

2370

KeyName Color.

2371

_keywords_

2372

You may define your own set of keywords and optionally set them on a

2373

message by message basis. These are similar to the "Important" flag

2374

which the user may set using the Flag command. The difference is that

2375

the Important flag is always present for each folder. User-defined

2376

keywords are chosen by the user. You may set up the list of possible

2377

keywords here, or you may add keywords from the Flag Details screen

2378

that you can get to after typing the Flag (*) command. After the

2379

keywords have been defined, then you use the Flag command to set or

2380

clear the keywords in each message. The behavior of the flag command

2381

may be modified by using the Enable-Flag-Screen-Implicitly option or

2382

the Enable-Flag-Screen-Keyword-Shortcut option.

2383

Keywords may be used when Selecting messages (Select Keyword).

2384

Keywords may also be used in the Patterns of Rules (Filters,

2385

Indexcolors, etc). Filter rules may be used to set keywords

2386

automatically. Keywords may be displayed as part of the Subject of a

2387

message by using the SUBJKEY or SUBJKEYINIT tokens in the

2388

Index-Format option. The Keyword-Surrounding-Chars option may be used

2389

to modify the display of keywords using SUBJKEY and SUBJKEYINIT

2390

slightly. Keywords may also be displayed in a column of their own in

2391

the MESSAGE INDEX screen by using the KEY or KEYINIT tokens. It is

2392

also possible to color keywords in the index using the Setup/Kolor

2393

screen (Keyword Colors). Keywords are not supported by all mail

2394

servers.

2395

You may give keywords nicknames if you wish. If the keyword

2396

definition you type in contains a SPACE character, then the actual

2397

value of the keyword is everything after the last SPACE and the

2398

nickname for that keyword is everything before the last SPACE. For

2399

example, suppose you are trying to interoperate with another email

2400

program which uses a particular keyword with an unpleasant name.

2401

Maybe it uses a keyword called

2402

2403

VendorName.SoftwareName.08

2404

but for you that keyword means that the message is work-related. You

2405

could define a keyword to have the value

2406

2407

Work VendorName.SoftwareName.08

2408

and then you would use the name "Work" when dealing with that keyword

2409

in _Alpine_. If you defined it as

2410

2411

My Work VendorName.SoftwareName.08

2412

the nickname would be everything before the last SPACE, that is the

2413

nickname would be "My Work".

2414

Some commonly used keywords begin with dollar signs. This presents a

2415

slight complication, because the dollar sign is normally used to

2416

signify environment variable expansion in the _Alpine_ configuration.

2417

In order to specify a keyword which begins with a dollar sign you

2418

must precede the dollar sign with a second dollar sign to escape its

2419

special meaning. For example, if you want to include the keyword

2420

2421

$Label1

2422

as one of your possible keywords, you must enter the text

2423

2424

$$Label1

2425

instead.

2426

_keyword-surrounding-chars_

2427

This option controls a minor aspect of _Alpine_'s MESSAGE INDEX and

2428

MESSAGE TEXT screens. If you have modified the Index-Format option so

2429

that either the "SUBJKEY" or "SUBJKEYINIT" tokens are used to display

2430

keywords or their initials along with the Subject; then this option

2431

may be used to modify the resulting display slightly. By default, the

2432

keywords or initials displayed for these tokens will be surrounded

2433

with curly braces ({ and }) and a trailing space. For example, if

2434

keywords "Work" and "Now" are set for a message, the "SUBJKEY" token

2435

will normally look like

2436

2437

{Work Now} actual subject

2438

and the SUBJKEYINIT token would look like

2439

2440

{WN} actual subject

2441

The default character before the keywords is the left brace ({) and

2442

the default after the keywords is the right brace followed by a space

2443

(} ).

2444

This option allows you to change that. You should set it to two

2445

values separated by a space. The values may be quoted if they include

2446

space characters. So, for example, the default value could be

2447

specified explicitly by setting this option to

2448

2449

Keyword-Surrounding-Chars="{" "} "

2450

The first part wouldn't need to be quoted (but it doesn't hurt). The

2451

second part does need the quotes because it includes a space

2452

character. If you wanted to change the braces to brackets you could

2453

use

2454

2455

Keyword-Surrounding-Chars="[" "] "

2456

Inside the quotes you can use backslash quote to mean quote, so

2457

2458

Keyword-Surrounding-Chars="\"" "\" "

2459

would produce

2460

2461

"Work Now" actual subject

2462

It is also possible to color keywords in the index using the

2463

Setup/Kolor screen (Keyword Colors).

2464

It is not possible to change the fact that a space character is used

2465

to separate the keywords if more than one keyword is set for a

2466

message. It is also not possible to change the fact that there are no

2467

separators between the keyword initials if more than one keyword is

2468

set.

2469

This option is displayed as "Keyword Surrounding Characters".

2470

_last-time-prune-questioned_

2471

Personal configuration file only. This variable records the month the

2472

user was last asked if his or her _sent-mail_ folders should be

2473

pruned. The format is _yy.mm_. This is automatically updated by

2474

_Alpine_ when the the pruning is done or declined. If a user wanted to

2475

make _Alpine_ stop asking this question he or she could set this time

2476

to something far in the future. This may not be set in the

2477

system-wide configuration files. Note: The _yy_ year is actually the

2478

number of years since 1900, so it will be equal to 101 in the year

2479

2001.

2480

_last-version-used_

2481

Personal configuration file only. This is set automatically by

2482

_Alpine_. It is used to keep track of the last version of _Alpine_

2483

that was run by the user. Whenever the version number increases, a

2484

new version message is printed out. This may not be set in the

2485

system-wide configuration files.

2486

_ldap-servers_

2487

This is only available if _Alpine_ was linked with an LDAP library

2488

when it was compiled. This variable is normally managed by _Alpine_

2489

though it can be set in the system-wide configuration files as well

2490

as the personal configuration. It is a list variable. Each item in

2491

the list contains quite a bit of extra information besides just the

2492

server name. To put this into a system-wide config file the easiest

2493

thing to do is to configure a personal _Alpine_ for the LDAP server

2494

then copy the configuration line into the system-wide config file.

2495

Each item in the list looks like:

2496

2497

server_name[:port] "quoted stuff"

2498

The server_name is just a hostname and it is followed by an optional

2499

colon and port number. The default port is 389. Following the server

2500

name is a single SPACE character followed by a bunch of characters

2501

inside double quotes. The part inside the quotes is a set of _tag_ =

2502

_value_ pairs. Each tag is preceded by a slash (/) and followed by an

2503

equal sign. The value for that tag is the text up to the next slash.

2504

An example of some quoted stuff is:

2505

2506

"/base=o=University of Washington, c=US/impl=0/.../nick=My Server"

2507

This would set the search base for this server to o=University of

2508

Washington, c=US, set the implicit bit to zero, and set the nickname

2509

for the server to My Server. All of the tags correspond directly to

2510

items in the Setup/Directory screen so experiment with that if you

2511

want to see what the possible tags and values are.

2512

_literal-signature_

2513

With this option your actual signature, as opposed to the name of a

2514

file containing your signature, is stored in the _Alpine_

2515

configuration file. If this is defined it takes precedence over the

2516

_signature-file_ option.

2517

This is simply a different way to store the signature data. The

2518

signature is stored inside your _Alpine_ configuration file instead

2519

of in a separate signature file. Tokens contained in the signature

2520

work the same way they do with the regular signature-file.

2521

The Setup/Signature command in _Alpine_'s Main Menu will edit the

2522

_literal-signature_ by default. However, if no _literal-signature_ is

2523

defined and the file named in the _signature-file_ option exists,

2524

then the latter will be used instead. Compose (Reply, Forward, ...)

2525

will default to using the _literal-signature_ if defined, otherwise

2526

it will use the contents of the file named in _signature-file_.

2527

The _Alpine_ composer is used to edit the literal-signature. The

2528

result of that edit is first converted to a C-style string before it

2529

is stored in the configuration file. In particular, the two character

2530

sequence \n (backslash followed by the character "n") will be used to

2531

signify a line-break in the signature. You don't have to enter the

2532

\n, but it will be visible in the SETUP CONFIGURATION window after

2533

you are done editing the signature.

2534

_mail-check-interval_

2535

This option specifies, in seconds, how often _Alpine_ will check for

2536

new mail. If set to zero, new-mail checking is disabled. (You can

2537

always manually force a new-mail check by typing ^L (Ctrl-L), which

2538

is also the command to refresh the screen, or by typing the Next

2539

command when the current message is the last message of the folder.)

2540

There is a minimum value for this option, normally 15 seconds. The

2541

default value is normally 150 seconds. The higher you set this

2542

option, the easier it is on the server.

2543

There are some situations where automatic new-mail checking does not

2544

work. See the discussion about new-mail checking in

2545

folder-reopen-rule.

2546

The new-mail checking will not happen exactly at the frequency that

2547

you specify. For example, _Alpine_ may elect to defer a non-INBOX

2548

mail check if you are busy typing. Or, it may check more frequently

2549

than you have specified if that is thought to be necessary to keep

2550

the server from closing the connection to the folder due to

2551

inactivity. If _Alpine_ checks for new mail as a side effect of

2552

another command, it will reset the timer, so that new-mail checking

2553

may seem to happen irregularly instead of every X seconds like

2554

clockwork.

2555

If you are anxious to know about new mail as soon as possible, set

2556

the check interval low, and you'll know about the new mail by

2557

approximately that amount of time after it arrives. If you aren't so

2558

worried about knowing right away, set this option to a higher value.

2559

That will save the server some processing time and may save you some

2560

of the time you spend waiting for new-mail checks to happen if you

2561

are dealing with a slow server or slow network connection.

2562

If you suspect that new-mail checking is causing slow downs for you,

2563

you may want to look into the options

2564

Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-Except-Inbox,

2565

Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-InboxandMail-Check-Interval-Noncurrent,

2566

which refine when mail checking is done.

2567

If the mailbox being check uses a Mail Drop then there is a minimum

2568

time (maildrop-check-minimum) between new-mail checks. Because of

2569

this minimum you may notice that new mail does not appear promptly

2570

when you expect it. The reason for this is to protect the server from

2571

over-zealous opening and closing of the Mail Drop folder, since that

2572

is a costly operation.

2573

A side effect of disabling mail checking is that there will be

2574

situations in which the user's IMAP connection will be broken due to

2575

inactivity timers on the server. Another side effect is that the

2576

user-input-timeout option won't work.

2577

_mail-check-interval-noncurrent_

2578

This option is closely related to the Mail-Check-Interval option, as

2579

well as the Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-Except-Inbox and

2580

Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-Inbox options. If the

2581

"Mail-Check-Interval" option is set to zero, then automatic new-mail

2582

checking is disabled and this option will have no effect.

2583

Normally this option is set to zero, which means that the value used

2584

will be the same as the value for the "Mail-Check-Interval". If you

2585

set this option to a value different from zero (usually larger than

2586

the value for "Mail-Check-Interval") then that is the check interval

2587

that will be used for folders which are not the currently open folder

2588

or the INBOX. You may not even have any folders that are noncurrent

2589

and not the INBOX. If you do, it is likely that they are due to

2590

Stay-Open-Folders you have configured. This option also affects the

2591

rate of mail checking done on cached connections to folders you

2592

previously had open but are no longer actively using. You aren't

2593

expected to understand that last sentence, but if you are interested

2594

take a look at Max-Remote-Connections, and the related options.

2595

_mail-directory_

2596

This variable was more important in previous versions of _Alpine_.

2597

Now it is used only as the default for storing personal folders (and

2598

only if there are no folder-collections defined). The default value

2599

is _~/mail_ on UNIX and _${HOME}\MAIL_ on a PC.

2600

_mailcap-search-path_

2601

This variable is used to replace _Alpine_'s default mailcap file

2602

search path. It takes one or more file names (full paths must be

2603

specified) in which to look for mail capability data.

2604

_maildrop-check-minimum_

2605

New-mail checking for a Mail Drop is a little different from new mail

2606

checking for a regular folder. One of the differences is that the

2607

connection to the Mail Drop is not kept open and so the cost of

2608

checking (delay for you and additional load for the server) may be

2609

significant. Because of this additional cost we set a minimum time

2610

that must pass between checks. This minimum only applies to the

2611

automatic checking done by _Alpine_. If you force a check by typing

2612

^L (Ctrl-L) or by typing the Next command when you are at the end of

2613

a folder index, then the check is done right away.

2614

This option specifies, in seconds, the _minimum_ time between Mail

2615

Drop new-mail checks. You may want to set this minimum high in order

2616

to avoid experiencing some of the delays associated with the checks.

2617

Note that the time between checks is still controlled by the regular

2618

Mail-Check-Interval option. When _Alpine_ is about to do an automatic

2619

check for new mail (because the Mail-Check-Interval has expired) then

2620

if the time since the last new-mail check of any open Mail Drops has

2621

been greater than the MailDrop-Check-Minimum, the Mail Drop is

2622

checked for new mail as well. Therefore, it is only useful to set

2623

this option to a value that is higher than the Mail-Check-Interval.

2624

If this option is set to zero, automatic Mail Drop new-mail checking

2625

is disabled. There is a minimum value, normally 60 seconds. The

2626

default value is normally 60 seconds as well. This applies to the

2627

INBOX and to the currently open folder if that is different from the

2628

INBOX.

2629

_max-remote-connections_

2630

This option affects low-level behavior of _Alpine_. The default value

2631

for this option is _2_. If your INBOX is accessed using the IMAP

2632

protocol from an IMAP server, that connection is kept open throughout

2633

the duration of your _Alpine_ session, independent of the value of

2634

this option. The same is true of any Stay-Open-Folders you have

2635

defined. This option controls _Alpine_'s behavior when connecting to

2636

remote IMAP folders other than your INBOX or your Stay-Open-Folders.

2637

It specifies the maximum number of remote IMAP connections (other

2638

than those mentioned above) that _Alpine_ will use for accessing the

2639

rest of your folders. If you set this option to zero, you will turn

2640

off most remote connection re-use. It's difficult to understand

2641

exactly what this option does, and it is usually fine to leave it set

2642

to its default value. It is probably more likely that you will be

2643

interested in setting the Stay-Open-Folders option instead of

2644

changing the value of this option. A slightly longer explanation of

2645

what is going on with this option is given in the next paragraphs.

2646

There are some time costs involved in opening and closing remote IMAP

2647

folders, the main costs being the time you have to wait for the

2648

connection to the server and the time for the folder to open. Opening

2649

a folder may involve not only the time the server takes to do its

2650

processing but time that _Alpine_ uses to do filtering. These times

2651

can vary widely. They depend on how loaded the server is, how large

2652

the folder being opened is, and how you set up filtering, among other

2653

things. Once _Alpine_ has opened a connection to a particular folder,

2654

it will attempt to keep that connection open in case you use it

2655

again. In order to do this, _Alpine_ will attempt to use the

2656

Max-Remote-Connections (the value of this option) IMAP connections

2657

you have alloted for this purpose.

2658

For example, suppose the value of this option is set to "2". If your

2659

INBOX is accessed on a remote server using the IMAP protocol, that

2660

doesn't count as one of the remote connections but it is always kept

2661

open. If you then open another IMAP folder, that would be your first

2662

remote connection counted as one of the Max-Remote-Connections

2663

connections. If you open a third folder the second will be left open,

2664

in case you return to it. You won't be able to tell it has been left

2665

open. It will appear to be closed when you leave the folder but the

2666

connection will remain in the background. Now suppose you go back to

2667

the second folder (the first folder after the INBOX). A connection to

2668

that folder is still open so you won't have to wait for the startup

2669

time to open it. Meanwhile, the connection to the third folder will

2670

be left behind. Now, if you open a fourth folder, you will bump into

2671

the Max-Remote-Connections limit, because this will be the third

2672

folder other than INBOX and you have the option set to "2". The

2673

connection that is being used for the third folder will be re-used

2674

for this new fourth folder. If you go back to the third folder after

2675

this, it is no longer already connected when you get there. You'll

2676

still save some time since _Alpine_ will re-use the connection to the

2677

fourth folder and you have already logged in on that connection, but

2678

the folder will have to be re-opened from scratch.

2679

If a folder is large and the startup cost is dominated by the time it

2680

takes to open that folder or to run filters on it, then it will pay

2681

to make the value of this option large enough to keep it open. On the

2682

other hand, if you only revisit a handful of folders or if the

2683

folders are small, then it might make more sense to keep this number

2684

small so that the reconnect time (the time to start up a new

2685

connection and authenticate) is eliminated instead.

2686

You may also need to consider the impact on the server. On the

2687

surface, a larger number here may cause a larger impact on the

2688

server, since you will have more connections open to the server. On

2689

the other hand, not only will _you_ be avoiding the startup costs

2690

associated with reopening a folder, but the _server_ will be avoiding

2691

those costs as well.

2692

When twenty five minutes pass without any active use of an IMAP

2693

connection being saved for possible re-use, that connection will be

2694

shut down,

2695

This option is displayed as "Maximum Remote Connections".

2696

_meta-message-background-color_

2697

_meta-message-foreground-color_

2698

Meta-message Color.

2699

_mimetype-search-path_

2700

This variable is used to replace _Alpine_'s default mime.types file

2701

search path. It takes one or more file names (full paths must be

2702

specified) in which to look for file-name-extension to MIME type

2703

mapping data. See the Config Notes for details on _Alpine_'s usage of

2704

the MIME.Types File.

2705

_new-version-threshold_

2706

When a new version of _Alpine_ is run for the first time it offers a

2707

special explanatory screen to the user upon startup. This option

2708

helps control when and if that special screen appears for users that

2709

have previously run _Alpine_. It takes as its value a _Alpine_

2710

version number. _Alpine_ versions less than the specified value will

2711

supress this special screen while versions equal to or greater than

2712

that specified will behave normally.

2713

_newmail-fifo-path_

2714

This option is only available in UNIX _Alpine_. However, there is a

2715

very similar feature built in to _PC-Alpine_. In _PC-Alpine_'s Config

2716

menu at the top of the screen is an option called "New Mail Window".

2717

You may have _Alpine_ create a FIFO special file (also called a named

2718

pipe, see mkfifo(3) and fifo(4)) where it will send a one-line

2719

message each time a new message is received in the current folder,

2720

the INBOX, or any open Stay-Open-Folders. To protect against two

2721

different _Alpine_s both writing to the same FIFO, _Alpine_ will only

2722

create the FIFO and write to it if it doesn't already exist.

2723

A possible way to use this option would be to have a separate window

2724

on your screen running the command

2725

2726

cat filename

2727

where "filename" is the name of the file given for this option.

2728

Because the file won't exist until after you start _Alpine_, you must

2729

_first_ start _Alpine_ and _then_ run the "cat" command. You may be

2730

tempted to use "tail -f filename" to view the new mail log. However,

2731

the common implementations of the tail command will not do what you

2732

are hoping.

2733

The width of the messages produced for the FIFO may be altered with

2734

the NewMail-Window-Width option.

2735

On some systems, fifos may only be created in a local filesystem. In

2736

other words, they may not be in NFS filesystems. This requirement is

2737

not universal. If the system you are using supports it, it should

2738

work. (It is often the case that your home directory is in an NFS

2739

filesystem. If that is the case, you might try using a file in the

2740

"/tmp" filesystem, which is usually a local filesytem.) Even when it

2741

is possible to use an NFS-mounted filesystem as a place to name the

2742

fifo (for example, your home directory), it will still be the case

2743

that the reader (probably the "cat" command) and the writer

2744

(_Alpine_) of the fifo must be running on the same system.

2745

_newmail-window-width_

2746

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

2747

This option is only useful if you have turned on the

2748

NewMail-FIFO-Path option. That option causes new mail messages to be

2749

sent to a fifo file. Those messages will be 80 characters wide by

2750

default. You can change the width of the messages by changing this

2751

option. For example, if you are reading those messages in another

2752

window you might want to set this width to the width of that other

2753

window.

2754

For UNIX _Alpine_, this option is only useful if you have turned on

2755

the NewMail-FIFO-Path option. That option causes new mail messages to

2756

be sent to a fifo file. Those messages will be 80 characters wide by

2757

default. You can change the width of those messages by changing this

2758

option. For example, if you are reading those messages in another

2759

window you might want to set this width to the width of that other

2760

window.

2761

If you are using _PC-Alpine_, it has an option in the Config menu to

2762

turn on the "New Mail Window". The present option also controls the

2763

width of that window.

2764

_news-active-file-path_

2765

This option tells _Alpine_ where to look for the "active file" for

2766

newsgroups when accessing news locally, rather than via NNTP. The

2767

default path is usually /usr/lib/news/active.

2768

_news-collections_

2769

This is a list of collections where news folders are located. See the

2770

section describing collections for more information.

2771

_news-spool-directory_

2772

This option tells _Alpine_ where to look for the "news spool" for

2773

newsgroups when accessing news locally, rather than via NNTP. The

2774

default path is usually /usr/spool/news.

2775

_newsrc-path_

2776

This option overrides the default name _Alpine_ uses for your

2777

"newsrc" news status and subscription file. If set, _Alpine_ will

2778

take this value as the full pathname for the desired newsrc file.

2779

_nntp-range_

2780

This option applies only to newsgroups accessed using the NNTP

2781

protocol. It does not, for example, apply to newsgroups accessed

2782

using an IMAP-to-NNTP proxy.

2783

When you open a connection to a News server using the NNTP protocol,

2784

you normally have access to all of the articles in each newsgroup. If

2785

a server keeps a large backlog of messages it may speed performance

2786

some to restrict attention to only the newer messages in a group.

2787

This option allows you to set how many article numbers should be

2788

checked when opening a newsgroup. You can think of "nntp-range" as

2789

specifying the maximum number of messages you ever want to see. For

2790

example, if you only ever wanted to look at the last 500 messages in

2791

each newsgroup you could set this option to 500. In actuality, it

2792

isn't quite that. Instead, for performance reasons, it specifies the

2793

range of article numbers to be checked, beginning with the highest

2794

numbered article and going backwards from there. If there are

2795

messages that have been canceled or deleted their article numbers are

2796

still counted as part of the range.

2797

So, more precisely, setting the "nntp-range" will cause article

2798

numbers

2799

2800

last_article_number - nntp-range + 1 through last_article_number

2801

to be considered when reading a newsgroup. The number of messages

2802

that show up in your index will be less than or equal to the value of

2803

"nntp-range".

2804

The purpose of this option is simply to speed up access when reading

2805

news. The speedup comes because _Alpine_ can ignore all but the last

2806

nntp-range article numbers, and can avoid downloading any information

2807

about the ignored articles. There is a cost you pay for this speedup.

2808

That cost is that there is no way for you to see those ignored

2809

articles. The articles that come before the range you specify are

2810

invisible to you and to _Alpine_, as if they did not exist at all.

2811

There is no way to see those messages using, for example, an

2812

unexclude command or something similar. The only way to see those

2813

articles is to set this option high enough (or set it to zero) and

2814

then to reopen the newsgroup.

2815

If this option is set to 0 (which is also the default), then the

2816

range is unlimited. This option applies globally to all NNTP servers

2817

and to all newsgroups on those servers. There is no way to set

2818

different values for different newsgroups or servers.

2819

_nntp-server_

2820

One or more NNTP servers (host name or IP address) which _Alpine_

2821

will use for reading and posting news. If you read and post news to

2822

and from a single NNTP server, you can get away with only setting the

2823

_nntp-server_ variable and leaving the _news-collections_ variable

2824

unset.

2825

When you define an NNTP server, _Alpine_ implicitly defines a news

2826

collection for you, assuming that server as the news server and

2827

assuming that you will use the NNTP protocol and a local newsrc

2828

configuration file for reading news. See also Configuring News.

2829

Your NNTP server may offer NNTP "AUTHINFO SASL" or "AUTHINFO USER"

2830

authentication. It may even require it. If your NNTP server does

2831

offer such authentication you may specify a user name parameter to

2832

cause _Alpine_ to attempt to authenticate. The same is true for the

2833

server name in a folder collection which uses NNTP. This parameter

2834

requires an associated value, the username identifier with which to

2835

establish the server connection. An example might be:

2836

2837

nntpserver.example.com/user=katie

2838

If authentication is offered by the server, this will cause _Alpine_

2839

to attempt to use it. If authentication is not offered by the server,

2840

this will cause _Alpine_ to fail with an error similar to:

2841

2842

Error: NNTP authentication not available

2843

For more details about the server name possibilities see Server Name

2844

Syntax.

2845

_normal-background-color_

2846

_normal-foreground-color_

2847

Normal Color.

2848

_opening-text-separator-chars_

2849

This option controls a minor aspect of _Alpine_'s MESSAGE INDEX

2850

screen. With some setups the text of the subject is followed by the

2851

opening text of the message if there is any room available in the

2852

index line. If you have configured your Index-Format option to

2853

include one of the Subject tokens which causes this behavior

2854

(SUBJECTTEXT, SUBJKEYTEXT, or SUBJKEYINITTEXT), then this option may

2855

be used to modify what is displayed slightly. By default, the Subject

2856

is separated from the opening text of the message by the three

2857

characters space dash space;

2858

2859

" - "

2860

Use this option to set it to something different. The value must be

2861

quoted if it includes any space characters. For example, the default

2862

value could be specified explicitly by setting this option to

2863

2864

Opening-Text-Separator-Chars=" - "

2865

This option is displayed as "Opening Text Separator Characters".

2866

_operating-dir_

2867

System-wide _Alpine_ configuration files only. This names the root of

2868

the tree to which the user is restricted when reading and writing

2869

folders and files. It is usually used in the _fixed_ configuration

2870

file.

2871

_patterns-filters2_

2872

Matching patterns and their corresponding actions are stored in this

2873

variable. These patterns are used with Filtering. This variable is

2874

normally maintained through the Setup/Rules/Filters configuration

2875

screen. It is a list variable. Each member of the list is a single

2876

pattern/action pair, or it can be a file which contains zero or more

2877

lines of pattern/action pairs. The only way to create a filters file

2878

is to use the InsertFile command in the Setup/Rules/Filters screen

2879

with a filename which doesn't yet exist. Then use the Shuffle command

2880

to move existing filter patterns into the file. This isn't very

2881

convenient but it isn't thought that many users will need this

2882

functionality. The purpose of filter files is for sharing filters.

2883

This option is displayed as "Patterns Filters".

2884

_patterns-indexcolors_

2885

Matching patterns and their corresponding actions are stored in this

2886

variable. These patterns are used for Index Line Colors. This

2887

variable is normally maintained through the Setup/Rules/Indexcolor

2888

configuration screen. It is a list variable. Each member of the list

2889

is a single pattern/action pair, or it can be a file which contains

2890

zero or more lines of pattern/action pairs. The only way to create a

2891

indexcolor file is to use the InsertFile command in the

2892

Setup/Rules/Indexcolor screen with a filename which doesn't yet

2893

exist. Then use the Shuffle command to move existing patterns into

2894

the file. This isn't very convenient but it isn't thought that many

2895

users will need this functionality. The purpose of indexcolor files

2896

is for sharing indexcolors.

2897

_patterns-other_

2898

Matching patterns and their corresponding actions are stored in this

2899

variable. These patterns are used with Miscellaneous Rules

2900

configuration. This variable is normally maintained through the

2901

Setup/Rules/Other configuration screen. It is a list variable. Each

2902

member of the list is a single pattern/action pair, or it can be a

2903

file which contains zero or more lines of pattern/action pairs. The

2904

only way to create a rules file is to use the InsertFile command in

2905

the Setup/Rules/Other screen with a filename which doesn't yet exist.

2906

Then use the Shuffle command to move existing rules into the file.

2907

This isn't very convenient but it isn't thought that many users will

2908

need this functionality.

2909

_patterns-roles_

2910

Matching patterns and their corresponding actions are stored in this

2911

variable. These patterns are used with Roles. This variable is

2912

normally maintained through the Setup/Rules/Roles configuration

2913

screen. It is a list variable. Each member of the list is a single

2914

pattern/action pair, or it can be a file which contains zero or more

2915

lines of pattern/action pairs. The only way to create a roles file is

2916

to use the InsertFile command in the Setup/Rules/Roles screen with a

2917

filename which doesn't yet exist. Then use the Shuffle command to

2918

move existing roles into the file. This isn't very convenient but it

2919

isn't thought that many users will need this functionality. The

2920

purpose of role files is for sharing roles.

2921

_patterns-scores2_

2922

Matching patterns and their corresponding actions are stored in this

2923

variable. These patterns are used with Scoring. This variable is

2924

normally maintained through the Setup/Rules/SetScores configuration

2925

screen. It is a list variable. Each member of the list is a single

2926

pattern/action pair, or it can be a file which contains zero or more

2927

lines of pattern/action pairs. The only way to create a scores file

2928

is to use the InsertFile command in the Setup/Rules/SetScores screen

2929

with a filename which doesn't yet exist. Then use the Shuffle command

2930

to move existing scoring patterns into the file. This isn't very

2931

convenient but it isn't thought that many users will need this

2932

functionality. The purpose of scoring files is for sharing scoring

2933

rules.

2934

This option is displayed as "Patterns Scores".

2935

_patterns-search_

2936

Matching patterns for use with the Select command are stored in this

2937

variable. These patterns are used with Search Rules configuration.

2938

This variable is normally maintained through the Setup/Rules/searCh

2939

configuration screen. It is a list variable. Each member of the list

2940

is a single pattern, or it can be a file which contains zero or more

2941

lines of patterns. The only way to create a rules file is to use the

2942

InsertFile command in the Setup/Rules/searCh screen with a filename

2943

which doesn't yet exist. Then use the Shuffle command to move

2944

existing rules into the file. This isn't very convenient but it isn't

2945

thought that many users will need this functionality.

2946

_personal-name_

2947

Personal configuration file only. User's full personal name. On UNIX

2948

systems, the default is taken from the accounts data base

2949

(/etc/passwd). The easiest way to change the full From address is

2950

with the customized-hdrs variable.

2951

_personal-print-category_

2952

Personal configuration file only. This is the category that the

2953

default print command belongs to. There are three categories.

2954

Category 1 is an attached printer which uses the ANSI escape

2955

sequence, category 2 is the standard system print command, and

2956

category 3 is the set of custom printer commands defined by the user.

2957

This just helps _Alpine_ figure out where to put the cursor when the

2958

user runs the _Setup/Printer_ command. This is not used by

2959

_PC-Alpine_.

2960

_personal-print-command_

2961

Personal configuration file only. This corresponds to the third

2962

category in the printer menu, the personally selected print commands.

2963

This variable contains the list of custom commands that the user has

2964

entered in the _Setup/Printer_ screen. This is not used by

2965

_PC-Alpine_.

2966

_posting-character-set_

2967

See the discussion in International Character Sets for details.

2968

_postponed-folder_

2969

The folder where postponed messages are stored. The default is

2970

_postponed-msgs_ (Unix) or _POSTPOND_ (PC).

2971

_print-font-name_

2972

Winsock version of _PC-Alpine_ only.

2973

_print-font-size_

2974

Winsock version of _PC-Alpine_ only.

2975

_print-font-style_

2976

Winsock version of _PC-Alpine_ only.

2977

_printer_

2978

Personal configuration file only. This is the current setting for a

2979

user's printer. This variable is set from _Alpine_'s _Setup/Printer_

2980

screen.

2981

_prompt-background-color_

2982

_prompt-foreground-color_

2983

Prompt Color.

2984

_pruned-folders_

2985

This variable allows you to define a list of one or more folders that

2986

_Alpine_ will offer to prune for you in the same way it automatically

2987

offers to prune your "sent-mail" folder each month. Each folder in

2988

this list must be a folder in your default folder collection (the

2989

first folder collection if you have more than one), and it is just

2990

the relative name of the folder in the collection, not the

2991

fully-qualified name. It is similar to sent-mail. Instead of

2992

something like

2993

2994

pruned-folders={servername}mail/folder

2995

the correct value to use would be

2996

2997

folder

2998

There is an assumption here that your first collection is the folders

2999

in

3000

3001

{servername}mail

3002

Once a month, for each folder listed, _Alpine_ will offer to move the

3003

contents of the folder to a new folder of the same name but with the

3004

previous month's date appended. _Alpine_ will then look for any such

3005

date-appended folder names created for a previous month, and offer

3006

each one it finds for deletion.

3007

If you decline the first offer, no mail is moved and no new folder is

3008

created.

3009

The new folders will be created in your default folder collection.

3010

_pruning-rule_

3011

By default, _Alpine_ will ask at the beginning of each month whether

3012

or not you want to rename your sent-mail folder to a name like

3013

sent-mail-month-year. (See the feature prune-uses-yyyy-mm to change

3014

the format of the folder to sent-mail-yyyy-mm.) It will also ask

3015

whether you would like to delete old sent-mail folders. If you have

3016

defined read-message-folder or pruned-folders _Alpine_ will also ask

3017

about pruning those folders. With this option you may provide an

3018

automatic answer to the rename questions and you may tell _Alpine_ to

3019

not ask about deleting old folders.

3020

_quote1-background-color_

3021

_quote1-foreground-color_

3022

_quote2-background-color_

3023

_quote2-foreground-color_

3024

_quote3-background-color_

3025

_quote3-foreground-color_

3026

Quote Colors.

3027

_quote-replace-string_

3028

This option specifies what string to use as a quote when _viewing_ a

3029

message. The standard way of quoting messages when replying is the

3030

string "> " (quote space). With this variable set, viewing a message

3031

will replace occurrences of "> " with the replacement string. This

3032

setting works best when Reply-Indent-String or the equivalent setting

3033

in your correspondents' mail programs is set to the default "> ", but

3034

it will also work fine with the Reply-Indent-String set to ">".

3035

Enable the feature Quote-Replace-Nonflowed to also have

3036

quote-replacement performed on non-flowed messages.

3037

Setting this option will replace ">" and "> " with the new setting.

3038

This string may include trailing spaces. To preserve those spaces

3039

enclose the full string in double quotes.

3040

No padding to separate the text of the message from the quote string

3041

is added. This means that if you do not add trailing spaces to the

3042

value of this variable, text will be displayed right next to the

3043

quote string, which may be undesirable. This can be avoided by adding

3044

a new string separated by a space from your selection of quote string

3045

replacement. This last string will be used for padding. For example,

3046

setting this variable to ">" " " has the effect of setting ">" as the

3047

quote-replace-string, with the text padded by a space from the last

3048

quote string to make it more readable.

3049

One possible setting for this variable could be " " (four spaces

3050

wrapped in quotes), which would have the effect of indenting each

3051

level of quoting four spaces and removing the ">"'s. Different levels

3052

of quoting could be made more discernible by setting colors for

3053

quoted text.

3054

Replying to or forwarding the viewed message will preserve the

3055

original formatting of the message, so quote-replacement will not be

3056

performed on messages that are being composed.

3057

_quote-suppression-threshold_

3058

This option should be used with care. It will cause some of the

3059

quoted text to be eliminated from the display when viewing a message

3060

in the MESSAGE TEXT screen. For example, if you set the

3061

Quote-Suppression-Threshold to the value "5", this will cause quoted

3062

text that is longer than five lines to be truncated. Quoted text of

3063

five or fewer consecutive lines will be displayed in its entirety.

3064

Quoted text of more than six lines will have the first five lines

3065

displayed followed by a line that looks something like

3066

3067

[ 12 lines of quoted text hidden from view ]

3068

As a special case, if exactly one line of quoted text would be

3069

hidden, the entire quote will be shown instead. So for the above

3070

example, quoted text which is exactly six lines long will will be

3071

shown in its entirety. (In other words, instead of hiding a single

3072

line and adding a line that announces that one line was hidden, the

3073

line is just shown.)

3074

If the sender of a message has carefully chosen the quotes that he or

3075

she includes, hiding those quotes may change the meaning of the

3076

message. For that reason, _Alpine_ requires that when you want to set

3077

the value of this variable to something less than four lines, you

3078

actually have to set it to the negative of that number. So if you

3079

want to set this option to "3", you actually have to set it to "-3".

3080

The only purpose of this is to get you to think about whether or not

3081

you really want to do this! If you want to delete all quoted text you

3082

set the value of this option to the special value "-10".

3083

The legal values for this option are

3084

3085

0 Default, don't hide anything

3086

-1,-2,-3 Suppress quote lines past 1, 2, or 3 lines

3087

4,5,6,... Suppress if more than that many lines

3088

-10 Suppress all quoted lines

3089

If you set this option to a non-default value you may sometimes wish

3090

to view the quoted text that is not shown. When this is the case, the

3091

HdrMode (Header Mode) command may be used to show the hidden text.

3092

Typing the "H" command once will show the hidden text. Typing a

3093

second "H" will also turn on Full Header mode. The presence or

3094

absence of the HdrMode command is determined by the

3095

"Enable-Full-Header-Cmd" Feature-List option in your _Alpine_

3096

configuration, so you will want to be sure that is turned on if you

3097

use quote suppression.

3098

For the purposes of this option, a quote is a line that begins with

3099

the character ">".

3100

Quotes are only suppressed when displaying a message on the screen.

3101

The entire quote will be left intact when printing or forwarding or

3102

something similar.

3103

_read-message-folder_

3104

If set, mail in the _INBOX_ that has been read but not deleted is

3105

moved here, or rather, the user is asked whether or not he or she

3106

wants to move it here upon quitting _Alpine_.

3107

_remote-abook-history_

3108

Sets how many extra copies of remote address book data will be kept

3109

in each remote address book folder. The default is three. These extra

3110

copies are simply old versions of the data. Each time a change is

3111

made a new copy of the address book data is appended to the folder.

3112

Old copies are trimmed, if possible, when _Alpine_ exits. An old copy

3113

can be put back into use by deleting and expunging newer versions of

3114

the data from the folder. Don't delete the first message from the

3115

folder. It is a special header message for the remote address book

3116

and it must be there. This is to prevent regular folders from being

3117

used as remote address book folders and having their data destroyed.

3118

_remote-abook-metafile_

3119

Personal configuration file only. This is usually set by _Alpine_ and

3120

is the name of a file that contains data about remote address books

3121

and remote configuration files.

3122

_remote-abook-validity_

3123

Sets the minimum number of minutes that a remote address book will be

3124

considered up to date. Whenever an entry contained in a remote

3125

address book is used, if more than this many minutes have passed

3126

since the last check the remote server will be queried to see if the

3127

address book has changed. If it has changed, the local copy is

3128

updated. The default value is five minutes. The special value of -1

3129

means never check. The special value of zero means only check when

3130

the address book is first opened.

3131

No matter what the value, the validity check is always done when the

3132

address book is about to be changed by the user. The check can be

3133

initiated manually by typing _^L_ (Ctrl-L) while in the address book

3134

maintenance screen for the remote address book.

3135

_reply-indent-string_

3136

This variable specifies an aspect of _Alpine_'s _Reply_ command. When

3137

a message is replied to and the text of the message is included, the

3138

included text usually has the string "> " prepended to each line

3139

indicating it is quoted text.

3140

This option specifies a different value for that string. If you wish

3141

to use a string which begins or ends with a space, enclose the string

3142

in double quotes.

3143

Besides simple text, the prepended string can be based on the message

3144

being replied to. The following tokens are substituted for the

3145

message's corresponding value:

3146

3147

_FROM_

3148

This token gets replaced with the message sender's "username".

3149

At most six characters are used.

3150

3151

_NICK_

3152

This token gets replaced with the nickname of the message

3153

sender's address as found in your addressbook. If no

3154

addressbook entry is found, Pine replaces the characters

3155

"_NICK_" with nothing. At most six characters are used.

3156

3157

_INIT_

3158

This token gets replaced with the initials of the sender of the

3159

message.

3160

3161

When the enable-reply-indent-string-editing feature is enabled, you

3162

are given the opportunity to edit the string, whether it is the

3163

default or one automatically generated using the above tokens.

3164

_reply-leadin_

3165

This option is used to customize the content of the introduction line

3166

that is included when replying to a message and including the

3167

original message in the reply. The normal default (what you will get

3168

if you delete this variable) looks something like:

3169

3170

On Sat, 24 Oct 1998, Fred Flintstone wrote:

3171

where the day of the week is only included if it is available in the

3172

original message. You can replace this default with text of your own.

3173

The text may contain tokens that are replaced with text that depends

3174

on the message you are replying to. For example, the default is

3175

equivalent to:

3176

3177

On _DAYDATE_, _FROM_ wrote:

3178

Since this variable includes regular text mixed with special tokens

3179

the tokens have to be surrounded by underscore characters. For

3180

example, to use the token "PREFDATE" you would need to use

3181

"_PREFDATE_", not "PREFDATE".

3182

The list of available tokens is here.

3183

By default, the text is all on a single line and is followed by a

3184

blank line. If your _Reply-Leadin_ turns out to be longer than 80

3185

characters when replying to a particular message, it is shortened.

3186

However, if you use the token

3187

3188

_NEWLINE_

3189

anywhere in the value, no end of line or blank line is appended, and

3190

no shortening is done. The _NEWLINE_ token may be used to get rid of

3191

the blank line following the text, to add more blank lines, or to

3192

form a multi-line _Reply-Leadin_. To clarify how _NEWLINE_ works

3193

recall that the default value is:

3194

3195

On _DAYDATE_, _FROM_ wrote:

3196

That is equivalent to

3197

3198

On _DAYDATE_, _FROM_ wrote:_NEWLINE__NEWLINE_

3199

In the former case, two newlines are added automatically because no

3200

_NEWLINE_ token appears in the value of the option (for backwards

3201

compatibility). In the latter case, the newlines are explicit. If you

3202

want to remove the blank line that follows the _Reply-Leadin_ text

3203

use a single _NEWLINE_ token like

3204

3205

On _DAYDATE_, _FROM_ wrote:_NEWLINE_

3206

Because of the backwards compatibility problem, it is not possible to

3207

remove all of the ends of lines, because then there will be no

3208

_NEWLINE_ tokens and that will cause the automatic adding of two

3209

newlines! If you want, you may embed newlines in the middle of the

3210

text, as well, producing a multi-line _Reply-Leadin_.

3211

By default, no attempt is made to localize the date. If you prefer a

3212

localized form you may find that one of the tokens _PREFDATE_ or

3213

_PREFDATETIME_ is a satisfactory substitute. If you want more control

3214

one of the many other date tokens, such as _DATEISO_, might be

3215

better.

3216

For the adventurous, there is a way to conditionally include text

3217

based on whether or not a token would result in specific replacement

3218

text. For example, you could include some text based on whether or

3219

not the _NEWS_ token would result in any newsgroups if it was used.

3220

It's explained in detail here.

3221

In the very unlikely event that you want to include a literal token

3222

in the introduction line you must precede it with a backslash

3223

character. For example,

3224

3225

\_DAYDATE_ = _DAYDATE_

3226

would produce something like

3227

3228

_DAYDATE_ = Sat, 24 Oct 1998

3229

It is not possible to have a literal backslash followed by an

3230

expanded token.

3231

_reverse-background-color_

3232

_reverse-foreground-color_

3233

Reverse Color.

3234

_rsh-command_

3235

Sets the format of the command used to open a UNIX remote shell

3236

connection. The default is "%s %s -l %s exec /etc/r%sd". All four

3237

"%s" entries MUST exist in the provided command. The first is for the

3238

command's pathname, the second is for the host to connnect to, the

3239

third is for the user to connect as, and the fourth is for the

3240

connection method (typically imap).

3241

_rsh-open-timeout_

3242

Sets the time in seconds that _Alpine_ will attempt to open a UNIX

3243

remote shell connection. The default is 15, the minimum non-zero

3244

value is 5, and the maximum is unlimited. If this is set to zero rsh

3245

connections will be completely disabled.

3246

_rsh-path_

3247

Sets the name of the command used to open a UNIX remote shell

3248

connection. The default is typically /usr/ucb/rsh.

3249

_saved-msg-name-rule_

3250

Determines default folder name when _Sav_ing. If set to

3251

_default-folder_ (which is the default setting), then _Alpine_ will

3252

offer the folder "saved-messages" (UNIX) or "SAVEMAIL" (PC) for

3253

_Sav_ing messages. The default folder offered in this way may be

3254

changed by using the configuration variable default-saved-msg-folder.

3255

If this rule is set to _last-folder-used_, _Alpine_ offers to _Save_

3256

to the folder you last successfully _Saved_ a message to (this

3257

session). The first time you _Save_ a message in a session, _Alpine_

3258

offers to _Save_ the message to the default folder.

3259

Choosing any of the _by-_ options causes _Alpine_ to attempt to get

3260

the chosen option's value for the message being _Saved_ (or for the

3261

first message being Saved if using an aggregate Save). For example,

3262

if _by-from_ is chosen, _Alpine_ attempts to get the value of who the

3263

message came from (i.e. the from address). _Alpine_ then attempts to

3264

_Save_ the message to a folder matching that value. If _by-from_ is

3265

chosen and no value is obtained, _Alpine_ uses _by-sender_. The

3266

opposite is also true. If _by-recipient_ was chosen and the message

3267

was posted to a newsgroup, _Alpine_ will use the newsgroup name. If

3268

_by-replyto_ is chosen and no value is obtained, _Alpine_ uses

3269

_by-from_.

3270

If any of the "by-realname" options are chosen, _Alpine_ will attempt

3271

to use the personal name part of the address instead of the mailbox

3272

part. If any of the "by-nick" options are chosen, the address is

3273

looked up in your address book and if found, the nickname for that

3274

entry is used. Only simple address book entries are checked, not

3275

distribution lists. Similarly, if any of the "by-fcc" options are

3276

chosen, the fcc from the corresponding address book entry is used. If

3277

by-realname, or the by-nick or by-fcc lookups result in no value,

3278

then if the chosen option ends with the "then-from", "then-sender",

3279

"then-replyto", or "then-recip" suffix, _Alpine_ reverts to the same

3280

behavior as "by-from", "by-sender", "by-replyto", or "by-recip"

3281

depending on which option was specified. If the chosen option doesn't

3282

end with one of the "then-" suffixes, then _Alpine_ reverts to the

3283

default folder when no match is found in the address book.

3284

Here is an example to make some of the options clearer. If the

3285

message is From

3286

3287

Fred Flintstone <flint@bedrock.org>

3288

and this rule is set to "by-from", then the default folder offered in

3289

the save dialog would be "flint".

3290

If this rule is set to "by-realname-of-from" then the default would

3291

be "Fred Flintstone".

3292

If this rule is set to "by-nick-of-from" then _Alpine_ will search

3293

for the address "flint@bedrock.org" in your address book. If an entry

3294

is found and it has a nickname associated with it, that nickname will

3295

be offered as the default folder. If not, the default saved message

3296

folder will be offered as the default.

3297

If this rule is set to "by-fcc-of-from" then _Alpine_ will search for

3298

the address "flint@bedrock.org" in your address book. If an entry is

3299

found and it has an Fcc associated with it, that Fcc will be offered

3300

as the default folder. If not, the default saved message folder will

3301

be offered as the default.

3302

If this rule is set to "by-nick-of-from-then-from" then _Alpine_ will

3303

search for the address "flint@bedrock.org" in your address book. If

3304

an entry is found and it has a nickname associated with it, that

3305

nickname will be offered as the default folder. If it is not found

3306

(or has no nickname) then the default offered will be the same as it

3307

would be for the "by-from" rule. That is, it would be "flint"

3308

This option is displayed as "Saved Message Name Rule".

3309

_scroll-margin_

3310

This option controls when _Alpine_'s line-by-line scrolling occurs.

3311

Typically, when a selected item is at the top or bottom screen edge

3312

and the UP or DOWN (and Ctrl-P or Ctrl-N) keys are pressed, the

3313

displayed items are scrolled down or up by a single line.

3314

This option allows you to tell _Alpine_ the number of lines from the

3315

top and bottom screen edge that line-by-line scrolling should occur.

3316

For example, setting this value to one (1) will cause _Alpine_ to

3317

scroll the display when you move to select an item on the display's

3318

top or bottom edge (instead of moving when you move off the edge of

3319

the screen).

3320

By default, this variable is zero (0), indicating that scrolling

3321

happens when you move up or down to select an item immediately off

3322

the display's top or bottom edge.

3323

_selectable-item-background-color_

3324

_selectable-item-foreground-color_

3325

Selectable-item Color.

3326

_sending-filters_

3327

This option defines a list of text-filtering commands (programs and

3328

scripts) that may be selectively invoked to process a message just

3329

before it is sent. If set, the Composer's _^X Send_ command will

3330

allow you to select which filter (or none) to apply to the message

3331

before it is sent. For security reasons, the full path of the filter

3332

program must be specified.

3333

Sending filters do not work with _PC-Alpine_ and sending filters are

3334

not used if the feature send-without-confirm is set.

3335

Command Modifying Tokens:

3336

3337

__RECIPIENTS__

3338

When the command is executed, this token is replaced with the

3339

space delimited list of recipients of the message being sent.

3340

3341

__TMPFILE__

3342

When the command is executed, this token is replaced with the

3343

path and name of the temporary file containing the text to be

3344

filtered. _Alpine_ expects the filter to replace this data with

3345

the filter's result. NOTE: Use of this token implies that the

3346

text to be filtered is not piped into standard input of the

3347

executed command and its standard output is ignored. _Alpine_

3348

restores the tty modes before invoking the filter in case the

3349

filter interacts with the user via its own standard input and

3350

output.

3351

3352

__RESULTFILE__

3353

When the command is executed, this token is replaced with the

3354

path and name of a temporary file intended to contain a status

3355

message from the filter. _Alpine_ displays this in the message

3356

status field.

3357

3358

__DATAFILE__

3359

When the command is executed, this token is replaced in the

3360

command line with the path and name of a temporary file that

3361

_Alpine_ creates once per session and deletes upon exit. The

3362

file is intended to be used by the filter to store state

3363

information between instances of the filter.

3364

3365

__PREPENDKEY__

3366

When the command is executed, this token indicates that a

3367

random number will be passed down the input stream before the

3368

message text. It is not included as a command-line argument.

3369

This number could be used as a session key. It is sent in this

3370

way to improve security. The number is unique to the current

3371

_Alpine_ session and is only generated once per session.

3372

3373

__INCLUDEALLHDRS__

3374

When the command is executed, this token indicates that the

3375

headers of the message will be passed down the input stream

3376

before the message text. It is not included as a command-line

3377

argument. The filter should, of course, remove the headers

3378

before returning control to _Alpine_.

3379

3380

__MIMETYPE__

3381

When the command is executed, this token is replaced in the

3382

command name with a temporary file name used to accept any new

3383

MIME Content-Type information necessitated by the output of the

3384

filter. Upon the filter's exit, if the file contains new MIME

3385

type information, _Alpine_ verifies its format and replaces the

3386

outgoing message's MIME type information with that contained in

3387

the file. This is basically a cheap way of sending something

3388

other than Text/Plain.

3389

3390

_sendmail-path_

3391

This names the path to an alternative program, and any necessary

3392

arguments, to be used in posting mail messages. See the section on

3393

SMTP and Sendmail for more details.

3394

_signature-file_

3395

This is the name of a file which will be automatically inserted into

3396

outgoing messages. It typically contains information such as your

3397

name, email address and organizational affiliation. _Alpine_ adds the

3398

signature into the message as soon as you enter the composer so you

3399

can choose to remove it or edit it on a message by message basis.

3400

Signature file placement in message replies is controlled by the

3401

signature-at-bottom setting in the feature list.

3402

This defaults to ~/.signature on UNIX and <PINERC directory>\PINE.SIG

3403

on a PC.

3404

To create or edit your signature file choose Setup from the Main Menu

3405

and then select S for Signature (Main/Setup/Signature). This puts you

3406

into the Signature Editor where you can enter a _few_ lines of text

3407

containing your identity and affiliation.

3408

If the filename is followed by a vertical bar (|) then instead of

3409

reading the contents of the file the file is assumed to be a program

3410

which will produce the text to be used on its standard output. The

3411

program can't have any arguments and doesn't receive any input from

3412

_Alpine_, but the rest of the processing works as if the contents came

3413

from a file.

3414

Instead of storing the data in a local file, the signature data may

3415

be stored remotely in an IMAP folder. In order to do this, you must

3416

use a remote name for the file. A remote signature-file name might

3417

look like:

3418

3419

{myimaphost.myschool.k12.wa.us}mail/signature

3420

or, if you have an SSL-capable version of _Alpine_, you might try

3421

3422

{myimaphost.myschool.k12.wa.us/user=loginname/ssl}mail/signature

3423

The syntax used here is the same as the syntax used for remote

3424

configuration files from the command line. Note that you may not

3425

access an existing signature file remotely, you have to create a new

3426

_folder_ which contains the signature data. If the name you use here

3427

for the signature file is a remote name, then when you edit the file

3428

from the Setup/Signature command the data will be stored remotely in

3429

the folder. You aren't required to do anything special to create the

3430

folder, it gets created automatically if you use a remote name.

3431

Besides regular text, the signature file may also contain (or a

3432

signature program may produce) tokens which are replaced with text

3433

which usually depends on the message you are replying to or

3434

forwarding. For example, if the signature file contains the token

3435

3436

_DATE_

3437

anywhere in the text, then that token is replaced by the date the

3438

message you are replying to or forwarding was sent. If it contains

3439

3440

_CURDATE_

3441

that is replaced with the current date. The first is an example of a

3442

token which depends on the message you are replying to (or

3443

forwarding) and the second is an example which doesn't depend on

3444

anything other than the current date. You have to be a little careful

3445

with this facility since tokens which depend on the message you are

3446

replying to or forwarding will be replaced by nothing in the case

3447

where you are composing a new message from scratch. The use of roles

3448

may help you in this respect. It allows you to use different

3449

signature files in different cases.

3450

The list of tokens available for use in the signature file is here.

3451

Instead of, or along with the use of _roles_ to give you different

3452

signature files in different situations, there is also a way to

3453

conditionally include text based on whether or not a token would

3454

result in specific replacement text. For example, you could include

3455

some text based on whether or not the _NEWS_ token would result in

3456

any newsgroups if it was used. This is explained in detail here. This

3457

isn't for the faint of heart.

3458

In the very unlikely event that you want to include a literal token

3459

in the signature you must precede it with a backslash character. For

3460

example,

3461

3462

\_DAYDATE_ = _DAYDATE_

3463

would produce something like

3464

3465

_DAYDATE_ = Sat, 24 Oct 1998

3466

It is not possible to have a literal backslash followed by an

3467

expanded token.

3468

_signature-background-color_

3469

_signature-foreground-color_

3470

Signature Color.

3471

_smime-public-cert-directory_

3472

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

3473

If the option smime-public-cert-container is set then this option

3474

will have no effect.

3475

Normally, Public Certificates for use with S/MIME will be stored in

3476

the directory which is the value of this option. Those certificates

3477

will be stored in PEM format, one certificate per file. The name of

3478

the file for the certificate corresponding to

3479

3480

emailaddress

3481

should be

3482

3483

emailaddress.crt

3484

For example, a file for user@example.com would be in the file

3485

3486

user@example.com.crt

3487

in this directory.

3488

Use the Setup/SMIME screen to modify this variable.

3489

Typically, the public certificates that you have will come from

3490

S/MIME signed messages that are sent to you. _Alpine_ will extract

3491

the public certificate from the signed message and store it in the

3492

certificates directory. These PEM format public certificates look

3493

something like:

3494

-----BEGIN CERTIFICATE-----

3495

MIIFvTCCBKWgAwIBAgIQD4fYFHVI8T20yN4nus097DANBgkqhkiG9w0BAQUFADCB

3496

rjELMAkGA1UEBhMCVVMxCzAJBgNVBAgTAlVUMRcwFQYDVQQHEw5TYWx0IExha2Ug

3497

Q2l0eTEeMBwGA1UEChMVVGhlIFVTRVJUUlVTVCBOZXR3b3JrMSEwHwYDVQQLExho

3498

...

3499

2b9KGqDyMWW/rjNnmpjzjT2ObGM7lRA8lke4FLOLajhrz4ogO3b4DFfAAM1VSZH8

3500

D6sOwOLJZkLY8FRsfk63K+2EMzA2+qAzMKupgeTLqXIf

3501

-----END CERTIFICATE-----

3502

+ General S/MIME Overview

3503

This option is displayed as "S/MIME - Public Cert Directory".

3504

_smime-public-cert-container_

3505

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

3506

If this option is set it will be used instead of

3507

smime-public-cert-directory

3508

This option gives you a way to store certificates remotely on an IMAP

3509

server instead of storing the certificates one per file locally. In

3510

order to do that you just give this option a remote folder name for a

3511

folder which does not yet exist. The name is similar to the name you

3512

might use for a remote configuration file. A remote folder name might

3513

look something like:

3514

3515

{myimaphost.myschool.k12.wa.us}mail/publiccerts

3516

Use the Setup/SMIME screen to modify this variable.

3517

+ General S/MIME Overview

3518

This option is displayed as "S/MIME - Public Cert Container".

3519

_smime-private-key-directory_

3520

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

3521

In order to sign outgoing S/MIME messages you will need a personal

3522

digital ID certificate. You will usually get such a certificate from

3523

a certificate authority such as Thawte or CAcert. (In order to

3524

encrypt outgoing messages you don't need a personal digital ID, you

3525

need the public certificate of the recipient instead.) If the option

3526

smime-private-key-container is set then this option will have no

3527

effect.

3528

Normally, Private Keys for use with S/MIME will be stored in the

3529

directory which is the value of this option. Those certificates will

3530

be stored in PEM format, one certificate per file. The name of the

3531

file for the certificate corresponding to your

3532

3533

emailaddress

3534

should be

3535

3536

emailaddress.key

3537

For example, if your address is user@example.com the name of the file

3538

would be

3539

3540

user@example.com.key

3541

in this directory.

3542

Use the Setup/SMIME screen to modify this variable.

3543

Typically, the private key that you have will come from a Certificate

3544

Authority. The private key should be stored in a PEM format file that

3545

looks something like:

3546

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

3547

Proc-Type: 4,ENCRYPTED

3548

DEK-Info: DES-EDE3-CBC,2CBD328FD84CF5C6

3549

3550

YBEXYLgLU9NJoc1V+vJ6UvcF08RX54S6jXsmgL0b5HGkudG6fhnmHkH7+UCvM5NI

3551

SXO/F8iuZDfs1VGG0NyitkFZ0Zn2vfaGovBvm15gx24b2xnZDLRB7/bNZkurnK5k

3552

VjAjZ2xXn2hFp2GJwqRdmxYNqsKGu52B99oti5HUWuZ2GFRaWjn5hYOqeApZE2uA

3553

...

3554

oSRqfI51UdSRt0tmGhHeTvybUVrHm9eKft8TTGf+qSBqzSc55CsmoVbRzw4Nfhix

3555

m+4TJybNGNfAgOctSkEyY/OCb49fRRQTCBZVIhzLGGmpYmkO55HbIA==

3556

-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

3557

+ General S/MIME Overview

3558

This option is displayed as "S/MIME - Private Key Directory".

3559

_smime-private-key-container_

3560

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

3561

If this option is set it will be used instead of

3562

smime-private-key-directory.

3563

This option gives you a way to store keys remotely on an IMAP server

3564

instead of storing the keys one per file locally. In order to do that

3565

you just give this option a remote folder name for a folder which

3566

does not yet exist. The name is similar to the name you might use for

3567

a remote configuration file. A remote folder name might look

3568

something like:

3569

3570

{myimaphost.myschool.k12.wa.us}mail/privatekeys

3571

Use the Setup/SMIME screen to modify this variable.

3572

+ General S/MIME Overview

3573

This option is displayed as "S/MIME - Private Key Container".

3574

_smime-cacert-directory_

3575

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

3576

If the option smime-cacert-container is set then this option will

3577

have no effect.

3578

CACert is a shorthand name for certification authority certificate.

3579

Normally _Alpine_ will use the CACerts that are located in the

3580

standard system location for CACerts. It may be the case that one of

3581

your correspondents has a Digital ID which has been signed by a

3582

certificate authority that is not in the regular set of system

3583

certificate authorities. You may supplement the system list by adding

3584

further certificates of your own. These should be stored in the

3585

directory which is the value of this option. The certificates will be

3586

stored in PEM format, one certificate per file. The names of the

3587

files can be anything ending in ".crt".

3588

Use the Setup/SMIME screen to modify this variable.

3589

These PEM format CA certificates look very similar to your public

3590

certificates for particular email addresses

3591

(smime-public-cert-directory).

3592

+ General S/MIME Overview

3593

This option is displayed as "S/MIME - Cert Authority Directory".

3594

_smime-cacert-container_

3595

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

3596

If this option is set it will be used instead of

3597

smime-cacert-directory.

3598

This option gives you a way to store certificates remotely on an IMAP

3599

server instead of storing the certificates one per file locally. In

3600

order to do that you just give this option a remote folder name for a

3601

folder which does not yet exist. The name is similar to the name you

3602

might use for a remote configuration file. A remote folder name might

3603

look something like:

3604

3605

{myimaphost.myschool.k12.wa.us}mail/cacerts

3606

Use the Setup/SMIME screen to modify this variable.

3607

+ General S/MIME Overview

3608

This option is displayed as "S/MIME - Cert Authority Container".

3609

_smtp-server_

3610

One or more SMTP servers (host name or IP address) which _Alpine_

3611

will use for outgoing mail. If not set, _Alpine_ passes outgoing

3612

email to the _sendmail_ program on the local machine. _PC-Alpine_

3613

users must have this variable set in order to send mail as they have

3614

no _sendmail_ program.

3615

Your SMTP server may offer SMTP AUTH authentication. It may even

3616

require it. If your SMTP server offers SMTP AUTH authentication you

3617

may specify a "user" name parameter to cause _Alpine_ to attempt to

3618

authenticate. This parameter requires an associated value, the

3619

username identifier with which to establish the server connection. An

3620

example might be:

3621

3622

smtpserver.example.com/user=katie

3623

If AUTH authentication is offered by the server, this will cause

3624

_Alpine_ to attempt to use it. If AUTH authentication is not offered

3625

by the server, this will cause _Alpine_ to fail sending with an error

3626

similar to:

3627

3628

Error: SMTP authentication not available

3629

Another type of authentication that is used by some ISPs is called

3630

"POP before SMTP" or "IMAP before SMTP", which means that you have to

3631

authenticate yourself to the POP or IMAP server by opening a mailbox

3632

before you can send mail. To do this, you usually only have to open

3633

your INBOX.

3634

You may tell _Alpine_ to use the Message Submission port (587)

3635

instead of the SMTP port (25) by including the "submit" parameter in

3636

this option. At this time "/submit" is simply equivalent to

3637

specifying port 587, though it may imply more than that at some point

3638

in the future. Some ISPs are blocking port 25 in order to reduce the

3639

amount of spam being sent to their users. You may find that the

3640

submit option allows you to get around such a block.

3641

3642

smtpserver.example.com/submit

3643

To specify any non-standard port number on the SMTP server you may

3644

follow the hostname with a colon followed by the portnumber.

3645

3646

smtpserver.example.com:12345

3647

Normally, when a connection is made to the Smtp-Server _Alpine_ will

3648

attempt to negotiate a secure (encrypted) session using Transport

3649

Layer Security (TLS). If that fails then a non-encrypted connection

3650

will be attempted instead. You may specify that a TLS connection is

3651

required if you wish. If you append "/tls" to the name then the

3652

connection will fail instead of falling back to a non-secure

3653

connection.

3654

3655

smtpserver.example.com/tls

3656

See the SMTP Servers section or the Server Name Syntax section for

3657

some more details.

3658

This option is displayed as "SMTP Server (for sending)".

3659

_sort-key_

3660

This variable sets up the default Message Index sorting. The default

3661

is to sort by arrival order (the order the messages arrived in the

3662

folder). It has the same functionality as the _-sort_ command line

3663

argument and the _$_ command in the "Folder Index". If a _sort-key_

3664

is set, then all folders open during the session will have that as

3665

the default sort order.

3666

_speller_

3667

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

3668

For _PC-Alpine_, you must install the aspell library code that you

3669

may get from http://aspell.net/win32/.

3670

This option affects the behavior of the _^T_ (spell check) command in

3671

the Composer. It specifies the program invoked by _^T_ in the

3672

Composer. By default, _Alpine_ uses the system's "spell" command.

3673

_Alpine_ will use the command defined by this option (if any) instead.

3674

When invoking the spell-checking program, _Alpine_ appends a tempfile

3675

name (where the message is passed) to the command line. _Alpine_

3676

expects the speller to correct the spelling in that file. When you

3677

exit from the speller program _Alpine_ will read the tmpfile back

3678

into the composer.

3679

For Unix _Alpine_ the program _ispell_ works well as an alternate

3680

spell checker. If your Unix system has _ispell_ it is probably

3681

reasonable to make it the default speller by configuring it as the

3682

default in the system configuration file, /usr/local/lib/pine.conf.

3683

If this option is not set, then the system's _spell_ command is used.

3684

The spell command does not work the same as the alternate speller. It

3685

produces a list of misspelled words on its standard output, instead,

3686

and doesn't take a tempfile as an argument. Don't set this speller

3687

option to the standard Unix spell command. That won't work. If you

3688

want to use the standard Unix spell command, set the speller option

3689

to nothing.

3690

_ssh-command_

3691

Sets the format of the command used to open a UNIX secure shell

3692

connection. The default is "%s %s -l %s exec /etc/r%sd". All four

3693

"%s" entries MUST exist in the provided command. The first is for the

3694

command's pathname, the second is for the host to connnect to, the

3695

third is for the user to connect as, and the fourth is for the

3696

connection method (typically imap).

3697

_ssh-open-timeout_

3698

Sets the time in seconds that _Alpine_ will attempt to open a UNIX

3699

secure shell connection. The default is 15, the minimum non-zero

3700

value is 5, and the maximum is unlimited. If this is set to zero ssh

3701

connections will be completely disabled.

3702

_ssh-path_

3703

Sets the name of the command used to open a UNIX secure shell

3704

connection. The default is typically /usr/bin/ssh.

3705

_standard-printer_

3706

System-wide configuration file only. Specifies a list of commands for

3707

category 2 of the _Setup/Printer_ screen, the standard print command

3708

section. This is not used by _PC-Alpine_.

3709

_status-background-color_

3710

_status-foreground-color_

3711

Status Color.

3712

_status-message-delay_

3713

This option has evolved over time, causing the possible values to be

3714

counter-intuitive. Read carefully before you set this option. First

3715

we explain what the option does, then there is a longer discussion

3716

following that.

3717

If this is set to zero, the default value, it has _no_ effect.

3718

Positive and negative values serve two similar, but different

3719

purposes.

3720

If it is set to a positive number, it causes the cursor to move to

3721

the status line whenever a status message is printed and pause there

3722

for this many seconds. It will probably only be useful if the

3723

show-cursor feature is also turned on. Setting this option to a

3724

postive number can only be used to _increase_ the status message

3725

delay. This may be useful for Braille displays, or other

3726

non-traditional displays.

3727

If it is set to a negative number the interpretation is a bit

3728

complicated. Negative numbers are used to _decrease_ the amount of

3729

delay _Alpine_ uses to allow you to read important status messages.

3730

Of course, this may cause you to miss some important messages. If you

3731

see a message flash by but miss what it says you can use the Journal

3732

command from the Main menu to read it. If you set this option to a

3733

negative value, the delay will be no more than one second less than

3734

the absolute value of the value you set. So if you set it to -1, the

3735

delay will be no more than zero seconds, no delay at all. If you set

3736

it to -2, the delay will be no more than 1 second. And so on, -3 is 2

3737

seconds, -4 is 3 seconds, ... If the delay that _Alpine_ would have

3738

used by default is less than this delay, then the smaller delay set

3739

by _Alpine_ will be used. Setting this option to a negative value can

3740

only reduce the amount of delay, never increase it.

3741

Here is a more detailed explanation. Status messages are the messages

3742

which show up spontaneously in the status message line, the third

3743

line from the bottom of the screen. By default, _Alpine_ assigns each

3744

status message it produces a minimum display time. Some status

3745

messages have a minimum display time of zero. You can see an example

3746

of such a message by paging up in this help text until you reach the

3747

top of the screen. If you try to page past the top you will see the

3748

message

3749

3750

[Already at start of help text]

3751

in the status line. If there is another more important use of the

3752

status message line this message might be replaced quickly, or it

3753

even might not be shown at all. However, if there is no reason to get

3754

rid of the message, it might stay there for several seconds while you

3755

read the help. An example where it is replaced immediately happens

3756

when you page up in the help text past the top of the screen, but

3757

then type the "WhereIs" command right after paging up. The message

3758

will disappear immediately without causing a delay (unless you have

3759

set this option to a positive value) to allow you to type input for

3760

the "WhereIs" command. Since it isn't a very important message,

3761

_Alpine_ has set its minimum display time to zero seconds.

3762

Other messages have minimum display times of three or more seconds.

3763

These are usually error messages that _Alpine_ thinks you ought to

3764

see. For example, it might be a message about a failed Save or a

3765

failed folder open. It is often the case that this minimum display

3766

time won't delay you in any way because the status message line is

3767

not needed for another reason. However, there are times when _Alpine_

3768

has to delay what it is doing in order to display a status message

3769

for the minimum display time. This happens when a message is being

3770

displayed and _Alpine_ wants to ask for input from the keyboard. For

3771

example, when you Save a message you use the status message line. You

3772

get a prompt there asking for the name of the folder to save to. If

3773

there is a status message being displayed that has not yet displayed

3774

for its minimum time _Alpine_ will display that status message

3775

surrounded with the characters > and < to show you that it is

3776

delaying. That might happen, for example, if you tried to save to a

3777

folder that caused an error, then followed that immediately with

3778

another Save command. You might find yourself waiting for a status

3779

message like

3780

3781

[>Can't get write access to mailbox, access is readonly<]

3782

to finish displaying for three seconds. If that is something you find

3783

happening to you frequently, you may use negative values of this

3784

option to decrease or eliminate that delay, at the risk of missing

3785

the message.

3786

_stay-open-folders_

3787

This option affects low-level behavior of _Alpine_. There is no

3788

default value for this option. It is related to the options

3789

Preopen-Stayopen-Folders, Max-Remote-Connections, and

3790

offer-expunge-of-Stayopen-Folders.

3791

Note: changes made to this list take effect the next time you open a

3792

folder in the list.

3793

This is a list of folders that will be permanently kept open once

3794

they are first opened. The names in this list may be either the

3795

nickname of an Incoming folder or the full technical specification of

3796

a folder. The folders in this list need not be remote IMAP folders,

3797

they could usefully be local folders, as well. If a folder in the

3798

list is a newsgroup or is not accessed either locally or via IMAP,

3799

then the entry will be ignored. For example, folders accessed via

3800

NNTP or POP3 will not be kept open, since the way that new mail is

3801

found with those protocols involves closing and reopening the

3802

connection.

3803

Once a Stay Open folder has been opened, new-mail checking will

3804

continue to happen on that folder for the rest of the _Alpine_

3805

session. Your INBOX is always implicitly included in this Stay-Open

3806

list and doesn't need to be added explicitly.

3807

Another difference that you may notice between a Stay Open folder and

3808

a non-Stay Open folder is which message is selected as the current

3809

message when you enter the folder index. Normally, the starting

3810

position for an incoming folder (which most Stay Open folders will

3811

likely be) is controlled by the Incoming-Startup-Rule. However, if a

3812

folder is a Stay Open folder, when you re-enter the folder after the

3813

first time the current message will be the same as it was when you

3814

left the folder. An exception is made if you use the TAB command to

3815

get to the folder. In that case, the message number will be

3816

incremented by one from what it was when you left the folder.

3817

The above special behavior is thought to be useful. However, it is

3818

special and different from what you might at first expect. The

3819

feature Use-Regular-Startup-Rule-for-Stayopen-Folders may be used to

3820

turn off this special treatment.

3821

If the message that was current when you left the folder no longer

3822

exists, then the regular startup rule will be used instead.

3823

This option is displayed as "Stayopen Folders".

3824

_tcp-open-timeout_

3825

Sets the time in seconds that _Alpine_ will attempt to open a network

3826

connection. The default is 30, the minimum is 5, and the maximum is

3827

system defined (typically 75). If a connection has not completed

3828

within this many seconds _Alpine_ will give up and consider it a

3829

failed connection.

3830

_tcp-query-timeout_

3831

When _Alpine_ times out a network read or write it will normally just

3832

display a message saying "Still waiting". However, if enough time has

3833

elapsed since it started waiting it will offer to let you break the

3834

connection. That amount of time is set by this option, which defaults

3835

to 60 seconds, has a minimum of 5 seconds, and a maximum of 1000

3836

seconds.

3837

_tcp-read-warning-timeout_

3838

Sets the time in seconds that _Alpine_ will wait for a network read

3839

before warning you that things are moving slowly and possibly giving

3840

you the option to break the connection. The default is 15 seconds.

3841

The minimum is 5 seconds and the maximumn is 1000 seconds.

3842

_tcp-write-warning-timeout_

3843

Sets the time in seconds that _Alpine_ will wait for a network write

3844

before warning you that things are moving slowly and possibly giving

3845

you the option to break the connection. The default is 0 which means

3846

it is unset. If set to a non-zero value, the minimum is 5 and the

3847

maximum is 1000.

3848

_threading-display-style_

3849

When a folder is sorted by Threads or OrderedSubject, this option

3850

will affect the MESSAGE INDEX display. By default, _Alpine_ will

3851

display the MESSAGE INDEX in the "show-thread-structure" style if a

3852

folder is sorted by Threads or OrderedSubject. The possible values

3853

are:

3854

3855

_none_

3856

Regular index display. The same index line as would be

3857

displayed without threading is used. The only difference will

3858

be in the order of the messages.

3859

3860

_show-thread-structure_

3861

Threaded Subjects will be indented and vertical bars and

3862

horizontal lines will be added to make it easier to see the

3863

relationships among the messages in a thread (a conversation).

3864

3865

_mutt-like_

3866

This is the same as the option above except that the Subject is

3867

suppressed (is blank) if it matches the previous Subject in the

3868

thread. The name comes from the email client Mutt. Here is an

3869

example of what a mutt-like index might look like. In this

3870

example, the first column represents the message number, the

3871

threading-index-style is set to

3872

"regular-index-with-expanded-threads", and the

3873

Threading-Lastreply-Character is set to a backslash:

3874

3875

1 Some topic

3876

2 . Subject original message in thread

3877

3 |-> reply to 2

3878

4 . |-> another reply to 2

3879

5 . | \-> reply to 4

3880

6 . | \-> reply to 5

3881

7 | \-> reply to 6

3882

8 |-> another reply to 2

3883

9 . |->New subject another reply to 2 but with a New subject

3884

10 | |-> reply to 9

3885

11 | \-> another reply to 9

3886

12 | \-> reply to 11

3887

13 \-> final reply to 2

3888

14 Next topic

3889

3890

_indent-subject-1_

3891

Threaded Subjects will be indented one space per level of the

3892

conversation. The bars and lines that show up in the

3893

show-thread-structure display will not be there with this

3894

style.

3895

3896

_indent-subject-2_

3897

Same as above but indent two spaces per level instead of one

3898

space.

3899

3900

_indent-from-1_

3901

Similar to indent-subject-1, except that instead of indenting

3902

the Subject field one space the From field of a thread will be

3903

indented one space per level of the conversation.

3904

3905

_indent-from-2_

3906

Same as above but indent two spaces per level instead of one

3907

space.

3908

3909

_show-structure-in-from_

3910

The structure of the thread is illustrated with indenting,

3911

vertical bars, and horizontal lines just like with the

3912

show-thread-structure option, but the From field is used to

3913

show the relationships instead of the Subject field.

3914

3915

_threading-expanded-character_

3916

The Threading-Expanded-Character option has a small effect on the

3917

MESSAGE INDEX display when using a threading-display-style other than

3918

_none_. The value of this option is a single character. This

3919

character is used to indicate that part of a thread has been expanded

3920

and could be collapsed if desired with the "/" Collapse/Expand

3921

command. By default, the value of this option is a dot (.).

3922

If this option is set to the Empty Value, then the column (and the

3923

following blank column) will be deleted from the display.

3924

This option is closely related to the threading-indicator-character

3925

option. Another similar option which affects the thread display is

3926

the threading-lastreply-character option.

3927

_threading-index-style_

3928

When a folder is sorted by Threads or OrderedSubject, this option

3929

will affect the INDEX displays. The possible values are:

3930

3931

_regular-index-with-expanded-threads_

3932

This is the default display. If the configuration option

3933

threading-display-style is set to something other than "none",

3934

then this setting will cause _Alpine_ to start off with a

3935

MESSAGE INDEX with all of the threads expanded. That is, each

3936

message will have a line in the MESSAGE INDEX display. The

3937

Collapse/Expand command (/) may be used to manually collapse or

3938

expand a thread or subthread (see also

3939

slash-collapses-entire-thread).

3940

3941

This setting affects the display when the folder is first

3942

threaded. The collapsed state may also be re-initialized by

3943

re-sorting the folder manually using the SortIndex command ($).

3944

After re-sorting the threads will once again all be expanded,

3945

even if you have previously collapsed some of them.

3946

3947

If "threading-display-style" is set to "none", then the display

3948

will be the regular default _Alpine_ MESSAGE INDEX, but sorted

3949

in a different order.

3950

3951

_regular-index-with-collapsed-threads_

3952

If the configuration option threading-display-style is set to

3953

something other than "none", then this setting will cause

3954

_Alpine_ to start out with all of the threads collapsed instead

3955

of starting out with all of the threads expanded. The

3956

Collapse/Expand command (/) may be used to manually collapse or

3957

expand a thread or subthread (see also

3958

slash-collapses-entire-thread).

3959

3960

This setting affects the display when the folder is first

3961

threaded. The collapsed state may also be re-initialized by

3962

re-sorting the folder manually using the SortIndex command ($).

3963

After re-sorting the threads will once again all be collapsed,

3964

even if you have previously expanded some of them.

3965

3966

_separate-index-screen-always_

3967

With this setting and the next, you will see an index of

3968

threads instead of an index of messages, provided you have

3969

sorted by Threads or OrderedSubject.

3970

3971

The THREAD INDEX contains a '*' in the first column if any

3972

message in the thread is marked Important. If not, it contains

3973

a '+' if any message in the thread is to you. The second column

3974

is blank. The third column contains a 'D' if all of the

3975

messages in the thread are deleted. Otherwise, it contains an

3976

'N' if any of the messages in the thread are New.

3977

3978

When you view a particular thread from the THREAD INDEX you

3979

will be in the MESSAGE INDEX display but the index will only

3980

contain messages from the thread you are viewing.

3981

3982

_separate-index-screen-except-for-single-messages_

3983

This is very similar to the option above. When you are in the

3984

THREAD INDEX, one of the available commands is "ViewThd". With

3985

the setting "separate-index-screen-always" (the option above)

3986

when you view a particular thread you will be in the MESSAGE

3987

INDEX display and the index will only contain messages from the

3988

thread you are viewing. If the thread you are viewing consists

3989

of a single message, the MESSAGE INDEX will be an index with

3990

only one message in it. If you use this

3991

"separate-index-screen-except-for-single-messages" setting

3992

instead, then that index which contains a single message will

3993

be skipped and you will go directly from the THREAD INDEX into

3994

the MESSAGE TEXT screen.

3995

3996

_threading-indicator-character_

3997

The Threading-Indicator-Character option has a small effect on the

3998

MESSAGE INDEX display when using a threading-display-style other than

3999

_none_ and sorting by Threads or OrderedSubject. The value of this

4000

option is a single character. This character is used to indicate that

4001

part of a thread (a conversation) is hidden beneath a message. The

4002

message could be expanded if desired with the "/" Collapse/Expand

4003

command. By default, the value of this option is the greater than

4004

sign (>).

4005

If this option is set to the Empty Value, then the column (and the

4006

following blank column) will be deleted from the display.

4007

This option is closely related to the threading-expanded-character

4008

option. Another similar option which affects the thread display is

4009

the threading-lastreply-character option.

4010

_threading-lastreply-character_

4011

The Threading-Lastreply-Character option has a small effect on the

4012

MESSAGE INDEX display when using a threading-display-style of

4013

_show-thread-structure_, _mutt-like_, or _show-structure-in-from_; and

4014

sorting by Threads or OrderedSubject. The value of this option is a

4015

single character. This character is used instead of the vertical line

4016

character when there are no more replies directly to the parent of

4017

the current message. It can be used to "round-off" the bottom of the

4018

vertical line by setting it to a character such as a backslash (\) or

4019

a backquote (`). The default value of this option is the backslash

4020

character (\). This option may not be set to the Empty Value. In that

4021

case, the default will be used instead.

4022

This option is displayed as "Threading Last Reply Character".

4023

_title-background-color_

4024

_title-foreground-color_

4025

Title Color.

4026

_title-closed-background-color_

4027

_title-closed-foreground-color_

4028

Title-closed Color.

4029

_titlebar-color-style_

4030

titlebar-color-style.

4031

_unknown-character-set_

4032

A text message should either be made up of all US-ASCII characters or

4033

it should contain a charset label which tells the software which

4034

character set encoding to use to interpret the message. Sometimes a

4035

malformed message may be unlabeled but contain non-ascii text. This

4036

message is outside of the standards so any attempt to read it could

4037

fail. When _Alpine_ attempts to read such a message it will try to

4038

interpret the text in the character set you specify here. For

4039

example, if you have correspondents who send you unlabeled messages

4040

that are usually made up of characters from the WINDOWS-1251

4041

character set, setting this unknown-character-set to WINDOWS-1251

4042

will allow you to read those messages. Of course, if the unlabeled

4043

message is actually in some other character set, then you may see

4044

garbage on your screen.

4045

In the Setup/Config screen you may choose from a list of all the

4046

character sets _Alpine_ knows about by using the "T" ToCharsets

4047

command.

4048

_upload-command_

4049

This option affects the behavior of the Composer's _^R_ (Read File)

4050

and _^J_ (Attach File, in the header) commands. It specifies a Unix

4051

program name, and any necessary command line arguments, that _Alpine_

4052

can use to transfer files from your personal computer into messages

4053

that you are composing.

4054

_upload-command-prefix_

4055

This option is used in conjunction with the _upload-command_ option.

4056

It defines text to be written to the terminal emulator (via standard

4057

output) immediately prior to starting the upload command. This is

4058

useful for integrated serial line file transfer agents that permit

4059

command passing (e.g., Kermit's APC method).

4060

_url-viewers_

4061

List of programs to use to open Internet URLs. This value affects

4062

_Alpine_'s handling of URLs that are found in the text of messages you

4063

read. Normally, only URLs _Alpine_ can handle directly are

4064

automatically offered for selection in the "Message Text" screen.

4065

When one or more comma delimited Web browsers capable of deciphering

4066

URLs on their command line are added here, _Alpine_ will choose the

4067

first available browser to display URLs it doesn't recognize.

4068

Additionally, to support various connection methods and browsers,

4069

each entry in this list can begin with the special token

4070

_TEST(test-string)_. The test-string is a shell command that _Alpine_

4071

will run and which must exit with a status of zero for _Alpine_ to

4072

consider that browser for use (the other criteria is that the browser

4073

must exist as a full path or a path relative to your home directory).

4074

Now for an example:

4075

4076

url-viewers=_TEST("test -n '${DISPLAY}'")_ /usr/local/bin/netscape,

4077

/usr/local/bin/lynx, C:\BIN\NETSCAPE.BAT

4078

This example shows that for the first browser in the list to be used

4079

the environment variable DISPLAY must be defined. If it is, then the

4080

file /usr/local/bin/netscape must exist. If either condition is not

4081

met, then the file /usr/local/bin/lynx must exist. If it doesn't,

4082

then the final path and file must exist. Note that the last entry is

4083

a DOS/Windows path. This is one way to support _Alpine_ running on

4084

more than one architecture with the same configuration file.

4085

_use-only-domain-name_

4086

Can be set to _yes_ or _no._ Anything but _yes_ means _no._ If set to

4087

_yes_ the first label in the host name will be lopped off to get the

4088

domain name and the domain name will be used for outgoing mail and

4089

such. That is, if the host name is _carson.u.example.edu_ and this

4090

variable is set to _yes,_ then _u.example.edu_ will be used on

4091

outgoing mail. Only meaningful if user-domain is NOT set.

4092

_user-domain_

4093

Sets the domain or host name for the user, overriding the system host

4094

or domain name. See the domain name section. The easiest way to

4095

change the full From address is with the customized-hdrs variable.

4096

_user-id_

4097

_PC-Alpine_ only and personal configuration file only. Sets the

4098

username that is placed on all outgoing messages. The username is the

4099

part of the address that comes before the "@". The easiest way to

4100

change the full From address is with the customized-hdrs variable.

4101

_user-input-timeout_

4102

If this is set to an integer greater than zero, then this is the

4103

number of _hours_ to wait for user input before _Alpine_ times out.

4104

If _Alpine_ is in the midst of composing a message or is waiting for

4105

user response to a question, then it will not timeout. However, if

4106

_Alpine_ is sitting idle waiting for the user to tell it what to do

4107

next and the user does not give any input for this many hours,

4108

_Alpine_ will exit. No expunging or moving of read messages will take

4109

place. It will exit similarly to the way it would exit if it received

4110

a hangup signal. This may be useful for cleaning up unused _Alpine_

4111

sessions which have been forgotten by their owners. The _Alpine_

4112

developers envision system administrators setting this to a value of

4113

several hours (24?) so that it won't surprise a user who didn't want

4114

to be disconnected.

4115

_viewer-hdr-colors_

4116

This variable holds the optional Header Colors and patterns which

4117

have been defined by the user. This is usually modified by using the

4118

Header Colors section of the Setup Color screen.

4119

_viewer-hdrs_

4120

You may change the default list of headers that are viewed by listing

4121

the headers you want to view here. If the headers in your

4122

_viewer-hdrs_ list are present in the message, then they will be

4123

shown. The order of the headers you list will also be honored. If the

4124

special value _all-except_ is included as the first header in the

4125

_viewer-hdrs_ list, then all headers in the message except those in

4126

the list will be shown. The values are all case insensitive.

4127

This option is displayed as "Viewer Headers".

4128

_viewer-margin-left_

4129

This variable controls the left-hand vertical margin's width in

4130

_Alpine_'s Message Viewing screen. Its value is the number of space

4131

characters preceding each displayed line. For consistency with

4132

Viewer-Margin-Right, you may specify the column number to start in

4133

(column numbering begins with number 1) instead of the width of the

4134

margin by appending a lower case letter "c" to the number. For

4135

example, a value of "2c" means to start the text in column two, which

4136

is entirely equivalent to a value of "1", which means to leave a

4137

margin of 1 space.

4138

The default is a left margin of 0 (zero). Misconfigurations (for

4139

example, negative values or values with starting left columns greater

4140

than the ending right column) are silently ignored. If the number of

4141

columns for text between the Viewer-Margin-Left and the

4142

Viewer-Margin-Right is fewer than 8, then margins of zero will be

4143

used instead.

4144

_viewer-margin-right_

4145

This variable controls the right-hand vertical margin's width in

4146

_Alpine_'s Message Viewing screen. Its value is the number of space

4147

characters following each displayed line. You may specify the column

4148

number to end the text in (column numbering begins with number 1)

4149

instead of the width of the margin by appending a lower case letter

4150

"c" to the number. For example, a value of "76c" means to end the

4151

text in column 76. If the screen is 80 characters wide, this is

4152

equivalent to a value of "4", which means to leave a margin of 4

4153

spaces. However, if you use different size screens at different

4154

times, then these two values are not equivalent.

4155

The default right margin is 4. Misconfigurations (for example,

4156

negative values or values with starting left columns greater than the

4157

ending right column) are silently ignored. If the number of columns

4158

for text between the Viewer-Margin-Left and the Viewer-Margin-Right

4159

is fewer than 8, then margins of zero will be used instead.

4160

_viewer-overlap_

4161

This option specifies an aspect of _Alpine_'s Message Viewing screen.

4162

When the space bar is used to page forward in a message, the number

4163

of lines specified by the _viewer-overlap_ variable will be repeated

4164

from the bottom of the screen. That is, if this was set to two lines,

4165

then the bottom two lines of the screen would be repeated on the top

4166

of the next screen. The normal default value is "2".

4167

_window-position_

4168

Winsock version of _PC-Alpine_ only. Window position in the format:

4169

CxR+X+Yn Where C and R are the window size in characters and X and Y

4170

are the screen position of the top left corner of the window.

4171

_________________________________________________________________

4172

4173

Configuration Features

4174

4175

There are several features (options) which may be turned off or on. The

4176

configuration variable feature-list is a list of all the features that are

4177

turned on or off. If the name of a feature is in the list it will be turned

4178

on. If the name of a feature with the characters no- prepended is in the

4179

list, it will turn the feature off. This is useful for overriding

4180

system-wide defaults. This is because, unlike all the other configuration

4181

variables, the _feature-list_ is additive. That is, first the system-wide

4182

_feature-list_ is read and then the user's _feature-list_ is read. This makes

4183

it possible for the system manager to turn some of the features on by

4184

default while still allowing the user to cancel that default. For example,

4185

if the system manager has turned on the _allow-talk_ feature by default then

4186

a user may turn it back off by including the feature _no-allow-talk_ in his

4187

or her personal configuration file. Of course, these details are usually

4188

handled by _Alpine_ when the user turns an option on or off from inside the

4189

_Setup/Config_ screen.

4190

4191

System managers should take some care when turning on features by default.

4192

Some of the documentation assumes that all of the features are off by

4193

default, so it could be confusing for a user if some are on by default

4194

instead. Feature names are case-independent.

4195

4196

Here is an alphabetical list of possible features.

4197

_allow-changing-from_

4198

Prior to _Pine_ 4.00 there was a _compile_-time option called

4199

ALLOW_CHANGING_FROM. That has been replaced by a _runtime_ feature.

4200

If this feature is turned on then the From line can be changed just

4201

like all the other header fields that can be changed. See the

4202

configuration variables customized-hdrs and default-composer-hdrs for

4203

more information on editing headers.

4204

The default value for this feature is ON, so that editing of From

4205

headers is allowed by default.

4206

_allow-talk_

4207

Unix _Alpine_ only. By default, permission for others to _talk_ to

4208

your terminal is turned off when you are running _Alpine_. When this

4209

feature is set, permission is instead turned on.

4210

Note: The _talk_ program has nothing to do with _Alpine_ or email.

4211

The _talk_ daemon on your system will attempt to print a message on

4212

your screen when someone else is trying to contact you. If you wish

4213

to see these messages while you are running _Alpine_, you should

4214

enable this feature.

4215

If you do enable this feature and see a _talk_ message, you must

4216

suspend or quit _Alpine_ before you can respond.

4217

_alternate-compose-menu_

4218

This feature controls the menu that is displayed when Compose is

4219

selected. If set, a list of options will be presented, with each

4220

option representing the type of composition that could be used. This

4221

feature is most useful for users who want to avoid being prompted

4222

with each option separately, or who want to avoid the checking of

4223

remote postponed or form letter folders. The possible types of

4224

composition are:

4225

New, for starting a new composition. Note that if New is selected and

4226

roles are set, roles are checked for matches and applied according to

4227

the setting of the matching role.

4228

Interrupted, for continuing an interrupted composition. This option

4229

is only offered if an interrupted message folder is detected.

4230

Postponed, for continuing postponed compositions. This option is

4231

offered if a postponed-folder is set in the config _REGARDLESS OF_

4232

whether or not the postponed folder actually exists. This option is

4233

especially handy for avoiding having to check for the existence of a

4234

remote postponed folder.

4235

Form, for using form letters. This option is offered if the

4236

form-letter-folder is set in the config, and is not checked for

4237

existence for reasons similar to those explained by the postponed

4238

option.

4239

setRole, for selecting a role to apply to a composition.

4240

_alternate-role-menu_

4241

Normally the Role Command allows you to choose a role and compose a

4242

new message using that role. When this feature is set, the role

4243

command will first ask whether you want to Compose a new message,

4244

Forward the current message, Reply to the current message, or Bounce

4245

the current message. If you are not in the MESSAGE INDEX and are not

4246

viewing a message, then there is no current message and the question

4247

will be skipped. After you have chosen to Compose, Forward, Reply or

4248

Bounce you will then choose the role to be used.

4249

When Bouncing the "Set From" address is used for the Resent-From

4250

header, the "Set Fcc" value is used for the Fcc provided that the

4251

option "Fcc-On-Bounce" is turned on, and the "Use SMTP Server" value

4252

is used for the SMTP server, if set. Other actions of the role are

4253

ignored when Bouncing.

4254

This feature is displayed as "Alternate Role (#) Menu".

4255

_assume-slow-link_

4256

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

4257

This feature affects _Alpine_'s display routines. If set, the normal

4258

inverse-video cursor (used to highlight the current item in a list)

4259

will be replaced by an _arrow_ cursor and other screen update

4260

optimizations for low-speed links (e.g. 2400 bps dialup connections)

4261

will be activated. One of the optimizations is that colored index

4262

lines (set up with Indexcolor Rules) will not be colored. This might

4263

be useful if _you_ know you have a slow speed link but for some

4264

reason _Alpine_ doesn't know.

4265

_auto-move-read-msgs_

4266

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s behavior upon quitting.

4267

If set, and the read-message-folder variable is also set, then

4268

_Alpine_ will automatically transfer all read messages from the _INBOX_

4269

to the designated folder and mark them as deleted in the _INBOX_.

4270

Messages in the _INBOX_ marked with an _N_ (meaning New, or unseen)

4271

are not affected.

4272

This feature is displayed as "Auto Move Read Messages".

4273

_auto-open-next-unread_

4274

This feature controls the behavior of the TAB key when traversing

4275

folders in the optional incoming-folders collection or in optional

4276

news-collections.

4277

When the TAB (Next New) key is pressed, and there are no more unseen

4278

messages in the current (incoming message or news) folder, _Alpine_

4279

will search the list of folders in the current collection for one

4280

containing New or Recent (new since the last time the folder was

4281

opened) messages. This behavior may be modified slightly with the

4282

Tab-Uses-Unseen-For-Next-Folder feature which causes _Alpine_ to look

4283

for Unseen messages instead of Recent messages. By default, when such

4284

a folder is found, _Alpine_ will ask whether you wish to open the

4285

folder. If this feature is set, _Alpine_ will automatically open the

4286

folder without prompting.

4287

_auto-unselect-after-apply_

4288

This feature affects the behavior of the Apply command. If set, the

4289

Apply command will do the operation you specify, but then will

4290

implicitly do an "UnSelect All", so that you will automatically be

4291

back in the normal Index view after the Apply.

4292

_auto-unzoom-after-apply_

4293

If set, and if you are currently looking at a Zoomed Index view of

4294

selected messages, the _Apply_ command will do the operation you

4295

specify, but then will implicitly do an _UnZoom_, so that you will

4296

automatically be back in the normal Index view after the _Apply_.

4297

This feature is set by default.

4298

_auto-zoom-after-select_

4299

If set, the _; select_ command will automatically perform a _Zoom_

4300

after the _select_ is complete. This feature is set by default.

4301

_busy-cue-spinner-only_

4302

When _Alpine_ is delayed for some reason it usually shows that

4303

something is happening with a small animated display in the status

4304

message line near the bottom of the screen. Setting this feature will

4305

cause that animation to be the same each time instead of having

4306

_Alpine_ choose a random animation. You may turn the animation off

4307

altogether by setting the busy-cue-rate option to zero.

4308

_check-newmail-when-quitting_

4309

If set, _Alpine_ will check for new mail after you give the Quit

4310

command. If new mail has arrived since the previous check, you will

4311

be notified and given the choice of quitting or not quitting.

4312

_combined-addrbook-display_

4313

This feature affects the address book display screens. Normally,

4314

expanding an address book from the ADDRESS BOOK LIST screen will

4315

cause the remaining address books and directory servers to disappear

4316

from the screen, leaving only the entries of the expanded address

4317

book. If this feature is set, then the other address books will

4318

remain on the screen, so that all of the address books can be present

4319

at once.

4320

The way that commands work won't be changed. For example, the Select

4321

All command will select all of the entries in the current address

4322

book, not all of the entries in all of the address books. The WhereIs

4323

command will change a little. It will search through all of the text

4324

on the screen plus all of the entries from expanded address books.

4325

When this feature is set, the setting of the feature

4326

expanded-view-of-addressbooks has an effect.

4327

This feature is displayed as "Combined Addressbook Display".

4328

_combined-folder-display_

4329

This feature affects the folder list display screens. Normally, each

4330

folder list is viewed within its collection only. This command allows

4331

folder lists to be viewed within a single screen that combines the

4332

contents of all collections.

4333

The way that commands work won't be changed. For example, the Select

4334

All command will select all of the folders in the current collection,

4335

not all of the entries in all of the collections. The WhereIs command

4336

will change a little. It will search through all of the folders in

4337

the current collection as well as all the folder in any other

4338

expanded collection.

4339

When this feature is set, the setting of the feature

4340

expanded-view-of-folders has an effect.

4341

_combined-subdirectory-display_

4342

This feature affects the Folder List screen when the

4343

combined-folder-display feature is enabled. Normally, selecting a

4344

directory from the Folder List takes you into a new screen displaying

4345

only the contents of that directory.

4346

Enabling this feature will cause the contents of the selected

4347

directory to be displayed within the boundaries of the Collection it

4348

is a part of. All previously displayed collections will remain in the

4349

screen.

4350

The way that commands work won't be changed. For example, the Select

4351

All command will select all of the folders in the directory, as

4352

opposed to all of the entries in all of the collections. The WhereIs

4353

command will change a little. It will search through all of the

4354

folders in the current collection as well as all the folder in any

4355

other expanded collection.

4356

_compose-cancel-confirm-uses-yes_

4357

This feature affects what happens when you type ^C to cancel a

4358

composition. By default, if you attempt to cancel a composition by

4359

typing ^C, you will be asked to confirm the cancellation by typing a

4360

"C" for _C_onfirm. It logically ought to be a "Y" for _Y_es, but that

4361

is risky because the "^C Y" needed to cancel a message is close (on

4362

the keyboard) to the "^X Y" needed to send a message.

4363

If this feature is set the confirmation asked for will be a "_Y_es"

4364

instead of a "_C_onfirm" response.

4365

_compose-cut-from-cursor_

4366

If set, the _^K_ command in the composer will cut from the current

4367

cursor position to the end of the line, rather than cutting the

4368

entire line.

4369

This feature is displayed as "Ctrl-K Cuts From Cursor".

4370

_compose-maps-delete-key-to-ctrl-d_

4371

If set, Delete will be equivalent to ^D, and delete the current

4372

character. Normally _Alpine_ defines the Delete key to be equivalent

4373

to ^H, which deletes the _previous_ character.

4374

This feature is displayed as "Delete Key Maps to Ctrl-D".

4375

_compose-rejects-unqualified-addrs_

4376

If set, unqualified names entered as addresses will be treated as

4377

errors unless they match an addressbook nickname or are looked up

4378

successfully on an LDAP server. _Alpine_ will not attempt to turn

4379

them into complete addresses by adding your local domain (which

4380

_Alpine_ normally does by default).

4381

A complete (fully-qualified) address is one containing a username

4382

followed by an _@_ symbol, followed by a host or domain name (e.g.

4383

_jsmith@example.com_). An unqualified name is one without the _@_

4384

symbol and host or domain name (e.g. _jsmith_).

4385

This feature is displayed as "Compose Rejects Unqualified Addresses".

4386

_compose-send-offers-first-filter_

4387

If you have sending-filters configured, setting this feature will

4388

cause the first filter in the _sending-filters_ list to be offered as

4389

the default instead of _unfiltered_, the usual default.

4390

_compose-sets-newsgroup-without-confirm_

4391

If you enter the composer while reading a newsgroup, you will

4392

normally be prompted to determine whether you intend the new message

4393

to be posted to the current newsgroup or not. If this feature is set,

4394

_Alpine_ will not prompt you in this situation, and will assume that

4395

you do indeed wish to post to the newsgroup you are reading.

4396

This feature is displayed as "Compose Sets Newsgroup Without

4397

Confirming".

4398

_confirm-role-even-for-default_

4399

If you have roles, when you Reply to or Forward a message, or Compose

4400

a new message, _Alpine_ will search through your roles for one which

4401

matches. Normally, if no matches are found you will be placed into

4402

the composer with no opportunity to select a role. If this feature is

4403

set, then you will be asked to confirm that you don't want a role.

4404

This will give you the opportunity to select a role (with the ^T

4405

command). If you confirm no role with a Return, you will be placed in

4406

the composer with no role. You may also confirm with either an "N" or

4407

a "Y". These behave the same as if you pressed the Return. (The "N"

4408

and "Y" answers are available because they match what you might type

4409

if there was a role match.)

4410

If you are using the alternate form of the Compose command called

4411

"Role", then all of your roles will be available to you, independent

4412

of the value of this feauture and of the values set for all of Reply

4413

Use, Forward Use, and Compose Use.

4414

_continue-tab-without-confirm_

4415

Normally, when you use the TAB NextNew command and there is a problem

4416

checking a folder, you are asked whether you want to continue with

4417

the search in the following folder or not. This gives you a chance to

4418

stop the NextNew processing.

4419

If this feature is set you will not be asked. It will be assumed that

4420

you want to continue.

4421

This feature is displayed as "Continue NextNew Without Confirming".

4422

_convert-dates-to-localtime_

4423

Normally, the message dates that you see in the MESSAGE INDEX and

4424

MESSAGE VIEW are displayed in the timezone they were sent from. For

4425

example, if a message was sent to you from a few timezones to the

4426

east it might appear that it was sent from the future; or if it was

4427

sent from somewhere to the west it might appear as if it is from

4428

yesterday even though it was sent only a few minutes ago. If this

4429

feature is set an attempt will be made to convert the dates to your

4430

local timezone to be displayed.

4431

Note that this does not affect the results of Select by Date or of

4432

anything else other than these displayed dates. When viewing the

4433

message you may look at the original unconverted value of the Date

4434

header by using the HdrMode Command.

4435

_copy-to-address-to-from-if-it-is-us_

4436

This feature affects the From address used when Replying to a

4437

message. It is probably only useful if you have some alt-addresses

4438

defined. When enabled, it checks to see if any of the addresses in

4439

the To or Cc fields of the message you are replying to is one of your

4440

addresses. If it is, and there is only one of them, then that address

4441

is used as the From address in the message you are composing. In

4442

other words, you will be using a From address that is the same as the

4443

To address that was used to get the mail to you in the first place.

4444

If a role is being used and it has a From address defined, that From

4445

address will be used rather than the one derived from this feature.

4446

_delete-skips-deleted_

4447

If set, this feature will cause the _Delete_ command to advance past

4448

other messages that are marked deleted. In other words, pressing _D_

4449

will both mark the current message deleted and advance to the next

4450

message that is not marked deleted. This feature is set by default.

4451

_disable-config-cmd_

4452

If set, the configuration screen _Setup/Config_ will not be available

4453

at all.

4454

_disable-save-input-history_

4455

Many of the prompts that ask for input in the status line near the

4456

bottom of the screen will respond to Up Arrow and Down Arrow with the

4457

history of previous entries. For example, in the MESSAGE INDEX screen

4458

when you use the WhereIs command the text you entered will be

4459

remembered and can be recalled by using the Up Arrow key. Another

4460

example, when saving a message the folders saved to will be

4461

remembered and can be recalled using the arrow keys.

4462

In the Save prompt, some users prefer that the Up and Down arrow keys

4463

be used for the Previous Collection and Next Collection commands

4464

instead of for a history of previous saves. If this option is set the

4465

Up and Down arrow keys will become synonyms for the Previous

4466

Collection and Next Collection (^P and ^N) commands in the prompt for

4467

the name of a folder to Save to or in the prompt for the name of a

4468

folder to GoTo. When this feature is not set (the default), ^P and ^N

4469

will change the collection and the arrow keys will show the history.

4470

_disable-keyboard-lock-cmd_

4471

In the Main _Alpine_ menu there is a Keyboard locking command

4472

(_KBLock_). If this feature is set, that command won't be available to

4473

the user.

4474

_disable-keymenu_

4475

If set, the command key menu that normally appears on the bottom two

4476

lines of the screen will not usually be there. Asking for help with

4477

_^G_ or _?_ will cause the key menu to appear instead of causing the

4478

help message to come up. If you want to actually see the help text,

4479

another _^G_ or _?_ will show it to you. After the key menu has

4480

popped up with the help key it will remain there for an _O Other_

4481

command but will disappear if any other command is typed.

4482

_disable-password-caching_

4483

Normally, loginname/password combinations are cached in _Alpine_ so

4484

that the user does not have to enter the same password more than once

4485

in a session. A disadvantage to this approach is that the password

4486

must be stored in the memory image of the running _Alpine_ in order

4487

that it can be reused. In the event that _Alpine_ crashes and

4488

produces a core dump, and that core dump is readable by others, the

4489

loginname and password could possibly be read from the core dump.

4490

If this feature is set, then the passwords will not be cached and the

4491

user will have to retype the password whenever _Alpine_ needs it.

4492

Even with this feature set there is still some chance that the core

4493

file will contain a password, so care should be taken to make the

4494

core files unreadable.

4495

NOTE: If PASSFILE caching is enabled, this does not disable it. That

4496

is a separate and independent feature.

4497

_disable-password-cmd_

4498

If set the _Newpassword_ command usually available under the _Setup_

4499

command will not be available.

4500

_disable-pipes-in-sigs_

4501

If set it will be an error to append a vertical bar (|) to the name

4502

of a signature file. Appending a vertical bar normally causes the

4503

signature file to be executed to produce the signature.

4504

_disable-pipes-in-templates_

4505

If set it will be an error to append a vertical bar (|) to the name

4506

of a template file. Appending a vertical bar normally causes the

4507

signature file to be executed to produce the signature.

4508

_disable-regular-expression-matching-for-alternate-addresses_

4509

Normally, the alt-addresses option is interpreted as a regular

4510

expression. One type of address that might cause trouble is an

4511

address that contains a plus sign. If you want to have an address

4512

with a plus as one of your alternate addresses and you don't want to

4513

use regular expressions, then setting this feature will cause _Alpine_

4514

to treat the addresses you list literally instead.

4515

_disable-roles-setup-cmd_

4516

If set the _Roles_ command usually available under the _Setup_

4517

command will not be available.

4518

_disable-roles-sig-edit_

4519

If set the roles editor in the _Setup/Roles_ command will not allow

4520

editing of signature files with the F subcommand.

4521

_disable-roles-template-edit_

4522

If set the roles editor in the _Setup/Roles_ command will not allow

4523

editing of template files with the F subcommand.

4524

_disable-sender_

4525

If set, _Alpine_ will not generate a "Sender:" or "X-X-Sender"

4526

header. This may be desirable on a system which is virtually hosting

4527

many domains, and the sysadmin has other methods available for

4528

tracking a message to its originator.

4529

This feature is displayed as "Do Not Generate Sender Header".

4530

_disable-setlocale-collate_

4531

This is a hard to understand feature that should only be used in rare

4532

cases. Normally, the C function call

4533

4534

setlocale(LC_COLLATE, "")

4535

is used by _Alpine_. If you want to try turning it off, setting this

4536

feature will turn it off. This part of the locale has to do with the

4537

sort order of characters in your locale.

4538

_disable-shared-namespaces_

4539

If this hidden feature is set the automatic search for namespaces

4540

"ftp", "imapshared", and "imappublic" by the underlying library will

4541

be disabled. The reason this feature exists is because there are some

4542

implementations of system password lookup routines which are very

4543

slow when presented with a long loginname which does not exist. This

4544

feature could be set to prevent the delay at startup time when the

4545

names above are searched for in the password file.

4546

_disable-signature-edit-cmd_

4547

If set the _Signature_ editing command usually available under the

4548

_Setup_ command will not be available.

4549

_disable-take-fullname-in-addresses_

4550

Normally, when TakeAddr is used to copy an address or addresses from

4551

a message into an address book entry, _Alpine_ will try to preserve

4552

the full name associated with each address in the list of addresses.

4553

The reason for this is so that if the entry is a list or later

4554

becomes a list, then information about the individual addresses in

4555

the list is preserved. If you would rather just have the simple

4556

addresses in the list of addresses, set this feature. For example,

4557

with the default setting you might see something like this in the

4558

ADDRESS BOOK editor after you type TakeAddr

4559

Nickname : nick

4560

Fullname : Bedrock Elders

4561

Fcc :

4562

Comment :

4563

Addresses : Fred Flintstone <flint@bedrock.org>,

4564

Barney Rubble <rubble@bedrock.org>

4565

but with this feature set it would look like

4566

Nickname : nick

4567

Fullname : Bedrock Elders

4568

Fcc :

4569

Comment :

4570

Addresses : flint@bedrock.org,

4571

rubble@bedrock.org

4572

instead. Note the difference in the Addresses field.

4573

_disable-take-last-comma-first_

4574

Normally, when _TakeAddr_ is used to copy an address from a message

4575

into an address book, _Alpine_ will attempt to rewrite the full name

4576

of the address in the form:

4577

4578

Last, First

4579

instead of

4580

4581

First Last

4582

It does this because many people find it useful to sort by Last name

4583

instead of First name. If this feature is set, then the _TakeAddr_

4584

command will not attempt to reverse the name in this manner.

4585

_disable-terminal-reset-for-display-filters_

4586

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

4587

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when using Display-Filters.

4588

Normally, before the display filter is run, the terminal mode is

4589

reset to what it was before you started _Alpine_. This may be

4590

necessary if the filter requires the use of the terminal. For

4591

example, it may need to interact with you. If you set this feature,

4592

then the terminal mode will not be reset. One thing that turning on

4593

this feature should fix is the coloring of quoted text in the message

4594

view, which breaks because the terminal reset resets the color state

4595

of the terminal (Color Configuration).

4596

_downgrade-multipart-to-text_

4597

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when sending mail. Internet

4598

standards require _Alpine_ to translate all non-ASCII characters in

4599

messages that it sends using MIME encoding. This encoding can be

4600

ostensibly broken for recipients if any agent between _Alpine_ and

4601

the recipient, such as an email list expander, appends text to the

4602

message, such as list information or advertising. When sending such

4603

messages _Alpine_ attempts to protect such encoding by placing extra

4604

MIME boundaries around the message text.

4605

These extra boundaries are invisible to recipients that use

4606

MIME-aware email programs (the vast majority). However, if you

4607

correspond with users of email programs that are not MIME-aware, or

4608

do not handle the extra boundaries gracefully, you can use this

4609

feature to prevent _Alpine_ from including the extra MIME

4610

information. Of course, it will increase the likelihood that

4611

non-ASCII text you send may appear corrupt to the recipient.

4612

_enable-8bit-esmtp-negotiation_

4613

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when sending mail. By

4614

default, this feature is set. Internet standards require that all

4615

electronic mail messages traversing the global Internet consist of

4616

7bit ASCII characters unless a pair of cooperating mail transfer

4617

agents explicitly agree to allow 8bit messages. In general, then,

4618

exchanging messages in non-ASCII characters requires MIME encoding.

4619

However, there are now Internet standards that allow for unencoded

4620

8bit exchange of messages between cooperating systems. When this

4621

feature is set _Alpine_ will try to negotiate unencoded 8bit

4622

transmission during the sending process. Should the negotiation fail,

4623

_Alpine_ will fall back to its ordinary encoding rules.

4624

Note, this feature relies on your system's mail transport agent or

4625

configured smtp-server having the negotiation mechanism introduced in

4626

"Extended SMTP" (ESMTP) and the specific extension called _8BITMIME_.

4627

_enable-8bit-nntp-posting_

4628

The Internet standard for exchanging USENET news messages (RFC-1036)

4629

specifies that USENET messages should conform to Internet mail

4630

standards and contain only 7bit characters, but much of the news

4631

transport software in use today is capable of successfully sending

4632

messages containing 8bit characters. Hence, many people believe that

4633

it is appropriate to send 8bit news messages without any MIME

4634

encoding.

4635

Moreover, there is no Internet standard for explicitly negotiating

4636

8bit transfer, as there is for Internet email. Therefore, _Alpine_

4637

provides the option of posting unencoded 8bit news messages, though

4638

not as the default. Setting this feature will turn OFF _Alpine_'s

4639

MIME encoding of newsgroup postings that contain 8bit characters.

4640

Note, articles may cross a path or pass through news transport

4641

software that is unsafe or even hostile to 8bit characters. At best

4642

this will only cause the posting to become garbled. The safest way to

4643

transmit 8bit characters is to leave _Alpine_'s MIME encoding turned

4644

on, but recipients who lack MIME-aware tools are often annoyed when

4645

they receive MIME-encoded messages.

4646

_enable-aggregate-command-set_

4647

When this feature is set you may use the commands and subcommands

4648

that relate to performing operations on more than one message at a

4649

time. We call these "aggregate operations". In particular, the _;

4650

Select_, _A Apply_, and _Z Zoom_ commands are enabled by this

4651

feature. _Select_ is used to _tag_ one or more messages meeting the

4652

specified criteria. _Apply_ can then be used to apply any message

4653

command to all of the selected/tagged messages. Further, the _Zoom_

4654

command allows you to toggle the "Folder Index" view between just

4655

those Selected and all messages in the folder.

4656

This feature also enables the _^X_ subcommand in the "Folder Index"

4657

_WhereIs_ command which causes all messages matching the _WhereIs_

4658

argument to become selected.

4659

You may also use aggregate operations in the address book screens

4660

where you are operating on address book entries instead of on

4661

messages.

4662

_enable-alternate-editor-cmd_

4663

If this feature is set (the default), and the editor variable is not

4664

set, entering the _^__ (Control-underscore) key while composing a

4665

message will prompt you for the name of the editor you would like to

4666

use.

4667

If the environment variable $EDITOR is set, this value will be

4668

offered as a default. If the _editor_ variable is set, the _^__ key

4669

will activate the specified editor without prompting, in which case

4670

it is not necessary to set the _enable-alternate-editor-cmd_ feature.

4671

This feature is not available in _PC-Alpine_.

4672

This feature is displayed as "Enable Alternate Editor Command".

4673

_enable-alternate-editor-implicitly_

4674

If this feature and the editor variable are both set, _Alpine_ will

4675

automatically activate the specified editor when the cursor is moved

4676

from the header of the message being composed into the message text.

4677

For replies, the alternate editor will be activated immediately. If

4678

this feature is set but the _editor_ variable is not set, then

4679

_Alpine_ will automatically ask for the name of an alternate editor

4680

when the cursor is moved out of the headers, or if a reply is being

4681

done. This feature is not available in _PC-Alpine_.

4682

_enable-arrow-navigation_

4683

This feature controls the behavior of the left and right arrow keys.

4684

If set, the left and right arrow keys will operate like the usual

4685

navigation keys _<_ and _>_. This feature is set by default.

4686

If you set this feature, and do not like the changed behavior of the

4687

up/down arrow keys when navigating through the FOLDER LIST screen --

4688

_first_ from column to column, if more than one folder is displayed

4689

per row, and _then_ from row to row -- you may either also wish to

4690

set the feature enable-arrow-navigation-relaxed,

4691

single-column-folder-list, or use the ^P/^N (instead of up/down

4692

arrow) keys to move up/down the list of folders in each column.

4693

_enable-arrow-navigation-relaxed_

4694

This feature controls the behavior of the left and right arrow keys

4695

in the FOLDER LIST screen when the enable-arrow-navigation feature is

4696

set. This feature is set by default.

4697

When this feature is set, the left and right arrow keys in the FOLDER

4698

LIST screen move the highlight bar to the left or right, and the up

4699

and down arrows move it up or down.

4700

When the "Enable-Arrow-Navigation" feature is set and this feature is

4701

not set; the left and right arrow keys in the Folder List screen

4702

strictly track the commands bound to the '<' and '>' keys, and the up

4703

and down arrow keys move the highlight bar to the previous and next

4704

folder or directory name.

4705

_enable-background-sending_

4706

If set, this feature enables a subcommand in the composer's _Send?_

4707

confirmation prompt. The subcommand allows you to tell _Alpine_ to

4708

handle the actual posting in the background. While this feature

4709

usually allows posting to appear to happen very fast, it has no

4710

affect on the actual delivery time it takes a message to arrive at

4711

its destination.

4712

This feature isn't supported on all systems. All DOS and Windows, as

4713

well as several Unix ports, do not recognize this feature. It is not

4714

possible to use background sending if the feature

4715

send-without-confirm is set.

4716

Error handling is significantly different when this feature is

4717

enabled. Any message posting failure results in the message being

4718

appended to your _Interrupted_ mail folder. When you type the

4719

_Compose_ command, _Alpine_ will notice this folder and offer to

4720

extract any messages contained. Upon continuing a failed message,

4721

_Alpine_ will display the nature of the failure in the status message

4722

line.

4723

Under extreme conditions, it is possible for message data to get

4724

lost. Do not enable this feature if you typically run close to any

4725

sort of disk-space limits or quotas.

4726

_enable-bounce-cmd_

4727

Setting this feature enables the _B Bounce_ command, which will

4728

prompt for an address and _remail_ the message to the new recipient.

4729

This command is used to re-direct messages that you have received in

4730

error, or need to be redirected for some other reason (e.g. list

4731

moderation). The final recipient will see a header indicating that

4732

you have Resent the msg, but the message's From: header will show the

4733

original author of the message, and replies to it will go back to

4734

that author, and not to you.

4735

This feature is displayed as "Enable Bounce Command".

4736

_enable-cruise-mode_

4737

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when you hit the "Space Bar"

4738

at the end of a displayed message. Typically, _Alpine_ complains that

4739

the end of the text has already been reached. Setting this feature

4740

causes such keystrokes to be interpreted as if the _Tab_ key had been

4741

hit, thus taking you to the next _interesting_ message, or scanning

4742

ahead to the next incoming folder with _interesting_ messages.

4743

_enable-cruise-mode-delete_

4744

This feature modifies the behavior of _Alpine_'s _enable-cruise-mode_

4745

feature. Setting this feature causes _Alpine_ to implicitly delete

4746

read messages when it moves on to display the next _interesting_

4747

message.

4748

NOTE: Beware when enabling this feature _and_ the

4749

expunge-without-confirm feature.

4750

This feature is displayed as "Enable Cruise Mode With Deleting".

4751

_enable-delivery-status-notification_

4752

If set, this feature enables a subcommand in the composer's "Send?"

4753

confirmation prompt. The subcommand allows you to tell _Alpine_ to

4754

request the type of Delivery Status Notification (DSN) which you

4755

would like. Most users will be happy with the default, and need not

4756

enable this feature. See the online help for more details.

4757

It is not possible to use delivery status notifications if the

4758

feature send-without-confirm is set.

4759

Note that this is not a method to request _READ_ receipts, which

4760

tells the sender when the receiver has read the message. In this case

4761

we're talking about notification of delivery to the mailbox, not

4762

notification that the message has been seen.

4763

_enable-dot-files_

4764

If set, files beginning with dot (".") will be visible in the file

4765

browser. For example, you'll be able to select them when using the

4766

browser to add an attachment to a message.

4767

_enable-dot-folders_

4768

If set, folders beginning with dot (".") may be added and viewed.

4769

This feature is displayed as "Enable Hidden Folders".

4770

_enable-exit-via-lessthan-command_

4771

If set, then on screens where there is an _Exit_ command but no _<_

4772

command, the _<_ key will perform the same function as the _Exit_

4773

command. This feature is set by default.

4774

_enable-fast-recent-test_

4775

This feature controls the behavior of the TAB key when traversing

4776

folders in the optional Incoming-Folders collection or in optional

4777

News-Collections.

4778

When the TAB (NextNew) key is pressed, the default behavior is to

4779

explicitly examine the status of the folder for the number of recent

4780

messages (messages delivered since the last time it was viewed).

4781

Depending on the size and number of messages in the folder, this test

4782

can be time consuming.

4783

Enabling this feature will cause _Alpine_ to only test for the

4784

existence of any recent messages rather than to obtain the count.

4785

This is much faster in many cases. The downside is that you're not

4786

given the number of recent messages when prompted to view the next

4787

folder. If the feature Tab-Uses-Unseen-For-Next-Folder is turned on,

4788

then the present feature will have no effect.

4789

_enable-flag-cmd_

4790

Setting this feature enables the _* Flag_ command, which allows you

4791

to manipulate the status flags associated with a message. By default,

4792

_Flag_ will set the _Important_ flag, which results in an asterisk

4793

being displayed in column one of the "Folder Index" for such

4794

messages.

4795

This feature is displayed as "Enable Flag Command".

4796

_enable-flag-screen-implicitly_

4797

This feature modifies the behavior of the _* Flag_ command (provided

4798

it too is enabled). By default, when the _* Flag_ command is

4799

selected, _Alpine_ offers a prompt to set one of several flags and

4800

also offers the option of entering the detailed flag manipulation

4801

screen via the _^T_ key. Enabling this feature causes _Alpine_ to

4802

immediately enter the detailed flag screen rather than first offer

4803

the simple prompt. The Enable-Flag-Screen-Keyword-Shortcut option

4804

offers a slightly different way of setting keywords.

4805

_enable-flag-screen-keyword-shortcut_

4806

This feature modifies the behavior of the Flag command and the Select

4807

command. By default, when the "* Flag" command is selected, _Alpine_

4808

offers a prompt to set one of several flags and also offers the

4809

option of entering the detailed flag manipulation screen via the "^T"

4810

key. If you have keywords defined, then enabling this feature adds a

4811

shortcut way to set or unset keywords. You use "*" followed by the

4812

first letter of a keyword (or the nickname of a keyword if you've

4813

given it a nickname) and that will set the keyword.

4814

An example is easier to understand than the explanation. The flag

4815

command can always be used to set the system flags. For example, to

4816

set the Answered flag you would type

4817

4818

* A

4819

Now suppose you have defined a keyword "Work" using the Keywords

4820

option in the Config screen. By default, to set a keyword like "Work"

4821

you would usually have to go to the Flag Details screen using the "^T

4822

To Flag Details" command. Instead, if you have enabled this feature,

4823

you may type

4824

4825

* W

4826

to set the Work flag, or

4827

4828

* ! W

4829

to unset it. Just like for the other flag setting commands, the case

4830

of the letter does not matter, so "w" or "W" both set the "Work"

4831

keyword.

4832

Notice that you can only use this trick for one keyword that begins

4833

with "W". If you happen to have a "Work" keyword and another keyword

4834

that is "WIFI" the "* W" command will set the first one in your list

4835

of keywords. Also, there are five letters which are reserved for

4836

system flags and the NOT command. If you type "* A" it will always

4837

set the Answered flag, not your "Aardvark" keyword. In order to set

4838

the "Aardvark" keyword you'll still have to use the Flag Details

4839

screen.

4840

Because enabling the Enable-Flag-Screen-Implicitly option causes

4841

_Alpine_ to skip directly to the Flag Details screen when the Flag

4842

command is used, setting it will cause this feature to have no effect

4843

at all.

4844

Similarly, when Selecting by Keyword, setting this option will allow

4845

you to use Keyword initials instead of full keywords.

4846

_enable-full-header-cmd_

4847

This feature enables the _H Full Headers_ command which toggles

4848

between the display of all headers in the message and the normal

4849

edited view of headers. The _Full Header_ command also controls which

4850

headers are included for _Export_, _Pipe_, _Print_, _Forward_, and

4851

_Reply_ functions. (For _Reply_, the _Full Header_ mode will respect

4852

the _include-headers-in-reply_ feature setting.)

4853

If Full Header mode is turned on and you Forward a message, you will

4854

be asked if you'd like to forward the message as an attachment, as

4855

opposed to including the text of the message in the body of your new

4856

message.

4857

If you have also turned on the "Quote Suppression" option then the

4858

Full Headers command actually rotates through three states instead of

4859

just two. The first is the normal view with long quotes suppressed.

4860

The second is the normal view but with the long quotes included. The

4861

last enables the display of all headers in the message. When using

4862

Export, Pipe, Print, Forward, or Reply the quotes are never

4863

suppressed, so the first two states are identical.

4864

Normally, the Header Mode will reset to the default behavior when

4865

moving to a new message. The mode can be made to persist from message

4866

to message by setting the feature Quell-Full-Header-Auto-Reset.

4867

This feature is displayed as "Enable Full Header Command".

4868

_enable-full-header-and-text_

4869

This feature affects how the _H Full Headers_ command displays

4870

message text. If set, the raw message text will be displayed. This

4871

especially affects MIME formatted email, where the entire MIME format

4872

will be displayed. This feature similarly affects how messages are

4873

included for the _Export_, _Pipe_, _Print_, _Forward_, and _Reply_

4874

functions.

4875

_enable-goto-in-file-browser_

4876

Setting this causes _Alpine_ to offer the _G Goto_ command in the

4877

file browser. The Goto command allows you to explicitly type in the

4878

desired directory. That is the default.

4879

_enable-incoming-folders_

4880

If set, this feature defines a pseudo-folder collection called

4881

_INCOMING MESSAGE FOLDERS_. Initially, the only folder included in

4882

this collection will be your _INBOX_, which will no longer show up in

4883

your default saved-message folder collection.

4884

This feature is displayed as "Enable Incoming Folders Collection".

4885

_enable-incoming-folders-checking_

4886

This feature is only operational if you have enabled the optional

4887

incoming-folders If you do have Incoming Message Folders and you also

4888

set this feature, then the number of Unseen messages in each folder

4889

will be displayed in the FOLDER LIST screen for the Incoming Message

4890

Folders. The number of Unseen messages in a folder will be displayed

4891

in parentheses to the right of the name of each folder. If there are

4892

no Unseen messages in a folder then only the name is displayed, not a

4893

set of parentheses with zero inside them. A redraw command, Ctrl-L,

4894

can be used in the FOLDER LIST screen for the Incoming Message

4895

Folders to cause an immediate update.

4896

If a check for Unseen messages fails for a particular folder then

4897

Alpine will no longer attempt to check that folder for the duration

4898

of the session and this will be indicated by a question mark inside

4899

the parentheses.

4900

The features incoming-checking-includes-total,

4901

incoming-checking-uses-recent, incoming-check-list,

4902

incoming-check-interval, incoming-check-interval-secondary, and

4903

incoming-check-timeout all affect how this feature behaves.

4904

_Disable-Index-Locale-Dates_

4905

This feature affects the display of dates in the MESSAGE INDEX.

4906

Normally an attempt is made to localize the dates used in the MESSAGE

4907

INDEX display to your locale. This is controlled with the LC_TIME

4908

locale setting on a UNIX system. On Windows the Regional Options

4909

control panel may be used to set the date format. At the programming

4910

level, _Alpine_ is using the strftime routine to print the parts of a

4911

date.

4912

If this feature is set, dates are displayed in English and with the

4913

conventions of the United States.

4914

_enable-jump-shortcut_

4915

When this feature is set you may enter a number (followed by RETURN)

4916

and jump to that message number, when in the MESSAGE INDEX or MESSAGE

4917

TEXT screens. In other words, it obviates the need for typing the _J_

4918

for the _Jump_ command.

4919

_enable-lame-list-mode_

4920

This feature modifies the method _Alpine_ uses to ask your IMAP

4921

server for folder names to display in the the FOLDER LIST screen. It

4922

is intended to compensate for a small set of IMAP servers that are

4923

programmed to ignore a part of the request, and thus respond to

4924

_Alpine_'s query with nonsensical results.

4925

If you find that _Alpine_ is erroneously displaying blank folder

4926

lists, try enabling this feature.

4927

NOTE: Enabling this feature has consequences for the Goto and Save

4928

commands. Many servers allow access to folders outside the area

4929

reserved for your personal folders via some reserved character,

4930

typically '#' (sharp), '~' (tilde) or '/' (slash). This mechanism

4931

allows, at the Goto and Save prompts, quick access to folders outside

4932

your personal folder collection without requiring a specific

4933

collection definition. This behavior will generally not be available

4934

when this feature is enabled.

4935

This feature is displayed as "Compensate for Deficient IMAP servers".

4936

_enable-mail-check-cue_

4937

If set, this will cause an asterisk to appear in the upper left-hand

4938

corner of the screen whenever _Alpine_ checks for new mail, and two

4939

asterisks whenever _Alpine_ saves (checkpoints) the state of the

4940

current mailbox to disk.

4941

_enable-mailcap-param-substitution_

4942

If set, this will allow mailcap named parameter substitution to occur

4943

in mailcap entries. By default, this is turned off to prevent

4944

security problems which may occur with some incorrect mailcap

4945

configurations. For more information, RFC1524 and look for "named

4946

parameters" in the text of the RFC.

4947

This feature is displayed as "Enable Mailcap Parameter Substitution".

4948

_enable-mouse-in-xterm_

4949

This feature controls whether or not an X terminal mouse can be used

4950

with _Alpine_. If set, and the $DISPLAY variable indicates that an X

4951

terminal is being used, the left mouse button on the mouse can be

4952

used to select text or commands. Clicking on a command at the bottom

4953

of the screen will behave as if you had typed that command. Clicking

4954

on an index line will move the current message highlight to that

4955

line. Double-clicking on an index line will view the message.

4956

Double-clicking on a link will view the link.

4957

This type of mouse support will also work in some terminal emulators

4958

which are not actually X terminals, but which have extra code to

4959

support the xterm style mouse. For those emulators you not only need

4960

to turn this feature on but you also have to set the $DISPLAY

4961

environment variable even though it isn't needed for your terminal.

4962

That will cause _Alpine_ to think that it is an xterm and to properly

4963

interpret the escape sequences sent by the mouse.

4964

Note: if this feature is set, the behavior of X terminal

4965

cut-and-paste is also modified. It is sometimes possible to hold the

4966

shift key down while clicking left or middle mouse buttons for the

4967

normal xterm cut/paste operations. There is also an _Alpine_ command

4968

to toggle this mode on or off. The command is Ctrl-\

4969

(Control-backslash).

4970

_enable-msg-view-addresses_

4971

This feature modifies the behavior of _Alpine_'s "Message Text"

4972

screen. Setting this feature causes _Alpine_ to select possible email

4973

addresses from the displayed text and display them in boldface for

4974

selection.

4975

The first available email address is displayed in inverse. This is

4976

the "selected" address. Pressing _RETURN_ will cause _Alpine_ to

4977

enter the message composition screen with the To field filled in with

4978

the selected address.

4979

Use the up and down arrow keys to change which of the addresses

4980

displayed in boldface is the current selection.

4981

This feature is displayed as "Enable Message View Address Links".

4982

_enable-msg-view-attachments_

4983

This feature modifies the behavior of _Alpine_'s "Message Text"

4984

screen. Setting this feature causes _Alpine_ to present attachments

4985

in boldface. The first available attachment is displayed in inverse.

4986

This is the "selected" attachment. Pressing _RETURN_ will cause

4987

_Alpine_ to display the selected attachment. Use the up and down arrow

4988

keys to change which of the attachments displayed in boldface is the

4989

current selection.

4990

Speaking of arrow keys, the Up and Down Arrows will select the next

4991

and previous attachments if one is available on the screen for

4992

selection. Otherwise, they will simply adjust the viewed text one

4993

line up or down.

4994

Similarly, when selectable items are present in a message, the Ctrl-F

4995

key can be used to select the next item in the message independent of

4996

which portion of the viewed message is currently displayed. The

4997

Ctrl-B key can be used to select the previous item in the same way.

4998

This feature is displayed as "Enable Message View Attachment Links".

4999

_enable-msg-view-forced-arrows_

5000

This feature modifies Up and Down arrow key behavior in _Alpine_'s

5001

"Message Text" screen when selectable Attachments, URL's, or

5002

web-hostnames are presented. _Alpine_'s usual behavior is to move to

5003

the next or previous selectable item if currently displayed or simply

5004

to adjust the screen view by one line if the next selectable line is

5005

off the screen.

5006

Setting this feature causes the Up and Down arrow keys to behave as

5007

if no selectable items were present in the message.

5008

Note, the _Ctrl-F_ (next selectable item) and _Ctrl-B_ (previous

5009

selectable item) functionality is unchanged.

5010

This feature is displayed as "Enable Message View Forced Arrows".

5011

_enable-msg-view-urls_

5012

This feature modifies the behavior of _Alpine_'s "Message Text"

5013

screen. When this feature is set (the default) _Alpine_ will select

5014

possible URLs from the displayed text and display them in boldface

5015

for selection.

5016

The first available URL is displayed in inverse. This is the

5017

"selected" URL. Pressing _RETURN_ will cause _Alpine_ to display the

5018

selected URL via either built-in means as with mailto:, imap:, news:,

5019

and nntp:, or via an external application as defined by the

5020

url-viewers variable.

5021

Use the up and down arrow keys to change which of the URLs displayed

5022

in boldface is the current selection.

5023

This feature is displayed as "Enable Message View URL Links".

5024

_enable-msg-view-web-hostnames_

5025

This feature modifies the behavior of _Alpine_'s "Message Text"

5026

screen. When this feature is set (the default) _Alpine_ will select

5027

possible web hostnames from the displayed text and display them in

5028

boldface for selection.

5029

The first available hostname is displayed in inverse. This is the

5030

"selected" hostname. Pressing _RETURN_ will cause _Alpine_ to display

5031

the selected hostname via an external application as defined by the

5032

url-viewers variable.

5033

Use the up and down arrow keys to change which of the hostnames

5034

displayed in boldface is the current selection.

5035

This feature is displayed as "Enable Message View Web Hostname

5036

Links".

5037

_enable-multiple-newsrcs_

5038

This feature makes it so _Alpine_ can use multiple newsrcs based on

5039

the news server being connected to, which allows for separate lists

5040

of subscribed-to newsgroups. When this feature is not set, there is

5041

only one list of newsgroups.

5042

Under this feature, the name of a newsrc is based on the news server.

5043

For example, if your newsrc-path is set to ".newsrc", and the news

5044

server you are connecting to is news.example.com, then the newsrc to

5045

be used is .newsrc-news.example.com. Setting this feature for the

5046

first time will allow for the option of using your old newsrc the

5047

next time you read news.

5048

If this feature is set, then the feature

5049

Mult-Newsrc-Hostnames-As-Typed also may affect the name of the newsrc

5050

file that is used.

5051

_enable-newmail-in-xterm-icon_

5052

This feature controls whether or not _Alpine_ will attempt to

5053

announce new mail arrival when it is running in an X terminal window

5054

and that window is iconified. If set, and the $DISPLAY variable

5055

indicates that an X terminal is being used, _Alpine_ will send

5056

appropriate escape sequences to the X terminal to modify the label on

5057

_Alpine_'s icon to indicate that new mail has arrived. _Alpine_ will

5058

also modify the _Alpine_ window's title to indicate new mail. See

5059

also Enable-Newmail-Short-Text-in-Icon.

5060

_enable-newmail-short-text-in-icon_

5061

This feature controls the text to be displayed in an icon in the

5062

event of a new message arrival. Normally, the message will be the one

5063

that is displayed on the screen. This feature shortens the message to

5064

a count of the number of new messages in brackets. This may be more

5065

useful for those who use the window's title bar in the task bar as a

5066

new mail indicator. This feature is only useful if the

5067

Enable-Newmail-in-Xterm-Icon is also set. Like the

5068

Enable-Newmail-in-Xterm-Icon feature, this feature is only relevant

5069

when run in an xterm environment.

5070

_enable-partial-match-lists_

5071

This feature affects the subcommands available when _Sav_ing or

5072

Opening a new folder. If set, the subcommand _^X ListMatches_ will be

5073

available. This command allows you to type in a substring of the

5074

folder you are looking for and when you type _^X_ it will display all

5075

folders which contain that substring in their names. This feature is

5076

set by default.

5077

_enable-print-via-y-command_

5078

By default, _Alpine_'s print command is available by pressing the _%_

5079

key. In older versions of _Pine_, the print command was accessed by

5080

pressing the _Y_ key.

5081

Enabling this feature will cause _Alpine_ to recognize both the old

5082

command, _Y_, and the new _%_ method for invoking printing. Note, key

5083

menu labels are not changed as a result of enabling this feature.

5084

_enable-reply-indent-string-editing_

5085

This feature affects the Reply command's "Include original message in

5086

Reply?" prompt. When enabled, it causes the "Edit Indent String"

5087

sub-command to appear which allows you to edit the string _Alpine_

5088

would otherwise use to denote included text from the message being

5089

replied to.

5090

Thus, you can change _Alpine_'s default message quote character

5091

(usually an angle bracket) on a per message basis. So you could

5092

change your quoted message to look, for example, like this:

5093

On Tues, 26 Jan 1999, John Q. Smith wrote:

5094

5095

John: I just wanted to say hello and to congratulate you

5096

John: on a job well done!

5097

The configuration option "reply-indent-string" may be used to change

5098

what appears as the default string to be edited.

5099

NOTE: Edited reply-indent-strings only apply to the message currently

5100

being replied to.

5101

_enable-rules-under-take_

5102

Normally, the Take command takes addresses from a message and helps

5103

you put them into your Address Book. If you use Rules for

5104

Indexcolors, Roles, Filtering, or Scoring; you may find it useful to

5105

be able to Take information from a message's headers and put it into

5106

a new Rule. When this feature is set, you will be given an extra

5107

prompt which gives you the choice to Take into the Address Book or

5108

Take into a rule.

5109

This feature is displayed as "Enable Take Rules".

5110

_enable-search-and-replace_

5111

If set _Alpine_'s composer offers the _R Replace_ command option

5112

inside the _W WhereIs_ command.

5113

_enable-sigdashes_

5114

If set and a _signature-file_ exists, the line consisting of the

5115

three characters "-- " (dash dash space) is included before the

5116

signature. This only happens if the signature doesn't already contain

5117

such a line.

5118

In addition, when you Reply or Followup to a message containing one

5119

of these special lines and choose to include its text, _Alpine_ will

5120

observe the convention of not including text beyond the special line

5121

in your reply.

5122

_enable-suspend_

5123

Setting this feature will allow you to type _^Z_ and temporarily

5124

suspend _Alpine_. Not available on _PC-Alpine_.

5125

_enable-tab-completion_

5126

This feature enables the _TAB_ key when at a prompt for a filename.

5127

In this case, _TAB_ will cause the partial name already entered to be

5128

automatically completed, provided the partial name is unambiguous.

5129

This feature is set by default.

5130

Similarly, this feature also enables TAB completion of address book

5131

nicknames when at a prompt for a nickname, or when typing in an

5132

address field in the composer.

5133

_enable-take-export_

5134

Normally, the Take command takes addresses from a message and helps

5135

you put them into your Address Book. When this feature is set, you

5136

will be given an extra prompt which gives you the choice to Take

5137

addresses into a file instead of your Address Book. Only the

5138

user@domain_name part of the address is put in the file.

5139

_enable-tray-icon_

5140

_PC-Alpine_ only. This option restores a behavior of previous

5141

versions of PC-Alpine. These versions, when started, installed a

5142

PC-Alpine icon in the notification tray of Window's Taskbar. The

5143

primary use of this icon was to indicate new mail arrival by turning

5144

red (while the Taskbar icon remained green). Additionally, the icon

5145

now changes to yellow to signify that a mail folder has been closed

5146

unexpectedly.

5147

Rather than add another icon to the Taskbar, this version of

5148

PC-Alpine will color its Taskbar entry's icon red (as well as the

5149

icon in the Window Title). This feature is only provided for

5150

backwards compatibility.

5151

_enable-unix-pipe-cmd_

5152

This feature enables the _| Pipe_ command that sends the current

5153

message to the specified Unix command for external processing.

5154

This feature is displayed as "Enable Unix Pipe Command".

5155

_enable-verbose-smtp-posting_

5156

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s message sending. When

5157

enabled, _Alpine_ will send a VERB (i.e., VERBose) command early in

5158

the posting process intended to cause the server SMTP to provide a

5159

more detailed account of the transaction. This feature is typically

5160

only useful to system administrators and other support personel as an

5161

aid in troublshooting problems. Note, this feature relies on a

5162

specific capability of the system's mail transport agent or

5163

configured smtp-server.

5164

_expanded-view-of-addressbooks_

5165

If multiple address books (either personal or global) are defined,

5166

and you wish to have them all expanded implicitly upon entering the

5167

ADDRESS BOOK screen, then set this feature. This feature will have no

5168

effect unless the feature combined-addrbook-display is also set.

5169

_expanded-view-of-distribution-lists_

5170

If this feature is set, then distribution lists in the address book

5171

screen will always be expanded automatically.

5172

_expanded-view-of-folders_

5173

If multiple folder collections are defined, and you wish to have them

5174

all expanded implicitly upon entering the FOLDER LIST screen, then

5175

set this feature. This feature will have no effect unless the feature

5176

combined-folder-display is also set.

5177

_expose-hidden-config_

5178

The purpose of this feature is to allow you to change configuration

5179

features and variables which are normally hidden. This is

5180

particularly useful if you are using a remote configuration file,

5181

where it is difficult to edit the file manually, but it may also be

5182

used on a local pinerc configuration file.

5183

If set, most configuration variables and features which are normally

5184

hidden from view will show up in the Setup/Configuration screen. They

5185

will be at the bottom of the configuration screen. You can find them

5186

by searching for the word "hidden".

5187

Note that this is an advanced feature which should be used with care.

5188

The reason that this part of the configuration is normally hidden is

5189

because there is a significant potential for causing problems if you

5190

change these variables. If something breaks after a change try

5191

changing it back to see if that is what is causing the problem. There

5192

are also some variables which are normally hidden because they are

5193

manipulated through _Alpine_ in other ways. For example, the

5194

"address-book" variable is normally set using the Setup/AddressBooks

5195

screen, so there is little reason to edit it directly. The

5196

"incoming-folders" variable is normally changed by using the Add,

5197

Delete, and Rename commands in the FOLDER LIST screen, and the

5198

"last-time-prune-questioned" variable is normally used internally by

5199

_Alpine_ and not set directly by the user.

5200

_expunge-only-manually_

5201

Normally, when you close a folder which contains deleted messages you

5202

are asked if you want to expunge those messages from the folder

5203

permanently. If this feature is set, you won't be asked and the

5204

deleted messages will remain in the folder. If you choose to set this

5205

feature you will have to expunge the messages manually using the

5206

eXpunge command, which you can use while in the MESSAGE INDEX screen.

5207

If you do not expunge deleted messages the size of your folder will

5208

continue to increase until you are out of disk space.

5209

_expunge-without-confirm_

5210

If set, you will not be prompted to confirm your intent before the

5211

expunge takes place. Actually, you will still be prompted for

5212

confirmation if the folder is not the _INBOX_ folder or another

5213

folder in the Incoming Folders collection. See the

5214

_expunge-without-confirm-everywhere_ feature which follows.

5215

This feature is displayed as "Expunge Without Confirming".

5216

_expunge-without-confirm-everywhere_

5217

The regular _expunge-without-confirm_ feature actually only works for

5218

the _INBOX_ folder and for other folders in the "Incoming Folders"

5219

collection. If this feature is set then you also won't be prompted to

5220

confirm expunges for all other folders.

5221

This feature is displayed as "Expunge Without Confirming Everywhere".

5222

_fcc-on-bounce_

5223

If set, normal Fcc (File Carbon Copy) processing will be done for

5224

bounced messages, just as if you had composed a message to the

5225

address you are bouncing to. If not set, no Fcc of the message will

5226

be saved.

5227

This feature is displayed as "Include Fcc When Bouncing Messages".

5228

_fcc-only-without-confirm_

5229

This features controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s composer. The only

5230

time this feature will be used is if you attempt to send mail which

5231

has no recipients but does have an Fcc. Normally, _Alpine_ will ask

5232

if you really mean to copy the message only to the Fcc. That is, it

5233

asks if you really meant to have no recipients. If this feature is

5234

set, you will _not_ be prompted to confirm your intent to make only a

5235

copy of a message with no recipients.

5236

This feature is closely related to

5237

warn-if-blank-to-and-cc-and-newsgroups. The difference between this

5238

feature and that feature is that this feature considers a Bcc to be a

5239

recipient while that feature will ask for confirmation even if there

5240

is a Bcc when there is no To, Cc, or Newsgroup. The default values

5241

also differ. This feature defaults to asking the question and you

5242

have to turn it off. The warn-if-blank-to-and-cc-and-newsgroups

5243

feature defaults to not asking unless you turn it on.

5244

This feature is displayed as "Send to Fcc Only Without Confirming".

5245

_fcc-without-attachments_

5246

This features controls the way FCC's (File Carbon Copies) are made of

5247

the messages you send.

5248

Normally, _Alpine_ saves an exact copy of your message as it was

5249

sent. When this feature is enabled, the "body" of the message you

5250

send (the text you type in the composer) is preserved in the copy as

5251

before, however all attachments are replaced with text explaining

5252

what had been sent rather than the attachments themselves.

5253

This feature also affects _Alpine_'s "Send ?" confirmation prompt in

5254

that a new "^F Fcc Attchmnts" option becomes available which allows

5255

you to interactively set whether or not attachments are saved to the

5256

Fcc'd copy.

5257

This feature is displayed as "Fcc Does Not Include Attachments".

5258

_force-arrow-cursor_

5259

This feature affects _Alpine_'s MESSAGE INDEX display routine. If

5260

set, the normal inverse-video cursor will be replaced by a simple

5261

"arrow" cursor, which normally occupies the second column of the

5262

index display.

5263

This is the same index cursor you get if you turn on

5264

Assume-Slow-Link, but the index line coloring will still be present

5265

if this feature is turned on and Assume-Slow-Link is off.

5266

An alternative version of the Arrow cursor is available by including

5267

the ARROW token in the Index-Format option.

5268

It ought to be the case that this feature also affects the ATTACHMENT

5269

INDEX, but that is not implemented.

5270

_hide-nntp-path_

5271

Normally the Path header that _Alpine_ generates when posting to a

5272

newsgroup contains the name of the computer from which the message is

5273

being sent and the user name. Some believe that this information is

5274

used by spammers. If this feature is set, that information will be

5275

replaced with the text

5276

5277

not-for-mail

5278

instead.

5279

It should be noted that many servers being connected to will still

5280

reveal the information that this feature attempts to protect.

5281

_include-attachments-in-reply_

5282

If set, any MIME attachments that were part of the original message

5283

will automatically be included in a _Reply_.

5284

_include-header-in-reply_

5285

If set, and a message being replied to is included in the _Reply_,

5286

then headers from that message will also be part of the reply.

5287

_include-text-in-reply_

5288

Normally, _Alpine_ will ask whether you wish to include the original

5289

message in your _Reply_. If this feature is set and the feature

5290

enable-reply-indent-string-editing is _not_ set, then the original

5291

message will be included in the reply automatically, without

5292

prompting.

5293

_incoming-checking-includes-total_

5294

This option has no effect unless the feature

5295

enable-incoming-folders-checking is set, which in turn has no effect

5296

unless incoming-folders is set.

5297

When incoming folder checking is turned on the default is to display

5298

the number of unseen messages in each folder. More precisely, it is

5299

the number of undeleted unseen messages. Using this option you may

5300

also display the total number of messages in each folder. Instead of

5301

a single number representing the number of unseen messages you will

5302

get two numbers separated by a slash character. The first is the

5303

number of unseen messages and the second is the total number of

5304

messages.

5305

You may also use the recent message count instead of the unseen

5306

message count by turning on the feature

5307

incoming-checking-uses-recent.

5308

_incoming-checking-uses-recent_

5309

This option has no effect unless the feature

5310

enable-incoming-folders-checking is set, which in turn has no effect

5311

unless incoming-folders is set.

5312

When incoming folder checking is turned on the default is to display

5313

the number of unseen messages in each folder. More precisely, it is

5314

the number of undeleted unseen messages. Using this option you may

5315

display the number of recent messages instead of the number of unseen

5316

messages. A message is only counted as recent if this is the first

5317

session to see it, so the recent count might be less than the unseen

5318

count. The difference between the two would be accounted for by the

5319

unseen messages in the folder which were there previously but have

5320

not been looked at yet.

5321

If you simultaneously run more than one email client at a time (for

5322

example, you run more than one _Alpine_ in parallel) then turning

5323

this feature on can cause some confusion. The confusion stems from

5324

the fact that each message is only considered to be recent in one

5325

session. That means that the counts of new messages may be different

5326

in the two _Alpine_s running side by side, because each incoming

5327

message will only be counted as recent in one of the two sessions.

5328

You may also display the total number of messages in each folder by

5329

using the incoming-checking-includes-total option.

5330

_ldap-result-to-addrbook-add_

5331

This is only available if _Alpine_ was linked with an LDAP library

5332

when it was compiled. If both the per-directory-server option

5333

use-implicitly-from-composer and this feature are set, then when an

5334

implicit directory lookup is done from the composer you will

5335

automatically be prompted to add the result of the directory lookup

5336

to your address book.

5337

This feature is displayed as "LDAP Result to Addressbook Add".

5338

_maildrops-preserve-state_

5339

This feature affects the way Mail Drops work. Normally, when mail is

5340

moved from a Mail Drop folder to a destination folder, the state

5341

changes that have taken place since the mail was originally delivered

5342

are lost. Any Seen/New, Answered, Important/Flagged state that has

5343

changed will be ignored. All of the mail will be considered unSeen,

5344

unAnswered, and unImportant after it is moved.

5345

If this feature is set, then the state changes will not be lost.

5346

In any case, messages which are already marked Deleted when the mail

5347

is to be copied from the Mail Drop will be ignored.

5348

_mark-fcc-seen_

5349

This features controls the way FCCs (File Carbon Copies) are made of

5350

the messages you send. Normally, when _Alpine_ saves a copy of a

5351

message you sent as an Fcc, that copy will be marked as Unseen. When

5352

you look at the folder it was saved in the message will appear to be

5353

a New message until you read it. When this feature is enabled, the

5354

message will be marked as having been Seen.

5355

_mark-for-cc_

5356

This feature affects _Alpine_'s MESSAGE INDEX display. By default, a

5357

'+' is displayed in the first column if the message is addressed

5358

directly to you. When this feature is set and the message is not

5359

addressed to you, then a '-' character is displayed if the message is

5360

instead Cc'd directly to you.

5361

_mult-newsrc-hostnames-as-typed_

5362

This feature will be of little use to most users. It has no effect

5363

unless the feature Enable-Multiple-Newsrcs is set. When the

5364

Enable-Multiple-Newsrcs feature is set then the setting of this

5365

feature may have an effect on the names of the newsrc files used.

5366

Normally, the name of the news server will be canonicalized before it

5367

is used in the newsrc file name. For example, if you type the news

5368

server name

5369

5370

servername

5371

it is likely that the canonical name will be something like

5372

5373

servername.example.com

5374

Or it may be the case that

5375

5376

servername.example.com

5377

is really an alias (a DNS CNAME) for

5378

5379

othername.example.com

5380

If this feature is not set, then the canonicalized names will be

5381

used. If this feature is set, then the name you typed in (or put in

5382

your configuration) will be used.

5383

This feature is displayed as "Multiple Newsrc Hostnames as Typed".

5384

_news-approximates-new-status_

5385

This feature causes certain messages to be marked as _New_ in the

5386

MESSAGE INDEX of newsgroups. This feature is set by default.

5387

When opening a newsgroup, _Alpine_ will consult your _newsrc_ file

5388

and determine the last message you have previously disposed of via

5389

the _D_ key. If this feature is set, any subsequent messages will be

5390

shown in the Index with an _N_, and the first of these messages will

5391

be highlighted. Although this is only an approximation of true _New_

5392

or _Unseen_ status, it provides a useful cue to distinguish

5393

more-or-less recent messages from those you have seen previously, but

5394

are not yet ready to mark deleted.

5395

Background: your _newsrc_ file (used to store message status

5396

information for newsgroups) is only capable of storing a single flag,

5397

and _Alpine_ uses this to record whether or not you are "done with" a

5398

message, as indicated by marking the message as _Deleted_.

5399

Unfortunately, this means that _Alpine_ has no way to record exactly

5400

which messages you have previously seen, so it normally does not show

5401

the _N_ status flag for any messages in a newsgroup. This feature

5402

enables a starting _approximation_ of seen/unseen status that may be

5403

useful.

5404

_news-deletes-across-groups_

5405

This feature controls what _Alpine_ does when you delete a message in

5406

a newsgroup that appears in more than one newsgroup. Such a message

5407

is sometimes termed a "crossposting" in that it was posted across

5408

several newsgroups.

5409

_Alpine_'s default behavior when you delete such a message is to

5410

remove only the copy in the current newsgroup from view when you use

5411

the "Exclude" command or the next time you visit the newsgroup.

5412

Enabling this feature causes _Alpine_ to remove every occurrence of

5413

the message from all newsgroups it appears in and to which you are

5414

subscribed.

5415

NOTE: As currently implemented, enabling this feature may increase

5416

the time it takes the Expunge command and newsgroup closing to

5417

complete.

5418

_news-offers-catchup-on-close_

5419

This feature controls what _Alpine_ does as it closes a newsgroup.

5420

When set, _Alpine_ will offer to delete all messages from the

5421

newsgroup as you are quitting _Alpine_ or opening a new folder.

5422

This feature is useful if you typically read all the interesting

5423

messages in a newsgroup each time you open it. This feature saves you

5424

from having to delete each message in a newsgroup as you read it or

5425

from selecting all the messages and doing an aggregate delete before

5426

you move on to the next folder or newsgroup.

5427

_news-post-without-validation_

5428

This feature controls whether the NNTP server is queried as

5429

newsgroups are entered for posting. Validation over slow links (e.g.

5430

dialup using SLIP or PPP) can cause delays. Set this feature to

5431

eliminate such delays.

5432

_news-read-in-newsrc-order_

5433

This feature controls the order that newsgroups will be presented. If

5434

set, they will be presented in the same order as they occur in your

5435

_newsrc_ file. If not set, the newsgroups will be presented in

5436

alphabetical order.

5437

_next-thread-without-confirm_

5438

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s Next and Prev commands

5439

in the case where you are using one of the "separate-index-screen"

5440

styles for the configuration option threading-index-style and

5441

currently have the folder sorted by a Threaded or OrderedSubject

5442

sort. When you are Viewing a particular thread you have a MESSAGE

5443

INDEX of only the messages in that thread. If you press the Next

5444

command with the last message in the thread highlighted you will

5445

normally be asked if you want to "View next thread?", assuming there

5446

is a next thread to view. If this feature is set it will be assumed

5447

that you always want to view the next thread and you won't be asked

5448

to confirm that. Similarly, if the first message of the thread is

5449

highlighted and you press the Prev command, this feature will prevent

5450

the question "View previous thread".

5451

This feature only has an effect in the MESSAGE INDEX screen. If you

5452

then view a particular message from that screen and press the Next

5453

command, you will be sent to the next thread without being asked,

5454

independent of the setting of this feature.

5455

The feature auto-open-next-unread, also has some similar effects.

5456

This feature is displayed as "Read Next Thread Without Confirming".

5457

_offer-expunge-of-inbox_

5458

The INBOX is normally treated differently from regular folders in

5459

several ways. One of the differences is that the normal "close"

5460

sequence of events is deferred until _Alpine_ is exited, instead of

5461

happening when you leave the INBOX to view another folder. The

5462

"close" sequence normally includes the Expunging of deleted messages

5463

(either automatically or after a prompt, controlled by the features

5464

Expunge-Without-Confirm, Expunge-Without-Confirm-Everywhere, and

5465

Expunge-Only-Manually), and the handling of the Read-Message-Folder.

5466

If this feature is set the "close" sequence handling will take place

5467

every time you leave the INBOX. The INBOX will still be kept open,

5468

but the offer to Expunge and the archiving to the Read-Message-Folder

5469

will take place each time you leave the INBOX instead of only once at

5470

the end of the session.

5471

_offer-expunge-of-stayopen-folders_

5472

This feature is related to the option Stay-Open-Folders. Stay Open

5473

folders are treated differently from regular folders in several ways.

5474

One of the differences is that the normal "close" sequence of events

5475

is deferred until _Alpine_ is exited, instead of happening when you

5476

leave the folder to view another folder. The "close" sequence

5477

normally includes the Expunging of deleted messages (either

5478

automatically or after a prompt, controlled by the features

5479

Expunge-Without-Confirm, Expunge-Without-Confirm-Everywhere, and

5480

Expunge-Only-Manually), and the handling of Incoming-Archive-Folders.

5481

If this feature is set the "close" sequence handling will take place

5482

when you leave the Stay Open folder. The folder will still be kept

5483

open, but the offer to Expunge and the archiving will take place each

5484

time you leave the folder instead of only once at the end of the

5485

session. This feature does not affect the INBOX, which will still

5486

only be processed when you exit _Alpine_.

5487

_pass-c1-control-characters-as-is_

5488

It is probably not useful to set this option. This is a legacy option

5489

left behind "just in case". Multi-byte characters which have an octet

5490

which has the same value as a control character are permitted through

5491

whether or not this option is turned on.

5492

If the feature pass-control-characters-as-is is set, then this

5493

feature has no effect. However, if you wish to filter out regular

5494

control characters but pass the so-called C1 control characters (0x80

5495

<= char < 0xA0) through unchanged, then you may leave

5496

pass-control-characters-as-is unset and set this feature.

5497

_pass-control-characters-as-is_

5498

It is probably not useful to set this option. This is a legacy option

5499

left behind "just in case". Multi-byte characters which have an octet

5500

which has the same value as a control character are permitted through

5501

whether or not this option is turned on.

5502

If set, all characters in a message will be sent to the screen.

5503

Normally, control characters are automatically suppressed in order to

5504

avoid inadvertently changing terminal setup parameters. Control

5505

characters are usually displayed as two character sequences like

5506

5507

^C

5508

for Control-C,

5509

5510

^[

5511

for ESCAPE,

5512

5513

^?

5514

for DELETE, and

5515

5516

~E

5517

for the character with value 133 (0x85). (The DEL character is

5518

displayed as ^?, regular control characters are displayed as the

5519

character ^ followed by the character obtained by adding the five

5520

low-order bits of the character to 0x40, and the C1 control

5521

characters 0x80 - 0x9F are displayed as the character ~ followed by

5522

the character obtained by adding the five low-order bits of the

5523

character to 0x40.) Sometimes, in cases where changing a single

5524

control character into a two-character sequence would confuse

5525

_Alpine_'s display routines, a question mark is substituted for the

5526

control character.

5527

If you wish to filter out regular control characters but pass the

5528

so-called C1 control characters (0x80 <= char < 0xA0) through

5529

unchanged, then you may leave this feature unset and set the feature

5530

pass-c1-control-characters-as-is instead.

5531

_predict-nntp-server_

5532

This feature allows _Alpine_ to assume that the open NNTP server at

5533

the time of composition is the NNTP server to which the message

5534

should be posted. This is especially recommended when there are

5535

multiple News collections. If this feature is not set, _Alpine_ will

5536

try to post to the first server in the nntp-server variable. Setting

5537

this feature also negates the need to add News collection servers to

5538

the nntp-server variable.

5539

This feature can be especially handy when used in conjunction with

5540

enable-multiple-newsrcs.

5541

This option is displayed as "NNTP Server (for news)".

5542

_prefer-plain-text_

5543

A message being viewed may contain alternate versions of the same

5544

content. Those alternate versions are ordered by the sending software

5545

such that the first alternative is the least preferred and the last

5546

alternative is the most preferred. _Alpine_ will normally display the

5547

most-preferred version that it knows how to display. This is most

5548

often encountered where the two alternate versions are a plain text

5549

version and an HTML version, with the HTML version listed last as the

5550

most preferred.

5551

If this option is set, then any plain text version will be preferred

5552

to all other versions.

5553

_preopen-stayopen-folders_

5554

This feature is related to the option Stay-Open-Folders. Normally,

5555

Stay Open folders are only opened on demand, when the user asks to

5556

open them. From then on they are kept open for the duration of the

5557

session. However, if this feature is set, then the Stay Open folders

5558

will all be opened at startup, at the same time that the INBOX is

5559

opened.

5560

_preserve-start-stop-characters_

5561

This feature controls how special control key characters, typically

5562

_^S_ and _^Q_, are interpreted when input to _Alpine_. These

5563

characters are known as the "start" and "stop" characters and are

5564

sometimes used in communications paths to control data flow between

5565

devices that operate at different speeds.

5566

By default, _Alpine_ turns the system's handling of these special

5567

characters off except during printing. However, if you see _Alpine_

5568

reporting input errors such as:

5569

5570

[ Command "^Q" not defined for this screen. ]

5571

and, at the same time, see your display become garbled, then it is

5572

likely that setting this option will solve the problem. Be aware,

5573

though, that enabling this feature will also cause _Alpine_ to

5574

ostensibly "hang" whenever the _Ctrl-S_ key combination is entered as

5575

the system is now interpreting such input as a "stop output" command.

5576

To "start output" again, simply type _Ctrl-Q_.

5577

This feature is displayed as "Preserve Start/Stop Characters".

5578

_print-formfeed-between-messages_

5579

Setting this feature causes a formfeed to be printed between messages

5580

when printing multiple messages with the _Apply Print_ command.

5581

_print-includes-from-line_

5582

If this feature is set, then the Unix mail style From line is

5583

included at the start of each message that is printed. This line

5584

looks something like the following, with the address replaced by the

5585

address from the From line of the message being printed:

5586

5587

From user@domain.somewhere.com Mon May 13 14:11:06 1996

5588

_print-index-enabled_

5589

This feature controls the behavior of the _Print_ command when in the

5590

"Folder Index" screen. If set, the _Print_ command will give you a

5591

prompt asking if you wish to print the message index, or the

5592

currently highlighted message. If not set, the message will be

5593

printed.

5594

_print-offers-custom-cmd-prompt_

5595

When this feature is set, the _Print_ command will have an additional

5596

subcommand called _C CustomPrint_. If selected, you will have the

5597

opportunity to enter any system print command, instead of being

5598

restricted to using those that have been previously configured in the

5599

_Setup/Printer_ screen.

5600

This feature is displayed as "Print Offers Custom Command Prompt".

5601

_prune-uses-yyyy-mm_

5602

By default, _Alpine_ asks monthly whether or not you would like to

5603

rename some folders to a new name containing the date. It also asks

5604

whether or not you would like to delete some old folders. See the

5605

pruning-rule option for an explanation.

5606

By default, the name used when renaming a folder looks like

5607

5608

5609

For example, the first time you run _Alpine_ in May of 2004, the

5610

folder "sent-mail" might be renamed to

5611

5612

sent-mail-apr-2004

5613

If this feature is set, the name used will be of the form

5614

5615

5616

where "yyyy" is the year and "mm" is the two-digit month (01, 02,

5617

..., 12). For the April, 2004 example above, it would instead be

5618

5619

sent-mail-2004-04

5620

because April is the 4th month of the year. A reason you might want

5621

to set this feature is so that the folders will sort in chronological

5622

order.

5623

_publiccerts-in-keychain_

5624

Mac OS X _Alpine_ only.

5625

If this feature is set the Mac OS X default keychain will be used as

5626

the place to store public certificates instead of a

5627

smime-public-cert-directory or a smime-public-cert-container.

5628

This feature is displayed as "S/MIME -- Public Certs in MacOS

5629

Keychain".

5630

_quell-attachment-extension-warn_

5631

This feature suppresses the extra warning you can get when trying to

5632

view an attachment for which there is no mime-type match. Turning on

5633

this feature will just run the program according to extension instead

5634

of first warning the user that it will run according to the file's

5635

extension.

5636

This feature can be used along side quell-attachment-extra-prompt to

5637

preserve the behavior exhibited in _Pine_ versions prior to _Pine_

5638

4.50.

5639

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Attachment Extension Warning".

5640

_quell-attachment-extra-prompt_

5641

By default, when you attempt to view an attachment externally from

5642

the "Attachment View" screen, you are asked if you really want to

5643

view the selected attachment.

5644

If this feature is set, you will _not_ be prompted to confirm your

5645

selection. Prior to _Pine_ 4.50, the default behavior was to not

5646

prompt. This feature was added for those wanting to preserve that

5647

behavior.

5648

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Attachment Extra Prompt".

5649

_quell-berkeley-format-timezone_

5650

POSIX mandates a timezone in UNIX mailbox format folder delimiters

5651

(the line which begins with From ). Some versions of Berkeley mail

5652

have trouble with this, and don't recognize the line as a message

5653

delimiter. If this feature is set, the timezone will be left off the

5654

delimiter line.

5655

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Berkeley Format Timezone".

5656

_quell-charset-warning_

5657

By default, if the message you are viewing contains characters that

5658

are not representable in your display-character-set then _Alpine_

5659

will add a warning to the start of the displayed text. If this option

5660

is set, then that editorial message will be suppressed.

5661

Setting this feature also suppresses the comment about the character

5662

set in header lines. For example, when viewing a message you might

5663

see

5664

5665

From: "[ISO-8859-2] Name" <address>

5666

in the From header if your Character-Set is something other than

5667

ISO-8859-2. If you set this feature, the comment about the character

5668

set will no longer be there.

5669

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Character Set Warning".

5670

_quell-content-id_

5671

This feature changes the behavior of _Alpine_ when sending messages.

5672

It is intended to work around a bug in Microsoft's Outlook XP mail

5673

user agent. As of this writing, Microsoft has acknowledged the bug

5674

but has not added it to the Knowledge Base. We have been told that

5675

there will be a post-SP1 hotfix for Outlook XP. This particular bug

5676

has bug fix number OfficeQFE:4781. The nature of the bug is that

5677

messages with attachments which contain a Content-ID header (which

5678

standard _Alpine_ attachments do) do not show the attachment

5679

indicator (a paperclip) when viewed with Outlook XP. So the user has

5680

no indication that the message contains an attachment.

5681

If this feature is set then _Alpine_ will remove most Content-ID

5682

headers before sending a message. If an attachment is of type

5683

MESSAGE, then the existing Content-ID headers inside the message will

5684

be left intact. This would only happen with _Alpine_ if a message was

5685

forwarded as an attachment or if a message with a message attached

5686

was forwarded. Similarly if an attachment of type

5687

MULTIPART/ALTERNATIVE is forwarded, the Content-ID headers of the

5688

alternative parts will not be removed.

5689

Because the Content-ID header is a standard part of MIME it is

5690

possible that setting this feature will break something. For example,

5691

if an attachment has a Content-ID header which is necessary for the

5692

correct functioning of that attachment, it is possible that _Alpine_

5693

may remove that header when the attachment is forwarded. However, it

5694

seems fairly safe at this time.

5695

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Content-ID".

5696

_quell-dead-letter-on-cancel_

5697

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when you cancel a message

5698

being composed. _Alpine_'s usual behavior is to write the canceled

5699

message to a file named dead.letter in your home directory (under

5700

UNIX; DEADLETR under WINDOWS/DOS) overwriting any previous message.

5701

Under some conditions (some routine), this can introduce a noticeable

5702

delay.

5703

Setting this feature will cause _Alpine_ NOT to write canceled

5704

compositions into the file called dead.letter.

5705

This feature affects the newer option Dead-Letter-Files, which

5706

specifies the number of dead letter files to keep around. If this

5707

feature is set, then the Dead-Letter-Files option has no effect.

5708

This feature is displayed as "Do Not Save to Deadletter on Cancel".

5709

_quell-empty-directories_

5710

This feature causes _Alpine_ to remove from the display any

5711

directories that do not contain at least one file or directory. This

5712

can be useful to prevent overly cluttered folder lists when a

5713

collection is stored on a server that treats all names as both a

5714

folder and a directory.

5715

Note, enabling this feature can cause surprising behavior! For

5716

example, you can still use Add to create a directory, but unless you

5717

immediately enter that directory and create a folder, that newly

5718

created directory may not be displayed next time you enter the folder

5719

list.

5720

This feature is displayed as "Hide Empty Directories".

5721

_quell-extra-post-prompt_

5722

This feature causes _Alpine_ to skip the extra question about posting

5723

a message which may go to thousands of readers when you are about to

5724

post to a newsgroup.

5725

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Extra Posting Prompt".

5726

_quell-filtering-done-message_

5727

This feature causes _Alpine_ to suppress the "filtering done"

5728

message.

5729

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Filtering Done Message".

5730

_quell-filtering-messages_

5731

This feature causes _Alpine_ to suppress the messages about moving

5732

filtered messages and setting flags in messages, due to Filter Rules.

5733

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Filtering Messages".

5734

_quell-flowed-text_

5735

_Alpine_ generates flowed text where possible. The method for

5736

generating flowed text is defined by RFC 3676, the benefit of doing

5737

so is to send message text that can properly be viewed both on normal

5738

width displays and on displays with smaller or larger than normal

5739

screen widths. With flowed text, a space at the end of a line tells

5740

the receiving mail client that the following line belongs to the same

5741

paragraph. Quoted text will also be affected, with only the innermost

5742

level of ">" quoting being followed by a space. However, if you have

5743

changed the "Reply-Indent-String" so that it is not equal to the

5744

default value of "> ", then quoted text will not be flowed. For this

5745

reason, we recommend that you leave your "Reply-Indent-String" set to

5746

the default.

5747

This feature turns off the generation of flowed text, as it might be

5748

desired to more tightly control how a message is displayed on the

5749

receiving end.

5750

If this feature is _not_ set, you can control on a message by message

5751

basis whether or not flowed text is generated. You do this by typing

5752

^V at the Send confirmation prompt that you get after typing ^X to

5753

send a message. ^V is a toggle which turns flowing off and back on if

5754

typed again. If for some reason flowing cannot be done on a

5755

particular message, then the ^V command will not be available. This

5756

would be the case, for example, if this feature was set, or if your

5757

"Reply-Indent-String" was set to a non-default value. If the feature

5758

Send-Without-Confirm is set, then the opportunity to control on a

5759

message by message basis whether or not flowed text is generated is

5760

lost.

5761

When this feature is not set and you have typed ^V to turn off

5762

flowing, the Send confirmation prompt will change to look like

5763

5764

Send message (not flowed)?

5765

Strip-Whitespace-Before-Send will also turn off the sending of flowed

5766

text messages, but it differs in that it also trims all trailing

5767

white space from a message before sending it.

5768

If alternate editors are used extensively, be aware that a message

5769

will still be sent flowed if this feature is unset. In most cases

5770

this will be fine, but if the editor has a "flowed text" mode, it

5771

would be best to use that.

5772

This feature is displayed as "Do Not Send Flowed Text".

5773

_quell-folder-internal-msg_

5774

This feature determines whether or not _Alpine_ will create "pseudo

5775

messages" in folders that are in standard Unix or MMDF format.

5776

_Alpine_ will normally create these pseudo messages when they are not

5777

already present in a standard Unix or MMDF folder. Their purpose is

5778

to record certain mailbox state data needed for correct IMAP and POP

5779

server operation, and also for _Alpine_ to be able to mark messages

5780

as Answered when the Reply has been postponed.

5781

Sites which do not use IMAP/POP for remote mail access, and which

5782

need to support mail tools that are adversely affected by the

5783

presence of the pseudo-messages (e.g. some mail notification tools)

5784

may enable this feature to tell _Alpine_ not to create them. Note

5785

that _Alpine_'s "Answered" flag capability will be adversely affected

5786

if this is done.

5787

Note too that, even if this feature is enabled, _Alpine_ will not

5788

remove pseudo-messages when it encounters them (e.g. those created by

5789

UW's imapd or ipopd servers.) This feature has no effect on folders

5790

that are not in standard Unix or MMDF format, as pseudo-messages are

5791

not needed in the other formats to record mailbox state information.

5792

This feature is displayed as "Prevent Folder Internal Message".

5793

_quell-full-header-auto-reset_

5794

The HdrMode Command normally resets to the default state when

5795

switching to a new message. For example, if you've used the "H"

5796

command to turn on Full Headers for a message you are viewing, and

5797

then you type the Next command to look at the next message, the full

5798

headers will no longer be shown. Setting this feature disables that

5799

reset. Instead, the Header Mode remains the same from message to

5800

message.

5801

The presence or absence of the HdrMode command is determined by the

5802

"Enable-Full-Header-Cmd" Feature-List option.

5803

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Full Header Auto Reset".

5804

_quell-imap-envelope-update_

5805

In the MESSAGE INDEX screen, if the open folder is being accessed

5806

using IMAP, _Alpine_ normally tries to paint the index lines on the

5807

screen as soon as the information arrives from the IMAP server. This

5808

means that the index information makes it onto the screen more

5809

quickly than it otherwise would. This sometimes results in behavior

5810

that bothers some users. For example, when paging to a new page of

5811

the index, it may be possible for the lines to be painted on the

5812

screen in a random order, rather than from top to bottom.

5813

Setting this feature causes _Alpine_ to wait for all of the

5814

information to be gathered before it paints the index screen. Once it

5815

collects all of the information, the screen will be painted quickly

5816

from top to bottom.

5817

This feature is displayed as "Suppress IMAP Envelope Update".

5818

_quell-lock-failure-warnings_

5819

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when it encounters a problem

5820

acquiring a mail folder lock. Typically, a secondary file associated

5821

with the mail folder being opened is created as part of the locking

5822

process. On some systems, such file creation has been

5823

administratively precluded by the system configuration.

5824

_Alpine_ issues a warning when such failures occur, which can become

5825

bothersome if the system is configured to disallow such actions.

5826

Setting this feature causes _Alpine_ to remain silent when this part

5827

of lock creation fails.

5828

WARNING: systems that have been configured in a way that precludes

5829

locking introduce some risk of mail folder corruption when more than

5830

one program attempts to modify the mail folder. This is most likely

5831

to occur to one's _INBOX_ or other "Incoming Message Folder".

5832

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Lock Failure Warnings".

5833

_Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-Except-Inbox_

5834

This option is closely related to the Mail-Check-Interval option, the

5835

Mail-Check-Interval-Noncurrent option, and

5836

Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-Inbox.

5837

If this option is set, then the normal new-mail checking which

5838

happens while you are composing will not happen for folders other

5839

than your INBOX (which depends on the setting of

5840

"Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-Inbox").

5841

You might want to set this option if you are experiencing delays

5842

while composing which you think might be related to the speed of the

5843

new-mail checks.

5844

Even with this option turned on, an occasional new-mail check may be

5845

done in order to keep the server from killing the connection to the

5846

folder. For example, IMAP servers may remove a connection to a folder

5847

if there has been no activity on the connection for 30 minutes or

5848

more. Instead of letting that happen, _Alpine_ will check for new

5849

mail before the 30 minutes is up even though you have turned on this

5850

feature to quell those checks.

5851

Besides new-mail checks, checkpoint operations on the folders will

5852

also be quelled when you set this option. The purpose of

5853

checkpointing is to write the changes to a folder out to disk

5854

periodically in order to avoid losing those changes when system or

5855

software problems occur. New-mail checking and checkpointing while

5856

you are not composing are not affected by this option.

5857

This feature is displayed as "Prevent Mailchecks While Composing

5858

Except for INBOX".

5859

_Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-Inbox_

5860

This option is closely related to the Mail-Check-Interval option, the

5861

Mail-Check-Interval-Noncurrent option, and

5862

Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-Except-Inbox.

5863

If this option is set, then the normal new-mail checking which

5864

happens while you are composing will not happen for your INBOX.

5865

Checking of other folders is controlled in a similar way with the

5866

"Quell-Mailchecks-Composing-Except-Inbox" option.

5867

You might want to set this option if you are experiencing delays

5868

while composing which you think might be related to the speed of the

5869

new-mail checks.

5870

Even with this option turned on, an occasional new-mail check may be

5871

done in order to keep the server from killing the connection to the

5872

folder. For example, IMAP servers may remove a connection to a folder

5873

if there has been no activity on the connection for 30 minutes or

5874

more. Instead of letting that happen, _Alpine_ will check for new

5875

mail before the 30 minutes is up even though you have turned on this

5876

feature to quell those checks.

5877

Besides new-mail checks, checkpoint operations on the INBOX will also

5878

be quelled when you set this option. The purpose of checkpointing is

5879

to write the changes to a folder out to disk periodically in order to

5880

avoid losing those changes when system or software problems occur.

5881

New-mail checking and checkpointing while you are not composing are

5882

not affected by this option.

5883

This feature is displayed as "Prevent Mailchecks While Composing for

5884

INBOX".

5885

_quell-maildomain-warning_

5886

When your configuration is set up so that your domain name contains

5887

no dots, it is usually a configuration error. By default, _Alpine_

5888

will warn you about this when you start it up. You will see a warning

5889

message that looks like

5890

5891

Incomplete maildomain "<domain>".

5892

If this feature is set, the warning is turned off. This feature is

5893

displayed as "Suppress Maildomain Warning".

5894

_quell-news-envelope-update_

5895

In the MESSAGE INDEX screen, if the open folder is being accessed

5896

using NNTP (News), _Alpine_ normally tries to paint the index lines

5897

on the screen as soon as the information arrives from the NNTP

5898

server. This means that the index information makes it onto the

5899

screen more quickly than it otherwise would. This sometimes results

5900

in behavior that bothers some users. For example, when paging to a

5901

new page of the index, it may be possible for the lines to be painted

5902

on the screen in a random order, rather than from top to bottom.

5903

Setting this feature causes _Alpine_ to wait for all of the

5904

information to be gathered before it paints the index screen. Once it

5905

collects all of the information, the screen will be painted quickly

5906

from top to bottom.

5907

This feature is displayed as "Suppress News Envelope Update".

5908

_quell-partial-fetching_

5909

Partial fetching is a feature of the IMAP protocol. By default,

5910

_Alpine_ will use partial fetching when copying the contents of a

5911

message or attachment from the IMAP server to _Alpine_. This means

5912

that the fetch will be done in many small chunks instead of one big

5913

chunk. The main benefit of this approach is that the fetch becomes

5914

interruptible. That is, the user can type _^C_ to stop the fetch

5915

early. In some cases partial fetching may cause a performance problem

5916

so that the fetching of data takes significantly longer when partial

5917

fetching is used. Turning on this feature will turn off partial

5918

fetching.

5919

This feature is displayed as "Prevent Partial Fetching".

5920

_quell-personal-name-prompt_

5921

_PC-Alpine_ only. This feature quells the prompting for a

5922

personal-name. This prompt normally happens before composing a

5923

message, and only happens when there is no personal name already set.

5924

_quell-server-after-link-in-html_

5925

By default, links in HTML text are displayed with the host the link

5926

references appended, within square brackets, to the link text.

5927

_Alpine_ does this to help indicate where a link will take you,

5928

particularly when the link text might suggest a different

5929

destination.

5930

Setting this feature will prevent the server name from being appended

5931

to the displayed text.

5932

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Server After Link in HTML".

5933

_quell-ssl-largeblocks_

5934

This feature (_PC-Alpine_ only) changes the behavior of fetching

5935

messages and attachments so that the message data is fetched in

5936

chunks no larger than 12K bytes. This works around a bug in

5937

Microsoft's SSL/TLS support. Some versions of Microsoft SSL are not

5938

able to read full-sized (16K) SSL/TLS packets. Some servers will send

5939

such packets and this will cause _PC-Alpine_ to crash with the error

5940

5941

incomplete SecBuffer exceeds maximum buffer size

5942

Microsoft is aware of the problem and has developed a hotfix for it,

5943

but as of this writing the hotfix has not yet been added to the

5944

Knowledge Base.

5945

This feature is displayed as "Prevent SSL Largeblocks".

5946

_quell-status-message-beeping_

5947

If set status messages will never emit a beep.

5948

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Status Message Beeping".

5949

_quell-timezone-comment-when-sending_

5950

Normally, when _Alpine_ generates a Date header for outgoing mail, it

5951

will try to include the symbolic timezone at the end of the header

5952

inside parentheses. The symbolic timezone is often three characters

5953

long, but on some operating systems, it may be longer. Apparently

5954

there are some SMTP servers in the world which will reject an

5955

incoming message if it has a Date header longer than about 80

5956

characters. If this feature is set, the symbolic timezone normally

5957

generated by _Alpine_ will not be included. You probably don't need

5958

to worry about this feature unless you run into the problem described

5959

above.

5960

This feature is displayed as "Suppress Timezone Comment When

5961

Sending".

5962

_quell-user-id-prompt_

5963

_PC-Alpine_ only. This feature quells the prompting for a user-id if

5964

the information can be obtained from the login name used to open the

5965

INBOX. Normally, this prompt happens before composing a message, and

5966

only happens when there is no user-id already set in the

5967

configuration.

5968

With this feature set, composing a message is only possible after

5969

establishing a connection to the INBOX.

5970

_quell-user-lookup-in-passwd-file_

5971

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s Composer, and if

5972

needed, will usually be set by the system manager in _Alpine_'s

5973

system-wide configuration file. Specifically, if this feature is set,

5974

_Alpine_ will not attempt to look in the system password file to find

5975

a Full Name for the entered address.

5976

Normally, names you enter into address fields (e.g. To: or Cc:) are

5977

checked against your address book(s) to see if they match an address

5978

book nickname. Failing that, (in Unix _Alpine_) the name is then

5979

checked against the Unix password file. If the entered name matches a

5980

username in the system password file, _Alpine_ extracts the

5981

corresponding Full Name information for that individual, and adds

5982

that to the address being entered.

5983

However, password file matching can have surprising (incorrect)

5984

results if other users of the system do not receive mail at the

5985

domain you are using. That is, if either the user-domain or

5986

use-only-domain-name option is set such that the administrative

5987

domain of other users on the system isn't accurately reflected,

5988

_Alpine_ should be told that a password file match is coincidental,

5989

and Full Name info will be incorrect. For example, a personal name

5990

from the password file could get falsely paired with the entered name

5991

as it is turned into an address in the configured domain.

5992

If you are seeing this behavior, enabling this feature will prevent

5993

Unix _Alpine_ from looking up names in the password file to find the

5994

Full Name for incomplete addresses you enter.

5995

This feature is displayed as "Prevent User Lookup in Password File".

5996

_quit-without-confirm_

5997

This feature controls whether or not _Alpine_ will ask for

5998

confirmation when a _Quit_ command is received.

5999

This feature is displayed as "Quit Without Confirming".

6000

_quote-replace-nonflowed_

6001

This feature, which is only active when Quote-Replace-String is also

6002

set, enables quote-replacement on non-flowed messages. It is off by

6003

default because a non-flowed message is more dependent on its format,

6004

and thus quote-replacement may cause less-than-pleasing results.

6005

Setting this feature will cause quote-replacement similar to that of

6006

flowed messages, but with the added possibility of long lines being

6007

wrapped into new lines if the Quote-Replacement-String is longer than

6008

the string it is replacing, which is "> ".

6009

_reply-always-uses-reply-to_

6010

If set, _Alpine_ will not prompt when a message being replied to

6011

contains a _Reply-To:_ header value, but will simply use its value

6012

(as opposed to using the _From:_ field's value).

6013

_return-to-inbox-without-confirm_

6014

Normally, when you use the TAB command and there are no more folders

6015

or newsgroups to visit, you are asked if you want to return to the

6016

INBOX. If this feature is set you will not be asked. It will be

6017

assumed that you do want to return to the INBOX.

6018

This feature is displayed as "Return to INBOX Without Confirming".

6019

_save-aggregates-copy-sequence_

6020

This feature will optimize an aggregate copy operation, if possible,

6021

by issuing a single IMAP _COPY_ command with a list of the messages

6022

to be copied. This feature is set by default. This may reduce network

6023

traffic and elapsed time for the Save. _However, many IMAP servers

6024

(including the UW IMAP server) do not preserve the order of messages

6025

when this optimization is applied._ If this feature is not set,

6026

_Alpine_ will copy each message individually and the order of the

6027

messages will be preserved.

6028

This feature is displayed as "Save Combines Copies (may be out of

6029

order)".

6030

_save-partial-msg-without-confirm_

6031

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s Save command. By

6032

default, when you Save a message that has some deleted parts, you

6033

will be asked to confirm that you want to Save with a prompt that

6034

looks like:

6035

6036

Saved copy will NOT include entire message! Continue?

6037

If this feature is set, you will not be asked.

6038

This feature is displayed as "Save Partial Message Without

6039

Confirming".

6040

_save-will-advance_

6041

If set, _Save_ will (in addition to copying the current message to

6042

the designated folder) also advance to the next message.

6043

_save-will-not-delete_

6044

If set, _Save_ will not mark the message Deleted (its default

6045

behavior) after it has been copied to the designated folder.

6046

_save-will-quote-leading-froms_

6047

This feature controls an aspect of the _Save_ command (and also the

6048

way outgoing messages are saved to an FCC folder). If set, _Alpine_

6049

will add a leading > character in front of message lines beginning

6050

with "From" when they are saved to another folder, including lines

6051

syntactically distinguishable from the type of message separator line

6052

commonly used on Unix systems.

6053

The default behavior is that a > will be prepended only to lines

6054

beginning with "From " that might otherwise be confused with a

6055

message separator line on Unix systems. If _Alpine_ is the only mail

6056

program you use, this default is reasonable. If another program you

6057

use has trouble displaying a message with an unquoted From saved by

6058

_Alpine_, you should enable this feature. This feature only applies to

6059

the common Unix mailbox format that uses message separator lines

6060

beginning with "From ". If _Alpine_ has been configured to use a

6061

different mailbox format (possibly incompatible with other mail

6062

programs), then this issue does not arise, and the feature is

6063

irrelevant.

6064

_scramble-message-id_

6065

Normally the Message-ID header that _Alpine_ generates when sending a

6066

message contains the name of the computer from which the message is

6067

being sent. Some believe that this hostname could be used by spammers

6068

or could be used by others for nefarious purposes. If this feature is

6069

set, that name will be transformed with a simple Rot13

6070

transformation. The result will still have the correct syntax for a

6071

Message-ID but the part of the MessageID that is often a domain name

6072

will not be an actual domain name because the letters will be

6073

scrambled.

6074

It is possible (but unlikely?) that some spam detection software will

6075

use that as a reason to reject the mail as spam. It has also been

6076

reported that some spam detection software uses the fact that there

6077

are no dots after the "@" as a reason to reject messages. If your

6078

_PC-Alpine_ Message-ID is using a name without a dot that is because

6079

that is what Windows thinks is your "Full computer name". The method

6080

used to set this varies from one type of Windows to another but check

6081

under Settings -> Control Panel -> System and look for Network

6082

Identification or Computer Name or something similar. How to set it

6083

is beyond the scope of _Alpine_.

6084

This feature is displayed as "Scramble the Message-ID When Sending".

6085

_select-without-confirm_

6086

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s _Save_, _Export_, and

6087

_Goto_ commands. These commands all take text input to specify the

6088

name of the folder or file to be used, but allow you to press _^T_

6089

for a list of possible names. If set, the selected name will be used

6090

immediately, without further opportunity to confirm or edit the name.

6091

This feature is displayed as "Select Ctrl-T Foldername Without

6092

Confirming".

6093

_send-without-confirm_

6094

By default, when you send or post a message you will be asked to

6095

confirm with a question that looks something like:

6096

6097

Send message?

6098

If this feature is set, you will _not_ be prompted to confirm your

6099

intent to send and your message will be sent.

6100

If this feature is set it disables some possibilities and renders

6101

some other features meaningless. You will not be able to use Sending

6102

Filters, Verbose sending mode, Background Sending, Delivery Status

6103

Notifications, or ^V to turn off the generation of flowed text for

6104

this message. These options are normally available as suboptions in

6105

the Send prompt, but with no Send prompt the options are gone.

6106

A somewhat related feature is quell-extra-post-prompt. which may be

6107

used to eliminate the extra confirmation question when posting to a

6108

newsgroup.

6109

This feature is displayed as "Send Without Confirming".

6110

_separate-folder-and-directory-display_

6111

This feature affects folder collections wherein a folder and

6112

directory can have the same name. By default, _Alpine_ displays them

6113

only once, denoting that it is both a folder and directory by

6114

appending the folder name with the hierarchy character enclosed in

6115

square brackets.

6116

Enabling this feature will cause _Alpine_ to display such names

6117

separately marking the name representing a directory with a trailing

6118

hierarchy delimiter (typically the slash, "/", character).

6119

The feature also alters the command set slightly. By default, the

6120

right-arrow descends into the directory, while hitting the Return key

6121

will cause the folder by that name to be opened.

6122

With this feature set, the Return key will open the highlighted

6123

folder, or enter the highlighted directory.

6124

_show-cursor_

6125

If set, the system cursor will move to convenient locations in the

6126

displays. For example, to the beginning of the status field of the

6127

highlighted index line, or to the highlighted word after a successful

6128

_WhereIs_ command. It is intended to draw your attention to the

6129

_interesting_ spot on the screen.

6130

_show-plain-text-internally_

6131

This feature modifies the method _Alpine_ uses to display Text/Plain

6132

MIME attachments from the Attachment Index screen. Normally, the

6133

"View" command searches for any externally defined (usually via the

6134

Mailcap file) viewer, and displays the selected text within that

6135

viewer.

6136

Enabling this feature causes _Alpine_ to ignore any external viewer

6137

settings and always display text with _Alpine_'s internal viewer.

6138

_show-selected-in-boldface_

6139

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s aggregate operation

6140

commands; in particular, the _Select_ and _WhereIs_ commands. _Select_

6141

and _WhereIs_ (with the _^X_ subcommand) will search the current

6142

folder for messages meeting a specified criteria, and _tag_ the

6143

resulting messages with an _X_ in the first column of the applicable

6144

lines in the "Folder Index". If this feature is set, instead of using

6145

the _X_ to denote a selected message, _Alpine_ will attempt to

6146

display those index lines in boldface. Whether this is preferable to

6147

the _X_ will depend on personal taste and the type of terminal being

6148

used.

6149

_show-sort_

6150

If this feature is set and there is sufficient space on the screen, a

6151

short indication of the current sort order will be added in the

6152

titlebar (the top line on the screen), before the name of the folder.

6153

For example, with the default Arrival sort in effect, the display

6154

would have the characters

6155

6156

[A]

6157

added between the title of the screen and the folder name. The

6158

letters are the same as the letters you may type to manually sort a

6159

folder with the SortIndex command ($). The letters in the table below

6160

are the ones that may show up in the titlebar line.

6161

6162

A _A_rrival

6163

S _S_ubject

6164

F _F_rom

6165

T _T_o

6166

C _C_c

6167

D _D_ate

6168

Z si_Z_e

6169

O _O_rderedsubject

6170

E scor_E_

6171

H t_H_read

6172

If the sort order is Reversed, the letter above will be preceded by

6173

the letter "R", for example

6174

6175

[RS]

6176

means that a Reverse Subject sort is in effect. For the case where

6177

the sort is in Reverse Arrival order, the "A" is left out, and just

6178

an "R" is shown.

6179

6180

[R]

6181

This feature is displayed as "Show Sort in Titlebar".

6182

_signature-at-bottom_

6183

If this feature is set, and a message being _Repl_ied to is being

6184

included in the reply, then the contents of the signature file (if

6185

any) will be inserted after the included message. This feature does

6186

not affect the results of a _Forward_ command.

6187

_single-column-folder-list_

6188

If set, the "Folder List" screen will list one folder per line

6189

instead of several per line.

6190

_slash-collapses-entire-thread_

6191

Normally, the Collapse/Expand Thread command Collapses or Expands the

6192

subthread which starts at the currently highlighted message, if any.

6193

If this feature is set, then the slash command Collapses or Expands

6194

the _entire_ current thread instead of just the subthread.

6195

_smime-dont-do-smime_

6196

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

6197

Setting this feature turns off all of _Alpine_'s S/MIME support. You

6198

might want to set this if you are having trouble due to the S/MIME

6199

support.

6200

+ General S/MIME Overview

6201

This feature is displayed as "S/MIME -- Turn off S/MIME".

6202

_smime-encrypt-by-default_

6203

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

6204

This feature only has an effect if your version of _Alpine_ includes

6205

support for S/MIME. It affects _Alpine_'s behavior when you send a

6206

message. If this option is set, the "Encrypt" option will default to

6207

ON when sending messages.

6208

Only the default value is affected. In any case, you may still toggle

6209

the Encrypt option on or off before sending with the "E Encrypt"

6210

command (provided you have a the public digital ID for the

6211

recipient).

6212

+ General S/MIME Overview

6213

This feature is displayed as "S/MIME -- Encrypt by Default".

6214

_smime-remember-passphrase_

6215

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

6216

This feature only has an effect if your version of _Alpine_ includes

6217

support for S/MIME. If this option is set, you will only have to

6218

enter your passphrase for your private key once during an _Alpine_

6219

session.

6220

+ General S/MIME Overview

6221

This feature is displayed as "S/MIME -- Remember S/MIME Passphrase".

6222

_smime-sign-by-default_

6223

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

6224

This feature only has an effect if your version of _Alpine_ includes

6225

support for S/MIME. It affects _Alpine_'s behavior when you send a

6226

message. If this option is set, the "Sign" option will default to ON

6227

when sending messages.

6228

Only the default value is affected. In any case, you may still toggle

6229

the Signing option on or off before sending with the "G Sign" command

6230

(provided you have a personal digital ID certificate).

6231

+ General S/MIME Overview

6232

This feature is displayed as "S/MIME -- Sign by Default".

6233

_sort-default-fcc-alpha_

6234

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s FOLDER LIST screen. If

6235

set, the default FCC folder will be sorted alphabetically with the

6236

other folders instead of appearing right after the INBOX.

6237

This feature is displayed as "Sort Default Fcc Folder

6238

Alphabetically".

6239

_sort-default-save-alpha_

6240

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s FOLDER LIST screen. If

6241

set, the default save folder will be sorted alphabetically with the

6242

other folders instead of appearing right after the INBOX (and default

6243

FCC folder).

6244

This feature is displayed as "Sort Default Save Folder

6245

Alphabetically".

6246

_spell-check-before-sending_

6247

When this feature is set, every composed message will be

6248

spell-checked before being sent.

6249

_store-window-position-in-config_

6250

Normally, _PC-Alpine_ will store its window size and position in the

6251

Windows Registry. This is convenient if you want to use the same

6252

remote configuration from more than one PC. If you use multiple

6253

configuration files to start _PC-Alpine_, you may want to store the

6254

window size and position in the configuration file instead of in the

6255

Registry. Setting this feature causes that to happen.

6256

_strip-from-sigdashes-on-reply_

6257

This feature doesn't do anything if the feature enable-sigdashes is

6258

turned on. However, if the _enable-sigdashes_ feature is not turned

6259

on, then turning on this feature enables support for the convention

6260

of not including text beyond the sigdashes line when Replying or

6261

Following up to a message and including the text of that message.

6262

In other words, this is a way to turn on the signature stripping

6263

behavior without also turning on the dashes-adding behavior.

6264

_strip-whitespace-before=send_

6265

Trailing whitespace is not stripped from a message before sending.

6266

Trailing whitespace should have no effect on an email message, and in

6267

flowed text can aid in delimiting paragraphs. However, the old

6268

behavior of stripping trailing whitespace was in place to better deal

6269

with older clients that couldn't handle certain types of text

6270

encodings. This feature restores the old behavior

6271

Trailing whitespace is of aid to flowed-text-formatted messages,

6272

which are generated by default but can be turned off via the

6273

quell-flowed-text feature. strip-whitespace-before-send also has the

6274

effect of turning off sending of flowed text.

6275

This feature is displayed as "Strip Whitespace Before Sending".

6276

_suppress-asterisks-in-password-prompt_

6277

When you are running _Alpine_ you will sometimes be asked for a

6278

password in a prompt on the third line from the bottom of the screen.

6279

Normally each password character you type will cause an asterisk to

6280

echo on the screen. That gives you some feedback to know that your

6281

typing is being recognized. There is a very slight security risk in

6282

doing it this way because someone watching over your shoulder might

6283

be able to see how many characters there are in your password. If

6284

you'd like to suppress the echoing of the asterisks set this feature.

6285

_suppress-user-agent-when-sending_

6286

If this feature is set then _Alpine_ will not generate a User-Agent

6287

header in outgoing messages.

6288

_tab-checks-recent_

6289

In a FOLDER LIST screen, the TAB key usually just changes which

6290

folder is highlighted. If this feature is set, then the TAB key will

6291

cause the number of recent messages and the total number of messages

6292

in the highlighted folder to be displayed instead.

6293

This feature is displayed as "Tab Checks for Recent Messages".

6294

_tab-uses-unseen-for-next-folder_

6295

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when using the TAB NextNew

6296

Command to move from one folder to the next. _Alpine_'s usual

6297

behavior is to search for folders with _Recent_ messages in them.

6298

Recent messages are messages which have arrived since the last time

6299

the folder was opened.

6300

Setting this feature causes _Alpine_ to search for _Unseen_ messages

6301

instead of Recent messages. Unseen messages remain Unseen until you

6302

view them (or flag then as Seen with the Flag Command). Setting this

6303

feature allows you to locate messages you have not read instead of

6304

only recently received messages. When this feature is set, the

6305

feature Enable-Fast-Recent-Test will have no effect, so the checking

6306

may be slower.

6307

Another reason why you might want to use this feature is that _Alpine_

6308

sometimes opens folders implicitly behind the scenes, and this clears

6309

the Recent status of all messages in the folder. One example where

6310

this happens is when Saving or filtering a message to another folder.

6311

If that message has some keywords set, then because of some

6312

shortcomings in the IMAP specification, the best way to ensure that

6313

those keywords are still set in the saved copy of the message is to

6314

open the folder and set the keywords explicitly. Because this clears

6315

the Recent status of all messages in that folder the folder will not

6316

be found by the NextNew command unless this feature is set.

6317

_tab-visits-next-new-message-only_

6318

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when using the _TAB_ key to

6319

move from one message to the next. _Alpine_'s usual behavior is to

6320

select the next _Unread_ message or message flagged as _Important_.

6321

Setting this feature causes _Alpine_ to skip the messages flagged as

6322

_Important_, and select _Unread_ messages exclusively. Tab behavior

6323

when there are no new messages left to select remains unchanged.

6324

_termdef-takes-precedence_

6325

This feature may affect _Alpine_'s low-level input routines. Termcap

6326

(or terminfo, depending on how your copy of _Alpine_ was compiled and

6327

linked) is the name of the database which describes terminal

6328

capabilities. In particular, it describes the sequences of characters

6329

that various keys will emit.

6330

An example would be the Up Arrow key on the keyboard. Up Arrow is not

6331

a distinct character on most Unix systems. When you press the Up

6332

Arrow key a short sequence of characters are produced. This sequence

6333

is supposed to be described in the termcap database by the "ku"

6334

capability (or by the "kcuu1" capability if you are using terminfo

6335

instead of termcap).

6336

By default, _Alpine_ defines some terminal escape sequences that are

6337

commonly used. For example, the sequence "ESC O A" is recognized as

6338

an Up Arrow key. The sequence "ESC [ A" is also recognized as an Up

6339

Arrow key. These are chosen because common terminals like VT100's or

6340

ANSI standard terminals produce these sequences when you press the Up

6341

Arrow key.

6342

If your system's termcap (terminfo) database assigns some other

6343

function to the sequence "ESC O A" it is usually ignored by _Alpine_.

6344

Also, if your termcap (terminfo) database assigns a sequence which

6345

doesn't begin with an escape character (ESC) it is usually ignored by

6346

_Alpine_. This usually works fine because most terminals emit the

6347

escape sequences that _Alpine_ has defined by default. We have also

6348

found that it is usually better to have these defaults take

6349

precedence over the definitions contained in the database because the

6350

defaults are more likely to be correct than the database.

6351

There are some terminals where this breaks down. If you want _Alpine_

6352

to believe the definitions given in your termcap (terminfo) database

6353

in preference to the defaults the _Alpine_ itself sets up, then you

6354

may turn this feature on. Then, sequences of characters which are

6355

defined in both termcap (terminfo) and in _Alpine_'s set of defaults

6356

will be interpreted the way that termcap (terminfo) says they should

6357

be interpreted. Also, if your terminal capabilities database assigns

6358

a sequence which doesn't begin with escape, it will not be ignored.

6359

_thread-index-shows-important-color_

6360

This option affects only the THREAD INDEX screen. Whether or not you

6361

ever see a THREAD INDEX screen depends on the setting of the

6362

configuration option threading-index-style and on the sort order of

6363

the index. If a message within a thread is flagged as Important and

6364

this option is set, then the entire line in the THREAD INDEX will be

6365

colored the color of the Index-important Symbol, which can be set

6366

using the Setup Kolor screen.

6367

_try-alternative-authentication-driver-first_

6368

This feature affects how _Alpine_ connects to IMAP servers. It's

6369

utility has largely been overtaken by events, but it may still be

6370

useful in some circumstances. If you only connect to modern IMAP

6371

servers that support "TLS" you can ignore this feature.

6372

Details:

6373

By default, _Alpine_ will attempt to connect to an IMAP server on the

6374

normal IMAP service port (143), and if the server offers "Transport

6375

Layer Security" (TLS) and _Alpine_ has been compiled with encryption

6376

capability, then a secure (encrypted) session will be negotiated.

6377

With this feature enabled, before connecting on the normal IMAP port,

6378

_Alpine_ will first attempt to connect to an alternate IMAP service

6379

port (993) used specifically for encrypted IMAP sessions via the

6380

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) method. If the SSL attempt fails, _Alpine_

6381

will then try the default behavior described in the previous

6382

paragraph.

6383

TLS negotiation on the normal port is preferred, and supersedes the

6384

use of SSL on port 993, but older servers may not provide TLS

6385

support. This feature may be convenient when accessing IMAP servers

6386

that do not support TLS, but do support SSL connections on port 993.

6387

However, it is important to understand that with this feature

6388

enabled, _Alpine_ will _attempt_ to make a secure connection if that

6389

is possible, but it will proceed to make an insecure connection if

6390

that is the only option offered by the server, or if the _Alpine_ in

6391

question has been built without encryption capability.

6392

Note that this feature specifies a per-user (or system-wide) default

6393

behavior, but host/folder specification flags may be used to control

6394

the behavior of any specific connection. This feature interacts with

6395

some of the possible host/folder path specification flags as follows:

6396

The /tls host flag, for example,

6397

6398

{foo.example.com/tls}INBOX

6399

will over-ride this feature for the specified host by bypassing the

6400

SSL connection attempt. Moreover, with /tls specified, the connection

6401

attempt will fail if the service on port 143 does not offer TLS

6402

support.

6403

The /ssl host flag, for example,

6404

6405

{foo.example.com/ssl}INBOX

6406

will insist on an SSL connection for the specified host, and will

6407

fail if the SSL service on port 993 is not available. _Alpine_ will

6408

not subsequently retry a connection on port 143 if /ssl is specified.

6409

_unselect-will-not-advance_

6410

Normally, when the Unselect current message command (:) is typed when

6411

the current message is selected, the message will be unselected and

6412

the next message will become the current message. If this feature is

6413

set, the cursor will not advance to the next message. Instead, the

6414

current message will remain the current message after unselecting.

6415

_use-current-dir_

6416

This feature controls an aspect of several commands. If set, your

6417

"current working directory" will be used instead of your home

6418

directory for all of the following operations:

6419

+ _Export_ in the "Folder Index" and "Message Text" screens

6420

+ Attachment _Save_ in the "Message Text" and "Attachment Text"

6421

screens

6422

+ _^R_ file inclusion in the Composer

6423

+ _^J_ file attachment in the Composer

6424

This feature is displayed as "Use Current Directory".

6425

_use-function-keys_

6426

This feature specifies that _Alpine_ will respond to function keys

6427

instead of the normal single-letter commands. In this mode, the key

6428

menus at the bottom of each screen will show function key

6429

designations instead of the normal mnemonic key.

6430

_use-regular-startup-rule-for-stayopen-folders_

6431

This feature affects which message is selected as the current message

6432

when you enter a Stay Open folder.

6433

Normally, the starting position for an incoming folder (which most

6434

Stay Open folders will likely be) is controlled by the

6435

Incoming-Startup-Rule. However, if a folder is a Stay Open folder,

6436

when you re-enter the folder after the first time the current message

6437

will be the same as it was when you left the folder. An exception is

6438

made if you use the TAB command to get to the folder. In that case,

6439

the message number will be incremented by one from what it was when

6440

you left the folder.

6441

The above special behavior is thought to be useful. However, it is

6442

special and different from what you might at first expect. If this

6443

feature is set, then Stay Open folders will not be treated specially

6444

as far as the startup rule is concerned.

6445

_use-resent-to-in-rules_

6446

This feature is turned off by default because turning it on causes

6447

problems with some deficient IMAP servers. In _Alpine_ Filters and

6448

other types of Rules, if the Pattern contains a To header pattern and

6449

this feature is turned on, then a check is made in the message to see

6450

if a Resent-To header is present, and that is used instead of the To

6451

header. If this feature is not turned on, then the regular To header

6452

will always be used.

6453

_use-sender-not-x-sender_

6454

Normally _Alpine_ on Unix adds a header line labeled _X-X-Sender_, if

6455

the sender is different from the _From:_ line.

6456

The standard specifies that this header line should be labeled

6457

_Sender_, not _X-X-Sender_. Setting this feature causes _Sender_ to be

6458

used instead of _X-X-Sender_. The standard also states that the data

6459

associated with this header field should not be used as a Reply

6460

address. Unfortunately, certain implementations of mail list

6461

management servers will use the Sender address for such purposes.

6462

These implementations often even recognize the _X-Sender_ fields as

6463

being equivalent to the _Sender_ field, and use it if present. This

6464

is why _Alpine_ defaults to _X-X-Sender_.

6465

Note, _PC-Alpine_ always adds either an _X-X-Sender_ line if there is

6466

an open, remote mailbox, or an _X-Warning: UNAuthenticated User_

6467

otherwise

6468

This feature is displayed as "Use Sender Instead of X-X-Sender".

6469

_use-subshell-for-suspend_

6470

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when process suspension is

6471

enabled and then activated via the _^Z_ key. _Alpine_ suspension

6472

allows one to temporarily interact with the operating system command

6473

"shell" without quitting _Alpine_, and then subsequently resume the

6474

still-active _Alpine_ session.

6475

When the _enable-suspend_ feature is set and subsequently the _^Z_

6476

key is pressed, _Alpine_ will normally suspend itself and return

6477

temporary control to _Alpine_'s parent shell process. However, if

6478

this feature is set, _Alpine_ will instead create an inferior

6479

subshell process. This is useful when the parent process is not

6480

intended to be used interactively. Examples include invoking _Alpine_

6481

via the -e argument of the Unix _xterm_ program, or via a menu

6482

system.

6483

Note that one typically resumes a suspended _Alpine_ by entering the

6484

Unix _fg_ command, but if this feature is set, it will be necessary

6485

to enter the _exit_ command instead.

6486

_use-system-translation_

6487

UNIX _Alpine_ only. _Alpine_ normally uses its own internal software

6488

to convert between the multi-byte representation of characters and

6489

the Unicode representation of those same characters ( see the section

6490

on International Character Sets). It converts from the multi-byte

6491

characters your keyboard produces to Unicode, and from Unicode to the

6492

multi-byte characters your display expects. Alpine also uses its own

6493

internal software to decide how much space on the screen a particular

6494

Unicode character will occupy.

6495

Setting this feature tells _Alpine_ to use the system-supplied

6496

routines to perform these tasks instead. In particular there are

6497

three tasks and three system routines that will be used for these

6498

tasks.

6499

To convert from multi-byte to Unicode the routine

6500

6501

mbstowcs

6502

is used. To convert from Unicode to multi-byte the routine

6503

6504

wcrtomb

6505

is used. And to find the screen width a particular Unicode character

6506

will occupy the routine used is

6507

6508

wcwidth

6509

This feature has been only lightly tested. The internal routines

6510

should normally be used unless you run into a problem that you think

6511

may be solved by using the system routines. Note that your

6512

environment needs to be set up for these routines to work correctly.

6513

In particular, the LANG or LC_CTYPE variable in your environment will

6514

need to be set.

6515

_vertical-folder-list_

6516

This feature controls an aspect of _Alpine_'s FOLDER LIST screen. If

6517

set, the folders will be listed alphabetically down the columns

6518

rather than across the columns as is the default.

6519

This feature is displayed as "Use Vertical Folder List".

6520

_warn-if-blank-subject_

6521

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when you send a message

6522

being composed. If this option is set, _Alpine_ will check to see if

6523

the message about to be sent has a subject or not. If not, you will

6524

be asked if you want to send the message anyway.

6525

_warn-if-blank-to-and-cc-and-newsgroups_

6526

This feature affects _Alpine_'s behavior when you send a message

6527

being composed. If this option is set, _Alpine_ will check to see if

6528

the message about to be sent has either a To address, a Cc address,

6529

or a Newsgroup. If none of these is set, you will be asked if you

6530

want to send the message anyway.

6531

This feature is closely related to fcc-only-without-confirm. _Alpine_

6532

will normally ask if you want to copy a message only to the Fcc. This

6533

feature also applies to cases where there is a Bcc but still no To,

6534

Cc, or Newsgroup. If the Fcc-Only-Without-Confirm feature is set and

6535

you are sending a message with only an Fcc, then you won't be asked

6536

about sending with a blank To and Cc and Newsgroups header even if

6537

this feature is set. Similarly, if you have already been asked if you

6538

want to send to the Fcc only and you have answered Yes, then you

6539

won't be asked again about sending with blank To, Cc, and Newsgroups

6540

headers even if this feature is set.

6541

6542

Hidden Config Variables and Features

6543

6544

There are several configuration variables and features which are normally

6545

hidden from the user. That is, they don't appear on any of the configuration

6546

screens. Some of these are suppressed because they are intended to be used

6547

by system administrators, and in fact may only be set in system-wide

6548

configuration files. Others are available to users but are thought to be of

6549

such little value to most users that their presence on the Config screens

6550

would cause more confusion than help. Others are hidden in the Setup/Config

6551

screen because they are normally configured in one of the other

6552

configuration screens. For example, all of the colors are hidden because the

6553

normal way to configure colors is through Setup/Colors not Setup/Config. You

6554

may set the feature expose-hidden-config to cause most of these hidden

6555

variables and features to show up at the bottom of the Setup/Config screen.

6556

6557

Hidden Variables Not Settable by Users

6558

6559

These variables are settable only in system-wide configuration files.

6560

* bugs-additional-data

6561

* bugs-address

6562

* bugs-fullname

6563

* forced-abook-entry

6564

* kblock-passwd-count

6565

* local-address

6566

* local-fullname

6567

* mail-directory

6568

* standard-printer

6569

* suggest-address

6570

* suggest-fullname

6571

6572

Hidden Variables Which are Settable by Users

6573

6574

These variables are not shown to users but are settable by means of hand

6575

editing the personal configuration file. This first group is usually

6576

maintained by _Alpine_ and there will usually be no reason to edit them by

6577

hand.

6578

* last-version-used

6579

* patterns-filters2

6580

* patterns-indexcolors

6581

* patterns-roles

6582

* patterns-scores2

6583

* remote-abook-metafile

6584

6585

This group is usually correct but may be changed by system managers or users

6586

in special cases.

6587

* disable-these-authenticators

6588

* disable-these-drivers

6589

* last-time-prune-questioned

6590

* new-version-threshold

6591

* remote-abook-history

6592

* remote-abook-validity

6593

* rsh-command

6594

* rsh-open-timeout

6595

* rsh-path

6596

* sendmail-path

6597

* ssh-command

6598

* ssh-open-timeout

6599

* ssh-path

6600

* tcp-open-timeout

6601

* tcp-query-timeout

6602

* tcp-read-warning-timeout

6603

* tcp-write-warning-timeout

6604

* use-function-keys

6605

6606

System managers are usually interested in setting these in the system-wide

6607

configuration files, though users may set them if they wish.

6608

* operating-dir

6609

* user-input-timeout

6610

6611

Hidden Features Which are Settable by Users

6612

6613

These are _features_ (as opposed to variables) which users or system

6614

administrators may set. Some of them only make sense for administrators. To

6615

turn these on manually, the configuration file should be edited and the

6616

feature added to the _feature-list_ variable. You may set the feature

6617

expose-hidden-config to cause these hidden features to show up in the

6618

Setup/Config screen. They will be at the bottom of the screen.

6619

* disable-config-cmd

6620

* disable-keyboard-lock-cmd

6621

* disable-password-cmd

6622

* disable-pipes-in-sigs

6623

* disable-pipes-in-templates

6624

* disable-roles-setup-cmd

6625

* disable-roles-sig-edit

6626

* disable-roles-template-edit

6627

* disable-setlocale-collate

6628

* disable-shared-namespaces

6629

* disable-signature-edit-cmd

6630

6631

Retired Variables and Features

6632

6633

Variables and features that are no longer used by the current _Alpine_

6634

version. When an obsolete variable is encountered, its value is applied to

6635

any new corresponding setting. The replaced values include:

6636

6637

_character-set_

6638

Replaced by three separate variables: _display-character-set_,

6639

_keyboard-character-set_, and _posting-character-set_.

6640

_compose-mime_

6641

_elm-style-save_

6642

Replaced by _saved-msg-name-rule_

6643

_feature-level_

6644

Replaced by _feature-list._

6645

_header-in-reply_

6646

Replaced by _include-header-in-reply_ in the _feature-list._

6647

_old-style-reply_

6648

Replaced by _signature-at-bottom_ in the _feature-list._

6649

_use-old-unix-format-write_

6650

No replacement.

6651

_patterns_

6652

Replaced by four separate patterns variables: _patterns-roles_,

6653

_patterns-filters_, _patterns-scores_, and _patterns-indexcolors_.

6654

Since then, _patterns-filters_ has also become obsolete and is

6655

replaced by _patterns-filters2_; _patterns-scores_ is replaced by

6656

_patterns-scores2_.

6657

_save-by-sender_

6658

Replaced by _saved-msg-name-rule._

6659

_show-all-characters_

6660

No replacement, it always works this way now.

6661

6662

Tokens for Index and Replying

6663

6664

This set of special tokens may be used in the index-format option, in the

6665

reply-leadin option, in signature files, in template files used in roles,

6666

and in the folder name that is the target of a Filter Rule. Some of them

6667

aren't available in all situations.

6668

6669

The tokens are used as they appear below for the _Index-Format_ option, but

6670

they must be surrounded by underscores for the _Reply-Leadin_ option, in

6671

signature and template files, and in the target of Filter Rules.

6672

6673

_Tokens Available for all Cases (except Filter Rules)_

6674

6675

SUBJECT

6676

This token represents the Subject the sender gave the message.

6677

Alternatives for use in the index screen are SUBJKEY, SUBJKEYINIT,

6678

SUBJECTTEXT, SUBJKEYTEXT, and SUBJKEYINITTEXT. You may color the

6679

subject text in the MESSAGE INDEX screen differently by using the

6680

Index Subject Color and the Index Opening Color. options available

6681

from the Setup Kolor screen.

6682

6683

FROM

6684

This token represents the personal name (or email address if the name

6685

is unavailable) of the person specified in the message's "From:"

6686

header field. You may color the from text in the MESSAGE INDEX screen

6687

differently by using the Index From Color option available from the

6688

Setup Kolor screen.

6689

6690

ADDRESS

6691

This is similar to the "FROM" token, only it is always the email

6692

address, never the personal name. For example, "mailbox@domain".

6693

6694

MAILBOX

6695

This is the same as the "ADDRESS" except that the domain part of the

6696

address is left off. For example, "mailbox".

6697

6698

SENDER

6699

This token represents the personal name (or email address) of the

6700

person listed in the message's "Sender:" header field.

6701

6702

TO

6703

This token represents the personal names (or email addresses if the

6704

names are unavailable) of the persons specified in the message's

6705

"To:" header field.

6706

6707

NEWSANDTO

6708

This token represents the newsgroups from the message's "Newsgroups:"

6709

header field _and_ the personal names (or email addresses if the

6710

names are unavailable) of the persons specified in the message's

6711

"To:" header field.

6712

6713

TOANDNEWS

6714

Same as "NEWSANDTO" except in the opposite order.

6715

6716

NEWS

6717

This token represents the newsgroups from the message's "Newsgroups:"

6718

header field.

6719

6720

CC

6721

This token represents the personal names (or email addresses if the

6722

names are unavailable) of the persons specified in the message's

6723

"Cc:" header field.

6724

6725

RECIPS

6726

This token represents the personal names (or email addresses if the

6727

names are unavailable) of the persons specified in both the message's

6728

"To:" header field and the message's "Cc:" header field.

6729

6730

NEWSANDRECIPS

6731

This token represents the newsgroups from the message's "Newsgroups:"

6732

header field _and_ the personal names (or email addresses if the

6733

names are unavailable) of the persons specified in the message's

6734

"To:" and "Cc:" header fields.

6735

6736

RECIPSANDNEWS

6737

Same as "NEWSANDRECIPS" except in the opposite order.

6738

6739

INIT

6740

This token represents the initials from the personal name of the

6741

person specified in the message's "From:" header field. If there is

6742

no personal name, it is blank.

6743

6744

DATE

6745

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6746

according to the "Date" header field. It has the format MMM DD. For

6747

example, "Oct 23". The feature convert-dates-to-localtime, which

6748

adjusts for the timezone the message was sent from, may have an

6749

affect on the value of this token as well as the values of all of the

6750

other DATE or TIME tokens. Some of the DATE and TIME tokens are

6751

displayed in a locale-specific way unless the option

6752

Disable-Index-Locale-Dates is set.

6753

6754

SMARTDATE

6755

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6756

according to the "Date" header field. It is "Today" if the message

6757

was sent today, "Yesterday" for yesterday, "Wednesday" if it was last

6758

Wednesday, and so on. If the message is from last year and is more

6759

than six months old it includes the year, as well. There is no

6760

adjustment made for different time zones, so you'll get the day the

6761

message was sent according to the time zone the sender was in. See

6762

the SMARTDATE alternatives below, as well.

6763

6764

SMARTTIME

6765

This token represents the most relevant elements of the date on which

6766

the message was sent (according to the "Date" header field), in a

6767

compact form. If the message was sent today, only the time is used

6768

(e.g. "9:22am", "10:07pm"); if it was sent during the past week, the

6769

day of the week and the hour are used (e.g. "Wed09am", "Thu10pm");

6770

other dates are given as date, month, and year (e.g. "23Aug00",

6771

"9Apr98"). There is no adjustment made for different time zones, so

6772

you'll get the day/time the message was sent according to the time

6773

zone the sender was in.

6774

6775

SMARTDATETIME

6776

This is a combination of SMARTDATE and SMARTTIME. It is SMARTDATE

6777

unless the SMARTDATE value is "Today", in which case it is SMARTTIME.

6778

See the SMARTDATETIME alternatives below, as well.

6779

6780

DATEISO

6781

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6782

according to the "Date" header field. It has the format YYYY-MM-DD.

6783

For example, "1998-10-23".

6784

6785

SHORTDATEISO

6786

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6787

according to the "Date" header field. It has the format YY-MM-DD. For

6788

example, "98-10-23".

6789

6790

SHORTDATE1

6791

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6792

according to the "Date" header field. It has the format MM/DD/YY. For

6793

example, "10/23/98".

6794

6795

SHORTDATE2

6796

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6797

according to the "Date" header field. It has the format DD/MM/YY. For

6798

example, "23/10/98".

6799

6800

SHORTDATE3

6801

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6802

according to the "Date" header field. It has the format DD.MM.YY. For

6803

example, "23.10.98".

6804

6805

SHORTDATE4

6806

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6807

according to the "Date" header field. It has the format YY.MM.DD. For

6808

example, "98.10.23".

6809

6810

LONGDATE

6811

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6812

according to the "Date" header field. It has the format MMM DD, YYYY.

6813

For example, "Oct 23, 1998".

6814

6815

SMARTDATE alternatives

6816

There are several versions of SMARTDATE which are all the same except

6817

for the way they format dates far in the past. SMARTDATE formats the

6818

date using the information from your locale settings to format the

6819

date string. It may end up formatting dates so that they look like

6820

DATEISO tokens, or SHORTDATE2 tokens, or something else entirely. The

6821

feature convert-dates-to-localtime may have an affect on the values

6822

of these tokens. If you want more control you may use one of the

6823

following.

6824

6825

SMARTDATE

6826

If the option Disable-Index-Locale-Dates is not set then this

6827

will be locale specific. Control this with the LC_TIME locale

6828

setting on a UNIX system. On Windows the Regional Options

6829

control panel may be used to set the Short date format. At the

6830

programming level, the strftime routine is what _Alpine_ uses

6831

to print the date. If the Disable-Index-Locale-Dates option is

6832

set then this is equivalent to SMARTDATES1.

6833

6834

SMARTDATEISO

6835

DATEISO format. See text above.

6836

6837

SMARTDATESHORTISO

6838

SHORTDATEISO format.

6839

6840

SMARTDATES1

6841

SHORTDATE1 format.

6842

6843

SMARTDATES2

6844

SHORTDATE2 format.

6845

6846

SMARTDATES3

6847

SHORTDATE3 format.

6848

6849

SMARTDATES4

6850

SHORTDATE4 format.

6851

6852

SMARTDATETIME alternatives

6853

There are several versions of SMARTDATETIME which are all very

6854

similar. The ones which end in 24 use a 24-hour clock for Today's

6855

messages instead of a 12-hour clock. The other variation is for the

6856

way they format dates far in the past. SMARTDATETIME and

6857

SMARTDATETIME24 format the date using the information from your

6858

locale settings to format the date string. It may end up formatting

6859

dates so that they look like DATEISO tokens, or SHORTDATE2 tokens, or

6860

something else entirely. The feature convert-dates-to-localtime may

6861

have an affect on the values of these tokens. The possible choices

6862

are:

6863

6864

SMARTDATETIME

6865

Locale specific. Control this with the LC_TIME locale setting

6866

on a UNIX system. On Windows the Regional Options control panel

6867

may be used to set the Short date format. At the programming

6868

level, the strftime routine is what _Alpine_ uses to print the

6869

date.

6870

6871

SMARTDATETIME

6872

If the option Disable-Index-Locale-Dates is not set then this

6873

will be locale specific. Control this with the LC_TIME locale

6874

setting on a UNIX system. On Windows the Regional Options

6875

control panel may be used to set the Short date format. At the

6876

programming level, the strftime routine is what _Alpine_ uses

6877

to print the date. If the Disable-Index-Locale-Dates option is

6878

set then this is equivalent to SMARTDATETIMES1.

6879

6880

SMARTDATETIME24

6881

Use TIME24 for Today

6882

6883

SMARTDATETIMEISO

6884

DATEISO format. See text above.

6885

6886

SMARTDATETIMEISO24

6887

Use TIME24 for Today

6888

6889

SMARTDATETIMESHORTISO

6890

SHORTDATEISO format.

6891

6892

SMARTDATETIMESHORTISO24

6893

Use TIME24 for Today

6894

6895

SMARTDATETIMES1

6896

SHORTDATE1 format.

6897

6898

SMARTDATETIMES124

6899

Use TIME24 for Today

6900

6901

SMARTDATETIMES2

6902

SHORTDATE2 format.

6903

6904

SMARTDATETIMES224

6905

Use TIME24 for Today

6906

6907

SMARTDATETIMES3

6908

SHORTDATE3 format.

6909

6910

SMARTDATETIMES324

6911

Use TIME24 for Today

6912

6913

SMARTDATETIMES4

6914

SHORTDATE4 format.

6915

6916

SMARTDATETIMES424

6917

Use TIME24 for Today

6918

6919

DAYDATE

6920

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6921

according to the "Date" header field. It looks like "Sat, 23 Oct

6922

1998". This token is never converted in any locale-specific way.

6923

6924

PREFDATE

6925

This token represents the date on which the message was sent,

6926

according to the "Date" header field. It is your operating system's

6927

idea of the preferred date representation for the current locale.

6928

Internally it uses the %x version of the date from the strftime

6929

routine.

6930

6931

PREFTIME

6932

This token represents the time at which the message was sent,

6933

according to the "Date" header field. It is the preferred time

6934

representation for the current locale. Internally it uses the %X

6935

version of the time from the strftime routine.

6936

6937

PREFDATETIME

6938

This token represents the date and time at which the message was

6939

sent, according to the "Date" header field. It is the preferred date

6940

and time representation for the current locale. Internally it uses

6941

the %c version of the time from the strftime routine.

6942

6943

DAY

6944

This token represents the day of the month on which the message was

6945

sent, according to the "Date" header field. For example, "23" or "9".

6946

6947

DAY2DIGIT

6948

This token represents the day of the month on which the message was

6949

sent, according to the "Date" header field. For example, "23" or

6950

"09". It is always 2 digits.

6951

6952

DAYORDINAL

6953

This token represents the ordinal number which is the day of the

6954

month on which the message was sent, according to the "Date" header

6955

field. For example, "23rd" or "9th".

6956

6957

DAYOFWEEK

6958

This token represents the day of the week on which the message was

6959

sent, according to the "Date" header field. For example, "Sunday" or

6960

"Wednesday".

6961

6962

DAYOFWEEKABBREV

6963

This token represents the day of the week on which the message was

6964

sent, according to the "Date" header field. For example, "Sun" or

6965

"Wed".

6966

6967

MONTHABBREV

6968

This token represents the month the message was sent, according to

6969

the "Date" header field. For example, "Oct".

6970

6971

MONTHLONG

6972

This token represents the month in which the message was sent,

6973

according to the "Date" header field. For example, "October".

6974

6975

MONTH

6976

This token represents the month in which the message was sent,

6977

according to the "Date" header field. For example, "10" or "9".

6978

6979

MONTH2DIGIT

6980

This token represents the month in which the message was sent,

6981

according to the "Date" header field. For example, "10" or "09". It

6982

is always 2 digits.

6983

6984

YEAR

6985

This token represents the year the message was sent, according to the

6986

"Date" header field. For example, "1998" or "2001".

6987

6988

YEAR2DIGIT

6989

This token represents the year the message was sent, according to the

6990

"Date" header field. For example, "98" or "01". It is always 2

6991

digits.

6992

6993

TIME24

6994

This token represents the time at which the message was sent,

6995

according to the "Date" header field. There is no adjustment made for

6996

different time zones, so you'll get the time the message was sent

6997

according to the time zone the sender was in. It has the format

6998

HH:MM. For example, "17:28".

6999

7000

TIME12

7001

This token represents the time at which the message was sent,

7002

according to the "Date" header field. This time is for a 12 hour

7003

clock. It has the format HH:MMpm. For example, "5:28pm" or "11:13am".

7004

7005

TIMEZONE

7006

This token represents the numeric timezone from the "Date" header

7007

field. It has the format [+-]HHMM. For example, "-0800".

7008

7009

_Tokens Available Only for Index-Format_

7010

7011

MSGNO

7012

This token represents the message's current position in the folder

7013

which, of course, may change as the folder is sorted or new mail

7014

arrives.

7015

7016

STATUS

7017

This token represents a three character wide field displaying various

7018

aspects of the message's state. The first character is either blank,

7019

a '*' for message marked Important, or a '+' indicating a message

7020

addressed directly to you (as opposed to your having received it via

7021

a mailing list, for example). When the feature mark-for-cc is set, if

7022

the first character would have been blank then it will instead be a

7023

'-' if the message is cc'd to you. The second character is typically

7024

blank, though the arrow cursor may occupy it if either the

7025

assume-slow-link or the force-arrow-cursor feature is set (or you

7026

actually are on a slow link). The third character is either D

7027

(Deleted), A (Answered), N (New), or blank.

7028

7029

If you are using a threaded view of the index and this message is at

7030

the top of a collapsed portion of a thread, then this token refers to

7031

all of the messages in the collapsed portion of the thread instead of

7032

just the top message. The first character will be a '*' if _any_ of

7033

the messages in the thread are marked Important, else a '+' if any of

7034

the messages are addressed to you, else a '-' if any of the messages

7035

are cc'd to you. The third character will be a 'D' if _all_ of the

7036

messages in the collapsed thread are marked deleted, an 'A' if _all_

7037

of the messages in the collapsed thread are marked answered, it will

7038

be an 'N' if any of the messages are undeleted and unseen, and it

7039

will be blank otherwise.

7040

7041

FULLSTATUS

7042

This token represents a less abbreviated alternative to the "STATUS"

7043

token. It is six characters wide. The first character is '+', '-', or

7044

blank, the second blank, the third either '*' or blank, the fourth N

7045

or blank, the fifth A or blank, and the sixth character is either D

7046

or blank.

7047

7048

If you are using a threaded view of the index and this message is at

7049

the top of a collapsed portion of a thread, then this token refers to

7050

all of the messages in the collapsed portion of the thread instead of

7051

just the top message. The first character is '+', '-', or blank

7052

depending on whether _any_ of the messages in the collapsed thread

7053

are addressed to you or cc'd to you. The third character will be '*'

7054

if any of the messages are marked Important. The fourth character

7055

will be 'N' if all of the messages in the thread are New, else 'n' if

7056

some of the messages in the thread are New, else blank. The fifth

7057

character will be 'A' or 'a' or blank, and the sixth character will

7058

be 'D' or 'd' or blank.

7059

7060

IMAPSTATUS

7061

This token represents an even less abbreviated alternative to the

7062

"STATUS" token. It differs from "FULLSTATUS" in only the fourth

7063

character which is an 'N' if the message is new to this folder since

7064

the last time it was opened _and_ it has not been viewed, an 'R'

7065

(Recent) if the message is new to the folder and has been viewed, a

7066

'U' (Unseen) if the message is not new to the folder since it was

7067

last opened _but_ has not been viewed, or a blank if the message has

7068

been in the folder since it was last opened and has been viewed.

7069

7070

If you are using a threaded view of the index and this message is at

7071

the top of a collapsed portion of a thread, then the fourth character

7072

will be 'N' if all of the messages in the thread are unseen and

7073

recent; else 'n' if some of the messages in the thread are unseen and

7074

recent; else 'U' if all of the messages in the thread are unseen and

7075

not recent; else 'u' if some of the messages in the thread are unseen

7076

and not recent; else 'R' if all of the messages in the thread are

7077

seen and recent; else 'r' if some of the messages in the thread are

7078

seen and recent; else blank.

7079

7080

SHORTIMAPSTATUS

7081

This is the same as the last four of the six characters of

7082

IMAPSTATUS, so the '+' To Me information will be missing.

7083

7084

SIZE

7085

This token represents the total size, in bytes, of the message. If a

7086

"K" (Kilobyte) follows the number, the size is approximately 1,000

7087

times that many bytes (rounded to the nearest 1,000). If an "M"

7088

(Megabyte) follows the number, the size is approximately 1,000,000

7089

times that many bytes. Commas are not used in this field. This field

7090

is seven characters wide, including the enclosing parentheses. Sizes

7091

are rounded when "K" or "M" is present. The progression of sizes used

7092

looks like:

7093

7094

0 1 ... 9999 10K ... 999K 1.0M ... 99.9M 100M ... 2000M

7095

7096

SIZECOMMA

7097

This token represents the total size, in bytes, of the message. If a

7098

"K" (Kilobyte) follows the number, the size is approximately 1,000

7099

times that many bytes (rounded to the nearest 1,000). If an "M"

7100

(Megabyte) follows the number, the size is approximately 1,000,000

7101

times that many bytes. Commas are used if the number shown is 1,000

7102

or greater. The SIZECOMMA field is one character wider than the SIZE

7103

field. Sizes are rounded when "K" or "M" is present. The progression

7104

of sizes used looks like:

7105

7106

0 1 ... 99,999 100K ... 9,999K 10.0M ... 999.9M 1,000M ... 2,000M

7107

7108

KSIZE

7109

This token represents the total size of the message, expressed in

7110

kilobytes or megabytes, as most appropriate. These are 1,024 byte

7111

kilobytes and 1,024 x 1,024 byte megabytes. The progression of sizes

7112

used looks like:

7113

7114

0K 1K ... 1023K 1.0M ... 99.9M 100M ... 2047M

7115

7116

SIZENARROW

7117

This token represents the total size, in bytes, of the message. If a

7118

"K" (Kilobyte) follows the number, the size is approximately 1,000

7119

times that many bytes. If an "M" (Megabyte) follows the number, the

7120

size is approximately 1,000,000 times that many bytes. If a "G"

7121

(Gigabyte) follows the number, the size is approximately

7122

1,000,000,000 times that many bytes. This field uses only five

7123

characters of screen width, including the enclosing parentheses. The

7124

progression of sizes used looks like:

7125

7126

0 1 ... 999 1K ... 99K .1M ... .9M 1M ... 99M .1G ... .9G 1G 2G

7127

7128

DESCRIPSIZE

7129

This token is intended to represent a more useful description of the

7130

message than just its size, but it isn't very useful at this point.

7131

The plus sign in this view means there are attachments. Note that

7132

including this token in the "Index-Format" could slow down the

7133

display a little while _Alpine_ collects the necessary information.

7134

7135

SUBJKEY

7136

This token is the same as the SUBJECT token unless keywords are set

7137

for the message. In that case, a list of keywords enclosed in braces

7138

will be prepended to the subject of the message. Only those keywords

7139

that you have defined in your Keywords option in Setup/Config are

7140

considered in the list. In other words, keywords that have been set

7141

by some other means, perhaps by another email program, won't show up

7142

unless included in Keywords. Having this set in the Index-Format will

7143

also cause the keywords to be prepended to the subject in the MESSAGE

7144

TEXT screen. If you have given a keyword a nickname (keywords), that

7145

nickname is displayed instead of the actual keyword. The

7146

keyword-surrounding-chars option may be used to modify this token

7147

slightly. It is also possible to color keywords in the index using

7148

the Setup/Kolor screen.

7149

7150

SUBJKEYINIT

7151

This token is the same as the SUBJKEY token except that instead of

7152

prepending a list of keywords to the subject, a list of first

7153

initials of keywords will be prepended instead. For example, if a

7154

message has the keywords _Work_ and _Now_ set (or Work and Now are

7155

the _Alpine_ nicknames of keywords which are set) then the SUBJKEY

7156

token would cause a result like

7157

7158

{Work Now} actual subject

7159

7160

whereas the SUBJKEYINIT token would give

7161

7162

{WN} actual subject

7163

7164

Only those keywords that you have defined in your Keywords option in

7165

Setup/Config are considered in the list. In other words, keywords

7166

that have been set by some other means, perhaps by another email

7167

program, won't show up unless included in Keywords. The

7168

keyword-surrounding-chars option may be used to modify this token

7169

slightly. It is also possible to color keywords in the index using

7170

the Setup/Kolor screen.

7171

7172

SUBJECTTEXT

7173

Same as SUBJECT but if there is room in the Subject field for more

7174

text, the opening part of the text of the message is displayed after

7175

the subject. The time needed to fetch the text may cause a

7176

performance problem which can, of course, be avoided by using the

7177

SUBJECT version of the Subject instead. You may color this opening

7178

text differently by using the Index Opening Color option available

7179

from the Setup Kolor screen. You may adjust the characters that are

7180

displayed between the Subject and the opening text with the option

7181

Opening-Text-Separator-Chars.

7182

7183

SUBJKEYTEXT

7184

Same as SUBJKEY but with the opening message text.

7185

7186

SUBJKEYINITTEXT

7187

Same as SUBJKEYINIT but with the opening message text.

7188

7189

OPENINGTEXT

7190

This is similar to SUBJECTTEXT. Instead of combining the Subject and

7191

the opening text in a single field in the index screen this token

7192

allows you to allocate a separate column just for the opening text of

7193

the message. The time needed to fetch this text may cause a

7194

performance problem. You may color this opening text differently by

7195

using the Index Opening Color option available from the Setup Kolor

7196

screen.

7197

7198

OPENINGTEXTNQ

7199

This is very similar to OPENINGTEXT. The NQ stands for No Quotes. The

7200

only difference is that quoted text (lines beginning with >) is

7201

deleted. For some messages this may be confusing. For example, a

7202

message might have a line preceding some quoted text that reads

7203

something like "On May 8th person A said." That no longer makes sense

7204

after the quoted text is deleted and it will appear that person A

7205

said whatever the text after the quote is, even though that is really

7206

person B talking.

7207

7208

KEY

7209

This is a space-delimited list of keywords that are set for the

7210

message. Only those keywords that you have defined in your Keywords

7211

option in Setup/Config are considered in the list. In other words,

7212

keywords that have been set by some other means, perhaps by another

7213

email program, won't show up unless included in Keywords. If you have

7214

given a keyword a nickname that nickname is displayed instead of the

7215

actual keyword. It is also possible to color keywords in the index

7216

using the Setup/Kolor screen. This token defaults to an arbitrary

7217

width of 5. You should set it to whatever width suits you using

7218

something like KEY(17) in the Index-Format.

7219

7220

KEYINIT

7221

This is a list of keyword initials that are set for the message. If

7222

you have given a keyword a nickname the initial of that nickname is

7223

displayed instead of the initial of the actual keyword. It is also

7224

possible to color keyword initials in the index using the Setup/Kolor

7225

screen. This token defaults to an arbitrary width of 2. You should

7226

set it to whatever width suits you using something like KEYINIT(3) in

7227

the Index-Format.

7228

7229

PRIORITY

7230

The X-Priority header is a non-standard header that is used in a

7231

somewhat standard way by many mail programs. _Alpine_ expects the

7232

value of this header to be a digit with a value from 1 to 5, with 1

7233

being the highest priority and 5 the lowest priority. Since this

7234

priority is something that the sender sets it is only an indication

7235

of the priority that the sender attaches to the mail and it is

7236

therefore almost totally unreliable for use as a filtering criterion.

7237

This token will display the numeric value of the priority if it is

7238

between 1 and 5. It will be suppressed (blank) if the value is 3,

7239

which is normal priority. It is also possible to set the color of the

7240

PRIORITY field. By default the token is colored the same as the index

7241

line it is part of. You may set it to be another color with the Index

7242

Priority Colors options available from the Setup Kolor screen.

7243

7244

PRIORITYALPHA

7245

This is a more verbose interpretation of the X-Priority field. Once

7246

again nothing is displayed unless the value of the field is 1, 2, 4,

7247

or 5. The values displayed for those values are:

7248

7249

1 Highest

7250

2 High

7251

4 Low

7252

5 Lowest

7253

7254

You may color this token with the Index Priority Colors options.

7255

7256

PRIORITY!

7257

This is a one character, non-numeric version of the X-Priority field.

7258

If the value of the X-Priority header is 1 or 2 an exclamation point

7259

is displayed. If the value is 4 or 5 a "v" (think down arrow) is

7260

displayed. You may color this token with the Index Priority Colors

7261

options.

7262

7263

ATT

7264

This is a one column wide field which represents the number of

7265

attachments a message has. It will be blank if there are no

7266

attachments, a single digit for one to nine attachments, or an

7267

asterisk for more than nine. Note that including this token in the

7268

"Index-Format" could slow down the display a little while _Alpine_

7269

collects the necessary information.

7270

7271

FROMORTO

7272

This token represents _either_ the personal name (or email address)

7273

of the person listed in the message's "From:" header field, _or_, if

7274

that address is yours or one of your alternate addresses, the first

7275

person specified in the message's "To:" header field with the prefix

7276

"To: " prepended. If the from address is yours and there is also no

7277

"To" address, _Alpine_ will use the address on the "Cc" line. If

7278

there is no address there, either, _Alpine_ will look for a newsgroup

7279

name from the "Newsgroups" header field and put that after the "To: "

7280

prefix.

7281

7282

FROMORTONOTNEWS

7283

This is almost the same as _FROMORTO_. The difference is that

7284

newsgroups aren't considered. When a message is from you, doesn't

7285

have a To or Cc, and does have a Newsgroups header; this token will

7286

be your name instead of the name of the newsgroup (like it would be

7287

with FROMORTO).

7288

7289

TEXT

7290

This is a different sort of token. It allows you to display a label

7291

within each index line. It will be the same fixed text for each line.

7292

It is different from all the other tokens in that there is no space

7293

column displayed after this token. Instead, it is butted up against

7294

the following field. It also has a different syntax. The text to

7295

display is given following a colon after the word "TEXT". For

7296

example,

7297

7298

TEXT:abc=

7299

7300

would insert the literal text "abc=" (without the quotes) into the

7301

index display line. You must quote the text if it includes space

7302

characters, like

7303

7304

TEXT:"abc = "

7305

7306

HEADER

7307

This allows you to display the text from a particular header line in

7308

the message. The syntax for this token is substantially different

7309

from all the others in order that you might be able to display a

7310

portion of the text following a particular header. The header name

7311

you are interested in is given following a colon after the word

7312

"HEADER". For example,

7313

7314

HEADER:X-Spam

7315

7316

would display the text of the X-Spam header, if any. Like for other

7317

index tokens a width field may (and probably should) follow this.

7318

7319

HEADER:X-Spam(10)

7320

7321

displays the first ten characters of the X-Spam header. Unlike other

7322

index tokens, the syntax for HEADER is more flexible. An optional

7323

second argument comes after a comma inside the parentheses. It

7324

specifies the "field" number. By default, the field separator is a

7325

space character. No extra space characters are allowed in the

7326

argument list.

7327

7328

HEADER:X-Spam(10,2)

7329

7330

would display the second field, left-justified, in a 10 character

7331

wide field. The second field would consist of all the text after the

7332

first space up to the next space or the end of the header. The

7333

default field number is zero, which stands for the entire line. There

7334

is also an optional third argument which is a list of field

7335

separators. It defaults to a space character. The example

7336

7337

HEADER:X-Spam(10,2,:% )

7338

7339

would cause the field separators to be any of colon, percent, or

7340

space (there is a space character between the percent and the right

7341

parenthesis). The first field runs from the start of the header value

7342

up to the first colon, percent, or space; the second goes from there

7343

to the next; and so on. In order to use a comma character as a field

7344

separator you must escape it by preceding it with a backslash (\).

7345

The same is true of the backslash character itself. There is one

7346

further optional argument. It is an R or an L to specify right or

7347

left adjustment of the text within the field. The default is to left

7348

justify, however if you are displaying numbers you might prefer to

7349

right justify.

7350

7351

Here's an example of a SpamAssassin header. The exact look of the

7352

header will vary, but if your incoming mail contains headers that

7353

look like the following

7354

7355

X-Spam-Status: Yes, hits=10.6 tagged_above=-999.0 required=7.0 tests=BAYE...

7356

7357

you might want to display the hits value. The first field starts with

7358

the Y in Yes. To get what you're interested in you might use "=" and

7359

space as the field separators and display the third field, like

7360

7361

HEADER:X-Spam-Status(4,3,= )

7362

7363

or maybe you would break at the dot instead

7364

7365

HEADER:X-Spam-Status(2,2,=.,R)

7366

7367

Another example we've seen has headers that look like

7368

7369

X-Spam: Gauge=IIIIIII, Probability=7%, Report=...

7370

7371

Because there are two equals and a comma before the 7% and a comma

7372

after it, the token

7373

7374

HEADER:X-Spam-Status(3,4,=\,,R)

7375

7376

should display the probability (for example 7% or 83%) right

7377

justified in a 3-wide field.

7378

7379

ARROW

7380

This gives an alternative way to display the current message in the

7381

MESSAGE INDEX screen. Usually the current message is indicated by the

7382

line being shown in reverse video. Instead, if the ARROW token is

7383

included in your Index-Format, the current line will include an

7384

"arrow" that looks like

7385

7386

->

7387

7388

in the ARROW token's field. For all of the non-current messages, the

7389

ARROW field will be filled with blanks. If you use the fixed-field

7390

width feature the length of the "arrow" may be adjusted. The arrow

7391

will be drawn as width-1 dashes followed by a greater than sign. For

7392

example, if you use ARROW(3) you will get

7393

7394

-->

7395

7396

and ARROW(1) will give you just

7397

7398

>

7399

7400

It is also possible to set the color of the ARROW field. By default

7401

(and for non-current messages) the arrow is colored the same as the

7402

index line it is part of. You may set it to be another color with the

7403

Index Arrow Color option available from the Setup Kolor screen.

7404

7405

SCORE

7406

This gives the score of each message. This will be six columns wide

7407

to accomodate the widest possible score. You will probably want to

7408

use the Index-Format fixed-field width feature to limit the width of

7409

the field to the widest score that you use (e.g. SCORE(3) if your

7410

scores are always between 0 and 999). If you have not defined any

7411

score rules the scores will all be zero. If any of your score rules

7412

contain AllText or BodyText patterns then including SCORE in the

7413

Index-Format may slow down the display of the MESSAGE INDEX screen.

7414

7415

_Tokens Available for all but Index-Format_

7416

7417

CURNEWS

7418

This token represents the current newsgroup if there is one. For

7419

example, "comp.mail.pine".

7420

7421

MSGID

7422

This token represents the message ID of the message. This token does

7423

not work with Filter Rule folder names.

7424

7425

CURDATE

7426

This token represents the current date. It has the format MMM DD. For

7427

example, "Oct 23".

7428

7429

CURDATEISO

7430

This token represents the current date. It has the format YYYY-MM-DD.

7431

For example, "1998-10-23".

7432

7433

CURDATEISOS

7434

This token represents the current date. It has the format YY-MM-DD.

7435

For example, "98-10-23".

7436

7437

CURPREFDATE

7438

This token represents the current date. It is your operating system's

7439

idea of the preferred date representation for the current locale.

7440

Internally it uses the %x version of the date from the strftime

7441

routine.

7442

7443

CURPREFTIME

7444

This token represents the current time. It is the preferred time

7445

representation for the current locale. Internally it uses the %X

7446

version of the time from the strftime routine.

7447

7448

CURPREFDATETIME

7449

This token represents the current date and time. It is the preferred

7450

date and time representation for the current locale. Internally it

7451

uses the %c version of the time from the strftime routine.

7452

7453

CURTIME24

7454

This token represents the current time. It has the format HH:MM. For

7455

example, "17:28".

7456

7457

CURTIME12

7458

This token represents the current time. This time is for a 12 hour

7459

clock. It has the format HH:MMpm. For example, "5:28pm" or "11:13am".

7460

7461

CURDAY

7462

This token represents the current day of the month. For example, "23"

7463

or "9".

7464

7465

CURDAY2DIGIT

7466

This token represents the current day of the month. For example, "23"

7467

or "09". It is always 2 digits.

7468

7469

CURDAYOFWEEK

7470

This token represents the current day of the week. For example,

7471

"Sunday" or "Wednesday".

7472

7473

CURDAYOFWEEKABBREV

7474

This token represents the current day of the week. For example, "Sun"

7475

or "Wed".

7476

7477

CURMONTH

7478

This token represents the current month. For example, "10" or "9".

7479

7480

CURMONTH2DIGIT

7481

This token represents the current month. For example, "10" or "09".

7482

It is always 2 digits.

7483

7484

CURMONTHLONG

7485

This token represents the current month. For example, "October".

7486

7487

CURMONTHABBREV

7488

This token represents the current month. For example, "Oct".

7489

7490

CURYEAR

7491

This token represents the current year. For example, "1998" or

7492

"2001".

7493

7494

CURYEAR2DIGIT

7495

This token represents the current year. For example, "98" or "01". It

7496

is always 2 digits.

7497

7498

LASTMONTH

7499

This token represents last month. For example, if this is November

7500

(the 11th month), it is equal to "10" or if this is October (the 10th

7501

month), it is "9". It is possible that this and the other tokens

7502

beginning with LASTMONTH below could be useful when used with a

7503

Filtering Rule that has the "Beginning of Month" option set.

7504

7505

LASTMONTH2DIGIT

7506

This token represents last month. For example, if this is November

7507

(the 11th month), it is equal to "10" or if this is October (the 10th

7508

month), it is "09". It is always 2 digits.

7509

7510

LASTMONTHLONG

7511

This token represents last month. For example, if this is November

7512

the value is "October".

7513

7514

LASTMONTHABBREV

7515

This token represents last month. For example, if this is November

7516

the value is "Oct".

7517

7518

LASTMONTHYEAR

7519

This token represents what the year was a month ago. For example, if

7520

this is October, 1998, it is "1998". If this is January, 1998, it is

7521

"1997".

7522

7523

LASTMONTHYEAR2DIGIT

7524

This token represents what the year was a month ago. For example, if

7525

this is October, 1998, it is "98". If this is January, 1998, it is

7526

"97".

7527

7528

LASTYEAR

7529

This token represents last year. For example, if this is 1998, it

7530

equals "1997". It is possible that this could be useful when used

7531

with a Filtering Rule that has the "Beginning of Year" option set.

7532

7533

LASTYEAR2DIGIT

7534

This token represents last year. For example, if this is 1998, it

7535

equals "97". It is always 2 digits.

7536

7537

ROLENICK

7538

This token represents the nickname of the role currently being used.

7539

If no role is being used, then no text will be printed for this

7540

token. This token does not work with Filter Rule folder names.

7541

7542

_Token Available Only for Reply-Leadin_

7543

7544

See the help for the Reply-Leadin option, to see why you might want to use

7545

this. Since the _Reply-Leadin_ contains free text this token must be

7546

surrounded by underscores when used.

7547

7548

NEWLINE

7549

This is an end of line marker.

7550

7551

_Token Available Only for Templates and Signatures_

7552

7553

CURSORPOS

7554

This token is different from the others. When it is replaced it is

7555

replaced with nothing, but it sets a _Alpine_ internal variable which

7556

tells the composer to start with the cursor positioned at the

7557

position where this token was. If both the template file and the

7558

signature file contain a "CURSORPOS" token, then the position in the

7559

template file is used. If there is a template file and neither it nor

7560

the signature file contains a "CURSORPOS" token, then the cursor is

7561

positioned after the end of the contents of the template file when

7562

the composer starts up.

7563

7564

Conditional Inclusion of Text for Reply-Leadin, Signatures, and Templates

7565

7566

Conditional text inclusion may be used with the Reply-Leadin option, in

7567

signature files, and in template files used in roles. It may _not_ be used

7568

with the _Index-Format_ option.

7569

7570

There is a limited if-else capability for including text. The if-else

7571

condition is based on whether or not a given token would result in

7572

replacement text you specify. The syntax of this conditional inclusion is

7573

7574

_token_(match_this, if_matched [ , if_not_matched ] )

7575

7576

The left parenthesis must follow the underscore immediately, with no

7577

intervening space. It means the token is expanded and the results of that

7578

expansion are compared against the "match_this" argument. If there is an

7579

exact match, then the "if_matched" text is used as the replacement text.

7580

Otherwise, the "if_not_matched" text is used. One of the most useful values

7581

for the "match_this" argument is the empty string, "". In that case the

7582

expansion is compared against the empty string.

7583

7584

Here's an example to make it clearer. This text could be included in one of

7585

your template files:

7586

7587

_NEWS_("", "I'm replying to email","I'm replying to news")

7588

7589

If that is included in a template file which you are using while replying to

7590

a message (because you chose to use the role it was part of), and that

7591

message has a newsgroup header and a newsgroup in that header, then the text

7592

7593

I'm replying to news

7594

7595

will be included in the message you are about to compose. On the other hand,

7596

if the message you are replying to does not have a newsgroup, then the text

7597

7598

I'm replying to email

7599

7600

would be included instead. This would also work in signature files and in

7601

the "Reply-Leadin" option. If the "match_this", "if_matched", or

7602

"if_not_matched" arguments contain spaces, parentheses, or commas; they have

7603

to be quoted with double quotation marks (like in the example above). If you

7604

want to include a literal quote in the text you must escape the quote by

7605

preceding it with a backslash character. If you want to include a literal

7606

backslash character you must escape it by preceding it with another

7607

backslash.

7608

7609

The comma followed by "if_not_matched" is optional. If there is no

7610

"if_not_matched" present then no text is included if the not_matched case is

7611

true. Here's another example:

7612

7613

_NEWS_("", "", "This msg was seen in group: _NEWS_.")

7614

7615

Here you can see that tokens may appear in the arguments. The same is true

7616

for tokens with the conditional parentheses. They may appear in arguments,

7617

though you do have to be careful to get the quoting and escaping of nested

7618

double quotes correct. If this was in the signature file being used and you

7619

were replying to a message sent to comp.mail.pine the resulting text would

7620

be:

7621

7622

This msg was seen in group: comp.mail.pine.

7623

7624

If you were replying to a message which wasn't sent to any newsgroup the

7625

resulting text would be a single blank line. The reason you'd get a blank

7626

line is because the end of the line is outside of the conditional, so is

7627

always included. If you wanted to get rid of that blank line you could do so

7628

by moving the end of line inside the conditional. In other words, it's ok to

7629

have multi-line "if_matched" or "if_not_matched" arguments. The text just

7630

continues until the next double quotation, even if it's not on the same

7631

line.

7632

7633

Here's one more (contrived) example illustrating a matching argument which

7634

is not the empty string.

7635

7636

_SMARTDATE_("Today", _SMARTDATE_, "On _DATE_") _FROM_ wrote:

7637

7638

If this was the value of your "Reply-Leadin" option and you were replying to

7639

a message which was sent today, then the value of the "Reply-Leadin" would

7640

be

7641

7642

Today Fred Flintstone wrote:

7643

7644

But if you were replying to a message sent on Oct. 27 (and that wasn't

7645

today) you would get

7646

7647

On Oct 27 Fred Flintstone wrote:

7648

7649

Per Server Directory Configuration

7650

7651

This is only available if _Alpine_ was built with LDAP support. If that's

7652

the case, there will be a Directory option underneath the Setup command on

7653

the Main Menu. Each server that is defined there has several configuration

7654

variables which control the behavior when using it.

7655

_ldap-server_

7656

This is the name of the host where an LDAP server is running.

7657

To find out whether your organization has its own LDAP server,

7658

contact its computing support staff.

7659

_search-base_

7660

This is the search base to be used on this server. It functions as a

7661

filter by restricting your searches in the LDAP server database to

7662

the specified contents of the specified fields. Without it, searches

7663

submitted to this directory server may fail. It might be something

7664

like:

7665

O = <Your Organization Name>, C = US

7666

or it might be blank. (Some LDAP servers actually ignore anything

7667

specified here.)

7668

If in doubt what parameters you should specify here, contact the

7669

maintainers of the LDAP server.

7670

_port_

7671

This is the TCP port number to be used with this LDAP server. If you

7672

leave this blank port 389 will be used.

7673

_nickname_

7674

This is a nickname to be used in displays. If you don't supply a

7675

nickname the server name from "ldap-server" will be used instead.

7676

This option is strictly for your convenience.

7677

_use-implicitly-from-composer_

7678

Set this feature to have lookups done to this server implicitly from

7679

the composer. If an address doesn't look like a fully-qualified

7680

address, it will be looked up in your address books, and if it

7681

doesn't match a nickname there, then it will be looked up on the LDAP

7682

servers which have this feature set. The lookups will also be done

7683

when using the address completion feature (TAB command) in the

7684

composer if any of the serves have this feature set. Also see the

7685

LDAP feature lookup-addrbook-contents and the Setup/Config feature

7686

ldap-result-to-addrbook-add.

7687

_lookup-addrbook-contents_

7688

Normally implicit LDAP lookups from the composer are done only for

7689

the strings you type in from the composer screen. In other words, you

7690

type in something in the To or CC field and press return, then the

7691

string is looked up. First that string is looked up in your address

7692

books. If a match is found there, then the results of that match are

7693

looked up again. If you place a string in your address book that you

7694

want to have looked up on the LDAP directory server, you need to turn

7695

on this feature. If you set this feature for a server, you almost

7696

always will also want to set the use-implicitly-from-composer

7697

feature. An example might serve to best illustrate this feature.

7698

If an LDAP lookup of "William Clinton" normally returns an entry with

7699

an address of pres@whitehouse.gov, then you might put an entry in

7700

your address book that looks like:

7701

Nickname Address

7702

bill "William Clinton"

7703

Now, when you type "bill" into an address field in the composer

7704

_Alpine_ will find the "bill" entry in your address book. It will

7705

replace "bill" with "William Clinton". It will then search for an

7706

entry with that nickname in your address book and not find one. If

7707

this feature is set, _Alpine_ will then attempt to lookup "William

7708

Clinton" on the LDAP server and find the entry with address

7709

pres@whitehouse.gov.

7710

A better way to accomplish the same thing is probably to use the

7711

feature save-search-criteria-not-result.

7712

_save-search-criteria-not-result_

7713

Normally when you save the results of an LDAP directory lookup to

7714

your address book the _results_ of the lookup are saved. If this

7715

feature is set and the entry being saved was found on this directory

7716

server, then the search _criteria_ is saved instead of the _results_

7717

of the search. When this address book entry is used in the future,

7718

instead of copying the results from the address book the directory

7719

lookup will be done again. This could be useful if the copied result

7720

might become stale because the data on the directory server changes

7721

(for example, the entry's email address changes). You probably don't

7722

want to set this feature if the server is at all slow or unreliable.

7723

The way this actually works is that instead of saving the email

7724

address in your address book, _Alpine_ saves enough information to

7725

look up the same directory entry again. In particular, it saves the

7726

server name and the distinguished name of the entry. It's possible

7727

that the server administrators might change the format of

7728

distinguished names on the server, or that the entry might be removed

7729

from the server. If _Alpine_ notices this, you will be warned and a

7730

backup copy of the email address will be used. You may want to create

7731

a new entry in this case, since you will get the annoying warning

7732

every time you use the old entry. You may do that by Saving the entry

7733

to a new nickname in the same address book. You will be asked whether

7734

or not you want to use the backup email address.

7735

A related feature in the Setup/Config screen is

7736

ldap-result-to-addrbook-add.

7737

_disable-ad-hoc-space-substitution_

7738

Spaces in your input are normally handled specially. Each space

7739

character is replaced by

7740

* <SPACE>

7741

in the search query (but not by "* <SPACE> *"). The reason this is

7742

done is so the input string

7743

Greg Donald

7744

(which is converted to "Greg* Donald") will match the names "Greg

7745

Donald", "Gregory Donald", "Greg F. Donald", and "Gregory F Donald";

7746

but it won't match "Greg McDonald". If the "Search-Rule" you were

7747

using was "begins-with", then it would also match the name "Greg

7748

Donaldson".

7749

Turning on this feature will disable this substitution.

7750

_search-type_

7751

This affects the way that LDAP searches are done. In particular, this

7752

tells the server where to look for the string to be matched. If set

7753

to "name" then the string that is being searched for will be compared

7754

with the string in the "Name" field on the server (technically, it is

7755

the "commonname" field on the server). "Surname" means we're looking

7756

for a match in the "Surname" field on the server (actually the "sn"

7757

field). "Givenname" really is "givenname" and "email" is the

7758

electronic mail address (this is actually the field called "mail" or

7759

"electronicmail" on the server). The other three types are

7760

combinations of the types listed so far. "Name-or-email" means the

7761

string should appear in either the "name" field OR the "email" field.

7762

Likewise, "surname-or-givenname" means "surname" OR "givenname" and

7763

"sur-or-given-or-name-or-email" means the obvious thing.

7764

This search _type_ is combined with the search rule to form the

7765

actual search query.

7766

The usual default value for this option is

7767

"sur-or-given-or-name-or-email". This type of search may be slow on

7768

some servers. Try "name-or-email", which is often faster, or just

7769

"name" if the performance seems to be a problem.

7770

Some servers have been configured with different attribute names for

7771

these four fields. In other words, instead of using the attribute

7772

name "mail" for the email address field, the server might be

7773

configured to use something else, for example, "rfc822mail" or

7774

"internetemailaddress". _Alpine_ can be configured to use these

7775

different attribute names by using the four per-server configuration

7776

options:

7777

+ email-attribute

7778

+ name-attribute

7779

+ surname-attribute

7780

+ givenname-attribute

7781

_search-rule_

7782

This affects the way that LDAP searches are done. If set to "equals"

7783

then only exact matches count. "Contains" means that the string you

7784

type in is a substring of what you are matching against.

7785

"Begins-with" and "ends-with" mean that the string starts or ends

7786

with the string you type in.

7787

Spaces in your input are normally handled specially, but you can turn

7788

that special handling off with the disable-ad-hoc-space-substitution

7789

feature.

7790

The usual default value for this option is _begins-with_.

7791

_email-attribute_

7792

This is the name of the attribute which is searched for when looking

7793

for an email address. The default value for this option is "mail" or

7794

"electronicmail". If the server you are using uses a different

7795

attribute name for the email address, put that attribute name here.

7796

This will affect the search filter used if your Search-Type is one

7797

that contains a search for "email". It will also cause the attribute

7798

value matching this attribute name to be used as the email address

7799

when you look up an entry from the composer.

7800

_name-attribute_

7801

This is the name of the attribute which is searched for when looking

7802

for the name of the entry. The default value for this option is "cn",

7803

which stands for common name. If the server you are using uses a

7804

different attribute name for the name, put that attribute name here.

7805

This will affect the search filter used if your Search-Type is one

7806

that contains a search for "name".

7807

_surname-attribute_

7808

This is the name of the attribute which is searched for when looking

7809

for the surname of the entry. The default value for this option is

7810

"sn". If the server you are using uses a different attribute name for

7811

the surname, put that attribute name here. This will affect the

7812

search filter used if your Search-Type is one that contains a search

7813

for "surname".

7814

_givenname-attribute_

7815

This is the name of the attribute which is searched for when looking

7816

for the given name of the entry. The default value for this option is

7817

"givenname". If the server you are using uses a different attribute

7818

name for the given name, put that attribute name here. This will

7819

affect the search filter used if your Search-Type is one that

7820

contains a search for "givenname".

7821

_timelimit_

7822

This places a limit on the number of seconds the LDAP search will

7823

continue. The default is 30 seconds. A value of 0 means no limit.

7824

Note that some servers may place limits of their own on searches.

7825

_sizelimit_

7826

This places a limit on the number of entries returned by the LDAP

7827

server. A value of 0 means no limit. The default is 0. Note that some

7828

servers may place limits of their own on searches.

7829

_custom-search-filter_

7830

This one is for advanced users only! If you define this, then the

7831

search-type and search-rule defined are both ignored. However, the

7832

feature disable-ad-hoc-space-substitution is still in effect. That

7833

is, the space substitution will take place even in a custom filter

7834

unless you disable it.

7835

If your LDAP service stops working and you suspect it might be

7836

because of your custom filter, just delete this filter and try using

7837

the _search-type_ and _search-rule_ instead. Another option that

7838

sometimes causes trouble is the search-base option.

7839

This variable may be set to the string representation of an LDAP

7840

search filter (see RFC1960). In the places where you want the address

7841

string to be substituted in, put a '%s' in this filter string. Here

7842

are some examples:

7843

A "Search-Type" of "name" with "Search-Rule" of "begins-with" is

7844

equivalent to the "custom-search-filter"

7845

(cn=%s*)

7846

When you try to match against the string "string" the program

7847

replaces the "%s" with "string" (without the quotes). You may have

7848

multiple "%s"'s and they will all be replaced with the string. There

7849

is a limit of 10 "%s"'s.

7850

A "Search-Type" of "name-or-email" with "Search-Rule" of "contains"

7851

is equivalent to

7852

(|(cn=*%s*)(mail=*%s*))

7853

If your server uses a different attribute _name_ than _Alpine_ uses

7854

by default, (for example, it uses "rfc822mail" instead of "mail"),

7855

then you may be able to use one or more of the four attribute

7856

configuration options instead of defining a custom filter:

7857

+ email-attribute

7858

+ name-attribute

7859

+ surname-attribute

7860

+ givenname-attribute

7861

7862

Color Configuration

7863

7864

If the terminal or terminal emulator you are using is capable of using color

7865

(see color-style option), or if you are using _PC-Alpine_, then it is

7866

possible to set up _Alpine_ so that various parts of the display will be

7867

shown in colors you configure. This is done using the Setup Color screen.

7868

The Setup Color screen is divided into five broad sections: Options, General

7869

Colors, Index Colors, Header Colors, and Keyword Colors. In addition to

7870

these five categories you may also color lines in the MESSAGE INDEX screen

7871

by configuring the Index Line Color.

7872

7873

Each color is defined as a foreground color (the color of the actual text)

7874

and a background color (the color of the area behind the text).

7875

7876

Color Options

7877

7878

_current-indexline-style_

7879

This option affects the colors used to display the current line in

7880

the MESSAGE INDEX screen. If you do not have Index Line Colors

7881

defined, then this option will have no effect in the index. Those

7882

Rules may be defined by going to the Setup/Rules/Indexcolor screen.

7883

7884

If the option enable-incoming-folders-checking is turned on and the

7885

Incoming Unseen Color is set to something other than the default,

7886

then this option also affects the color used to display the current

7887

folder in the Incoming FOLDER LIST screen.

7888

7889

The available options include:

7890

7891

flip-colors

7892

This is the default. If an index line is colored because it

7893

matches one of your Index Color Rules, then its colors will be

7894

reversed when it is the currently highlighted line. For

7895

example, if the line is normally red text on a blue background,

7896

then when it is the current line it will be drawn as blue text

7897

on a red background.

7898

7899

The rest of the option values all revert to this flip-colors

7900

behavior if there is no Reverse Color defined.

7901

7902

reverse

7903

With this option the Reverse color is always used to highlight

7904

the current line.

7905

7906

reverse-fg

7907

The foreground part of the Reverse Color is used to highlight

7908

the current line. If this would cause the text to be unreadable

7909

(because the foreground and background colors are the same) or

7910

if it would cause no change in the color of the index line,

7911

then the colors are flipped instead.

7912

7913

Some people think this works particularly well if you use

7914

different background colors to emphasize "interesting" lines,

7915

but always with the same Normal foreground color, and you use a

7916

different foreground color for the Reverse Color.

7917

7918

reverse-fg-no-ambiguity

7919

With the "reverse-fg" rule above, it is possible that the

7920

resulting color will be exactly the same as the regular Reverse

7921

Color. That can lead to some possible confusion because an

7922

"interesting" line which is the current line will be displayed

7923

exactly the same as a non-interesting line which is current.

7924

You can't tell whether the line is just a regular current line

7925

or if it is an "interesting" current line by looking at the

7926

color. Setting the option to this value removes that ambiguity.

7927

It is the same as the "reverse-fg" setting unless the resulting

7928

interesting current line would look just like a non-interesting

7929

current line. In that case, the interesting line's colors are

7930

simply flipped (like in the default behavior).

7931

7932

As an alternative way to preserve the line's interestingness in

7933

this case, you may find that using both a different foreground

7934

and a different background color for the interesting line will

7935

help.

7936

7937

reverse-bg

7938

The background part of the Reverse Color is used to highlight

7939

the current line. If this would cause the text to be unreadable

7940

(because the foreground and background colors are the same) or

7941

if it would cause no change in the color of the index line,

7942

then the colors are flipped instead.

7943

7944

Some people think this works particularly well if you use

7945

different foreground colors to emphasize "interesting" lines,

7946

but always with the same Normal background color, and you use a

7947

different background color for the Reverse Color.

7948

7949

reverse-bg-no-ambiguity

7950

As with the "reverse-fg" case, the "reverse-bg" rule may also

7951

result in a color which is exactly the same as the regular

7952

Reverse Color. Setting the option to this value removes that

7953

ambiguity. It is the same as the "reverse-bg" setting unless

7954

the resulting current line has the same color as the Reverse

7955

Color. In that case, the interesting line's colors are simply

7956

flipped (like in the default behavior).

7957

7958

_titlebar-color-style_

7959

This option affects the colors used to display the titlebar (the top

7960

line on the screen) when viewing a message.

7961

7962

The available options include:

7963

7964

default

7965

The color of the titlebar will be the color you set for the

7966

Title Color. The Title Color may be set by using the

7967

7968

indexline

7969

The color of the titlebar will be the same as the color of the

7970

index line corresponding to the message being viewed. The rules

7971

which determine what color the index line will be may be set up

7972

by going to the Setup/Rules/Indexcolor screen. If the index

7973

line for a message is not colored explicitly by the Indexcolor

7974

rules, then the titlebar will be colored the same as for the

7975

"default" option above (which is not the same color that the

7976

index line itself will have).

7977

7978

reverse-indexline

7979

This is similar to the "indexline" option except the foreground

7980

and background colors from the corresponding index line will be

7981

reversed. For example, if the index line color is red letters

7982

on a white background, then the titlebar will be white letters

7983

on a red background. If the index line for a message is not

7984

colored explicitly by the Indexcolor rules, then the titlebar

7985

will be colored the same as for the "default" option above

7986

(which is not the same color that the index line itself will

7987

have).

7988

7989

General Colors

7990

7991

_Normal Color_

7992

This is the color which most of the screen is painted in. By default

7993

this color is black characters on a white background.

7994

_Reverse Color_

7995

The color _Alpine_ uses for reverse video characters. Actually, the

7996

name is misleading. This used to be reverse video and so the name

7997

remains. It is still used to highlight certain parts of the screen

7998

but the color may be set to whatever you'd like.

7999

_Title Color_

8000

The color _Alpine_ uses for the titlebar (the top line on the

8001

screen). By default, the Title Color is black characters on a yellow

8002

background. The actual titlebar color may be different from the Title

8003

Color if the option titlebar-color-style is set to some value other

8004

than the default. It may also be different if the current folder is

8005

closed and the Title Closed Color is set to something different from

8006

the Title Color.

8007

_Title-closed Color_

8008

The color _Alpine_ uses for the titlebar (the top line on the screen)

8009

when the current folder is closed. By default, the Title Color Closed

8010

Color is white characters on a red background.

8011

_Status Color_

8012

The color _Alpine_ uses for messages written to the status message

8013

line near the bottom of the screen. By default, the Status Color is

8014

the same as the Reverse Color.

8015

_KeyLabel Color_

8016

The color _Alpine_ uses for the labels of the commands in the

8017

two-line menu at the bottom of the screen. The label is the long

8018

name, for example, "PrevMsg". By default, the KeyLabel Color is the

8019

same as the Normal Color.

8020

WARNING: Some terminal emulators have the property that the screen

8021

will scroll down one line whenever a character is written to the

8022

character cell in the lower right corner of the screen. _Alpine_ can

8023

usually avoid writing a character in that corner of the screen.

8024

However, if you have defined a KeyLabel Color then _Alpine_ does have

8025

to write a character in that cell in order to color the cell

8026

correctly. If you find that your display sometimes scrolls up a line

8027

this could be the problem. The most obvious symptom is probably that

8028

the titlebar at the top of the screen scrolls off the screen. Try

8029

setting KeyLabel Color to Default to see if that fixes the problem.

8030

_KeyName Color_

8031

The color _Alpine_ uses for the names of the commands in the two-line

8032

menu at the bottom of the screen. The KeyName is the shorter name in

8033

the menu. For example, the "W" before the "WhereIs". By default, the

8034

KeyName Color is the same as the Normal Color.

8035

_Selectable-item Color_

8036

The color _Alpine_ uses for displaying selectable items, such as

8037

URLs. By default, the Selectable-item Color is the same as the Normal

8038

Color, except it is also Bold.

8039

_Meta-message Color_

8040

The color _Alpine_ uses in the MESSAGE TEXT screen for messages to

8041

you that aren't part of the message itself. By default, the

8042

Meta-Message Color is black characters on a yellow background.

8043

_Quote Colors_

8044

The colors _Alpine_ uses for coloring quoted text in the MESSAGE TEXT

8045

screen. If a line begins with a > character (or space followed by >)

8046

it is considered a quote. That line will be given the Quote1 Color

8047

(first level quote). If there is a second level of quoting then the

8048

Quote2 Color will be used. _Alpine_ considers there to be a second

8049

level of quoting if that first > is followed by another > (or space

8050

followed by >). If there are characters other than whitespace and >

8051

signs, then it isn't considered another level of quoting. Similarly,

8052

if there is a third level of quoting the Quote3 Color will be used.

8053

If there are more levels after that the Quote Colors are reused. If

8054

you define all three colors then it would repeat like Color1, Color2,

8055

Color3, Color1, Color2, Color3, ... If you only define the first two

8056

it would be Color1, Color2, Color1, Color2, ... If you define only

8057

the Quote1 Color, then the entire quote would be that color

8058

regardless of the quoting levels. By default, the Quote1 Color is

8059

black characters on a greenish-blue background; the Quote2 Color is

8060

black characters on a dull yellow background; and the Quote3 Color is

8061

black characters on a green background.

8062

_Incoming Unseen Color_

8063

If the option enable-incoming-folders-checking is turned on it is

8064

possible to highlight the folders that contain unseen messages by

8065

coloring them with this color. By default, this is the same as the

8066

Normal Color and no highlighting is done.

8067

Usually the "current" folder (the folder the cursor is on) is

8068

highlighted using reverse video. If the current folder is colored

8069

because it contains unseen messages then the color used to show that

8070

it is also the current folder is controlled by the

8071

current-indexline-style feature at the top of the SETUP COLOR screen.

8072

_Signature Color_

8073

The color _Alpine_ uses for coloring the signature in the MESSAGE

8074

TEXT screen. According to USENET conventions, the signature is

8075

defined as the paragraph following the "sigdashes", that is, the

8076

special line consisting of the three characters "-- " (i.e., dash,

8077

dash, and space). _Alpine_ allows for one empty line right after the

8078

sigdashes to be considered as part of the signature. By default, the

8079

Signature Color is blue characters on a white background.

8080

_Prompt Color_

8081

The color _Alpine_ uses for confirmation prompts and questions which

8082

appear in the status message line near the bottom of the screen. By

8083

default, the Prompt Color is the same as the Reverse Color.

8084

8085

Index Colors

8086

8087

You may add color to the single character symbols which give the status of

8088

each message in the MESSAGE INDEX. By default the characters "+", "*", "D",

8089

"A", and "N" show up near the left hand side of the screen, depending on

8090

whether the message is addressed to you, and whether the message is marked

8091

Important, is Deleted, is Answered, or is New. You may set the color of

8092

those symbols. By default, all of these symbols are drawn with the same

8093

color as the rest of the index line they are a part of.

8094

8095

Besides coloring the message status symbols, you may also color the entire

8096

index line. This is done by using the Index Line Color configuration screen.

8097

It is also possible to color (keywords in the index using the Setup/Kolor

8098

screen (Keyword Colors); the ARROW cursor; the Subject using Index Subject

8099

Color; the From using Index From Color; and the Index Opening text.

8100

8101

_Index-to-me Symbol Color_

8102

The color used for drawing the "+" symbol which signifies a message

8103

is addressed directly to you.

8104

_Index-important Symbol Color_

8105

The color used for drawing the "*" symbol which signifies a message

8106

has been flagged Important.

8107

_Index-deleted Symbol Color_

8108

The color used for drawing the "D" symbol which signifies a message

8109

has been marked Deleted.

8110

_Index-answered Symbol Color_

8111

The color used for drawing the "A" symbol which signifies a message

8112

has been answered.

8113

_Index-new Symbol Color_

8114

The color used for drawing the "N" symbol which signifies a message

8115

is New.

8116

_Index-recent Symbol Color_

8117

The color used for drawing the "R" symbol which signifies a message

8118

is Recent (only visible if the "IMAPSTATUS" or "SHORTIMAPSTATUS"

8119

token is part of the index-format option).

8120

_Index-unseen Symbol Color_

8121

The color used for drawing the "U" symbol which signifies a message

8122

is Unseen (only visible if the "IMAPSTATUS" or "SHORTIMAPSTATUS"

8123

token is part of the Index-Format option).

8124

_Index-priority Symbol Colors_

8125

The colors used for drawing the tokens "PRIORITY", "PRIORITYALPHA",

8126

and "PRIORITY!" when these are configured as part of the Index-Format

8127

option. You may set the color used to draw these tokens by use of the

8128

colors Index High Priority Symbol Color and Index Low Priority Symbol

8129

Color. This coloring takes place for all but the current index line,

8130

and the Priority Color appears to be in front of any color from an

8131

Index Color Rule. If the priority has a value of 1 or 2 the High

8132

Priority color will be used, and if the value is 4 or 5 the Low

8133

Priority color will be used.

8134

If you don't set these colors the index line will be colored in the

8135

same color as the bulk of the index line.

8136

_Index-arrow Symbol Color_

8137

The color used for drawing the "ARROW" token when it is configured as

8138

part of the Index-Format option.

8139

_Index-subject Symbol Color_

8140

You may set the color used to draw the Subject part of the index

8141

line. This coloring takes place for all but the current index line,

8142

and the Subject Color appears to be in front of any color from an

8143

Index Color Rule.

8144

If you don't set this color it will be colored in the same color as

8145

the bulk of the index line.

8146

_Index-from Symbol Color_

8147

You may set the color used to draw the From part of the index line.

8148

This coloring takes place for all but the current index line, and the

8149

From Color appears to be in front of any color from an Index Color

8150

Rule.

8151

If you don't set this color it will be colored in the same color as

8152

the bulk of the index line.

8153

_Index-opening Symbol Color_

8154

It is possible to configure the Index-Format option so that it

8155

includes the subject followed by the "opening" text of the message if

8156

there is enough space. This is done by using one of the tokens

8157

SUBJECTTEXT, SUBJKEYTEXT, or SUBJKEYINITTEXT. The color used for

8158

drawing this opening text is given by this option. The coloring

8159

happens for all but the current index line, and this opening color

8160

appears to be in front of any color from an Index Color Rule.

8161

By default the Index Opening Color is gray characters on a white

8162

background.

8163

8164

The default colors for these symbols are:

8165

8166

Index-to-me black on cyan

8167

Index-important white on bright red

8168

Index-deleted same as Normal Color

8169

Index-answered bright red on yellow

8170

Index-new white on magenta

8171

Index-recent same as Normal Color

8172

Index-unseen same as Normal Color

8173

8174

Header Colors

8175

8176

You may add color to the header fields in the MESSAGE TEXT screen. The

8177

8178

_Header-general Color_

8179

may be used to color all of the headers of the message.

8180

8181

It is also possible to set the colors for specific header fields, for

8182

example for the Subject or From fields, using the viewer-hdr-colors option.

8183

8184

For Header Colors, there is an additional line on the configuration screen

8185

labeled "Pattern to match". If you leave that blank, then the whole field

8186

for that header will always be colored. However, if you give a pattern to

8187

match, the coloring will only take place if there is a match for that

8188

pattern in the value of the field. For example, if you are working on a

8189

color for the Subject header and you fill in a pattern of "important", then

8190

only Subjects which contain the word "important" will be colored. For

8191

address fields like From or To, a pattern match will cause only the

8192

addresses which match the pattern to be colored.

8193

8194

If the pattern you enter is a comma-separated list of patterns, then

8195

coloring happens if any of those patterns matches.

8196

8197

Keyword Colors

8198

8199

Sets the colors _Alpine_ uses for Keyword fields in the MESSAGE INDEX

8200

screen. Keywords may be displayed as part of the Subject of a message by

8201

using the "SUBJKEY" or "SUBJKEYINIT" tokens in the Index-Format option.

8202

Keywords may also be displayed in a column of their own in the MESSAGE INDEX

8203

screen by using the "KEY" or "KEYINIT" tokens.

8204

8205

For example, you might have set up a Keyword "Work" using the Keywords

8206

option in the Setup/Config screen. You could cause that Keyword to show up

8207

as a special color by setting up the Keyword Color using this option, and

8208

then including it in the MESSAGE INDEX screen using one of the tokens listed

8209

above in the Index-Format.

8210

8211

Index Line Colors

8212

8213

You may color whole index lines by using roles. This isn't configured in the

8214

Setup Colors screen, but is configured in the Setup Rules IndexColor screen.

8215

8216

Index Line Color Configuration

8217

8218

Index Line Color causes lines in the MESSAGE INDEX screen to be colored.

8219

This action is only available if your terminal is capable of displaying

8220

color and color display has been enabled with the Color-Style option. (In

8221

PC-Alpine, color is always enabled so there is no option to turn on.)

8222

8223

Each rule has a "Pattern", which is used to decide which of the rules is

8224

used; and the color which is used if the Pattern matches a particular

8225

message.

8226

8227

Rule Patterns

8228

8229

In order to determine whether or not a message matches a rule the message is

8230

compared with the rule's Pattern. These Patterns are the same for use with

8231

Roles, Filtering, Index Coloring, Scoring, Other Rules, and Search Rules, so

8232

are described in only one place, "here".

8233

8234

Index Line Color

8235

8236

This is the color that index lines are colored when there is a matching

8237

Pattern. This colors the whole index line, except possibly the status

8238

letters which may be colored separately using the Setup Kolor screen.

8239

8240

Role Configuration

8241

8242

You may play different roles depending on who you are replying to. For

8243

example, if you are replying to a message addressed to _help-desk_ you may

8244

be acting as a Help Desk Worker. That role may require that you use a

8245

different return address and/or a different signature.

8246

8247

Roles are optional. If you set up roles they work like this: Each role has a

8248

set of "Uses", which indicate whether or not a role is eligible to be

8249

considered for a particular use; a "Pattern", which is used to decide which

8250

of the eligible roles is used; and a set of "Actions", which are taken when

8251

that role is used. When you reply to a message, the message you are replying

8252

to is compared with the Patterns of the roles marked as eligible for use

8253

when replying. The comparisons start with the first eligible role and keep

8254

going until there is a match. If a match is found, the matching role's

8255

Actions are taken.

8256

8257

It is also possible to set a default role and to change that role during

8258

your _Alpine_ session. When you start _Alpine_ no default role will be set.

8259

You may set or change the current default role by using the "D" command in

8260

the role selection screen. You'll see that screen while composing a message

8261

and being asked to select a role. An easy way to get to that screen is to

8262

use the Role Command to compose a message. You may find a default role

8263

useful if you normally perform the duties of one of your roles for a while,

8264

then you switch to another role and stay in the new role for another period

8265

of time. It may be easier than using the Role Command to select the role

8266

each time you compose a message.

8267

8268

Role Uses

8269

8270

There are three types of use to be configured; one for Replying, one for

8271

Forwarding, and one for Composing. These indicate whether or not you want a

8272

role to be considered when you type the Reply, Forward, or Compose commands.

8273

(The Role command is an alternate form of the Compose command, and it is not

8274

affected by these settings.) Each of these Use types has three possible

8275

values. The value "Never" means that the role will never be considered as a

8276

candidate for use with the corresponding command. For example, if you set a

8277

role's Reply Use to Never, then when you Reply to a message, the role won't

8278

even be considered. (That isn't quite true. If the message you are replying

8279

to matches some other role which requires confirmation, then there will be a

8280

^T command available which allows you to select a role from all of your

8281

roles, not just the reply-eligible roles.)

8282

8283

The options "With confirmation" and "Without confirmation" both mean that

8284

you do want to consider this role when using the corresponding command. For

8285

either of these settings the role's Pattern will be checked to see if it

8286

matches the message. For Reply Use, the message used to compare the Patterns

8287

with is the message being replied to. For Forward Use, the message used to

8288

compare the Pattern with is the message being forwarded. For Compose Use,

8289

there is no message, so the parts of the Pattern which depend on a message

8290

(everything other than Current Folder Type) are ignored. In all cases, the

8291

Current Folder is checked if defined. If there is a match then this role

8292

will either be used without confirmation or will be the default when

8293

confirmation is asked for, depending on which of the two options is

8294

selected. If confirmation is requested, you will have a chance to choose No

8295

Role instead of the offered role, or to change the role to any one of your

8296

other roles (with the ^T command).

8297

8298

Role Patterns

8299

8300

In order to determine whether or not a message matches a role the message is

8301

compared with the Role Pattern. These Patterns are the same for use with

8302

Roles, Filtering, Index Coloring, Scoring, Other Rules, and Search Rules, so

8303

are described in only one place, "here".

8304

8305

Since header patterns, AllText patterns, and BodyText patterns which are

8306

unset are ignored, a role which has all header patterns unset, the AllText

8307

pattern unset, the BodyText pattern unset, the Score Interval unset, and the

8308

Current Folder Type set to "Any" may be used as a default role. It should be

8309

put last in the list of roles since the matching starts at the beginning and

8310

proceeds until one of the roles is a match. If no roles at all match, then

8311

_Alpine_ will use its regular methods of defining the role. If you wanted to,

8312

you could define a different "default" role for Replying, Forwarding, and

8313

Composing by setting the "Use" fields appropriately.

8314

8315

Role Actions

8316

8317

Once a role match is found, the role's Actions are taken. For each role

8318

there are several possible actions that may be defined. They are actions to

8319

set the From address, the Reply-To address, the Fcc, the Signature file, and

8320

the Template file.

8321

8322

Initialize Settings Using Role

8323

8324

This is a power user feature. You will usually want to leave this field

8325

empty. The value of this field is the nickname of another one of your roles.

8326

The Action values from that other role are used as the initial values of the

8327

Action items for this role. If you put something in any of the action fields

8328

for this role, that will override whatever was in the corresponding field of

8329

the initializer role.

8330

8331

You might use this field if the "Action" part of one of your roles is

8332

something you want to use in more than one role. Instead of filling in those

8333

action values again for each role, you may give the nickname of the role

8334

where the values are filled in. It's just a shortcut way to define Role

8335

Actions.

8336

8337

Here's an example to help explain how this works. Suppose you have a role

8338

with nickname "role1" and role1 has (among other things)

8339

8340

Set Reply-To = The Pres <president@example.com>

8341

8342

set. If in "role2" you set "Initialize settings using role" to "role1", then

8343

role2 will inherit the Set Reply-To value from role1 by default (and any of

8344

the other inheritable action values that are set). So if role2 had

8345

8346

Set Reply-To = <No Value Set>

8347

8348

defined, the Reply-To used with role2 would be "The Pres

8349

<president@example.com>" However, if role2 had

8350

8351

Set Reply-To = VP <vicepresident@example.com>

8352

8353

defined, then the Reply-To used with role2 would be "VP

8354

<vicepresident@example.com>" instead.

8355

8356

If you wish, you may choose a nickname from your list of roles by using the

8357

"T" command. If the role you are using to initialize also has a role it

8358

initializes from, then that initialization happens first. That is,

8359

inheritance works as expected with the grandparent and great-grandparent

8360

(and so on) roles having the expected effect.

8361

8362

Set From

8363

8364

This field consists of a single address which will be used as the From

8365

address on the message you are sending. This should be a fully-qualified

8366

address like

8367

8368

Full Name <user@domain>

8369

8370

or just

8371

8372

user@domain

8373

8374

If this is left blank, then the normal From address will be used.

8375

8376

Set Reply-To

8377

8378

The Reply-To address is the address used on the Reply-To line of the message

8379

you are sending. You don't need a Reply-To address unless it is different

8380

from the From address. This should be a fully-qualified address like

8381

8382

Full Name <user@domain>

8383

8384

or just

8385

8386

user@domain

8387

8388

If this is left blank, then there won't be a Reply-To address unless you

8389

have configured one specially with the customized-hdrs configuration option.

8390

8391

Set Other-Hdrs

8392

8393

This field gives you a way to set values for headers besides "From" and

8394

"Reply-To". If you want to set either of those, use the specific "Set From"

8395

and "Set Reply-To" settings.

8396

8397

This field is similar to the customized-hdrs option. Each header you specify

8398

here must include the header tag ("To:", "Approved:", etc.) and may

8399

optionally include a value for that header. In order to see these headers

8400

when you compose using this role you must use the rich header command.

8401

Here's an example which shows how you might set the To address.

8402

8403

Set Other Hdrs = To: Full Name <user@domain>

8404

8405

Headers set in this way are different from headers set with the

8406

customized-hdrs option in that the value you give for a header here will

8407

replace any value that already exists. For example, if you are Replying to a

8408

message there will already be at least one address in the To header (the

8409

address you are Replying to). However, if you Reply using a role which sets

8410

the To header, that role's To header value will be used instead. The

8411

customized-hdrs headers are defaults.

8412

8413

Limitation: Because commas are used to separate the list of Other Headers,

8414

it is not possible to have the value of a header contain a comma; nor is

8415

there currently an "escape" mechanism provided to make this work.

8416

8417

Set Fcc

8418

8419

This field consists of a single folder name which will be used in the Fcc

8420

field of the message you are sending. You may put anything here that you

8421

would normally type into the Fcc field from the composer.

8422

8423

In addition, an fcc of "" (two double quotation marks) means no Fcc.

8424

8425

A blank field here means that _Alpine_ will use its normal rules for

8426

deciding the default value of the Fcc field. For many roles, perhaps most,

8427

it may make more sense for you to use the other _Alpine_ facilities for

8428

setting the Fcc. In particular, if you want the Fcc to depend on who you are

8429

sending the message to then the fcc-name-rule is probably more useful. In

8430

that case, you would want to leave the Fcc field here blank. However, if you

8431

have a role that depends on who the message you are replying to was From, or

8432

what address that message was sent to; then it might make sense to set the

8433

Fcc for that role here.

8434

8435

Set LiteralSig

8436

8437

This field contains the actual text for your signature, as opposed to the

8438

name of a file containing your signature. If this is defined it takes

8439

precedence over any value set in the _Set Signature_ field.

8440

8441

This is simply a different way to store the signature. The signature is

8442

stored inside your Alpine configuration file instead of in a separate

8443

signature file. Tokens work the same way they do with _Set Signature_.

8444

8445

The two character sequence \n (backslash followed by the character n) will

8446

be used to signify a line-break in your signature. You don't have to enter

8447

the \n, but it will be visible in the CHANGE THIS ROLE RULE window after you

8448

are done editing the signature.

8449

8450

Set Signature

8451

8452

The Signature is the name of a file to be used as the signature file when

8453

this role is being used. If the filename is followed by a vertical bar (|)

8454

then instead of reading the contents of the file the file is assumed to be a

8455

program which will produce the text to be used on its standard output. The

8456

program can't have any arguments and doesn't receive any input from

8457

_Alpine_, but the rest of the processing works as if the contents came from a

8458

file.

8459

8460

Signature files may be stored remotely on an IMAP server. In order to do

8461

that you just give the file a remote name. This works just like the regular

8462

signature-file option which is configured from the Setup/Configuration

8463

screen. A remote signature file name might look like:

8464

8465

{myimaphost.myschool.k12.wa.us}mail/sig3

8466

8467

or, if you have an SSL-capable version of _Alpine_, you might try

8468

8469

{myimaphost.myschool.k12.wa.us/user=loginname/ssl}mail/sig3

8470

8471

Once you have named the remote signature file you create its contents by

8472

using the "F" "editFile" command when the cursor is on the "Set Signature"

8473

line of the role editor.

8474

8475

Besides containing regular text, a signature file may also contain (or a

8476

signature program may produce) tokens which are replaced with text which

8477

depends on the message you are replying to or forwarding. The tokens all

8478

look like _word_ (a word surrounded by underscores). For example, if the

8479

token

8480

8481

_DATE_

8482

8483

is included in the text of the signature file, then when you reply to or

8484

forward a message, the token will be replaced with the actual date the

8485

message you are replying to or forwarding was sent.

8486

8487

If you use a role which has a signature file for a plain composition (that

8488

is, not a reply or forward) then there is no original message, so any tokens

8489

which depend on the message will be replaced with nothing. So if you want a

8490

signature file to be useful for new compositions it shouldn't include any of

8491

the tokens which depend on the message being replied to or forwarded.

8492

8493

The list of available tokens is here.

8494

8495

Actually, for the adventurous, there is a way to conditionally include text

8496

based on whether or not a token would result in specific replacement text.

8497

For example, you could include some text based on whether or not the _NEWS_

8498

token would result in any newsgroups if it was used. It's explained in

8499

detail here.

8500

8501

In the very unlikely event that you want to include a literal token in a

8502

signature file, you must precede it with a backslash character. For example,

8503

to include the literal text _DATE_ you must actually use \_DATE_. It is not

8504

possible to have a literal backslash followed by an expanded token.

8505

8506

A blank field here means that _Alpine_ will use its normal rules for

8507

deciding which file (if any) to use for the signature file.

8508

8509

Set Template

8510

8511

A Template is the name of a file to be included in the message when this

8512

role is being used. The template file is a file which is included at the top

8513

of the message you are composing.

8514

8515

If the filename is followed by a vertical bar (|) then instead of reading

8516

the contents of the file the file is assumed to be a program which will

8517

produce the text to be used on its standard output. The program can't have

8518

any arguments and doesn't receive any input from _Alpine_, but the rest of

8519

the processing works as if the contents came from a file.

8520

8521

Template files may be stored remotely on an IMAP server. In order to do that

8522

you just give the file a remote name. This works just like the regular

8523

signature-file option which is configured from the Setup/Configuration

8524

screen. A remote template file name might look like:

8525

8526

{myimaphost.myschool.k12.wa.us}mail/templ3

8527

8528

or, if you have an SSL-capable version of _Alpine_, you might try

8529

8530

{myimaphost.myschool.k12.wa.us/user=loginname/ssl}mail/templ3

8531

8532

Once you have named the remote template file you create its contents by

8533

using the "F" "editFile" command when the cursor is on the "Set Template"

8534

line of the role editor.

8535

8536

Besides containing regular text, a template file may also contain (or a

8537

template file program may produce) tokens which are replaced with text which

8538

depends on the message you are replying to or forwarding. The tokens all

8539

look like _word_ (a word surrounded by underscores). For example, if the

8540

token

8541

8542

_DATE_

8543

8544

is included in the text of the template file, then when you reply to or

8545

forward a message, the token will be replaced with the actual date the

8546

message you are replying to or forwarding was sent.

8547

8548

If you use a role which has a template file for a plain composition (that

8549

is, not a reply or forward) then there is no original message, so any tokens

8550

which depend on the message will be replaced with nothing. So if you want a

8551

template file to be useful for new compositions it shouldn't include any of

8552

the tokens which depend on the message being replied to or forwarded.

8553

8554

The list of available tokens is here.

8555

8556

Actually, for the adventurous, there is a way to conditionally include text

8557

based on whether or not a token would result in specific replacement text.

8558

For example, you could include some text based on whether or not the _NEWS_

8559

token would result in any newsgroups if it was used. It's explained in

8560

detail here.

8561

8562

In the very unlikely event that you want to include a literal token in a

8563

template file, you must precede it with a backslash character. For example,

8564

to include the literal text _DATE_ you must actually use \_DATE_. It is not

8565

possible to have a literal backslash followed by an expanded token.

8566

8567

A blank field here means that _Alpine_ will not use a template file when

8568

this role is being used.

8569

8570

Use SMTP Server

8571

8572

If this field has a value, then it will be used as the SMTP server to send

8573

mail when this role is being used (unless the SMTP server variable is set in

8574

the system-wide fixed configuration file). It has the same semantics as the

8575

smtp-server variable in the Setup/Config screen. When you postpone the

8576

composition this SMTP server list will be saved with the postponed

8577

composition and it cannot be changed later. Because of that, you may want to

8578

make this a list of SMTP servers with the preferred server at the front of

8579

the list and alternate servers later in the list.

8580

8581

If any of the actions are left unset, then the action depends on what is

8582

present in the "Initialize settings using role" field. If you've listed the

8583

nickname of another one of your roles there, then the corresponding action

8584

from that role will be used here. If that action is also blank, or if there

8585

is no nickname specified, then _Alpine_ will do whatever it normally does to

8586

set these actions. This depends on other configuration options and features

8587

you've set.

8588

8589

Filtering Configuration

8590

8591

The software which actually delivers mail (the stuff that happens before

8592

_Alpine_ is involved) for you is in a better position to do mail filtering

8593

than _Alpine_ itself. If possible, you may want to look into using that sort

8594

of mail filtering to deliver mail to different folders, delete it, or

8595

forward it. However, if you'd like _Alpine_ to help with this, _Alpine_'s

8596

filtering is for you.

8597

8598

Filtering is a way to automatically move certain messages from one folder to

8599

another or to delete messages. It can also be used to set message status

8600

bits (Important, Deleted, New, Answered). _Alpine_ doesn't have the ability

8601

to forward mail to another address.

8602

8603

Each filtering rule has a "Pattern" and a "Filter Action". When a folder is

8604

opened, when new mail arrives in an open folder, or when mail is Expunged

8605

from a folder; each message is compared with the Patterns of your filtering

8606

rules. The comparisons start with the first rule and keep going until there

8607

is a match. If a match is found, the message may be deleted or moved,

8608

depending on the setting of the Filter Action. If the message is not

8609

deleted, it may have its status altered.

8610

8611

For efficiency, each message is usually only checked once. When new mail

8612

arrives, the new messages are checked but not the old. There are some

8613

exceptions to this rule. The expunge command will cause all messages to be

8614

rechecked, as will editing of the filtering rules.

8615

8616

_NOTE:_ When setting up a Pattern used to delete messages, it is recommended

8617

that you test the Pattern first with a "Move" folder specified in case

8618

unintended matches occur. Messages that are deleted will be removed from the

8619

folder and _unrecoverable_ from within _Alpine_ after the next Expunge

8620

command or once the folder being filtered has been closed.

8621

8622

Filter Patterns

8623

8624

In order to determine whether or not a message matches a filter the message

8625

is compared with the Filter's Pattern. These Patterns are the same for use

8626

with Roles, Filtering, Index Coloring, Scoring, Other Rules, and Search

8627

Rules, so are described in only one place, "here".

8628

8629

Since filtering is a potentially destructive action, if you have a filtering

8630

Pattern with nothing other than Current Folder Type set, that filtering rule

8631

is ignored.

8632

8633

Filter Actions

8634

8635

Once a filter match is found for a particular message, there are some

8636

actions which may be taken. First, the message may have its status changed.

8637

This is the same message status that you can manipulate manually using the

8638

Flag Command. There are four elements of message status that you can

8639

control. You can set or clear the Important status, the New status, the

8640

Deleted status, and the Answered status. Of course, if the filter is going

8641

to delete the message, then there is no point in setting message status. You

8642

may also set or clear user-defined keywords for a message.

8643

8644

Second, the filter may delete or move the message. Deleting the message

8645

marks it Deleted and removes it from view. It is effectively gone forever

8646

(though it technically is still there until the next expunge command, which

8647

may happen implicitly). Moving the message moves it from the open folder

8648

into the folder listed on the "Folder List" line of the filter

8649

configuration. If you list more than one folder name (separated by commas)

8650

then the message will be copied to each of those folders. In any case, if

8651

"Delete" or "Move" is set then the message is removed from the current

8652

folder. If you just want to set the messages status without deleting it from

8653

the folder, then set the filter action to "Just Set Message Status".

8654

8655

(There is no way to do a Copy instead of a Move, due to the difficulties

8656

involved in keeping track of whether or not a message has already been

8657

copied by a previous _Alpine_ session.)

8658

8659

Move-only-if-not-deleted option

8660

8661

If you have specified a Move to Folder to filter messages into, then this

8662

option has an effect. If this option is set then messages will only be moved

8663

into the specified folder if they aren't already marked deleted. This might

8664

be useful if you have more than one _Alpine_ session running simultaneously

8665

and you don't want messages to be filtered into a folder more than once.

8666

This method is not foolproof. There may be cases where a message gets marked

8667

deleted and so it is never filtered into the folder. For example, if you

8668

deleted it in another _Alpine_ or another mail program that didn't know

8669

about the filtering rule.

8670

8671

This option has no effect if the Filter Action is not set to Move.

8672

8673

Dont-quit-even-if-rule-matches option

8674

8675

If this option is set then this is a non-terminating rule. Usually, for each

8676

message, _Alpine_ searches through the filter rules until a match is found

8677

and then it performs the action associated with that rule. Rules following

8678

the match are not considered. If this option is set then the search for

8679

matches will continue at the next rule.

8680

8681

If a non-terminating rule matches then the actions associated with that

8682

rule, except for any implied deletion of the message, are performed before

8683

the match for the next rule is checked. For example, if the non-terminating

8684

rule sets the Important status, then that status will be set when the next

8685

rule is considered. However, if the non-terminating rule Moves the message,

8686

the message will actually be copied instead of copied and deleted so that it

8687

is still there for the next rule. A moved message is deleted after all the

8688

relevant rules have been checked. The name of the "Move" action is confusing

8689

in this case because a single message can be moved to more than one folder.

8690

It turns the Move into a Copy instead, but it is still followed by a

8691

deletion at the end.

8692

8693

This option may be useful if you want to have a single message filtered to

8694

two different folders because it matches two different Patterns. For

8695

example, suppose you normally filter messages to a particular mailing list

8696

into one folder, and messages addressed directly to you into a second

8697

folder. If a message is sent to both you and the list (and you can tell that

8698

by looking at the headers of the message) this option may give you a

8699

convenient way to capture a copy to each folder. (It may also cause you to

8700

capture two copies to each folder, depending on whether your mail system

8701

delivers one or two copies of the message to you and on how the list works.)

8702

8703

Scoring Configuration

8704

8705

Most people will not use scores at all, but if you do use them, here's how

8706

they work in Alpine. Using this screen, you may define Scoring rules. The

8707

score for a message is calculated by looking at every Score rule defined and

8708

adding up the Score Values for the ones which match the message. If there

8709

are no matches for a message, it has a score of zero. Message scores may be

8710

used a couple of ways in Alpine.

8711

8712

Sorting by Score

8713

8714

One of the methods you may use to sort message indexes is to sort by score.

8715

The scores of all the messages in a folder will be calculated and then the

8716

index will be ordered by placing the messages in order of ascending or

8717

descending score.

8718

8719

Scores for use in Patterns

8720

8721

The Patterns used for Roles, Index Line Coloring, and Filtering have a

8722

category labeled "Score Interval". When a message is being compared with a

8723

Pattern to check for a match, if the Score Interval is set only messages

8724

which have a score somewhere in the interval are a match.

8725

8726

Scoring Rule Patterns

8727

8728

In order to determine whether or not a message matches a scoring rule the

8729

message is compared with the rule's Pattern. These Patterns are the same for

8730

use with Roles, Filtering, Index Coloring, Scoring, Other Rules, and Search

8731

Rules, so are described in only one place, "here".

8732

8733

Actually, Scoring rule Patterns are slightly different from the other types

8734

of Patterns because Scoring rule Patterns don't contain a Score Interval. In

8735

other words, when calculating the score for a message, which is done by

8736

looking at the Scoring rule Patterns, scores aren't used.

8737

8738

Score Value

8739

8740

This is the value that will be added to the score for a message if the

8741

rule's Pattern is a match. Each individual Score Value is an integer between

8742

-100 and 100, and the values from matching rules are added together to get a

8743

message's score. There is also a way to extract the value from a particular

8744

header of each message. See the help text for Score Value for further

8745

information.

8746

8747

Other Rules Configuration

8748

8749

Using this screen, you may define configuration Rules which don't fit nicely

8750

into the other Rules categories.

8751

8752

Other Rule Patterns

8753

8754

Other Rules are a little different from the rest of the Rules because they

8755

depend only on the current folder, and not on a particular message. In order

8756

to determine whether or not a rule's actions should be applied the current

8757

folder is compared with the rule's Pattern, which consists of only the

8758

Current Folder Type. Current Folder Type works the same for Other Rules as

8759

it does for Roles, Filtering, Index Coloring, and Scoring. Keep in mind that

8760

the only part of the Pattern which applies to Other Rules is the Current

8761

Folder Type when looking at the description of Patterns given "here".

8762

8763

Other Rule Actions

8764

8765

Once a pattern match is found, the rule's Actions are taken. Neither of the

8766

following two rule's depends on a message for its match. That means that all

8767

the parts of the Pattern which depend on matching an attribute of a message

8768

are ignored. So the only part of the Pattern that matters for these Actions

8769

is the Current Folder Type.

8770

8771

Set Sort Order

8772

8773

When you enter a new folder, these rules will be checked to see if you have

8774

set a sort order which is different from your default sort order. The

8775

default is set in the Setup/Config screen with the Sort-Key option. If the

8776

Sort Order action is set, then the folder will be displayed sorted in that

8777

sort order instead of in the default order.

8778

8779

A possible point of confusion arises when you change the configuration of

8780

the Sort Order for the currently open folder. The folder will normally be

8781

re-sorted when you go back to viewing the index. However, if you have

8782

manually sorted the folder with the Sort command, it will not be re-sorted.

8783

8784

Set Index Format

8785

8786

When you enter a new folder, these rules will be checked to see if you have

8787

set an Index Format which is different from your default Index Format, which

8788

is set with the Index-Format option. If so, the index will be displayed with

8789

this format instead of the default.

8790

8791

Set Startup Rule

8792

8793

When you enter a new folder, these rules will be checked to see if you have

8794

set a startup rule which is different from the default startup rule. The

8795

default for incoming folders is set in the Setup/Config screen with the

8796

"incoming-startup-rule" option. The default for folders other than INBOX

8797

that are not part of your incoming collection (see enable-incoming-folders

8798

feature) is to start with the last message in the folder. If the Startup

8799

Rule is set to something other than "default", then the rule will determine

8800

which message will be the current message when the folder is first opened.

8801

8802

The various startup rule possibilities work the same here as they do in the

8803

incoming collection, except that the folder can be any specific folder or

8804

any folder type.

8805

8806

Search Rules Configuration

8807

8808

One of the commands that becomes available when that feature is turned on is

8809

the "; Select" command, which is used in the MESSAGE INDEX screen to select

8810

a set of messages. One way of selecting messages is to use a Rule. All of

8811

the messages which match (or don't match if you wish) a Rule's Pattern will

8812

be selected.

8813

8814

Any of your Rules may be used for this purpose. You might already have Rules

8815

set up for filtering, index line color, scores, or roles; and you may use

8816

any of those Rules with the Select command. However, you might find it more

8817

convenient to set up a separate set of Rules just for this purpose without

8818

having to worry about what other effects they may cause. That is the purpose

8819

of these Select Rules.

8820

8821

Rule Patterns

8822

8823

In order to determine whether or not a message is selected by a rule the

8824

message is compared with the rule's Pattern. These Patterns are the same for

8825

use with Roles, Filtering, Index Coloring, Scoring, Other Rules, and Search

8826

Rules, so are described in only one place, "here".

8827

8828

There is no action associated with these Search Rules. Only their Patterns

8829

are used.

8830

8831

Patterns

8832

8833

Patterns are used with Roles, Filtering, Index Coloring, Scoring, Other

8834

Rules, and Search Rules. Patterns are compared with a message to see if

8835

there is a match. For Filtering, the messages being checked are all the

8836

messages in the folder, one at a time. For Index Line Coloring, each message

8837

that is visible on the screen is checked for matches with the Index Coloring

8838

Patterns. Roles are used with the Reply, Forward, and Compose commands. For

8839

Reply, the message used to compare the Pattern with is the message being

8840

replied to; for Forward, the message used to compare the Pattern with is the

8841

message being forwarded; and for Compose, there is no message, so the parts

8842

of the Pattern which depend on a message (everything other than Current

8843

Folder Type and the Beginning of Month and Year) are not used. Only the

8844

Current Folder Type matters for Compose (plus the Beginning of Month or

8845

Year, which you wouldn't usually use for a Role). For Scoring, the message

8846

being scored is compared with all of the Score Patterns, and the Score

8847

Values from the ones that match are added together to get the message's

8848

score. For Other Rules, there is no message. Only the Current Folder Type is

8849

checked for Other Rules.

8850

8851

Each Pattern has several possible parts, all of which are optional. In order

8852

for there to be a match, _ALL_ of the _defined_ parts of the Pattern must

8853

match the message. If a part is not defined it is considered a match. For

8854

example, if the To pattern is not defined it will be displayed as

8855

8856

To pattern = <No Value Set>

8857

8858

That is considered a match because it is not defined. This means that the

8859

Pattern with nothing defined is a match if the Current Folder Type matches,

8860

but there is an exception. Because filtering is a potentially destructive

8861

action, filtering Patterns with nothing other than Current Folder Type

8862

defined are ignored. If you really want a filtering Pattern to match all

8863

messages (subject to Current Folder Type) the best way to do it is to define

8864

a Score interval which includes all possible scores. This would be the score

8865

interval (-INF,INF). This can be used even if you haven't defined any rules

8866

to Set Scores.

8867

8868

There are six predefined header patterns called the To, From, Sender, Cc,

8869

News, and Subject patterns. Besides those six predefined header patterns,

8870

you may add additional header patterns with header fieldnames of your

8871

choosing. You add an extra header pattern by placing the cursor on one of

8872

the patterns while in the role editor and using the "eXtraHdr" command. The

8873

Recip pattern is a header pattern which stands for Recipient (To OR Cc) and

8874

the Partic pattern is a header pattern which stands for Participant (From OR

8875

To OR Cc). (Defining the Recip pattern does not have the same effect as

8876

defining both the To and Cc patterns. Recip is To _OR_ Cc, not To _AND_ Cc.)

8877

Similar to the header patterns are the AllText pattern and the BodyText

8878

pattern. Instead of comparing this pattern's text against only the contents

8879

of a particular header field, the text for the AllText pattern is compared

8880

with text anywhere in the message's header or body, and the text for the

8881

BodyText pattern is compared with text anywhere in the message's body.

8882

8883

Any of the header patterns, the AllText pattern, or the BodyText pattern may

8884

be negated with the "!" "toggle NOT" command. You can tell that _NOT_ has

8885

been turned on by looking for the character "!" at the beginning of the

8886

pattern line. When the "!" is present, it reverses the meaning of the match.

8887

That is, if the pattern matches then it is considered to NOT be a match, and

8888

if it does not match it is considered to be a match.

8889

8890

Don't make the mistake of putting the "!" in the data field for a pattern.

8891

For example, if you type the characters "!urgent" into the Subject pattern,

8892

the pattern will look like:

8893

8894

Subject pattern = !urgent

8895

8896

This means you want to match the 7 character sequence "!urgent". In order to

8897

match messages which do not have "urgent" in their Subject field, first type

8898

the characters "urgent" followed by carriage return for the value of the

8899

Subject pattern, then negate it by typing the "!" command. It should look

8900

like

8901

8902

! Subject pattern = urgent

8903

8904

The contents of each of these header patterns (or the AllText or BodyText

8905

patterns) may be a complete email address, part of an address, or a random

8906

set of characters to match against. It may also be a list of such patterns,

8907

which means you are looking for a match against the first pattern in the

8908

list _OR_ the second pattern _OR_ the third and so on. For example, a

8909

Subject pattern equal to

8910

8911

Subject pattern = urgent

8912

emergency

8913

alert

8914

8915

would match all messages with a subject which contained at least one of

8916

those words. It would also match subjects containing the words "alerts" or

8917

"Urgently".

8918

8919

The same example with "NOT" turned on would be

8920

8921

! Subject pattern = urgent

8922

emergency

8923

alert

8924

8925

which would match all messages with a subject which did NOT contain any of

8926

those words. You can use the "Add Value" command to add new words to the

8927

list, or you can enter them as a comma-separated list.

8928

8929

(It is not possible to specify two patterns which must _BOTH_ be present for

8930

a match. It is only possible to specify that _EITHER_ pattern1 _OR_ pattern2

8931

must be present, and that is exactly what using a list does.)

8932

8933

The "Current Folder Type" and the "Score Interval" are also part of the

8934

Pattern, although the "Score Interval" is not used when checking for matches

8935

for Scoring. There are five similar settings which relate to the status of

8936

the message. These settings rely on the message being New or not, Deleted or

8937

not, Answered or not, Important or not, and Recent or not. There are also

8938

some other miscellaneous settings. The first is the Age of the message in

8939

days. Another is the Size of the message in bytes. The third is a setting

8940

which detects whether or not the Subject of a message contains raw 8-bit

8941

characters (unencoded characters with the most significant bit set). There

8942

is a setting which detects whether or not this is the first time _Alpine_

8943

has been run this month (doesn't depend on individual messages), and another

8944

which detects whether or not this is the first time _Alpine_ has been run

8945

this year. Other parts of the Pattern detect whether or not the From address

8946

of a message appears in your address book, whether or not certain keywords

8947

are set for a message, and whether or not certain character sets are used in

8948

a message.

8949

8950

Parts of a Pattern

8951

8952

Header patterns

8953

8954

A header pattern is simply text which is searched for in the corresponding

8955

header field. For example, if a Pattern has a From header pattern with the

8956

value "@company.com", then only messages which have a From header which

8957

contains the text "@company.com" will be possible matches. Matches don't

8958

have to be exact. For example, if the relevant field of a message contains

8959

the text "mailbox@domain" somewhere in it, then header patterns of "box", or

8960

"x@d", or "mailbox@domain" are all matches.

8961

8962

All parts of the Pattern must match so, for example, if a message matches a

8963

defined From pattern, it still must be checked against the other parts of

8964

the Pattern which have been defined. The To header pattern is a slightly

8965

special case. If the message being checked has a Resent-To header and the

8966

feature Use-Resent-To-in-Rules is turned on, the addresses there are used in

8967

place of the addresses in the To header. This is only true for the To

8968

header. Resent-cc and Resent-From headers are never used unless you add them

8969

with the eXtraHdrs command.

8970

8971

The meaning of a header pattern may be negated with the "!" "toggle NOT"

8972

command. You can tell that _NOT_ has been turned on by looking for the

8973

character "!" at the beginning of the pattern line. It would look something

8974

like

8975

8976

! From pattern = susan@example.com

8977

8978

When the "!" is present, it reverses the meaning of the match.

8979

8980

If you want to check for the presence of a header field but don't care about

8981

its value, then the empty pattern which you get by entering a pair of double

8982

quotes ("") should match any message which has the corresponding header

8983

field.

8984

8985

AllText patterns

8986

8987

AllText patterns are just like header patterns except that the text is

8988

searched for anywhere in the message's headers or body, not just in the

8989

contents of a particular header field.

8990

8991

BodyText patterns

8992

8993

BodyText patterns are just like header patterns except that the text is

8994

searched for anywhere in the message's body, not just in the contents of a

8995

particular header field.

8996

8997

If there is more than one header pattern or AllText pattern or BodyText

8998

pattern for which you want to take the same action there is a shorthand

8999

notation which may be used. Any of these patterns may be a list of patterns

9000

instead of just a single pattern. If any one of the patterns in the list

9001

matches the message then it is considered a match. For example, if

9002

"company1" and "company2" both required you to use the same role when

9003

replying to messages, you might have a To pattern which looks like

9004

9005

To pattern = company1.com

9006

company2.com

9007

9008

This means that if the mail you are replying to was addressed to either

9009

"anything@company1.com" or "anything@company2.com", then this Pattern is a

9010

match and the same actions will be taken.

9011

9012

The meaning of an AllText or BodyText pattern may be negated with the "!"

9013

"toggle NOT" command. You can tell that _NOT_ has been turned on by looking

9014

for the character "!" at the beginning of the pattern line. When the "!" is

9015

present, it reverses the meaning of the match.

9016

9017

A technicality: Since comma is the character used to separate multiple

9018

values in any of the fields which may have multiple values (such as header

9019

patterns, AllText patterns, BodyText patterns, keywords, folder lists, and

9020

so on), you must escape comma with a backslash (\) if you want to include a

9021

literal comma in one of those fields. In other words, if you type a

9022

backslash followed by a comma it will be interpreted as a comma by _Alpine_,

9023

instead of as a separator between pattern values. All other backslashes

9024

(those not followed by a comma) are literal backslashes and should not be

9025

escaped. It's unlikely you'll ever need to enter a literal comma or

9026

backslash in any of the patterns.

9027

9028

Current Folder Type

9029

9030

The "Current Folder Type" may be set to one of four different values: "Any",

9031

"News", "Email", or "Specific". If the value is set to "News", then the

9032

Pattern will only match if the currently open folder is a newsgroup. The

9033

value "Email" only matches if the current folder is not news and the value

9034

"Any" causes any folder to match. If the value of "Current Folder Type" is

9035

set to "Specific", then you must fill in a value for "Folder", which is on

9036

the line below the "Specific" line. In this case you will only get a match

9037

if the currently open folder is the specific folder you list. You may give a

9038

list of folders instead of just a single folder name, in which case the

9039

Pattern will match if the open folder is any one of the folders in the list.

9040

The name of each folder in the list may be either "INBOX", the technical

9041

specification of the folder (like what appears in your configuration file)

9042

or, if the folder is one of your incoming folders, it may be the nickname

9043

you've given the folder. Here are some samples of specific folder names:

9044

9045

{monet.art.example.com}mail/art-class

9046

9047

{news.example.com/nntp}#news.comp.mail.pine

9048

9049

mail/local-folder

9050

9051

The easiest way to fill in the "Folder" field is to use the "T" command

9052

which is available when the "Folder" line is hilighted, or to use the "Take"

9053

command with the configuration feature "enable-rules-under-take" turned on.

9054

9055

When reading a newsgroup, there may be a performance penalty incurred when

9056

collecting the information necessary to check whether or not a Pattern

9057

matches a message. For this reason, the default Current Folder Type is set

9058

to "Email". If you have Patterns with a Current Folder Type of either "Any"

9059

or "News" and those Patterns are used for Index Line Coloring or Scoring,

9060

you may experience slower screen redrawing in the MESSAGE INDEX screen when

9061

in a newsgroup.

9062

9063

Age Interval

9064

9065

The "Age Interval" may be set to an interval of message ages which should be

9066

considered a match. Like the other parts of the Pattern, if it is unset it

9067

will be ignored. The Age Interval looks like

9068

9069

(min_age,max_age)

9070

9071

where "min_age" and "max_age" are integers greater than or equal to zero.

9072

The special value "INF" may be used for the max value. It represents

9073

infinity.

9074

9075

Actually, this option may be defined as a list of intervals instead of just

9076

a single interval. The list is separated by commas. It can look like

9077

9078

(min_age1,max_age1),(min_age2,max_age2),...

9079

9080

When there is an Age Interval defined, it is a match if the age, in days, of

9081

the message is contained in any of the intervals. The intervals include both

9082

endpoints.

9083

9084

Even though this option is called Age, it isn't actually the _age_ of the

9085

message. Instead, it is how many days ago the message arrived in one of your

9086

folders. If the current time is a little past midnight, then a message that

9087

arrived just before midnight arrived yesterday, even though the message is

9088

only a few minutes old. By default, the date being used is not the date in

9089

the Date header of the message. It is the date that the message arrived in

9090

one of your folders. When you Save a message from one folder to another that

9091

arrival date is preserved. If you would like to use the date in the Date

9092

header that is possible. Turn on the option _use-date-header-for-age_ near

9093

the bottom of the rule definition.

9094

9095

A value of 0 is today, 1 is yesterday, 2 is the day before yesterday, and so

9096

on.

9097

9098

Size Interval

9099

9100

The "Size Interval" may be set to an interval of message sizes which should

9101

be considered a match. Like the other parts of the Pattern, if it is unset

9102

it will be ignored. The Size Interval looks like

9103

9104

(min_size,max_size)

9105

9106

where "min_size" and "max_size" are integers greater than or equal to zero.

9107

The special value "INF" may be used for the max value. It represents

9108

infinity.

9109

9110

Actually, this option may be defined as a list of intervals instead of just

9111

a single interval. The list is separated by commas. It can look like

9112

9113

(min_size1,max_size1),(min_size2,max_size2),...

9114

9115

When there is a Size Interval defined, it is a match if the size, in bytes,

9116

of the message is contained in any of the intervals. The intervals include

9117

both endpoints.

9118

9119

Score Interval

9120

9121

The "Score Interval" may be set to an interval of message scores which

9122

should be considered a match. Like the other parts of the Pattern, if it is

9123

unset it will be ignored. The Score Interval looks like

9124

9125

(min_score,max_score)

9126

9127

where "min_score" and "max_score" are integers between -32000 and 32000. The

9128

special values "-INF" and "INF" may be used for the min and max values to

9129

represent negative and positive infinity.

9130

9131

Actually, a list of intervals may be used if you wish. A list would look

9132

like

9133

9134

(min_score1,max_score1),(min_score2,max_score2),...

9135

9136

When there is a Score Interval defined, it is a match if the score for the

9137

message is contained in any of the intervals in the list. The intervals

9138

include the endpoints. The score for a message is calculated by looking at

9139

every Score rule defined and adding up the Score Values for the ones which

9140

match the message. When deciding whether or not a Pattern matches a message

9141

for purposes of calculating the score, the Score Interval is ignored.

9142

9143

Message Status

9144

9145

There are five separate message status settings. By default, all five are

9146

set to the value "Don't care", which will match any message. The value "Yes"

9147

means that the particular status must be true for a match, and the value

9148

"No" means that the particular status must not be true for a match. For

9149

example, one of the five Message Status settings is whether a message is

9150

marked Important or not. A "Yes" means that the message must be Important to

9151

be considered a match and "No" means that the message must not be Important

9152

to be considered a match. The same is true of the other four message status

9153

settings which depend on whether or not the message is New; whether the

9154

message has been Answered or not; whether the message has been Deleted or

9155

not, and whether the message is Recent or not.

9156

9157

The nomenclature for New and Recent is a bit confusing:

9158

9159

New means that the message is Unseen. It could have been in your mailbox for

9160

a long time but if you haven't looked at it, it is still considered New.

9161

That matches the default _Alpine_ index display that shows an N for such a

9162

message.

9163

9164

Recent means that the message was added to this folder since the last time

9165

you opened the folder. _Alpine_ also shows an N by default for these types

9166

of messages. If you were to run two copies of _Alpine_ that opened a folder

9167

one right after the other, a message would only show up as Recent in (at

9168

most) the first _Alpine_ session.

9169

9170

Message Keywords

9171

9172

Keywords are similar to Message Status, but they are chosen by the user.

9173

Provided the mail server allows for it, you may add a set of possible

9174

keywords to a folder and then you may set those keywords or not for each

9175

message in the folder. The syntax of this part of the Pattern is similar to

9176

the header patterns. It is a list of keywords. The Keyword part of the

9177

Pattern is a match if the message has any of the keywords in the list set.

9178

Like other parts of the Pattern, if this is unset it will be ignored.

9179

9180

Message Character Set

9181

9182

A message may use one or more character sets. This part of the Pattern

9183

matches messages which make use of one or more of the character sets

9184

specified in the pattern. It will be considered a match if a message uses

9185

any of the character sets in the list you give here. The syntax of this part

9186

of the Pattern is similar to the header patterns and the Message Keywords

9187

pattern. It is a list of character sets.

9188

9189

Besides actual character set names (for example, ISO-8859-7, KOI8-R, or

9190

GB2312) you may also use some shorthand names that _Alpine_ provides. These

9191

names are more understandable shorthand names for sets of character set

9192

names. Two examples are "Cyrillic" and "Greek". Selecting one of these

9193

shorthand names is equivalent to selecting all of the character sets that

9194

make up the set. You can see all of these shorthand names and the lists of

9195

character sets they stand for by typing the "T" command with the Character

9196

Set pattern highlighted. The Character Set part of the Pattern is a match if

9197

the message uses any of the character sets in the list. Like other parts of

9198

the Pattern, if this is unset it will be ignored.

9199

9200

Raw 8-bit in Subject

9201

9202

It seems that lots of unwanted email contains unencoded 8-bit characters in

9203

the Subject. Normally, characters with the 8th bit set are not allowed in

9204

the Subject header unless they are MIME-encoded. This option gives you a way

9205

to match messages which have Subjects which contain unencoded 8-bit

9206

characters. Setting this option will affect performance in large folders

9207

because the subject of each message in the folder has to be checked.

9208

9209

Beginning of Month

9210

9211

This option gives you a way to take some action once per month. The value

9212

"Yes" means that this must be the first time _Alpine_ has been run this

9213

month in order to count as a match,

9214

9215

Beginning of Year

9216

9217

This option gives you a way to take some action once per year. The value

9218

"Yes" means that this must be the first time _Alpine_ has been run this year

9219

in order to count as a match,

9220

9221

From or Reply-To address in Address Books

9222

9223

This option gives you a way to match messages which have a From or a

9224

Reply-To address which is in one of your address books. Only the simple

9225

entries in your address books are searched. Address book distribution lists

9226

are ignored! Setting this option will affect performance in large folders

9227

because the From and Reply-To of each message in the folder have to be

9228

checked.

9229

9230

Categorizer Command

9231

9232

This is a command that is run with its standard input set to the message

9233

being checked and its standard output discarded. The full directory path

9234

should be specified. The command will be run and then its exit status will

9235

be checked against the Exit Status Interval, which defaults to just the

9236

value zero. If the exit status of the command falls in the interval, it is

9237

considered a match, otherwise it is not a match.

9238

9239

This option may actually be a list of commands. The first one that exists

9240

and is executable is used. That makes it possible to use the same

9241

configuration with Unix _Alpine_ and _PC-Alpine_.

9242

9243

If none of the commands in the list exists and is executable then the rule

9244

is _not_ a match. If it is possible that the command may not exist, you

9245

should be careful to structure your rules so that nothing destructive

9246

happens when the command does not exist. For example, you might have a

9247

filter that filters away spam when there is a match but does nothing when

9248

there is not a match. That would continue to work correctly if the command

9249

didn't exist. However, if you have a filter which filters away spam when

9250

there is not a match and keeps it when there is a match, that would filter

9251

everything if the categorizer command didn't exist.

9252

9253

Help Configuring Pattern Fields

9254

9255

_Nickname_

9256

This is a nickname to help you. You should have a different nickname

9257

for each role you define. The nickname will be used in the SETUP ROLE

9258

RULES screen to allow you to pick a role to edit. It will also be

9259

used when you send a message to let you know you are sending with a

9260

different role than you use by default, and it will be useful for

9261

choosing a role when composing with the Role command or when

9262

composing with one of the Role Uses set to With Confirmation. This

9263

field is not used in the outgoing message.

9264

_Comment_

9265

This is a comment to help you. This comment does not play any

9266

functional role, it is simply an optional comment to help you

9267

remember what the rule is for.

9268

_To pattern_

9269

If this pattern is non-blank, then for this role to be considered a

9270

match, at least one of the recipients from the To line of the message

9271

being replied to or forwarded must match this pattern. In the case of

9272

the Compose command, this pattern and the other header patterns are

9273

ignored. If this pattern is a list of patterns, then at least one of

9274

the recipients must match at least one of the patterns. (Any other

9275

non-blank parts of the Pattern must match, too.) If the message being

9276

replied to or forwarded has a Resent-To header line, then that is

9277

used in place of the To line. (Note that this special Resent rule

9278

only applies to the To header. The Resent-From, Resent-Subject, and

9279

so on are not consulted.)

9280

It is possible to add a _NOT_ to the To Pattern meaning with the "!"

9281

"toggle NOT" command. This changes the meaning of the To pattern so

9282

that it has the opposite meaning. It will be considered a match if

9283

there are no matches between the addresses in the To: line and the

9284

list of To patterns.

9285

Don't make the mistake of putting the "!" in the data field for the

9286

pattern. For example, if you type the characters "!frizzle" into the

9287

To pattern, the pattern will look like:

9288

To pattern = !frizzle

9289

This means you want to match the 8 character sequence "!frizzle". In

9290

order to match messages which do not have "frizzle" in their To

9291

field, first type the characters "frizzle" followed by carriage

9292

return for the value of the To pattern, then negate it by typing the

9293

"!" command. It should end up looking like

9294

! To pattern = frizzle

9295

_From pattern_

9296

This is just like the To pattern except that it is compared with the

9297

address from the From header of the message being replied to or

9298

forwarded instead of the addresses from the To header.

9299

_Sender pattern_

9300

This is just like the To pattern except that it is compared with the

9301

address from the Sender header of the message being replied to or

9302

forwarded instead of the addresses from the To header. If there is no

9303

Sender header, then the From header is used instead.

9304

_Cc pattern_

9305

This is just like the To pattern except that it is compared with the

9306

address from the CC header of the message being replied to or

9307

forwarded instead of the addresses from the To header.

9308

_News pattern_

9309

If this pattern is non-blank, then for this role to be considered a

9310

match, at least one of the newsgroups from the Newsgroups line of the

9311

message must match this pattern. If this pattern is a list of

9312

patterns, then at least one of the newsgroups must match at least one

9313

of the patterns. (Any other non-blank parts of the Pattern must

9314

match, too.)

9315

_Subject pattern_

9316

This is similar to the other header patterns. It is compared with the

9317

contents from the Subject of the message being replied to or

9318

forwarded.

9319

If you enter non-ascii characters in this field then the search will

9320

be done using the character set you have defined with the

9321

Character-Set configuration variable. (The truly sophisticated may

9322

use an alternate character set for a search by entering the MIME

9323

encoding of the header string here.)

9324

_Extra header patterns_

9325

There isn't actually a field called Extra header patterns, but you

9326

may add extra header patterns by moving the cursor to one of the

9327

header patterns and using the "eXtraHdr" command to add a new header

9328

pattern. You would do this if the six predefined header patterns

9329

don't cover the header you want to use for pattern matching. Once

9330

you've added an extra header pattern, you use it just like the

9331

Subject pattern. Of course, it is compared with the contents from the

9332

particular header field of the message being replied to or forwarded

9333

rather than the contents from the subject field. To remove an extra

9334

header pattern from a role, use the &quotRemoveHdr" command on the

9335

highlighted extra header.

9336

If you enter non-ascii characters in this field then the search will

9337

be done using the character set you have defined with the

9338

Character-Set configuration variable. (The truly sophisticated may

9339

use an alternate character set for a search by entering the MIME

9340

encoding of the header string here.)

9341

_Recipient pattern_

9342

This is just like the To pattern except that it is compared with the

9343

addresses from both the To header and the Cc header instead of just

9344

the addresses from the To header. It's equivalent to having two

9345

different rules; one with a To pattern and the other with the same Cc

9346

pattern.

9347

_Participant pattern_

9348

This is just like the To pattern except that it is compared with the

9349

addresses from the To header, the Cc header, and the From header

9350

instead of just the addresses from the To header. It's equivalent to

9351

having three different rules; one with a To pattern, another with the

9352

same Cc pattern, and another with the same From pattern.

9353

_AllText pattern_

9354

This is similar to the header patterns. Instead of comparing with

9355

text in a particular header field it is compared with all of the text

9356

in the message header and body.

9357

If you enter non-ascii characters in this field then the search will

9358

be done using the character set you have defined with the

9359

Character-Set configuration variable. (The truly sophisticated may

9360

use an alternate character set for a search by entering the MIME

9361

encoding of the header string here.)

9362

_BodyText pattern_

9363

Just like AllText, except it is compared only with the body of the

9364

message, not the body and header.

9365

If you enter non-ascii characters in this field then the search will

9366

be done using the character set you have defined with the

9367

Character-Set configuration variable. (The truly sophisticated may

9368

use an alternate character set for a search by entering the MIME

9369

encoding of the header string here.)

9370

_Age Interval_

9371

The Age Interval, if defined, is part of the Pattern. If you use

9372

this, it should be set to something like:

9373

9374

(min_age,max_age)

9375

where "min_age" and "max_age" are non-negative integers. The special

9376

value "INF" may be used for the max value. It represents infinity.

9377

In rare cases it may be useful to use the more general form of the

9378

value, which is a comma-separated list of intervals. It would look

9379

something like:

9380

9381

(min_age1,max_age1),(min_age2,max_age2),...

9382

When there is an Age Interval defined, it is a match if the age, in

9383

days, of the message is contained in the interval. The interval

9384

includes both endpoints. If the option is set to a list of intervals

9385

then it is a match if the age of the message is contained in any of

9386

the intervals.

9387

Even though this option is called Age, it isn't actually the _age_ of

9388

the message. Instead, it is how many days ago the message arrived in

9389

one of your folders. If the current time is a little past midnight,

9390

then a message that arrived just before midnight arrived yesterday,

9391

even though the message is only a few minutes old. By default, the

9392

date being used is not the date in the Date header of the message. It

9393

is the date that the message arrived in one of your folders. When you

9394

Save a message from one folder to another that arrival date is

9395

preserved. If you would like to use the date in the Date header that

9396

is possible. Turn on the option _use-date-header-for-age_ near the

9397

bottom of the rule definition.

9398

A value of 0 is today, 1 is yesterday, 2 is the day before yesterday,

9399

and so on. The age interval

9400

9401

(2,2)

9402

matches all messages that arrived on the day before yesterday. The

9403

interval

9404

9405

(180,INF)

9406

matches all messages that arrived at least 180 days before today. The

9407

interval

9408

9409

(0,1)

9410

matches all messages that arrived today or yesterday.

9411

_Score Interval_

9412

The Score Interval, if defined, is part of the Pattern. If you use

9413

this, it should be set to something like:

9414

9415

(min_score,max_score)

9416

where "min_score" and "max_score" are integers between -32000 and

9417

32000. The special values "-INF" and "INF" can be used for the min

9418

and max values. These represent negative and positive infinity.

9419

Actually, the value may be a list of intervals rather than just a

9420

single interval if that is useful. The elements of the list are

9421

separated by commas like:

9422

9423

(min_score1,max_score1),(min_score2,max_score2),...

9424

When there is a Score Interval defined, it is a match if the score

9425

for the message is contained in any of the intervals. The intervals

9426

include both endpoints. The score for a message is calculated by

9427

looking at every scoring rule defined and adding up the Score Values

9428

for the rules which match the message.

9429

_Keyword pattern_

9430

A folder may have user-defined keywords. These are similar to the

9431

Important flag which the user may set using the Flag command. The

9432

difference is that the Important flag is always present for each

9433

folder. User-defined keywords are picked by the user. You may add new

9434

keywords by defining them in the Keywords option in the Setup/Config

9435

screen. After you have added a potential keyword with the Keywords

9436

option, the Flag command may be used to set or clear the keyword on

9437

individual messages. If you have given a keyword a nickname when

9438

configuring it, that nickname may be used instead of the actual

9439

keyword.

9440

When filling in a value for this field, it may be easiest to use the

9441

"T" command, which presents you with a list of the keywords you have

9442

defined to choose from.

9443

This part of the Pattern matches messages with certain keywords set.

9444

It will be considered a match if a message has any of the keywords in

9445

the list set.

9446

It is possible to add a _NOT_ to the Keyword Pattern meaning with the

9447

"!" "toggle NOT" command. This changes the meaning of the Keyword

9448

pattern so that it has the opposite meaning. It will be considered a

9449

match if none of the keywords in the list are set for a message.

9450

Don't make the mistake of putting the "!" in the data field for the

9451

pattern. For example, if you type the characters "!frizzle" into the

9452

Keyword pattern, the pattern will look like:

9453

Keyword pattern = !frizzle

9454

This means you want to match the 8 character sequence "!frizzle". In

9455

order to match messages which do not have the keyword "frizzle" set,

9456

first type the characters "frizzle" followed by carriage return for

9457

the value of the Keyword pattern, then negate it by typing the "!"

9458

command. It should end up looking like

9459

! Keyword pattern = frizzle

9460

_Character Set pattern_

9461

A message may use one or more character sets. This part of the

9462

Pattern matches messages which make use of certain specified

9463

character sets. It will be considered a match if a message uses any

9464

of the character sets in the list you give here.

9465

When filling in a value for this field, you may use the "T" command,

9466

which presents you with a large list of possible character sets to

9467

choose from. You may also just type in the name of a character set,

9468

and it need not be one that Alpine knows about.

9469

Besides actual character set names (for example, ISO-8859-7, KOI8-R,

9470

or GB2312) you may also use some shorthand names that Alpine

9471

provides. These names are more understandable shorthand names for

9472

sets of character set names. Two examples are "Cyrillic" and "Greek".

9473

Selecting one of these shorthand names is equivalent to selecting all

9474

of the character sets that make up the set. You can see all of these

9475

shorthand names and the lists of character sets they stand for by

9476

typing the "T" command.

9477

For the purposes of this Pattern, _Alpine_ will search through a

9478

message for all of the text parts and collect the character sets

9479

declared for each part. It will also look in the Subject line for a

9480

character set used there. _Alpine_ does not actually look at the text

9481

of the message or the text of the Subject to determine if a declared

9482

character set is actually used, it looks only at the declarations

9483

themselves in the MIME part headers and in the Subject.

9484

It is possible to add a _NOT_ to the Character Set Pattern meaning

9485

with the "!" "toggle NOT" command. This changes the meaning of the

9486

Character Set pattern so that it has the opposite meaning. It will be

9487

considered a match if none of the character sets in the list are used

9488

in a message.

9489

Don't make the mistake of putting the "!" in the data field for the

9490

pattern. For example, if you type the characters "!GB2312" into the

9491

Character Set pattern, the pattern will look like:

9492

Charset pattern = !GB2312

9493

This means you want to match the 7 character sequence "!GB2312". In

9494

order to match messages which do not have the character set "GB2312"

9495

set, first type the characters "GB2312" followed by carriage return

9496

for the value of the Character Set pattern, then negate it by typing

9497

the "!" command. It should end up looking like

9498

! Charset pattern = GB2312

9499

A technicality: Since comma is the character used to separate

9500

multiple values in a pattern field, you have to escape comma with a

9501

backslash (\) if you want to include a literal comma in the field. In

9502

other words, if you type a backslash followed by a comma it will be

9503

interpreted as a comma by _Alpine_, instead of as a separator between

9504

pattern values. All other backslashes are literal backslashes and

9505

should not be escaped.

9506

_Current Folder Type_

9507

The Current Folder Type is part of the Pattern. It refers to the type

9508

of the currently open folder, which is the folder you were last

9509

looking at from the MESSAGE INDEX or MESSAGE TEXT screen. In order

9510

for a pattern to be considered a match, the current folder must be of

9511

the type you set here. The three types "Any", "News", and "Email" are

9512

all what you might think.

9513

If the Current Folder Type for a Pattern is set to "News", for

9514

example, then that will only be a match if the current folder is a

9515

newsgroup and the rest of the Pattern matches. The value "Specific"

9516

may be used when you want to limit the match to a specific folder

9517

(not just a specific type of folder), or to a list of specific

9518

folders. In order to match a specific folder you must Select the

9519

"Specific" button _AND_ you must fill in the name (or list of names)

9520

of the folder in the "Folder" field. If the current folder is any of

9521

the folders in the list, that is considered a match. The name of each

9522

folder in the list may be either "INBOX", the technical specification

9523

of the folder (like what appears in your configuration file) or, if

9524

the folder is one of your incoming folders, it may be the nickname

9525

you've given the folder. Here are a couple samples of specific folder

9526

names:

9527

9528

{monet.art.example.com}mail/art-class

9529

9530

{news.example.com/nntp}#news.comp.mail.pine

9531

The easiest way to fill in the "Folder" field is to use the T command

9532

which is available when the "Folder" line is hilighted. Note that you

9533

won't be able to edit the "Folder" line unless the Current Folder

9534

Type is set to "Specific", and any value that "Folder" has is ignored

9535

unless the type is set to "Specific".

9536

When reading a newsgroup, there may be a performance penalty incurred

9537

when collecting the information necessary to check a Pattern. For

9538

this reason, the default Current Folder Type is set to "Email". For

9539

example, a role with a non-Normal Index Line Color and a Current

9540

Folder Type of "Any" or "News" may cause the MESSAGE INDEX screen to

9541

draw more slowly when in a newsgroup.

9542

_Message Status Important_

9543

This part of the Pattern may have one of three possible values. The

9544

default value is "Don't care", which matches any message. The other

9545

two values are "Yes", which means the message must be flagged

9546

"Important" in order to be a match; or "No", which means the message

9547

must _not_ be flagged "Important" in order to be considered a match.

9548

_Message Status New_

9549

This part of the Pattern may have one of three possible values. The

9550

default value is "Don't care", which matches any message. The other

9551

two values are "Yes", which means the message must be "New" in order

9552

to be a match; or "No", which means the message must _not_ be "New"

9553

in order to be a match. "New" is the same as _Unseen_ and not "New"

9554

is the same as _Seen_.

9555

The nomenclature for New and Recent is a bit confusing:

9556

New means that the message is Unseen. It could have been in your

9557

mailbox for a long time but if you haven't looked at it, it is still

9558

considered New. That matches the default _Alpine_ index display that

9559

shows an N for such a message.

9560

Recent means that the message was added to this folder since the last

9561

time you opened the folder. _Alpine_ also shows an N by default for

9562

these types of messages. If you were to run two copies of _Alpine_

9563

that opened a folder one right after the other, a message would only

9564

show up as Recent in (at most) the first _Alpine_ session.

9565

_Message Status Recent_

9566

This part of the Pattern may have one of three possible values. The

9567

default value is "Don't care", which matches any message. The other

9568

two values are "Yes", which means the message must be "Recent" in

9569

order to be a match; or "No", which means the message must _not_ be

9570

"Recent" in order to be a match. "Recent" means that the message was

9571

added to the folder since the last time the folder was opened. If

9572

more than one mail client has the folder opened, the message will

9573

appear to be "Recent" to only one of the clients.

9574

The nomenclature for New and Recent is a bit confusing:

9575

New means that the message is Unseen. It could have been in your

9576

mailbox for a long time but if you haven't looked at it, it is still

9577

considered New. That matches the default _Alpine_ index display that

9578

shows an N for such a message.

9579

Recent means that the message was added to this folder since the last

9580

time you opened the folder. _Alpine_ also shows an N by default for

9581

these types of messages. If you were to run two copies of _Alpine_

9582

that opened a folder one right after the other, a message would only

9583

show up as Recent in (at most) the first _Alpine_ session.

9584

_Message Status Deleted_

9585

This part of the Pattern may have one of three possible values. The

9586

default value is "Don't care", which matches any message. The other

9587

two values are "Yes", which means the message must be marked

9588

"Deleted" in order to be a match; or "No", which means the message

9589

must _not_ be marked "Deleted" in order to be a match.

9590

If you are thinking of using this part of the Pattern as a way to

9591

prevent messages from being filtered more than once in a Filter

9592

Pattern, take a look at the Filter Option "move-only-if-not-deleted"

9593

instead. It should work better than using this field since it will

9594

hide the filtered messages even if they are already Deleted.

9595

_Message Status Answered_

9596

This part of the Pattern may have one of three possible values. The

9597

default value is "Don't care", which matches any message. The other

9598

two values are "Yes", which means the message must be marked

9599

"Answered" in order to be a match; or "No", which means the message

9600

must _not_ be marked "Answered" in order to be a match.

9601

_Subject Contains Raw 8-bit_

9602

This part of the Pattern may have one of three possible values. The

9603

default value is "Don't care", which matches any message. The other

9604

two values are "Yes", which means the Subject of the message must

9605

contain unencoded 8-bit characters (characters with the most

9606

significant bit set) in order to be a match; or "No", which means the

9607

Subject must _not_ contain unencoded 8-bit characters in order to be

9608

a match.

9609

_Beginning of Month_

9610

This part of the Pattern may have one of three possible values. The

9611

default value is "Don't care", which matches any message. The other

9612

two values are "Yes", which means this is the first time _Alpine_ has

9613

been run this month; or "No", which means this is _not_ the first

9614

time _Alpine_ has been run this month. The way that _Alpine_ decides

9615

if it is the beginning of the month or not is to compare today's date

9616

with the date stored in the Last-Time-Prune-Questioned variable in

9617

the config file. If the month of today's date is later than the month

9618

stored in the variable, then this is considered to be the first time

9619

you have run Alpine this month, and that turns the Beginning of the

9620

Month option on.

9621

_Beginning of Year_

9622

This part of the Pattern may have one of three possible values. The

9623

default value is "Don't care", which matches any message. The other

9624

two values are "Yes", which means this is the first time _Alpine_ has

9625

been run this year; or "No", which means this is _not_ the first time

9626

_Alpine_ has been run this year. The way that _Alpine_ decides if it

9627

is the beginning of the year or not is to compare today's date with

9628

the date stored in the Last-Time-Prune-Questioned variable in the

9629

config file. If the year of today's date is later than the year

9630

stored in the variable, then this is considered to be the first time

9631

you have run Alpine this year, and that turns the Beginning of the

9632

Year option on.

9633

_From or Reply-To in Address Book_

9634

This part of the Pattern may have one of five possible values. The

9635

default value is "Don't care", which matches any message. The value

9636

"Yes, in any address book" means either the From address or the

9637

Reply-To address of the message must be in at least one of your

9638

address books in order to be a match. The value "No, not in any

9639

address book" means neither the From nor the Reply-To addresses may

9640

be in any of your address books in order to be a match.

9641

The values "Yes, in specific address books" and "No, not in any of

9642

specific address books" are similar but instead of depending on all

9643

address books you are allowed to give a list of address books to look

9644

in. Usually this would be a single address book but it may be a list

9645

of address books as well. For each of these "specific" address book

9646

options you Select which of the Specific options you want (Yes or No)

9647

_AND_ fill in the name (or list of names) of the address book in the

9648

"Abook List" field. The names to be used are those that appear in the

9649

ADDRESS BOOK LIST screen. The easiest way to fill in the Abook List

9650

field it to use the "T" command which is available when the "Abook

9651

List" line is highlighted. Note that you won't be able to edit the

9652

"Abook List" line unless the option is set to one of the two

9653

"Specific", values.

9654

_Categorizer Command_

9655

This is a command that is run with its standard input set to the

9656

message being checked and its standard output discarded. The full

9657

directory path should be specified. The command will be run and then

9658

its exit status will be checked against the _Exit Status Interval_,

9659

which defaults to just the value zero. If the exit status of the

9660

command falls in the interval, it is considered a match, otherwise it

9661

is not a match.

9662

This option may actually be a list of commands. The first one that

9663

exists and is executable is used. That makes it possible to use the

9664

same configuration with Unix _Alpine_ and _PC-Alpine_.

9665

If none of the commands in the list exists and is executable then the

9666

rule is _not_ a match. If it is possible that the command may not

9667

exist, you should be careful to structure your rules so that nothing

9668

destructive happens when the command does not exist. For example, you

9669

might have a filter that filters away spam when there is a match but

9670

does nothing when there is not a match. That would continue to work

9671

correctly if the command didn't exist. However, if you have a filter

9672

which filters away spam when there is not a match and keeps it when

9673

there is a match, that would filter everything if the categorizer

9674

command didn't exist.

9675

The categorizer command is run and the result is the exit status of

9676

that command. If that exit status falls in the _Exit Status Interval_

9677

then it is considered a match, otherwise it is not a match. Of course

9678

for the entire rule to match, it must also be checked against the

9679

other defined parts of the Pattern.

9680

The _Exit Status Interval_ defaults to the single value 0 (zero). If

9681

you define it, it should be set to something like:

9682

9683

(min_exit_value,max_exit_value)

9684

where "min_exit_value" and "max_exit_value" are integers. The special

9685

values "INF" and "-INF" may be used for large positive and negative

9686

integers.

9687

Actually, a list of intervals may be used if you wish. A list would

9688

look like

9689

9690

(min_exit_value1,max_exit_value1),(min_exit_value2,max_exit_value2),...

9691

When there is an _Exit Status Interval_ defined, it is a match if the

9692

exit status of the categorizer command is contained in any of the

9693

intervals. The intervals include both endpoints.

9694

The default interval is

9695

9696

(0,0)

9697

and it matches only if the command exits with exit status equal to

9698

zero.

9699

It is also possible to set a _Character Limit_ for the categorizer

9700

command. Setting this option makes it possible to limit how much of

9701

the message is made available to the categorizer command as input.

9702

The default value (-1) means that the entire message is fed to the

9703

command. A value of 0 (zero) means that only the headers of the

9704

message are made available. A positive integer means that the headers

9705

plus that many characters from the body of the message are passed to

9706

the categorizer.

9707

9708

Configuring News

9709

9710

_Alpine_ can access news folders in any one of three different ways:

9711

9712

REMOTE NNTP

9713

Using the Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP) to access news on a

9714

remote news server. In this case the newsrc file is stored on the

9715

machine where _Alpine_ is running.

9716

9717

To specify a remote news-collection accessed via NNTP use the

9718

SETUP/collectionList screen's "Add" command. Set the Server: value to

9719

the NNTP server's hostname appended with the communication method

9720

"/service=NNTP", and set the Path: value to the "#news." namespace

9721

(without the quotes).

9722

9723

Instead of specifying a news-collection, you may simply set the

9724

nntp-server option, which will cause _Alpine_ to create a default

9725

news-collection for you. Another NNTP option which may be of interest

9726

is nntp-range.

9727

9728

REMOTE IMAP

9729

Using the Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) to access news on a

9730

remote news server. In this case, your newsrc file is stored on the

9731

news server, in your home directory, so you must have an account on

9732

the news server, but you would be running _Alpine_ on a different

9733

machine. The news server must be running an IMAPd server process.

9734

9735

To specify a remote news-collection accessed via IMAP use the

9736

SETUP/collectionList screen's "Add" command. Set the Server: value to

9737

the IMAP server's hostname, and set the Path: value to the "#news."

9738

namespace (without the quotes).

9739

9740

LOCAL

9741

Using local file access to the news database. In this case, your

9742

newsrc file is stored on the news server, in your home directory, so

9743

you must have an account on the news server, and you would be running

9744

_Alpine_ on the same machine.

9745

9746

To specify a local news-collection use the SETUP/collectionList

9747

screen's "Add" command. Leave the Server: value blank, and set the

9748

Path: value to the "#news." namespace (without the quotes).

9749

9750

NOTE: Should no news-collection be defined as above, _Alpine_ will

9751

automatically create one using the Setup/Config screen's "nntp-server"

9752

variable's value if defined. The collection will be created as a "Remote

9753

NNTP" as described above.

9754

9755

If you are a _PC-Alpine_ user, either option 1 (NNTP) or option 2 (IMAP) is

9756

possible. If you don't have an account on the news server, or if the news

9757

server is not running an IMAP daemon, then you must use NNTP. (If you are

9758

not sure, ask your service provider, university, or company for help.) In

9759

this case, your Unix .newsrc file can be transferred to your PC. A good

9760

place to put it would be in the same directory as your PINERC file, under

9761

the name NEWSRC, but you can specify a different location.

9762

9763

Other configuration features related to news are Enable-8bit-Nntp-Posting.

9764

Compose-Sets-Newsgroup-Without-Confirm, News-Approximates-New-Status,

9765

News-Deletes-Across-Groups, News-Offers-Catchup-On-Close,

9766

News-Post-Without-Validation, News-Read-in-Newsrc-Order, and

9767

Quell-Extra-Post-Prompt.

9768

_________________________________________________________________

9769

9770

Notes on Configuration and Preferences

9771

9772

Alpine in Function Key Mode

9773

9774

The standard _Alpine_ uses alphabetic keys for most commands, and control

9775

keys in the composer. Despite possible appearances, the current bindings are

9776

the result of much discussion and thought. All the commands in the composer

9777

are single control characters. This keeps things very neat and simple for

9778

users. Two character commands in the composer are a possibility, but we're

9779

trying to avoid them because of the added complexity for the user.

9780

9781

_Alpine_ can also operate in a function-key mode. To go into this mode

9782

invoke _alpine -k_ or (on some UNIX systems) _alpinef._ On a UNIX system,

9783

you can link or copy the _Alpine_ executable to _alpinef_ to install

9784

_alpinef._ Alternatively, users and systems administrators can set the

9785

_use-function-keys_ feature in the personal or system-wide _Alpine_

9786

configuration file. The command menus at the bottom of the screen will show

9787

_F1-F12 _instead of the alphabetic commands. In addition, the help screens

9788

will be written in terms of function keys and not alphabetic keys.

9789

9790

One of the results of using _Alpine_ in function-key mode is that users can

9791

only choose from twelve commands at any given time. In alphabetic-key mode,

9792

a user can press a key for a command (say, q to quit) and that command can

9793

be fulfilled. In function-key mode, the command must be visible on the

9794

bottom key-menu in order to be used. There are some screens where four

9795

screens of commands are operational; function-key users can get to all of

9796

them, just not all at once.

9797

_________________________________________________________________

9798

9799

Domain Settings

9800

9801

_Alpine_ uses the default domain for a few different tasks. First, it is

9802

tacked onto the user-id for outgoing email. Second, it is tacked onto all

9803

"local" (unqualified) addresses in the "To:" or "Cc:" fields of messages

9804

being composed (unless they are found in the address book or on an LDAP

9805

server). The domain name is also used to generate message-id lines for each

9806

outgoing message and to allow _Alpine_ to check if an address is that of the

9807

current _Alpine_ user.

9808

9809

_Alpine_ determines the domain name according to whichever of these it

9810

finds. The list here is in decreasing order of precedence.

9811

1. Value of the variable user-domain in the system fixed configuration file

9812

2. Value of the variable _user-domain_ in the personal configuration file

9813

3. Value of the variable _user-domain_ in the system-wide configuration

9814

file

9815

4. Value from an external database (DNS, /etc/hosts, NIS) as modified by a

9816

system fixed configuration file if use-only-domain-name set to _yes_

9817

5. Value from an external database (DNS, /etc/hosts, NIS) as modified by a

9818

personal configuration file if _use-only-domain-name_ set to _yes_

9819

6. Value from an external database (DNS, /etc/hosts, NIS) as modified by a

9820

system configuration file if _use-only-domain-name_ set to _yes_

9821

7. Unmodified value (host name) from an external database

9822

9823

The easiest way for this system to work is for _PC-Alpine_ users and UNIX

9824

_Alpine_ system administrators to set the _user-domain_ variable. The

9825

variable _use-only-domain-name_ is helpful if your site supports/requires

9826

hostless addressing, but for some reason you don't want to use the

9827

_user-domain_ variable.

9828

_________________________________________________________________

9829

9830

Syntax for Collections

9831

9832

In many environments, it is quite common to have collections of archived

9833

mail on various hosts around the network. Using the folder collections

9834

facility in _Alpine_, access to these archives is just as simple as access

9835

to folders on _Alpine_'s local disk.

9836

9837

"Collection" is the word we use in _Alpine_ to describe a set of folders. A

9838

collection corresponds loosely to a "directory" containing mail folders.

9839

Folders within a defined collection can be manipulated (opened, saved-to,

9840

etc) using just their simple name. Any number of folder collections can be

9841

defined, and _Alpine_ will adjust its menus and prompts to help navigate

9842

them.

9843

9844

The way collections are defined in _Alpine_ is with the folder-collections

9845

variable in the _Alpine_ configuration file. _Folder-collections_ takes a

9846

list of one or more collections, each (optionally) preceded by a

9847

user-defined logical name (label). Once collections are defined, _Alpine_

9848

adjusts its menus and behavior to allow choosing files by their simple name

9849

within the collection.

9850

9851

Consider the following:

9852

folder-collections= Local-Mail C:\MAIL\[],

9853

Remote-Mail {imap.u.example.edu}mail/[]

9854

9855

The example shows two collections defined (a comma separated list; newlines

9856

in the list are OK if there's one or more spaces before the next entry), one

9857

local and one remote. Each collection is a space-delimited pair of

9858

elements-first an optional logical-name and second the collection specifier.

9859

The logical-name can have spaces if it has quotes around it (but keeping the

9860

logical name short and descriptive works best). _Alpine_ will use the

9861

logical-name (if provided) to reference all folders in the collection, so

9862

the user never has to see the ugliness of the collection specifier.

9863

9864

The collection specifier can be thought of as an extended IMAP format (see

9865

the Remote Folders section for a description of IMAP format names).

9866

Basically, a pair of square-brackets are placed in the fully qualified IMAP

9867

path where the simple folder name (the part without the host name and path)

9868

would appear. Like IMAP, the path can be either fully qualified (i.e., with

9869

a leading '/') or relative to your home directory.

9870

9871

An advanced feature of this notation is that a pattern within the square

9872

brackets allows the user to define a collection to be a subset of a

9873

directory. For example, a collection defined with the specifier:

9874

M-Mail C:MAIL/[m*]

9875

9876

will provide a view in the folder lister of all folders in the PC's "C:MAIL"

9877

directory that start with the letter 'm' (case insensitive under DOS, of

9878

course). Further, the wildcard matching will honor characters trailing the

9879

'*' in the pattern.

9880

9881

From within _Alpine_, the "Folder List" display will be adjusted to allow

9882

browsing of the folders in any defined collection. Even more, you'll notice

9883

in the _Goto_ and _Save_ commands a pair of sub-commands to rotate through

9884

the list of logical collection names, so only a simple name need be input in

9885

order to operate on a folder in any collection.

9886

9887

The first collection specified in the _folder-collections_ has special

9888

significance. That folder is the "default collection for saves". By default,

9889

in cases where the user does not specify which collection should be used to

9890

_Save_ a message, the default collection for saves will be used. Also, if the

9891

default-fcc is a relative file name, then it is relative to the default

9892

collection for saves. (See also saved-msg-name-rule.

9893

9894

The notion of collections encompasses both email folders and news reading.

9895

The variable news-collections uses nearly the same format as

9896

_folder-collections_. Newsgroups can be defined for convenient access via

9897

either IMAP or NNTP. There are advantages and disadvantages to both access

9898

methods. In the IMAP case, your news environment state is maintained on the

9899

server and, thus, will be seen by any client. The downside is that, at the

9900

moment, you must have an account on the server. In the NNTP case, server

9901

access is mostly anonymous and no state/accounting need be maintained on it.

9902

The downside is that each client, for now, must individually maintain news

9903

environment state.

9904

9905

An example pinerc entry might be:

9906

news-collections= Remote-State {news.u.example.edu}#news.[],

9907

Local-State {news.u.example.edu/nntp}#news.[]

9908

9909

Only newsgroups to which you are subscribed are included in the collection.

9910

9911

The pattern matching facility can be applied so as to define a news

9912

collection which is a subset of all the newsgroups you subscribe to. For

9913

example, this could be a valid collection:

9914

Newsfeed-News {news.u.example.edu/nntp}#news.[clari.*

9915

]

9916

9917

Collection handling is a tough problem to solve in a general way, and the

9918

explanation of the syntax is a bit ugly. The upside is, hopefully, that for

9919

a little complexity in the _Alpine_ configuration file you get simple

9920

management of multiple folders in diverse locations.

9921

9922

Collection setup is handled by the _Setup/collectionList_ screen.

9923

_________________________________________________________________

9924

9925

Syntax for Folder Names

9926

9927

Remote folders are distinguished from local folders by a leading host name

9928

bracketed by '{' and '}'. The path and folder name immediately following the

9929

closing bracket, '}', is interpreted by the remote server and is in a form

9930

compatible with that server (i.e., path delimiters and naming syntax

9931

relative to that server).

9932

9933

The full syntax for a _Alpine_ folder name looks like

9934

9935

[{<remote-specification>}][#<namespace>]<namespace-specific-part>

9936

9937

The square brackets ([]) mean that the part is optional.

9938

9939

If there is no remote-specification, then the folder name is interpreted

9940

locally on the computer running _Alpine_. Local folder names depend on the

9941

operating system used by the computer running _Alpine_, as well as the

9942

configuration of that system. For example, "C:\ALPINE\FOLDERS\OCT-94" might

9943

exist on a PC, and "~/mail/september-1994" might be a reasonable folder name

9944

on a system running Unix.

9945

9946

_Alpine_ users have the option of using folders which are stored on some

9947

other computer. _Alpine_ accesses remote folders via IMAP (the Internet

9948

Message Access Protocol), or in the case of news, via NNTP (the Network News

9949

Transport Protocol). To be able to access remote folders in _Alpine_, the

9950

remote host must be running the appropriate server software (imapd or nntpd)

9951

and you must correctly specify the name of the folder to _Alpine_, including

9952

the domain name of the remote machine. For example,

9953

9954

{monet.art.example.com}INBOX

9955

9956

could be a remote folder specification, and so could

9957

9958

{unixhost.art.example.com}~/mail/september-1994

9959

9960

and

9961

9962

{winhost.art.example.com}\mymail\SEP-94

9963

9964

Note that in the case of remote folders, the directory/file path in the

9965

specification is determined by the operating system of the remote computer,

9966

_not_ by the operating system of the computer on which you are running

9967

_Alpine_.

9968

9969

As you can tell, the name of the computer is in {} brackets followed

9970

immediately by the name of the folder. (In each of these cases the optional

9971

namespace is missing.) If, as in these examples, there is no remote access

9972

protocol specified, then IMAP is assumed. Check Server Name Syntax for a

9973

more detailed look at what options can be placed between the brackets. If

9974

there are no brackets at all, then the folder name is interpreted locally on

9975

the computer on which you are running _Alpine_.

9976

9977

To the right of the brackets when a server name is present, or at the start

9978

of the foldername if no server is present, the sharp sign, "#", holds

9979

special meaning. It indicates a folder name outside the area reserved for

9980

your personal folders. In fact, it's used to indicate both the name of the

9981

folder, and a special phrase telling _Alpine_ how to interpret the name that

9982

follows.

9983

9984

So, for example, _Alpine_ can be used to access a newsgroup that might be

9985

available on your computer using:

9986

9987

#news.comp.mail.pine

9988

9989

The sharp sign indicates the folder name is outside your personal folder

9990

area. The "news." phrase after it tells _Alpine_ to interpret the remainder

9991

of the name as a newsgroup.

9992

9993

Similarly, to access a newsgroup on your IMAP server, you might use

9994

something like:

9995

9996

{wharhol.art.example.com}#news.comp.mail.misc

9997

9998

There are a number of such special phrases (or "namespaces") available. For

9999

a more detailed explanation read about Namespaces.

10000

10001

Note that "INBOX" has special meaning in both local and remote folder names.

10002

The name INBOX refers to your "principal incoming message folder" and will

10003

be mapped to the actual file name used for your INBOX on any given host.

10004

Therefore, a name like "{xxx.art.example.com}INBOX" refers to whatever file

10005

is used to store incoming mail for you on that particular host.

10006

_________________________________________________________________

10007

10008

Server Name Syntax

10009

10010

This section describes the syntax which may be used for server names which

10011

may be associated with remote folders or SMTP servers.

10012

10013

A server name is the hostname of the server. It's a good idea to use the

10014

host's fully-qualified network name.

10015

10016

foo.example.com

10017

10018

However, IP addresses are allowed if surrounded with square-brackets.

10019

10020

[127.0.0.1]

10021

10022

An optional network port number may be supplied by appending a colon (:)

10023

followed by the port number to the server name. By default, the IMAP port

10024

number, 143, is used.

10025

10026

foo.example.com:port

10027

10028

Besides server name and optional port number, various other optional

10029

parameters may be supplied that alter _Alpine_'s interaction with the

10030

server. A parameter is supplied by appending a slash (/) character followed

10031

by the parameter's name and, depending on the particular parameter, the

10032

value assigned to that name, to the server name (and optional port number).

10033

Parameter names are _not_ case sensitive. Currently supported parameters

10034

include:

10035

10036

User

10037

This parameter requires an associated value, and is intended to

10038

provide the username identifier with which to establish the server

10039

connection. If your SMTP server offers SMTP AUTH authentication,

10040

adding this parameter to the SMTP-Server option will cause _Alpine_

10041

to attempt to authenticate to the server using the supplied username.

10042

Similarly, if your NNTP server offers NNTP "AUTHINFO SASL" or

10043

"AUTHINFO USER" authentication, adding this parameter to the

10044

NNTP-Server option (or to the server name for any folder collection

10045

using NNTP) will cause _Alpine_ to attempt to authenticate to the

10046

server using the supplied username. An example might be:

10047

10048

/user=katie

10049

10050

TLS

10051

Normally, when a new connection is made an attempt is made to

10052

negotiate a secure (encrypted) session using Transport Layer Security

10053

(TLS). If that fails then a non-encrypted connection will be

10054

attempted instead. This is a unary parameter indicating communication

10055

with the server must take place over a TLS connection. If the attempt

10056

to use TLS fails then this parameter will cause the connection to

10057

fail instead of falling back to an unsecure connection.

10058

10059

/tls

10060

10061

SSL

10062

This is a unary parameter indicating communication with the server

10063

should take place over a Secure Socket Layer connection. The server

10064

must support this method, and be prepared to accept connections on

10065

the appropriate port (993 by default). _Alpine_ must be linked with

10066

an SSL library for this option to be operational.

10067

10068

/ssl

10069

10070

NoValidate-Cert

10071

Do not validate certificates (for TLS or SSL connections) from the

10072

server. This is needed if the server uses self-signed certificates or

10073

if _Alpine_ cannot validate the certificate for some other known

10074

reason.

10075

10076

Anonymous

10077

This is a unary parameter (that means it does not have a value)

10078

indicating that the connection be logged in as "anonymous" rather

10079

than a specific user. Not all servers offer anonymous access; those

10080

which do generally only offer read-only access to certain "public"

10081

folders.

10082

10083

/anonymous

10084

10085

Secure

10086

This is a unary parameter indicating that the connection use the most

10087

secure authentication method mutually supported by _Alpine_ and the

10088

server. _Alpine_ is capable of authenticating connections to the

10089

server using several methods. By default, _Alpine_ will attempt each

10090

method until either a connection is established or the list of

10091

methods is exhausted. This parameter causes _Alpine_ to instead fail

10092

the connection if the first (generally most "secure") method fails.

10093

10094

/secure

10095

10096

Submit

10097

This is a unary parameter for use with the "SMTP-Server" option. It

10098

indicates that the connection should be made to the Submit server

10099

(RFC 3676) (port 587) instead of the SMTP port (25). At the time this

10100

help was written the submit option was equivalent to specifying port

10101

587.

10102

10103

/submit

10104

10105

or

10106

10107

host:587

10108

10109

Debug

10110

This is a unary parameter indicating that the connection be

10111

established in a verbose mode. Basically, it causes _Alpine_ to log

10112

the communication with the server in _Alpine_'s debug file. Normally,

10113

the alpine -d command-line flag would be used instead.

10114

10115

NoRsh

10116

By default, _Alpine_ attempts to login using "rsh", the UNIX remote

10117

shell program. Including "NoRsh" will cause connections to this

10118

server to skip the "rsh" attempt. This might be useful to avoid long

10119

timeouts caused by rsh firewalls, for example.

10120

10121

Service

10122

This parameter requires an associated value. The default value is

10123

"IMAP" which indicates communication with the server based on the

10124

IMAP4rev1 protocol (defined in RFC 3501 -- see

10125

http://www.imap.org/docs/rfc3501.html). Other service values include:

10126

10127

NNTP

10128

This value indicates communication with the server takes place

10129

via the Network News Transfer Protocol. Use this to define a

10130

collection of newsgroups on a remote news server. So

10131

10132

/service=NNTP

10133

10134

or just

10135

10136

/NNTP

10137

10138

is the way to specify NNTP access.

10139

10140

POP3

10141

This value indicates communication with the server takes place

10142

via the Post Office Protocol 3 protocol.

10143

10144

/service=POP3

10145

10146

or just

10147

10148

/POP3

10149

10150

Note that there are several important issues to consider when

10151

selecting this option:

10152

10153

1. POP3 provides access to only your INBOX. In other words,

10154

secondary folders such as your "saved-messages" are

10155

inaccessible.

10156

2. _Alpine_'s implementation of POP3 does not follow the

10157

traditional POP model and will leave your mail on the server.

10158

Refer to the Mail Drop functionality for a possible way around

10159

this problem.

10160

3. See the discussion about new-mail checking in

10161

Folder-Reopen-Rule.

10162

10163

Note that it is possible to include more than one parameter in a server

10164

specification by concatenating the parameters. For example:

10165

10166

foo.example.com:port/user=katie/novalidate-cert/debug

10167

_________________________________________________________________

10168

10169

Folder Namespaces

10170

10171

A _Alpine_ folder name looks like

10172

10173

[{<remote-specification>}][#<namespace>][<namespace-specific-part>]

10174

10175

The local part of a folder name has an optional "Namespace" which tells

10176

_Alpine_ how to interpret the rest of the name.

10177

10178

By default the folder name is interpreted as defining a section of your

10179

personal folder area. This area and how you specify it are defined by the

10180

server, if one is specified, or, typically, the home directory, if no server

10181

is defined.

10182

10183

If a namespace is specified, it begins with the sharp, "#", character

10184

followed by the name of the namespace and then the namespace's

10185

path-element-delimiter. Aside from the path's format, namespaces can also

10186

imply access rights, content policy, audience, location, and, occasionally,

10187

access methods.

10188

10189

Each server exports its own set (possibly of size one) of namespaces. Hence,

10190

it's likely communication with your server's administrator will be required

10191

for specific configurations. Some of the more common namespaces, however,

10192

include:

10193

10194

#news.

10195

This specifies a set of folders in the newsgroup namespace. Newsgroup

10196

names are hierarchically defined with each level delimited by a

10197

period.

10198

10199

#news.comp.mail.pine

10200

10201

#public/

10202

This specifies a folder area that the server may export to the

10203

general public.

10204

10205

#shared/

10206

This specifies a folder area that the folder may export to groups of

10207

users.

10208

10209

#ftp/

10210

This specifies a folder area that is the same as that it may have

10211

exported via the "File Transfer Protocol".

10212

10213

#mh/

10214

This specifies the personal folder area associated with folders and

10215

directories that were created using the MH message handling system.

10216

10217

#move/

10218

This namespace is interpreted locally by _Alpine_. It has an unusual

10219

interpretation and format.

10220

10221

#move<DELIM><MailDropFolder><DELIM><DestinationFolder>

10222

10223

The #move namespace is followed by two folder names separated by a

10224

delimiter character. The delimiter character may be any character

10225

which does not appear in the MailDropFolder name. The meaning of

10226

#move is that mail will be copied from the MailDropFolder to the

10227

DestinationFolder and then deleted (if possible) from the

10228

MailDropFolder. Periodic checks at frequency Mail-Check-Interval, but

10229

with a minimum time between checks set by MailDrop-Check-Minimum, are

10230

made for new mail arriving in the MailDropFolder. An example which

10231

copies mail from a POP inbox to a local folder follows

10232

10233

#move+{popserver.example.com/pop3/ssl}inbox+local folder

10234

10235

To you it appears that mail is being delivered to the local folder

10236

when it is copied from the MailDropFolder, and you read mail from the

10237

local folder.

10238

10239

Note that if the DestinationFolder does not exist then the messages

10240

are not copied from the MailDropFolder. A #move folder may only be

10241

used as an Incoming folder or an Inbox. When you are in the FOLDER

10242

LIST of Incoming Message Folders (after turning on the

10243

enable-incoming-folders option) the Add command has a subcommand "Use

10244

Mail Drop" which may be helpful for defining the folder in your

10245

_Alpine_ configuration. The same is true when you edit the Inbox-Path

10246

option in Setup/Config. Each of these configuration methods will also

10247

create the DestinationFolder if it doesn't already exist. If you are

10248

having problems, make sure the DestinationFolder exists.

10249

10250

In addition, the server may support access to other user's folders, provided

10251

you have suitable permissions. Common methods use a prefix of either

10252

"~user/", or "/user/" to indicate the root of the other user's folder area.

10253

_________________________________________________________________

10254

10255

What is a Mail Drop?

10256

10257

In some situaions it may make sense to have your mail delivered to one

10258

folder (the Mail Drop) and then when you want to read mail that has been

10259

delivered to the Mail Drop folder _Alpine_ will move it to another

10260

destination folder. Often the Mail Drop will be a remote folder and messages

10261

will be moved from there to a local destination folder.

10262

10263

One example where this might make sense is if the Mail Drop folder is

10264

accessible only with the POP protocol. You could designate your POP inbox as

10265

the Mail Drop folder and have _Alpine_ move mail from there to a local (on

10266

the same machine _Alpine_ is running on) destination folder, where you'll

10267

read it.

10268

10269

A Mail Drop may only be used as your Inbox or as an Incoming folder.

10270

10271

There is no attempt to synchronize the contents of the destination folder

10272

with the contents of the Mail Drop folder. All that happens is that all of

10273

the messages in the Mail Drop folder are copied to the destination folder

10274

and then they are deleted and expunged (if possible) from the Mail Drop

10275

folder. The next time a check for new mail is made, any messages in the Mail

10276

Drop folder are once again copied to the destination folder and deleted and

10277

expunged from the Mail Drop folder. (If the Mail Drop folder is a news

10278

group, then the messages can't be expunged from the newsgroup. Instead, only

10279

Recent messages are copied from the newsgroup to the destination folder.)

10280

10281

Configuration of a Mail Drop is a little different from configuration of a

10282

folder which does not use a Mail Drop because you have to specify two folder

10283

names instead of one. The two folders may be any types of folders that

10284

_Alpine_ can normally use. They don't have to be a remote folder and a local

10285

folder, that is simply the most common usage. When you use a Mail Drop

10286

folder _Alpine_ will periodically re-open the Mail Drop to check for new

10287

mail. The new-mail checks will happen at the frequency set with the

10288

Mail-Check-Interval option, but with a minimum time (MailDrop-Check-Minimum)

10289

between checks. Because of this minimum you may notice that new mail does

10290

not appear promptly when you expect it. The reason for this is to protect

10291

the server from over-zealous opening and closing of the Mail Drop folder. If

10292

the user initiates the check by typing ^L (Ctrl-L) or the Next command when

10293

at the end of the folder index, then the check will happen, regardless of

10294

how long it has been since the previous check.

10295

10296

If there is new mail, that mail will be copied to the destination folder and

10297

then will be deleted from the Mail Drop. Note that using a Mail Drop with a

10298

local destination folder does not make sense if you read mail from more than

10299

one machine, because the mail is downloaded to the destination folder (which

10300

is accessible from only one machine) and deleted from the Mail Drop.

10301

10302

The feature Maildrops-Preserve-State modifies the operation of Mail Drops.

10303

10304

The actual syntax used by _Alpine_ for a folder that uses a Mail Drop is:

10305

10306

#move<DELIM><MailDropFolder><DELIM><DestinationFolder>

10307

10308

The brackets are not literal.

10309

10310

<DELIM>

10311

10312

is a single character which does not appear in the MailDropFolder name. If

10313

the name doesn't contain spaces then it can be a space character. The two

10314

folder names are full technical folder names as used by _Alpine_. Here are a

10315

couple examples to give you an idea what is being talked about:

10316

10317

#move {popserver.example.com/pop3}inbox localfolder

10318

10319

#move+{nntpserver.example.com/nntp}#news.comp.mail.pine+local folder

10320

10321

A #move folder may only be used as an Incoming folder or an Inbox. When you

10322

are in the FOLDER LIST of Incoming Message Folders (after turning on the

10323

Enable-Incoming-Folders option) the Add command has a subcommand "Use Mail

10324

Drop" which may be helpful for defining the folder in your _Alpine_

10325

configuration. The same is true when you edit the Inbox-Path option in

10326

Setup/Config.

10327

if it doesn't already exist. If you are having problems, make sure the

10328

DestinationFolder exists.

10329

_________________________________________________________________

10330

10331

Sorting a Folder

10332

10333

The mail index may be sorted by arrival, date, subject, from, size, score,

10334

to, or cc order. Each sort order can also be reversed. The _$_ command will

10335

prompt the user for the sort order. The sort order can also be specified on

10336

the command line with the _-sort_ flag or (equivalently) with the sort-key

10337

variable in the _pinerc_ file. When a user changes folders, the sort order

10338

will go back to the original sort order. The command line (_-sort_) or

10339

configuration file sort specification (_sort-key_) changes the original sort

10340

order.

10341

10342

When a folder is sorted and new mail arrives in the folder it will be

10343

inserted in its properly sorted place. This can be a little odd when the

10344

folder is sorted by something like the subject. It can also be a little slow

10345

if you are viewing a large, sorted _INBOX_, since the _INBOX_ will have to

10346

be re-sorted whenever new mail arrives.

10347

10348

The sorts are all independent of case and ignore leading or trailing white

10349

space. There are actually two forms of subject sort. One called _Subject_

10350

and the other called _OrderedSubj_. They both ignore "Re:" at the beginning

10351

and "(fwd)" at the end of the subjects. _Subject_ sorts all the subjects

10352

alphabetically. _OrderedSubj_ sorts by subjects alphabetically, groups

10353

messages with the same subject (pseudo-threads), then sorts the groups by

10354

the date of the first message of the group. Sorting by _Thread_ was added

10355

after _OrderedSubj_ and is usually a better method. Thread sorting uses

10356

information in the message headers References, Message-ID, and Subject. It

10357

is possible the sort will be slightly slower with a Thread sort than with an

10358

OrderedSubj sort. The sort by sender sorts by the user-id (part before the

10359

"@"), not the full name. The arrival sort is no sort at all and the date

10360

sort depends on the format of the date. Some dates are in strange formats

10361

and are unparsable. The time zone is also taken into account.

10362

10363

Sorting large mail folders can be very slow since it requires fetching all

10364

the headers of the mail messages. With UNIX _Alpine_, only the first sort is

10365

slow since _Alpine_ keeps a copy of all the headers. One exception is

10366

sorting in reverse arrival order. This is fast because no headers have to be

10367

examined. _Alpine_ will show progress as it is sorting.

10368

_________________________________________________________________

10369

10370

Alternate Editor

10371

10372

In the _Alpine_ composer you can use any text editor, such as _vi_ or

10373

_emacs,_ for composing the message text. The addresses and subject still must

10374

be edited using the standard _Alpine_ composer. If you include the feature

10375

enable-alternate-editor-cmd in your _pinerc_ you can type _^__ while in the

10376

body of the message in the composer and be prompted for the editor. If you

10377

also set the editor variable in your _pinerc_ then _^__ will invoke the

10378

configured editor when you type it.

10379

10380

Turning on the feature enable-alternate-editor-implicitly will automatically

10381

invoke the editor you have defined with the _editor_ variable whenever you

10382

enter the body of a message you are composing. For example, when you move

10383

out of the last header line and into the body of the message, the alternate

10384

editor will be automatically invoked.

10385

10386

We know that many people would like to use the alternate editor to edit the

10387

mail header as well. We considered several designs for this and didn't come

10388

up with one that we liked and that was easy to implement. One of the main

10389

problems is that you lose access to the address book.

10390

_________________________________________________________________

10391

10392

Signatures and Signature Placement

10393

10394

If the file _~/.signature_ (UNIX) or _<PINERC_directory>\PINE.SIG (PC)

10395

exists, it will be included in all outgoing messages. It is included before

10396

composition starts so that the user has a chance to edit it out if he or she

10397

likes. The file name for the signature can be changed by setting the

10398

signature-file variable in the _pinerc_. If the feature enable-sigdashes is

10399

turned on then the line consisting of the three characters "-- " is

10400

prepended to the signature file. When Replying or Forwarding a message

10401

different signatures my be automatically included by configuring them in the

10402

Roles setup screen. It's easy to include different signatures by hand, by

10403

having multiple signature files (_.sig1, .sig2, .sig3, etc_) and choosing to

10404

include (^R in the composer) the correct one for the message being sent.

10405

10406

_Alpine_'s default behavior encourages a user to put his or her contribution

10407

before the inclusion of the original text of the message being forwarded or

10408

replied to, This is contrary to some conventions, but makes the conversation

10409

more readable when a long original message is included in a reply for

10410

context. The reader doesn't have to scroll through the original text that he

10411

or she has probably already seen to find the new text. If the reader wishes

10412

to see the old message(s), the reader can scroll further into the message.

10413

Users who prefer to add their input at the end of a message should set the

10414

signature-at-bottom feature. The signature will then be appended to the end

10415

of the message after any included text. This feature applies when

10416

_Reply_ing, not when _Forward_ing.

10417

_________________________________________________________________

10418

10419

Feature List Variable

10420

10421

_Alpine_ used to have _feature levels_ for users with different amounts of

10422

experience. We found that this was too restrictive. _Alpine_ now has a

10423

feature-list instead. Each user may pick and choose which features they

10424

would like enabled (simple to do in the _Setup/Config_ screen). There is a

10425

short description of each in Configuration Features. There is also a short

10426

on-line help explaining the effect of each of the features in the

10427

_Setup/Config_ screen. When the cursor is highlighting a feature, the _?_

10428

command will show the help text for that feature. Features don't have

10429

values, they are just turned on or off. They are all off by default.

10430

10431

The _feature-list_ variable is different from all other configuration

10432

variables in that its value is additive. That is, the system-wide

10433

configuration file can have some features turned on by default. The user can

10434

select other features in their personal configuration file and those

10435

features will be _added_ to the set of features turned on in the system-wide

10436

configuration file. (With all other configuration variables, the user's

10437

values _replace_ the system-wide values.) Likewise, additional features may

10438

be set on the command-line with the argument "-feature-list=". These will be

10439

added to the others.

10440

10441

The treatment of _feature-list_ in the system-wide _fixed_ configuration

10442

file is also different from other variables. The system management can fix

10443

the value of individual features by placing them in the fixed configuration

10444

file. Users will not be able to alter those features, but will still be able

10445

to set the other non-restricted features the way they like.

10446

10447

Because _feature-list_ is additive, there is a way to turn features off as

10448

well as on. Prepending the prefix "no-" to any feature sets it to off. This

10449

is useful for over-riding the system-wide default in the personal

10450

configuration file or for over-riding the system-wide default or the

10451

personal configuration value on the command line. For example, if the

10452

system-wide default configuration has the _quit-without-confirm_ feature

10453

set, the user can over-ride that (and turn it off) by including

10454

_no-quit-without-confirm_ in the personal configuration file or by giving the

10455

command line argument _-feature-list=no-quit-without-confirm._ More features

10456

(options) will no doubt continue to be added.

10457

_________________________________________________________________

10458

10459

Configuration Inheritance

10460

10461

We start with an explanation of how configuration works in hopes of making

10462

it easier to describe how inheritance works.

10463

10464

_Alpine_ uses a hierarchy of configuration values from different locations.

10465

There are five ways in which each configuration option (configuration

10466

variable) can be set. In increasing order of precedence they are:

10467

10468

1. the system-wide configuration file.

10469

2. the personal configuration file

10470

3. the personal exceptions file

10471

4. a command line argument

10472

5. the system-wide _fixed_ configuration file (Unix _Alpine_ only)

10473

10474

The fixed configuration file is normally /usr/local/lib/pine.conf.fixed.

10475

10476

The system-wide configuration file is normally /usr/local/lib/pine.conf for

10477

Unix _Alpine_ and is normally not set for _PC-Alpine_. For _PC-Alpine_, if

10478

the environment variable _$PINECONF_ is set, that is used for the

10479

system-wide configuration. This location can be set or changed on the

10480

command line with the -P flag. The system-wide configuration file can be

10481

either a local file or a remote configuration folder.

10482

10483

For Unix _Alpine_, the personal configuration file is normally the file

10484

.pinerc in the user's home directory. This can be changed with the -p

10485

command line flag. For _PC-Alpine_, the personal configuration file is in

10486

$PINERC or <PineRC registry value> or ${HOME}\ALPINE\PINERC or <ALPINE.EXE

10487

dir>\PINERC. This can be changed with the -p command line flag. If -p or

10488

$PINERC is used, the configuration data may be in a local file or a remote

10489

config folder.

10490

10491

For Unix _Alpine_, the personal exceptions configuration file is specified

10492

with the "-x exceptions_config" command line argument. "Exceptions_config"

10493

may be either a local file or a remote configuration folder. If there is no

10494

"-x" command line option, _Alpine_ will look for the file ".pinercex" in the

10495

same local directory that the regular config file is located in. If the

10496

regular config file is remote then Unix _Alpine_ looks in the home directory

10497

for ".pinercex".

10498

10499

For _PC-Alpine_, the personal exceptions configuration file is specified

10500

with the "-x exceptions_config" command line argument. If there is no "-x"

10501

command line argument the environment variable $PINERCEX may be set to the

10502

name of the "exceptions_config" instead. "Exceptions_config" may be either a

10503

local file or a remote configuration folder. If there is no "-x" command

10504

line option and $PINERCEX is not set, _PC-Alpine_ will look for the file

10505

"PINERCEX" in the same local directory that the regular config file is

10506

located in. If the regular config file is remote then _PC-Alpine_ looks in

10507

the local directory specified by the "-aux local_directory" command line

10508

argument, or the directory ${HOME}\ALPINE, or in <ALPINE.EXE directory> for

10509

a file named "PINERCEX".

10510

10511

To reiterate, the value of a configuration option is taken from the last

10512

location in the list above in which it is set. Or, thinking about it

10513

slightly differently, a default value for an option is established in the

10514

system-wide configuration file (or in the source code if there is no value

10515

in the system-wide file). That default remains in effect until and unless it

10516

is overridden by a value in a location further down the list, in which case

10517

a new "default" value is established. As we continue down the list of

10518

locations we either retain the value at each step or establish a new value.

10519

The value that is still set after going through the whole list of

10520

configuration locations is the one that is used.

10521

10522

So, for example, if an option is set in the system-wide configuration file

10523

and in the personal configuration file, but is not set in the exceptions, on

10524

the command line, or in the fixed file; then the value from the personal

10525

configuration file is the one that is used. Or, if it is set in the

10526

system-wide config, in the personal config, not in the exceptions, but is

10527

set on the command line; then the value on the command line is used.

10528

10529

Finally we get to inheritance. For configuration options which are lists,

10530

like "smtp-server" or "incoming-folders", the inheritance mechanism makes it

10531

possible to _combine_ the values from different locations instead of

10532

_replacing_ the value. This is true of all configuration lists other than the

10533

"feature-list", for which you may already set whatever you want at any

10534

configuration location (by using the "no-" prefix if necessary).

10535

10536

To use inheritance, set the first item in a configuration list to the token

10537

"INHERIT". If the first item is "INHERIT", then instead of replacing the

10538

default value established so far, the rest of the list is appended to the

10539

default value established so far and that is the new value.

10540

10541

Here is an example which may make it clearer. Suppose we have:

10542

10543

System-wide config : smtp-server = smtp1.corp.com, smtp2.corp.com

10544

Personal config : smtp-server = INHERIT, mysmtp.home

10545

Exceptions config : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10546

Command line : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10547

Fixed config : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10548

10549

This would result in an effective smtp-server option of

10550

10551

smtp-server = smtp1.corp.com, smtp2.corp.com, mysmtp.home

10552

10553

The "INHERIT" token can be used in any of the configuration files and the

10554

effect cascades. For example, if we change the above example to:

10555

10556

System-wide config : smtp-server = smtp1.corp.com, smtp2.corp.com

10557

Personal config : smtp-server = INHERIT, mysmtp.home

10558

Exceptions config : smtp-server = INHERIT, yoursmtp.org

10559

Command line : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10560

Fixed config : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10561

10562

This would result in:

10563

10564

smtp-server = smtp1.corp.com, smtp2.corp.com, mysmtp.home, yoursmtp.org

10565

10566

Unset variables are skipped over (the default value is carried forward) so

10567

that, for example:

10568

10569

System-wide config : smtp-server = smtp1.corp.com, smtp2.corp.com

10570

Personal config : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10571

Exceptions config : smtp-server = INHERIT, yoursmtp.org

10572

Command line : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10573

Fixed config : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10574

10575

produces:

10576

10577

smtp-server = smtp1.corp.com, smtp2.corp.com, yoursmtp.org

10578

10579

If any later configuration location has a value set (for a particular list

10580

option) which does _not_ begin with "INHERIT", then that value replaces

10581

whatever value has been defined up to that point. In other words, that

10582

cancels out any previous inheritance.

10583

10584

System-wide config : smtp-server = smtp1.corp.com, smtp2.corp.com

10585

Personal config : smtp-server = INHERIT, mysmtp.org

10586

Exceptions config : smtp-server = yoursmtp.org

10587

Command line : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10588

Fixed config : smtp-server = <No Value Set>

10589

10590

results in:

10591

10592

smtp-server = yoursmtp.org

10593

10594

For some configuration options, like "viewer-hdr-colors" or

10595

"patterns-roles", it is difficult to insert the value "INHERIT" into the

10596

list of values for the option using the normal Setup tools. In other words,

10597

the color setting screen (for example) does not provide a way to input the

10598

text "INHERIT" as the first item in the viewer-hdr-colors option. The way to

10599

do this is to either edit the pinerc file directly and manually insert it,

10600

or turn on the "expose-hidden-config" feature and insert it using the

10601

Setup/Config screen.

10602

_________________________________________________________________

10603

10604

Using Environment Variables

10605

10606

The values of _Alpine_ configuration options may include environment

10607

variables which are replaced by the value of the variable at the time

10608

_Alpine_ is run (and also at the time the config option is changed). The

10609

syntax to use environment variables is a subset of the common Unix shell

10610

dollar-syntax. For example, if

10611

10612

$VAR

10613

10614

appears in the value of a _Alpine_ configuration option it is looked up in

10615

the environent (using getenv("VAR")) and its looked-up value replaces the

10616

$VAR part of the option value. To include a literal dollar sign you may

10617

precede the dollar sign with another dollar sign. In other words, if the

10618

text

10619

10620

$$text

10621

10622

is the value of a configuration option, it will be expanded to

10623

10624

$text

10625

10626

and no environment lookup will be done. For Unix _Alpine_ it will also work

10627

to use a backslash character to escape the special meaning of the dollar

10628

sign, but $$ is preferable since it works for both _PC-Alpine_ and Unix

10629

_Alpine_, allowing the configuration option to be in a shared configuration

10630

file.

10631

10632

This all sounds more complicated than it actually is. An example may make it

10633

clearer. Unfortunately, the way in which environment variables are set is

10634

OS-dependent and command shell-dependent. In some Unix command shells you

10635

may use

10636

10637

PERSNAME="Fred Flintstone"

10638

10639

export PERSNAME

10640

10641

Now, if you use _Alpine_'s Setup/Config screen to set

10642

10643

personal-name=$PERSNAME

10644

10645

the $PERSNAME would be replaced by Fred Flintstone so that this would be

10646

equivalent to

10647

10648

personal-name=Fred Flintstone

10649

10650

Note, environment variable substitution happens after configuration options

10651

which are lists are split into the separate elements of the list, so a

10652

single environment variable can't contain a list of values.

10653

10654

The environment variable doesn't have to be the only thing after the equal

10655

sign. However, if the name of the variable is not at the end of the line or

10656

followed by a space (so that you can tell where the variable name ends), it

10657

must be enclosed in curly braces like

10658

10659

${VAR}

10660

10661

It is always ok to use the braces even if you don't need to.

10662

10663

It is also possible to set a default value for an environment variable. This

10664

default value will be used if the environment variable is not set (that is,

10665

if getenv("VAR") returns NULL). The syntax used to set a default value is

10666

10667

${VAR:-default value}

10668

10669

If the config file contains

10670

10671

personal-name=${VAR:-Fred Flintstone}

10672

10673

then when _Alpine_ is run VAR will be looked up in the environment. If VAR

10674

is found then personal-name will have the value that VAR was set to,

10675

otherwise, personal-name will be set to Fred Flintstone, the default value.

10676

10677

An example where an environment variable might be useful is the variable

10678

inbox-path in the global configuration file. Suppose most users used the

10679

server

10680

10681

imapserver.example.com

10682

10683

but that there were some exceptions who used

10684

10685

altimapserver.example.com

10686

10687

In this case, the system manager might include the following line in the

10688

systemwide default _Alpine_ configuration file

10689

10690

inbox-path=${IMAPSERVER:-imapserver.example.com}

10691

10692

For the exceptional users adding

10693

10694

IMAPSERVER=altimapserver.example.com

10695

10696

to their environment should work.

10697

10698

Another example might be the case where a user has to use a different SMTP

10699

server from work and from home. The setup might be something as simple as

10700

10701

smtp-server=$SMTP

10702

10703

or perhaps a default value could be given. Note that, as mentioned above,

10704

the variable SMTP cannot contain a list of SMTP servers.

10705

_________________________________________________________________

10706

10707

SMTP Servers

10708

10709

It is sometimes desirable to set smtp-server=localhost instead of setting

10710

sendmail-path to overcome the inability to negotiate ESMTP options when

10711

_sendmail_ is invoked with the _-t_ option. Sendmail can also be subject to

10712

unacceptable delays due to slow DNS lookups and other problems.

10713

10714

It is sometimes desirable to configure an SMTP server on a port other than

10715

the default port 25. This may be used to provide an alternate service that

10716

is optimized for a particular environment or provides different features

10717

from the port 25 server. An example would be a program that negotiates ESMTP

10718

options and queues a message, but does not attempt to deliver messages. This

10719

would avoid delays frequently encountered when invoking _sendmail_ directly.

10720

10721

A typical configuration would consist of

10722

* A program that implements the SMTP or ESMTP protocol via stdio.

10723

* An entry in /etc/services for the alternate service.

10724

* An entry in /etc/inetd.conf for the alternate service.

10725

* An entry in /usr/local/lib/pine.conf, /usr/local/lib/pine.conf.fixed or

10726

~/.pinerc.

10727

_________________________________________________________________

10728

10729

MIME.Types file

10730

10731

_Alpine_'s MIME-TYPE support is based on code contributed by Hans Drexler

10732

&LT;drexler@mpi.nl&GT;. _Alpine_ assigns MIME Content-Types according to

10733

file name extensions found in the system-wide files

10734

/usr/local/lib/mime.types and /etc/mime.types, and a user specific

10735

~/.mime.types file.

10736

10737

In Windows, _Alpine_ looks in the same directory as the PINERC file and the

10738

same dir as ALPINE.EXE. This is similar to the UNIX situation with personal

10739

config info coming before potentially shared config data. An alternate

10740

search path can be specified by setting the mimetype-search-path variable in

10741

the user or system-wide configuration or by setting the MIMETYPES

10742

environment variable.

10743

10744

These files specify file extensions that will be connected to a mime type.

10745

Lines beginning with a '#' character are treated as comments and ignored.

10746

All other lines are treated as a mime type definition. The first word is a

10747

_type/subtype_ specification. All following words are file _extensions_

10748

belonging to that type/subtype. Words are separated by whitespace

10749

characters. If a file extension occurs more than once, then the first

10750

definition determines the file type and subtype. A couple sample lines from

10751

a mime.types file follow:

10752

10753

image/gif gif

10754

text/html html htm

10755

video/mpeg mpeg mpg mpe

10756

_________________________________________________________________

10757

10758

Color Details

10759

10760

UNIX _Alpine_ may display color if the terminal or terminal emulator you are

10761

using is capable of displaying colors. If the terminal supports ANSI color

10762

escape sequences you will be able to turn color on using the color-style

10763

option and setting it to the value _force-ansi-8color_ or

10764

_force-ansi-16color_. If instead you'd like _Alpine_ to automatically detect

10765

whether or not you are on a color terminal, set _color-style_ to

10766

_use-termdef_ _and_ configure the termcap entry to describe your terminal's

10767

color capabilities.

10768

10769

If the _color-style_ option is set to _use-termdef_, _Alpine_ looks in the

10770

terminal capabilities database, TERMINFO or TERMCAP, depending on how

10771

_Alpine_ was compiled, to decide whether or not your terminal is capable of

10772

color. For TERMINFO compiled _Alpine_s, the capabilities that are used for

10773

color are "colors", "setaf", "setab", "op", and "bce". If you have a

10774

terminal with color capabilities described by the "scp" capability, _Alpine_

10775

does not support it. The capabilities "setf" and "setb" may be used instead

10776

of "setaf" and "setab". The capability "bce" is optional and is used as an

10777

optimization, the other capabilities are required. For TERMCAP compiled

10778

_Alpine_s, the capabilities that are used for color are "Co", "AF", "AB",

10779

"op", and "ut". The capabilities "Sf" and "Sb" may be used instead of "AF"

10780

and "AB", though this isn't a useful feature.

10781

10782

Here are some short descriptions of the capabilities listed above. The

10783

TERMINFO name is listed, followed by the TERMCAP name in parentheses.

10784

_colors_ (_Co_)

10785

The number of different colors.

10786

_setaf_ (_AF_)

10787

Set ANSI foreground color.

10788

_setab_ (_AB_)

10789

Set ANSI background color.

10790

_setf_ (_Sf_)

10791

Set foreground color. Alternate form of _setaf_.

10792

_setb_ (_Sb_)

10793

Set background color. Alternate form of _setab_.

10794

_op_ (_op_)

10795

Set default pair to its original value.

10796

_bce_ (_ut_)

10797

Screen is erased with current background color instead of default

10798

background.

10799

10800

A standard ANSI terminal which supports color will have a TERMINFO entry

10801

which contains:

10802

colors#8

10803

setaf=\E[3%p1%dm

10804

setab=\E[4%p1%dm

10805

op=\E[39;49m

10806

bce

10807

10808

or the TERMCAP equivalent:

10809

Co#8

10810

AF=\E[3%dm

10811

AB=\E[4%dm

10812

op=\E[39;49m

10813

ut

10814

10815

If there are eight colors, the program uses colors 0, 1, ..., 7. For an ANSI

10816

terminal, the foreground color is set by sending the escape sequence "Escape

10817

LeftBracket 3 color_number m" to the terminal. The background color is set

10818

by sending the sequence "Escape LeftBracket 4 color_number m". ANSI colors

10819

zero through seven are defined to be "black", "red", "green", "yellow",

10820

"blue", "magenta", "cyan", and "white". Some terminal emulators will swap

10821

blue and red and swap yellow and cyan. The capabilities "setf" and "setb"

10822

are usually designed for those terminals so that they will flip the color

10823

numbers 1 and 4 and the numbers 3 and 6 to compensate for this. _Alpine_

10824

will use the ANSI versions of the capabilities if they exist, and will use

10825

the non-ANSI versions (setf and setb) if the ANSI versions don't exist.

10826

Here's a version which does the flipping. This can only be used with

10827

TERMINFO _Alpine_s, because of the arithmetic, which is not supported by

10828

TERMCAP.

10829

colors#8

10830

setf=\E[3%?%p1%{1}%=%t4%e%p1%{3}%=%t6%e%p1%{4}%=%t1%e%p1%{6}%=%t3%e%p1%d%;m

10831

setb=\E[4%?%p1%{1}%=%t4%e%p1%{3}%=%t6%e%p1%{4}%=%t1%e%p1%{6}%=%t3%e%p1%d%;m

10832

op=\E[39;49m

10833

bce

10834

10835

Some terminal emulators are capable of displaying eight more colors when the

10836

foreground colors 30-37 are replaced with 90-97 and the background colors

10837

40-47 are replaced with 100-107. These terminals require a fancy termcap

10838

entry which can take foreground colors 0, 1, ..., 15 and map that into 30,

10839

31, ..., 37, 90, 91, ..., 97, and similarly for the background colors. Here

10840

is a terminfo entry which will do just that:

10841

colors#16

10842

setaf=%p1%{8}%/%{6}%*%{3}%+\E[%d%p1%{8}%m%dm

10843

setab=%p1%{8}%/%{6}%*%{4}%+\E[%d%p1%{8}%m%dm

10844

op=\E[39;49m

10845

bce

10846

10847

and here is the termcap equivalent:

10848

Co#16

10849

AF=\E[%i%i%>\001\034%>\045\064%dm

10850

AB=\E[%i%i%>\001\046%>\057\064%dm

10851

op=\E[39;49m

10852

ut

10853

10854

This is a terminfo entry for 16 colors that also does the color flipping:

10855

colors#16

10856

setf=%p1%{8}%/%{6}%*%{3}%+\E[%d%p1%{8}%m%Pa%?%ga%{1}%=%t4%e%ga%{3}%=%t6%e%ga%

10857

{4}%=%t1%e%ga%{6}%=%t3%e%ga%d%;m

10858

setb=%p1%{8}%/%{6}%*%{4}%+\E[%d%p1%{8}%m%Pa%?%ga%{1}%=%t4%e%ga%{3}%=%t6%e%ga%

10859

{4}%=%t1%e%ga%{6}%=%t3%e%ga%d%;m

10860

op=\E[39;49m

10861

bce

10862

10863

If you are always using the same display it probably won't matter to you if

10864

the color pairs red/blue and cyan/yellow are flipped, since you'll always be

10865

seeing them flipped. You will get different defaults than on a display with

10866

them not flipped, but that's about all. If you are trying to use the same

10867

pinerc file from displays with different color characteristics, or from

10868

_Alpine_ and _PC-Alpine_, you will have to be more careful. The colors

10869

numbered 0 through 7 may be used portably between different systems if you

10870

are careful to make them correspond to the ANSI order mentioned above. You

10871

can check this by looking at a color configuration screen for one of the

10872

colors. The first eight colors should be in the order above. If they aren't,

10873

you could fix that by modifying your termcap entry on the UNIX system. This

10874

is not possible if your system uses TERMCAP instead of TERMINFO.

10875

_________________________________________________________________

10876

10877

S/MIME Overview

10878

10879

UNIX _Alpine_ only.

10880

10881

S/MIME is a standard for the public key encryption and signing of email.

10882

UNIX _Alpine_ contains a basic implementation of S/MIME based on the OpenSSL

10883

libraries.

10884

10885

Some limitations:

10886

* There is no _PC-Alpine_ implementation.

10887

* There is no provision for checking for CRLs (Certificate Revocation

10888

Lists) in _Alpine_.

10889

* This built-in S/MIME implementation is not compatible with and does not

10890

help with PGP.

10891

* There is no mechanism available for feeding either an entire incoming or

10892

an entire outgoing message to an external filter and using that external

10893

filter to do S/MIME or PGP processing.

10894

* Because the implementation currently uses OpenSSL, there is only a very

10895

limited integration with the Mac OS Keychain (the storing and access of

10896

public certificates).

10897

* There is no way to view or manipulate the lists of certificates from

10898

within _Alpine_.

10899

10900

The S/MIME configuration screen is reached by going to the Main Menu and

10901

typing the "S Setup" command followed by "M S/MIME".

10902

10903

S/MIME BASICS

10904

10905

In order to digitally sign messages you send you must have a public/private

10906

key-pair. This may be obtained from a public Certificate Authority (CA) such

10907

as Thawte, Verisign, Comodo, or GoDaddy; or from a smaller CA such as a

10908

university which provides certificates for its users or a company which

10909

provides certificates for its workers. These certificates are bound to an

10910

email address, so the identity being verified is the email address not a

10911

person's name.

10912

10913

Mail is signed by using the sender's private key, which only the owner of

10914

the private key has access to. The signature is verified using the signer's

10915

public key, which anyone can have access to. With _Alpine_, the first time

10916

you receive a signed message the public key of the sender will be stored for

10917

future use.

10918

10919

Mail is encrypted using the recipient's public key and decrypted by the

10920

recipient with their private key.

10921

10922

You need a key of your own in order to sign outgoing messages and to have

10923

others encrypt messages sent to you. You do not need a key of your own to

10924

verify signed messages sent by others or to encrypt messages sent to others.

10925

10926

ALPINE S/MIME CERTIFICATE STORAGE

10927

10928

By default UNIX _Alpine_ stores the certificates it uses in a directory in

10929

your home directory. The directory name is

10930

10931

.alpine-smime

10932

10933

Within that directory are three subdirectories. Each of the three

10934

subdirectories contains files with PEM-encoded contents, the default format

10935

for OpenSSL. The "public" directory contains public certificates. The files

10936

within that directory have names that are email addresses with the suffix

10937

".crt" appended. An example filename is

10938

10939

user@example.com.crt

10940

10941

The "private" directory contains private keys, probably just one for your

10942

private key. These are also email addresses but with the suffix ".key"

10943

instead. The third directory is "ca" and it contains certificates for any

10944

Certificate Authorities that you want to trust but that aren't contained in

10945

the set of system CAs. Those files may have arbitrary names as long as they

10946

end with the suffix ".crt".

10947

10948

HOW TO SIGN AND ENCRYPT

10949

10950

If you have a certificate you may sign outgoing messages. After typing the

10951

Ctrl-X command to send a message you will see the prompt

10952

10953

Send message?

10954

10955

Available subcommands include "G Sign" and "E Encrypt". Typing the "G"

10956

command will change the prompt to

10957

10958

Send message (Signed)?

10959

10960

Typing the "E" command will change the prompt to

10961

10962

Send message (Encrypted)?

10963

10964

You may even type both to get

10965

10966

Send message (Encrypted, Signed)?

10967

10968

HOW TO READ SIGNED OR ENCRYPTED MESSAGES

10969

10970

The reading of a signed message should not require any special action on

10971

your part. There should be an editorial addition at the start of the message

10972

which says either

10973

10974

This message was cryptographically signed.

10975

10976

or

10977

10978

This message was cryptographically signed but the signature could not be

10979

verified.

10980

10981

If an encrypted message is sent to you the encrypted text will not be shown.

10982

You will have to type the "Ctrl-D Decrypt" command (from the screen where

10983

you are viewing the message) and supply your passphrase when asked.

10984

10985

For a signed or encrypted message there is also a "Ctrl-E Security" command

10986

which gives you some information about the certificate used to sign or

10987

encrypt the message.

10988

10989

MISCELLANEOUS

10990

10991

You may have access to a private certificate in the PKCS12 format, which

10992

would sometimes be in a file with a ".p12" suffix. The UNIX shell command

10993

10994

openssl pkcs12 -in file.p12 -out file.pem

10995

10996

may work to convert that from the PKCS12 format to the PEM format. Then that

10997

file could be placed in the "private" directory with a filename of your

10998

email address followed by the suffix ".key".

10999

_________________________________________________________________

11000

11001

Additional Notes on PC-Alpine

11002

11003

Below are a few odds and ends worth mentioning about _PC-Alpine_. They have

11004

to do with DOS-specific behavior that is either necessary or useful (and

11005

sometimes both!).

11006

11007

As _PC-Alpine_ runs in an environment with limited access control,

11008

accounting or auditing, an additional line is automatically inserted into

11009

the header of mail messages generated by _PC-Alpine_:

11010

X-Sender: <userid>@<imap.host>

11011

11012

By popular demand of system administrators, _PC-Alpine_ has been modified to

11013

prevent sending messages until the user has successfully logged into a

11014

remote mail server. Even though _PC-Alpine_ cannot prevent users from

11015

changing the apparent identity of the sender of a message, the IMAP server

11016

login name and host name included in the _X-Sender_ line provide some level

11017

of traceability by the recipient. However, this should not be considered a

11018

rigorous form of authentication. It is extremely lightweight, and is not a

11019

replacement for true authentication.

11020

11021

Hand in hand with authentication and accounting is user information. Since

11022

_PC-Alpine_ has no user database to consult for _user-id_, _personal-name_,

11023

etc., necessary information must be provided by the user/installer before

11024

_PC-Alpine_ can properly construct the "From" address required for outbound

11025

messages. _PC-Alpine_ will, by default, prompt for the requisite pieces as

11026

they are needed. This information corresponds to the _PINERC_ variables

11027

user-id, personal-name, user-domain, and smtp-server.

11028

11029

The user is then asked whether or not this information should automatically

11030

be saved to the _PINERC_. This is useful behavior in general, but can lead

11031

to problems in a lab or other shared environment. Hence, these prompts and

11032

automatic saving of configuration can be turned off on an entry by entry

11033

basis by setting any of the above values in the _PINERC_ to the null string

11034

(i.e., a pair of double quotes). This means that the user will be prompted

11035

for the information once during each _Alpine_ session, and no opportunity to

11036

save them in the _PINERC_ will be offered.

11037

11038

Another feature of DOS is the lack of standard scratch area for temporary

11039

files. During the course of a session, _PC-Alpine_ may require numerous

11040

temporary files (large message texts, various caches, etc.). Where to create

11041

them can be a problem, particularly when running under certain network

11042

operating systems. _PC-Alpine_ observes the _TMPDIR_, _TMP_, and _TEMP_

11043

environment variables, and creates temporary files in the directory

11044

specified by either. In their absence, _PC-Alpine_ creates these files in

11045

the root of the current working drive. Some temporary files have to be

11046

created in the same directory as the file they are a temporary copy of. For

11047

example, a pinerc file or a address book file.

11048

11049

Behind the Scenes

11050

11051

Many people ask how certain _Alpine_ features are implemented. This section

11052

outlines some of the details.

11053

11054

Address Books

11055

11056

There are two types of address book storage. There are _local_ address

11057

books, which are the address books that are stored in a local file; and

11058

there are _remote_ address books, which are stored on an IMAP server.

11059

11060

Information About Remote Address Books

11061

11062

NOTE: The remote address book capability does not allow you to access an

11063

existing local address book from a remote system! That is, you can't set

11064

the remote address book to something like {remote.host}.addressbook and

11065

expect to access the existing .addressbook _file_ on remote.host. Instead,

11066

you need to create a new remote address book in a new, previously unused

11067

remote mail _folder_. Then you can use the _Select_ and _Apply Save_

11068

commands in the address book screen to _Save_ all of the entries from an

11069

existing local address book to the new remote address book.

11070

11071

A remote address book is stored in a mail folder on an IMAP server. An

11072

_Alpine_ remote address book is just like an _Alpine_ local address book in

11073

that it is not interoperable with other email clients. The folder is a

11074

regular folder containing mail messages but those messages are special. The

11075

first message must be an alpine remote address book header message which

11076

contains the header _x-pine-addrbook_. The last message in the folder

11077

contains the address book data. In between the first and the last message

11078

are old versions of the address book data. The address book data is simply

11079

stored in the message as it would be on disk, with no MIME encoding. When it

11080

is used the data from the last message in the folder is copied to a local

11081

file and then that file is used exactly like a local address book file is

11082

used. When a change is made the modified local file is appended to the

11083

remote folder in a new message. In other words, the local file is just a

11084

cache copy of the data in the remote folder. Each client which uses the

11085

remote address book will have its own cache copy of the data. Whenever a

11086

copy is done the entire address book is copied, not just the entries which

11087

have changed.

11088

11089

_Alpine_ can tell that the remote data has changed by one of several

11090

methods. If the date contained in the Date header of the last message has

11091

changed then it knows it has changed. If the UID of the last message has

11092

changed, or the number of messages in the folder has changed, it knows that

11093

it has changed. When _Alpine_ discovers the folder has changed it gets a new

11094

copy and puts it in the local cache file.

11095

11096

There is a configuration file variable for remote address books called

11097

remote-abook-metafile. The variable is the name of a file in which

11098

information about remote address books is stored. There is one line in the

11099

metafile for each remote address book. The information stored there is the

11100

name of the cache file and information to help figure out when the remote

11101

folder was last changed. If the metafile or any of the cache files is

11102

deleted then _Alpine_ will rebuild them the next time it runs.

11103

11104

Remote address books have names that look just like regular remote mail

11105

folder names. For example:

11106

11107

{host.domain}foldername

11108

11109

_Alpine_ decides whether or not an address book is remote simply by looking

11110

at the first character of the address book name and comparing it to '{'.

11111

11112

Information About All Address Books

11113

11114

The address book is named, by default, .addressbook in the user's Unix home

11115

directory, or in the case of _PC-Alpine_, ADDRBOOK, in the same directory as

11116

the PINERC file. There may be more than one address book, and the default

11117

name can be overridden via an entry in any of the _Alpine_ configuration

11118

files. The two configuration variables address-book and global-address-book

11119

are used to specify the names of the address books. Each of these variables

11120

is a list variable. The total set of address books for a user is the

11121

combination of all the address books specified in these two lists. Each

11122

entry in the list is an optional nickname followed by an address book name.

11123

The nickname is everything up to the last space before the file name. The

11124

_global-address-book_ list will typically be configured in the system-wide

11125

configuration file, though a user may override it like most other variables.

11126

Address books which are listed in the _global-address-book_ variable are

11127

forced read-only, and are typically shared among multiple users.

11128

11129

Local address books (or local cache files for remote address books) are

11130

simple text files with lines in the format:

11131

11132

11133

11134

The last two fields are optional. A "line" may be made up of multiple actual

11135

lines in the file by using continuation lines, which are lines beginning

11136

with SPACE characters. The line breaks may be after TABs or in between

11137

addresses in a distribution list. Each _actual_ line in the file must be

11138

less than 1000 characters in length.

11139

11140

Nicknames (the first field) are short names that the user types instead of

11141

typing in the full address. There are several characters which aren't

11142

allowed in nicknames in order to avoid ambiguity when parsing the address

11143

(SPACE, COMMA, @, ", ;, :, (, ), [, ], <, >, \). Nicknames aren't required.

11144

In fact, none of the fields is required.

11145

11146

The _fullname_ field is usually stored as Last_name, First_name, in order

11147

that a sort on the fullname field comes out sorted by Last_name. If there is

11148

an unquoted comma in the fullname, _Alpine_ will flip the first and last

11149

name around and get rid of the comma when using the entry in a composition.

11150

It isn't required that there be a comma, that's only useful if the user

11151

wants the entries to sort on last names.

11152

11153

The _address_ field takes one of two forms, depending on whether the entry

11154

is a single (simple) address or a distribution list. For a simple entry, the

11155

address field is an RFC 2822 address. This could be either the email-address

11156

part of the address, i.e., the part that goes inside the brackets (<>), or

11157

it could be a full RFC 2822 address. The phrase part of the address (the

11158

fullname) is used unless there is a fullname present in the fullname field

11159

of the address book entry. In that case, the fullname of the address book

11160

entry replaces the fullname of the address. For a distribution list, the

11161

<address> is in the format:

11162

11163

"(" <address>, <address>, <address>, ... ")"

11164

11165

The only purpose for the parentheses around the list of addresses is to make

11166

it easier for the parsing routines to tell that it is a simple entry instead

11167

of a list. The two are displayed differently and treated slightly

11168

differently in some cases, though most of the distinction has disappeared.

11169

Each of the addresses in a list can be a full RFC 2822 address with fullname

11170

included, or it may be just the simple email-address part of the address.

11171

This allows the user to have a list which includes the fullnames of all the

11172

list members. In both the simple and list cases, addresses may also be other

11173

nicknames which appear in this address book or in one of the other address

11174

books. (Those nicknames are searched for by looking through the address

11175

books in the order they appear in the address book screen, with the first

11176

match winning.) Lists may be nested. If addresses refer to each other in a

11177

loop (for example, list A includes list B which includes list A again) this

11178

is detected and flagged. In that case, the address will be changed to "****

11179

address loop ****".

11180

11181

The optional _fcc_ field is a folder name, just like the fcc field in the

11182

composer headers. If the first address in the To field of a composition

11183

comes from an address book entry with an fcc field, then that fcc is placed

11184

in the fcc header in the composer.

11185

11186

The _comments_ field is just a free text field for storing comments about an

11187

entry. By default, neither the fcc nor the comments field is shown on the

11188

screen in the address book screen. You may make those fields visible by

11189

configuring the variable addressbook-formats. They are also searched when

11190

you use the _WhereIs_ command in the address book screen and are visible

11191

when you _View_ or _Update_ an entry.

11192

11193

The address book is displayed in the order that it is stored. When the user

11194

chooses a different sorting criterion, the data is actually sorted and

11195

stored, as opposed to showing a sorted view of the data.

11196

11197

When the address book is written out, it is first written to a temporary

11198

file and if that write is successful it is renamed. This guards against

11199

errors writing the file that might destroy the whole address book. The

11200

address book is re-written after each change. If the address book is a

11201

remote address book, the file is then appended to the remote mail folder

11202

using IMAP.

11203

11204

The end-of-line character(s) in the address book file are those native to

11205

the system writing it. So it is <LF> on Unix and <CR><LF> on PC's. However,

11206

both Unix and PC versions of _Alpine_ can read either format, so it should

11207

be possible to share a read-only address book among the two populations

11208

(using NFS, for example).

11209

_________________________________________________________________

11210

11211

Address Book Lookup File

11212

11213

_Pine_ used an additional file for each address book, called the LookUp

11214

file. It had the same name as the address book file with the suffix ".lu"

11215

appended. _Alpine_ no longer uses a lookup file.

11216

11217

Validity Checking of Address Books

11218

11219

There is no file locking done on _Alpine_ address books, however, there is

11220

considerable validity checking done to make sure that the address book

11221

hasn't changed unexpectedly. Whenever the address book is about to be

11222

changed, a check is made to see if the file is newer than when we read it or

11223

the remote address book folder has changed since we last copied it. If

11224

either of these is true, the change is aborted.

11225

11226

There is an automatic, behind-the-scene check that happens every so often,

11227

also. For example, if someone else changes one of the address books that you

11228

have configured, your _Alpine_'s copy of the address book will usually be

11229

updated automatically without you noticing. This checking happens at the

11230

same time as new mail checking takes place, unless you are actively using

11231

the address book, in which case it happens more frequently.

11232

_________________________________________________________________

11233

11234

Remote Configuration

11235

11236

Configuration information may be stored remotely. Remote configuration

11237

information is stored in a folder on an IMAP server. This should be a folder

11238

which is used only for storing the configuration information. In other

11239

words, it should be a folder which didn't exist before.

11240

11241

Remote configuration folders are very similar to remote address book

11242

folders. They both consist of a header message, which serves to identify the

11243

type of folder; the last message, which contains the data; and intermediate

11244

messages, which contain old versions of the data. The first message must

11245

contain the header _x-pine-pinerc_.

11246

11247

When a remote configuration is being used, the folder is checked to make

11248

sure it is a remote configuration folder, then the data contained in the

11249

last message is copied to a temporary file. That file is treated just like

11250

any regular local configuration file from that point on. Whenever a

11251

configuration change is made, the entire file is copied back to the IMAP

11252

server and is appended to the folder as a new message.

11253

11254

Because remote configuration folders are so similar to remote address books,

11255

the configuration variable remote-abook-metafile is used by both.

11256

11257

Remote configuration folders have names that look just like regular remote

11258

mail folder names. For example:

11259

11260

{host.domain}mypinerc

11261

11262

_Alpine_ decides whether or not a configuration file is remote simply by

11263

looking at the first character of the name and comparing it to '{'.

11264

_________________________________________________________________

11265

11266

Checkpointing

11267

11268

Periodically _Alpine_ will save the whole mail folder to disk to prevent

11269

loss of any mail or mail status in the case that it gets interrupted,

11270

disconnected, or crashes. The period of time _Alpine_ waits to do the

11271

checkpoint is calculated to be minimally intrusive. The timing can be

11272

changed (but usually isn't) at compile time. Folder checkpointing happens

11273

for both local folders and those being accessed with IMAP. The delays are

11274

divided into three categories:

11275

11276

The exact algorithm given below is no longer correct. It has gotten more

11277

complicated over time. However, this gives the general idea _Alpine_ uses

11278

when deciding whether or not to do a checkpoint.

11279

11280

Good Time:

11281

This occurs when _Alpine_ has been idle for more than 30 seconds. In

11282

this case _Alpine_ will checkpoint if 12 changes to the file have

11283

been made or at least one change has been made and a checkpoint

11284

hasn't been done for five minutes.

11285

Bad Time:

11286

This occurs just after _Alpine_ has executed some command. _Alpine_

11287

will checkpoint if there are 36 outstanding changes to the mail file

11288

or at least one change and no checkpoint for ten minutes.

11289

Very Bad Time:

11290

Done when composing a message. In this case, _Alpine_ will only

11291

checkpoint if at least 48 changes have been made or at least one

11292

change has been made in the last twenty minutes with no checkpoint.

11293

_________________________________________________________________

11294

11295

Debug Files

11296

11297

If UNIX _Alpine_ is compiled with the compiler _DEBUG_ option on (the

11298

default), then _Alpine_ will produce debugging output to a file. This can be

11299

disabled at compile-time with the --disable-debug configure option, or at

11300

run-time with the command line flag -d0. The file is normally .pine-debugX

11301

in the user's home directory where _X_ goes from 1 to 4. Number 1 is always

11302

the most recent session and 4 the oldest. Four are saved because often the

11303

user has gone in and out of _Alpine_ a few times after a problem has

11304

occurred before the expert actually gets to look at it. The amount of output

11305

in the debug files varies with the debug level set when _Alpine_ is compiled

11306

and/or as a command line flag. The default is level 2. This shows very

11307

general things and records errors. Level 9 produces copious amounts of

11308

output for each keystroke.

11309

11310

Similarly, _PC-Alpine_ creates debug files named pinedebg.txtX in the same

11311

directory as the PINERC file.

11312

_________________________________________________________________

11313

11314

INBOX and Special Folders

11315

11316

The _INBOX_ folder is treated specially. It is normally kept open constantly

11317

so that the arrival of new mail can be detected. The name _INBOX_ refers to

11318

wherever new mail is retrieved on the system. If the inbox-path variable is

11319

set, then _INBOX_ refers to that. IMAP servers understand the concept of

11320

_INBOX_, so specifying the folder _{imap.u.example.edu}INBOX_ is meaningful.

11321

The case of the word _INBOX_ is not important, but _Alpine_ tends to display

11322

it in all capital letters.

11323

11324

The folders for sent mail and saved messages folders are also somewhat

11325

special. They are automatically created if they are absent and recreated if

11326

they are deleted.

11327

_________________________________________________________________

11328

11329

Internal Help Files

11330

11331

The file pine.hlp in the alpine subdirectory of the distribution contains

11332

all the help text for _Alpine_. It is compiled right into the _Alpine_

11333

binary as strings. This is done to simplify installation and configuration.

11334

The pine.hlp file is in a special format that is documented at the beginning

11335

of the file. It is divided into sections, each with a name that winds up

11336

being referenced as a global variable. This file is processed during the

11337

build process and turned into a C file that is compiled into _Alpine_.

11338

_________________________________________________________________

11339

11340

International Character Sets

11341

11342

_Alpine_ uses Unicode characters internally and it is a goal for _Alpine_ to

11343

handle email in many different languages. _Alpine_ will properly display

11344

only left-to-right character sets in a fixed-width font. Specifically,

11345

_Alpine_ assumes that a fixed-width font is in use, in the sense that

11346

characters are assumed to take up zero, one, or two character cell widths

11347

from left to right on the screen. This is true even in _PC-Alpine_.

11348

11349

_Alpine_ recognizes some local character sets which are right-to-left

11350

(Arabic, Hebrew, and Thai) or not representable in a fixed-width font

11351

(Arabic) and properly converts texts in these character sets to/from

11352

Unicode; however, there are known display bugs with these character sets.

11353

11354

There are three possible configuration character settings and some

11355

environment variable settings which can affect how _Alpine_ handles

11356

international characters. The first two of these are only available in UNIX

11357

_Alpine_. The three configuration options are _display-character-set_,

11358

_keyboard-character-set_, and _posting-character-set_. The

11359

_keyboard-character-set_ defaults to being the same value as the

11360

_display-character-set_, and that is usually correct, because the keyboard

11361

almost always produces characters in the same character set as the display

11362

displays. The _display-character-set_ is the character set that _Alpine_

11363

will attempt to use when sending characters to the display.

11364

11365

Besides those variables there is also use-system-translation which can be

11366

used instead of these. That usage is only lightly tested and is not

11367

recommended.

11368

11369

By default, the _display-character-set_ variable is not set and UNIX _Alpine_

11370

will attempt to get this information from the environment. In particular,

11371

the nl_langinfo(CODESET) call is used. This usually depends on the setting

11372

of the environment variables LANG or LC_CTYPE. An explicit configuration

11373

setting for _display-character-set_ will, of course, override any default

11374

setting.

11375

11376

For _PC-Alpine_ the _display-character-set_ and the _keyboard-character-set_

11377

are always equivalent to UTF-8 and this is not settable.

11378

11379

It is probably best to use UNIX _Alpine_ in a terminal emulator capable of

11380

displaying UTF-8 characters, since that will allow you to view just about

11381

any received text that is correctly formatted (note, however, the above

11382

comments about known index display bugs with certain character sets). You'll

11383

need to have an emulator which uses a UTF-8 font and you'll need to set up

11384

your environment to use a UTF-8 charmap. For example, on a Linux system you

11385

might include

11386

11387

setenv LANG en_US.UTF-8

11388

11389

or something similar in your UNIX startup files. You'd also have to select a

11390

UTF-8 font in your terminal emulator.

11391

11392

The types of values that the character set variables may be set to are

11393

UTF-8, ISO-8859-1, or EUC-JP. The ISO-2022 character sets are not supported

11394

for input or for display, but as a special case, ISO-2022-JP is supported

11395

for use only as a _posting-character-set_. In the Setup/Config screen you

11396

may choose from a list of all the character sets _Alpine_ knows about by

11397

using the "T" ToCharsets command. Here is a list of many of the possible

11398

character sets:

11399

11400

UTF-8 Unicode

11401

US-ASCII 7 bit American English characters

11402

ISO-8859-1 8 bit European "Latin 1" character set

11403

ISO-8859-2 8 bit European "Latin 2" character set

11404

ISO-8859-3 8 bit European "Latin 3" character set

11405

ISO-8859-4 8 bit European "Latin 4" character set

11406

ISO-8859-5 8 bit Latin and Cyrillic

11407

ISO-8859-6 8 bit Latin and Arabic

11408

ISO-8859-7 8 bit Latin and Greek

11409

ISO-8859-8 8 bit Latin and Hebrew

11410

ISO-8859-9 8 bit European "Latin 5" character set

11411

ISO-8859-10 8 bit European "Latin 6" character set

11412

ISO-8859-11 Latin and Thai

11413

ISO-8859-12 Reserved

11414

ISO-8859-13 8 bit European "Latin 7" character set

11415

ISO-8859-14 8 bit European "Latin 8" character set

11416

ISO-8859-15 8 bit European "Latin 9" character set

11417

ISO-8859-16 8 bit European "Latin 10" character set

11418

KOI8-R 8 bit Latin and Russian

11419

KOI8-U 8 bit Latin and Ukranian

11420

WINDOWS-1251 8 bit Latin and Russian

11421

TIS-620 8 bit Latin and Thai

11422

VISCII 8 bit Latin and Vietnamese

11423

GBK Latin and Chinese Simplified

11424

GB2312 Latin and Chinese Simplified

11425

CN-GB Latin and Chinese Simplified

11426

BIG5 Latin and Chinese Traditional

11427

BIG-5 Latin and Chinese Traditional

11428

EUC-JP Latin and Japanese

11429

SHIFT-JIS Latin and Japanese

11430

EUC-KR Latin and Korean

11431

KSC5601 Latin and Korean

11432

11433

When reading incoming email, _Alpine_ understands many different character

11434

sets and is able to convert the incoming mail into Unicode. The Unicode will

11435

be converted to the _display-character-set_ for display on your terminal.

11436

Characters typed at the keyboard will be converted from the

11437

_keyboard-character-set_ to Unicode for _Alpine_'s internal use. You may find

11438

that you can read some malformed messages that do not contain a character

11439

set label by setting the option unknown-character-set.

11440

11441

The _posting-character-set_ is used when sending messages. The default

11442

behavior obtained by leaving this variable unset is usually what is wanted.

11443

In that default case, _Alpine_ will attempt to label the message with the

11444

most specific character set from the rather arbitrary set

11445

11446

US-ASCII, ISO-8859-15, ISO-8859-1, ISO-8859-2, VISCII, KOI8-R, KOI8-U,

11447

ISO-8859-7, ISO-8859-6, ISO-8859-8, TIS-620, ISO-2022-JP, GB2312, BIG5,

11448

EUC-KR, and UTF-8.

11449

11450

For example, if the message is made up of only US-ASCII characters, it will

11451

be labeled US-ASCII. Otherwise, if it is all ISO-8859-15 characters, that

11452

will be the label. If that doesn't work the same is tried for the remaining

11453

members of the list.

11454

11455

It might make sense to set _posting-character-set_ to an explicit value

11456

instead. For example, if you usually send messages in Greek, setting this

11457

option to ISO-8859-7 will result in messages being labeled as US-ASCII if

11458

there are no non-ascii characters, ISO-8859-7 if there are only Greek

11459

characters, or UTF-8 if there are some characters which aren't representable

11460

in ISO-8859-7. Another possibility is to set this option explicitly to

11461

UTF-8. In that case _Alpine_ labels only ascii messages as US-ASCII and all

11462

other messages as UTF-8.

11463

_________________________________________________________________

11464

11465

Interrupted and Postponed Messages

11466

11467

If the user is composing mail and is interrupted by being disconnected

11468

(SIGHUP, SIGTERM or end of file on the standard input), _Alpine_ will save

11469

the interrupted composition and allow the user to continue it when he or she

11470

resumes _Alpine_. As the next _Alpine_ session starts, a message will be

11471

given that an interrupted message can be continued. To continue the

11472

interrupted message, simply go into the composer. To get rid of the

11473

interrupted message, go into the composer and then cancel the message with

11474

_^C._

11475

11476

Composition of half-done messages may be postponed to a later time by giving

11477

the _^O_ command. Other messages can be composed while postponed messages

11478

wait. All of the postponed messages are kept in a single folder. Postponing

11479

is a good way to quickly reference other messages while composing.

11480

_________________________________________________________________

11481

11482

Message Status

11483

11484

The c-client library allows for several flags or status marks to be set for

11485

each message. _Alpine_ uses four of these flags: UNSEEN, DELETED, ANSWERED,

11486

and FLAGGED. The N in _Alpine_'s FOLDER INDEX means that a message is

11487

unseen-it has not been read from this folder yet. The D means that a message

11488

is marked for deletion. Messages marked with D are removed when the user

11489

_Expunges_ the folder (which usually happens when the folder is closed or the

11490

user quits _Alpine_). The A in _Alpine_'s FOLDER INDEX means that the

11491

message has been replied-to. The * in _Alpine_'s FOLDER INDEX means that the

11492

message has been ``flagged'' as important. That is, the user used the _Flag_

11493

command to turn the FLAGGED flag on. This flag can mean whatever the user

11494

wants it to mean. It is just a way to mark some messages as being different

11495

from others. It will usually probably be used to mark a message as somehow

11496

being ``important''. For Berkeley format folders, the message status is

11497

written into the email folder itself on the header lines marked Status: and

11498

X-Status.

11499

11500

It is also possible for a user to define their own flags in addition to the

11501

standard system flags above. In _Alpine_ these user defined flags are called

11502

Keywords.

11503

_________________________________________________________________

11504

11505

MIME: Reading a Message

11506

11507

_Alpine_ should be able to handle just about any MIME message. When a MIME

11508

message is received, _Alpine_ will display a list of all the parts, their

11509

types and sizes. It will display the attachments when possible and

11510

appropriate and allow users to _Save_ all other attachments.

11511

11512

_Alpine_ honors the "mailcap" configuration system for specifying external

11513

programs for handling attachments. The mailcap file maps MIME attachment

11514

types to the external programs loaded on your system which can display

11515

and/or print the file. A sample mailcap file comes bundled with the _Alpine_

11516

distribution. It includes comments which explain the syntax you need to use

11517

for mailcap. With the mailcap file, any program (mail readers, newsreaders,

11518

WWW clients) can use the same configuration for handling MIME-encoded data.

11519

11520

If a MAILCAPS environment variable is defined, _Alpine_ will use that to

11521

look for one or more mailcap files, which are combined. In the absence of

11522

MAILCAPS, Unix _Alpine_ will look for a personal mailcap file in ~/.mailcap

11523

and combine that with a system-wide file in /etc/mailcap. _PC-Alpine_ will

11524

look for a file named MAILCAP in the same directory as the PINERC file,

11525

and/or the directory containing the ALPINE.EXE executable.

11526

11527

Messages which include _rich text_ or _enriched text_ in the main body will

11528

be displayed in a very limited way (it will show bold and underlining).

11529

11530

If _Alpine_ sees a MIME message part tagged as type IMAGE, and _Alpine_'s

11531

image-viewer configuration variable is set, _Alpine_ will attempt to send

11532

that attachment to the named image viewing program. In the case of UNIX

11533

_Alpine_, the DISPLAY environment variable is checked to see if an X-terminal

11534

is being used (which can handle the images). If the _image-viewer_ variable

11535

is not set, _Alpine_ uses the _mailcap_ system to determine what to do with

11536

IMAGE types, just as it does for any other non-TEXT type, e.g. type

11537

APPLICATION. For MIME's generic "catch all" type, APPLICATION/OCTET-STREAM,

11538

the _mailcap_ file will probably not specify any action, but _Alpine_ users

11539

may always _Save_ any MIME attachment to a file.

11540

11541

MIME type "text/plain" is handled a little bit differently than the other

11542

types. If you are viewing the main body part in the MESSAGE TEXT viewing

11543

screen, then _Alpine_ will use its internal viewer to display it. This

11544

happens even if there is a mailcap description which matches this particular

11545

type. However, if you view a part of type "text/plain" from the ATTACHMENT

11546

INDEX screen, then _Alpine_ will check the mailcap database for a matching

11547

entry and use it in preference to its internal viewer.

11548

11549

Some text attachments, specifically those which are just other email

11550

messages forwarded as MIME messages, are displayed as part of the main body

11551

of the message. This distinction allows easy display when possible (the

11552

forward as MIME case) and use of an attachment viewer when that is desirable

11553

(the plain text file attachment case).

11554

11555

If the parts of a multipart message are alternate versions of the same thing

11556

_Alpine_ will select and display the one best suited. For parts of type

11557

"message/external-body", the parameters showing the retrieval method will be

11558

displayed, and the retrieval process is automated. Messages of type

11559

"message/partial" are not supported.

11560

_________________________________________________________________

11561

11562

MIME: Sending a Message

11563

11564

There are two important factors when trying to include an attachment in a

11565

message: encoding and labeling. _Alpine_ has rules for both of these which

11566

try to assure that the message goes out in a form that is robust and can be

11567

handled by other MIME mail readers.

11568

11569

MIME has two ways of encoding data-Quoted-Printable and Base64.

11570

Quoted-Printable leaves the ASCII text alone and only changes 8-bit

11571

characters to "=" followed by the hex digits. For example, "=09" is a tab.

11572

It has the advantage that it is mostly readable and that it allows for end

11573

of line conversions between unlike systems. Base64 encoding is similar to

11574

_uuencode_ or _btoa_ and just encodes a raw bit stream. This encoding is

11575

designed to get text and binary files through even the most improperly

11576

implemented and configured gateways intact, even those that distort

11577

uuencoded data.

11578

11579

_All_ attachments are encoded using Base64 encoding. This is so that the

11580

attachment will arrive at the other end looking exactly like it did when it

11581

was sent. Since Base64 is completely unreadable except by MIME-capable

11582

mailers or programs, there is an obvious tradeoff being made here. We chose

11583

to ensure absolutely reliable transport of attachments at the cost of

11584

requiring a MIME-capable mailer to read them. If the user doesn't want

11585

absolute integrity he or she may always _include_ text (with the _^R_

11586

command) in the body of a message instead of attaching it. With this policy,

11587

the only time quoted-printable encoding is used is when the main body of a

11588

message includes special foreign language characters.

11589

11590

When an attachment is to be sent, _Alpine_ sniffs through it to try to set

11591

the right label (content-type and subtype). An attachment with any lines

11592

longer than 500 characters in it or more than 10% of the characters are

11593

8-bit it will be considered binary data. _Alpine_ will recognize (and

11594

correctly label) a few special types including GIF, JPEG, PostScript, and

11595

some audio formats. Another method which can be more robust and flexible for

11596

determining the content-type and subtype is to base it on the file

11597

extension. This method uses a MIME.Types File.

11598

11599

If it is not binary data (has only a small proportion of 8-bit characters in

11600

it,) the attachment is considered 8-bit text. 8-bit text attachments are

11601

labeled "text/plain" with charset set to the value of the user's

11602

_keyboard-character-set_ variable. If an attachment is ASCII (no 8-bit

11603

characters) and contains no control characters then it is considered plain

11604

ASCII text. Such attachments are given the MIME label "text/plain;

11605

charset=US-ASCII", regardless of the setting of the user's

11606

_keyboard-character-set_ variable.

11607

11608

All other attachments are unrecognized and therefore given the generic MIME

11609

label "application/octet-stream".

11610

_________________________________________________________________

11611

11612

New Mail Notification

11613

11614

_Alpine_ checks for new mail in the _INBOX_ and in the currently open folder

11615

every two and a half minutes by default. This default can be changed in the

11616

system-wide configuration file or at compile-time with the

11617

--with-mailcheck-interval=VALUE configuration option. A user can change it

11618

by changing the option mail-check-interval. A new mail check can be manually

11619

forced by redrawing the screen with a _^L_.

11620

11621

When there is new mail, the message(s) will appear in the index, the screen

11622

will beep, and a notice showing the sender and subject will be displayed. If

11623

there has been more than one new message since you last issued a command to

11624

_Alpine_, the notice will show the count of new messages and the sender of

11625

the most recent one.

11626

_________________________________________________________________

11627

11628

NFS

11629

11630

It is possible to access mail folders on _NFS_ mounted volumes with

11631

_Alpine_, but there are some drawbacks to doing this, especially in the case

11632

of incoming-message folders that may be concurrently updated by _Alpine_ and

11633

the system's mail delivery agent. One concern is that _Alpine_'s

11634

user-contention locks don't work because _/tmp_ is usually not shared, and

11635

even if it was, _flock()_ doesn't work across _NFS._

11636

11637

The implementation of the standard UNIX ".lock" file locking has been

11638

modified to work with _NFS_ as follows. Standard hitching post locking is

11639

used so first a uniquely named file is created, usually something like

11640

_xxxx.host.time.pid._ Then a link to it is created named _xxxx.lock_ where

11641

the folder being locked is _xxxx._ This file constitutes the lock. This is a

11642

standard UNIX locking scheme. After the link returns, a _stat(2)_ is done on

11643

the file. If the file has two links, it is concluded that the lock succeeded

11644

and it is safe to proceed.

11645

11646

In order to minimize the risks of locking failures via _NFS_, we strongly

11647

recommend using IMAP rather than _NFS_ to access remote incoming message

11648

folders, e.g. your _INBOX_. However, it is generally safe to access personal

11649

saved-message folders via _NFS_ since it is unlikely that more than one

11650

process will be updating those folders at any given time. Still, some

11651

problems may occur when two _Alpine_ sessions try to access the same mail

11652

folder from different hosts without using IMAP. Imagine the scenario:

11653

_Alpine_-A performs a write that changes the folder. _Alpine_-B then attempts

11654

to perform a write on the same folder. _Alpine_-B will get upset that the

11655

file has been changed from underneath it and abort operations on the folder.

11656

_Alpine_-B will continue to display mail from the folder that it has in its

11657

internal cache, but it will not read or write any further data. The only

11658

thing that will be lost out of the _Alpine_-B session when this happens is

11659

the last few status changes.

11660

11661

If other mail readers besides _Alpine_ are involved, all bets are off.

11662

Typically, mailers don't take any precautions against a user opening a

11663

mailbox more than once and no special precautions are taken to prevent _NFS_

11664

problems.

11665

_________________________________________________________________

11666

11667

Printers and Printing

11668

11669

UNIX _Alpine_ can print to the standard UNIX line printers or to generic

11670

printers attached to ANSI terminals using the escape sequences to turn the

11671

printer on and off. The user has a choice of three printers in the

11672

configuration.

11673

11674

The first setting, _attached-to-ansi_, makes use of escape sequences on

11675

ANSI/VT100 terminals. It uses "<ESC>[5i" to begin directing all output sent

11676

to the terminal to the printer and then "<ESC>[4i" to return to normal.

11677

_Alpine_ will send these escape sequences if the printer is set to

11678

_attached-to-ansi._ This works with most ANSI/VT100 emulators on Macs and PCs

11679

such as kermit, NCSA telnet, VersaTerm Pro, and WinQVT. Various terminal

11680

emulators implement the print feature differently. There is also a closely

11681

related method called _attached-to-ansi-no-formfeed_ which is the same

11682

except for the lack of formfeed character at the end of the print job.

11683

11684

_Attached-to-wyse_ and _attached-to-wyse-no-formfeed_ are very similar to

11685

"attached-to-ansi". The only difference is in the control characters sent to

11686

turn the printer on and off. The Wyse version uses Ctrl-R for on, and Ctrl-T

11687

for off.

11688

11689

The second selection is the standard UNIX print command. The default is

11690

_lpr_, but it can be changed on a system basis to anything so desired in

11691

/usr/local/lib/pine.conf.

11692

11693

The third selection is the user's personal choice for a UNIX print command.

11694

The text to be printed is piped into the command. _Enscript_ or _lpr_ with

11695

options are popular choices. The actual command is retained even if one of

11696

the other print selections is used for a while.

11697

11698

Both the second and third sections are actually lists of possible commands

11699

rather than single commands.

11700

11701

If you have a PostScript printer attached to a PC or Macintosh, then you

11702

will need to use a utility called _ansiprt_ to get printouts on your

11703

printer. _Ansiprt_ source code and details can be found in the ./contrib

11704

directory of the _Alpine_ distribution.

11705

_________________________________________________________________

11706

11707

Save and Export

11708

11709

_Alpine_ users get two options for moving messages in _Alpine_: _Save_ and

11710

_Export_. _Save_ is used when the message should remain ``in the _Alpine_

11711

realm.'' Saved messages include the complete header (including header lines

11712

normally hidden by _Alpine_), are placed in a _Alpine_ folder collection and

11713

accumulate in a standard folder format which _Alpine_ can read. In contrast,

11714

the _Export_ command is used to write the contents of a message to a file

11715

for use outside of _Alpine_. Messages which have been exported are placed in

11716

the user's home directory (unless the feature use-current-dir is turned on),

11717

not in a _Alpine_ folder collection. Unless FullHeaderMode is toggled on,

11718

all delivery-oriented headers are stripped from the message. Even with

11719

_Export_, _Alpine_ retains message separators so that multiple messages can

11720

accumulate in a single file and subsequently be accessed as a folder. On

11721

UNIX systems, the _Export_ command pays attention to the standard _umask_

11722

for the setting of the file permissions.

11723

_________________________________________________________________

11724

11725

Sent Mail

11726

11727

_Alpine_'s default behavior is to keep a copy of each outgoing message in a

11728

special "sent mail" folder. This folder is also called the fcc for "file

11729

carbon copy". The existence, location and name of the sent mail folder are

11730

all configurable. Sent mail archiving can be turned off by setting the

11731

configuration variable default-fcc="". The sent mail folder is assumed to be

11732

in the default collection for _Save_s, which is the first collection named

11733

in folder-collections. The name of the folder can be chosen by entering a

11734

name in _default-fcc_. With _PC-Alpine_, this can be a bit complicated. If

11735

the default collection for _Save_s is local (DOS), then the _default-fcc_

11736

needs to be SENTMAIL, which is syntax for a DOS file. However, if the

11737

default collection for _Save_s is remote, then the _default-fcc_ needs to be

11738

sent-mail to match the UNIX syntax.

11739

11740

The configuration variable fcc-name-rule also plays a role in selecting the

11741

folder to save sent mail in.

11742

11743

A danger here is that the sent mail could grow without bound. For this

11744

reason, we thought it useful to encourage the users to periodically prune

11745

their sent mail folder. The first time _Alpine_ is used each month it will

11746

offer to archive all messages sent from the month before. _Alpine_ also

11747

offers to delete all the sent mail archive folders which are more than 1

11748

month old. If the user or system has disabled sent mail archiving (by

11749

setting the configuration variable _default-fcc=""_) there will be no

11750

pruning question.

11751

_________________________________________________________________

11752

11753

Spell Checker

11754

11755

Both UNIX _Alpine_ and _PC-Alpine_ depend on the system for their spell

11756

checking and dictionary. _Pico_, the text editor, uses the same spell

11757

checking scheme as _Alpine_.

11758

11759

Lines beginning with ">" (usually messages included in replies) are not

11760

checked. The message text to be checked is on the standard input and the

11761

incorrect words are expected on the standard output.

11762

11763

The default spell checker is UNIX _spell_. You can replace this by setting

11764

the speller configuration variable. A common choice for a superior

11765

replacement is _ispell_.

11766

11767

_PC-Alpine_ relies on the aspell library being installed. Aspell is

11768

independent of Alpine. The Windows version has traditionally been available

11769

at http://aspell.net/win32/. You'll need to download and install both Aspell

11770

and a precompiled dictionary. Aspell is provided in an installer package.

11771

Dictionaries, to be installed after Aspell, are in '.exe' files to download

11772

and run.

11773

_________________________________________________________________

11774

11775

Terminal Emulation and Key Mapping

11776

11777

UNIX _Alpine_ has been designed to require as little as possible from the

11778

terminal. At the minimum, _Alpine_ requires cursor positioning, clear to end

11779

of line, and inverse video. Unfortunately, there are terminals that are

11780

missing some of these such as a vt52. _Alpine_ makes no assumptions as to

11781

whether the terminal wraps or doesn't wrap. If the terminal has other

11782

capabilities it may use some of them. _Alpine_ won't run well on older

11783

terminals that require a space on the screen to change video attributes,

11784

such as the Televideo 925. One can get around this on some terminals by

11785

using "protected field" mode. The terminal can be made to go into protected

11786

mode for reverse video, and then reverse video is assigned to protected

11787

mode.

11788

11789

_Alpine_ handles screens of most any size and resizing on the fly. It

11790

catches SIGWINCH and does the appropriate thing.

11791

11792

On the input side of things, _Alpine_ uses all the standard keys, most of

11793

the control keys and (in function-key mode) the function keys. _Alpine_

11794

avoids certain control keys, specifically ^S, ^Q, ^H, and _^\_ because they

11795

have other meanings outside of _Alpine_ (they control data flow, etc.) _^H_

11796

is treated the same as the _delete_ key, so the _backspace_ or _delete_ keys

11797

always work regardless of any configuration. There is a feature

11798

_compose-maps-delete-key-to-ctrl-d_ which makes the delete key behave like ^D

11799

rather than ^H (deletes current character instead of previous character).

11800

11801

Sometimes a communications program or communications server in between you

11802

and the other end will eat certain control characters. There is a

11803

work-around when you need it. If you type two escape characters followed by

11804

a character that will be interpreted as the character with the control key

11805

depressed. For example, _ESC ESC T_ is equivalent to _^T_.

11806

11807

When a function key is pressed and _Alpine_ is in regular (non-function key)

11808

mode, _Alpine_ traps escape sequences for a number of common function keys

11809

so users don't get an error message or have an unexpected command executed

11810

for each character in the function key's escape sequence. _Alpine_ expects

11811

the following escape sequences from terminals defined as VT100:

11812

11813

ANSI/VT100

11814

F1: <ESC>OP

11815

F2: <ESC>OQ

11816

F3: <ESC>OR

11817

F4: <ESC>OS

11818

F5: <ESC>Op

11819

F6: <ESC>Oq

11820

F7: <ESC>Or

11821

F8: <ESC>Os

11822

F9: <ESC>Ot

11823

F10: <ESC>Ou

11824

F11: <ESC>Ov

11825

11826

Arrow keys are a special case. _Alpine_ has the escape sequences for a

11827

number of conventions for arrow keys hard coded and does not use _termcap_

11828

to discover them. This is because _termcap_ is sometimes incorrect, and

11829

because many users have PC's running terminal emulators that don't conform

11830

exactly to what they claim to emulate. There is a feature called

11831

termdef-takes-precedence which can be set to cause the _termcap_ or

11832

_terminfo_ definitions to be used instead of the built in definitions. Some

11833

arrow keys on old terminals send single control characters like _^K_ (one

11834

even sends _^\_). These arrow keys will not work with _Alpine_. The most

11835

popular escape sequences for arrow keys are:

11836

11837

Up: <ESC>[A <ESC>?x <ESC>A <ESC>OA

11838

Down: <ESC>[B <ESC>?r <ESC>B <ESC>OB

11839

Right: <ESC>[C <ESC>?v <ESC>C <ESC>OC

11840

Left: <ESC>[D <ESC>?t <ESC>D <ESC>OD