1 07/27/83 Enhancements to the print_mail command
2
3 This info segment briefly describes the enhancements made to the
4 print_mail command in various system releases.
5
6
7 07/27/83 List of enhancements in MR10.2:
8 1 improved mailbox selection,
9 2 improved message selection,
10 3 improved control over message display format,
11 4 improved message summaries, and
12 5 use of the Acknowledge-To field
13
14
15 Improved mailbox selection:
16 The print_mail command now permits the name of an entry in the system
17 mail table to be used to specify the mailbox to be examined. For
18 example, the command line
19
20 print_mail Palter
21
22 will now print the contents of the user Palter's default mailbox
23 provided that there is no mailbox or savebox in the working directory
24 named Palter.mbx or Palter.sv.mbx, respectively, and that the the mail
25 table entry for Palter specifies his default mailbox as its value.
26
27 For more detailed information, type:
28 help print_mail -ca user; help print_mail -section mailbox selection
29
30 For more detailed information about the mail table, type:
31 help mail_table.gi
32
33
34 Improved message selection:
35 The print_mail command now provides greater flexibility in determining
36 which messages in the mailbox are to be printed. This new capability
37 is provided by the following print_mail control arguments:
38
39 -accessible, -acc
40 specifies that print_mail should only select those messages in the
41 mailbox that the user is permitted to read. If the user has read
42 r extended access on the mailbox, print_mail will select all
43 messages in the mailbox; if the user has own o extended access on
44 the mailbox, print_mail will select only those messages which the
45 user sent to the mailbox. Default
46 -all, -a
47 specifies that print_mail should select all messages in the mailbox
48 regardless of who sent them. Use of this control argument requires
49 read r extended access on the mailbox.
50
51
52 -own
53 specifies that print_mail should select only those messages in the
54 mailbox that the user himself sent to the mailbox. Use of this
55 control argument requires own o extended access on the mailbox.
56 -not_own
57 specifies that print_mail should select only those messages in the
58 mailbox that were not sent by the user. Use of this control
59 argument requires read r extended access on the mailbox.
60
61
62 Improved control over message display format:
63 The print_mail command now provides four levels of detail for the
64 information displayed from the message header. Which level of detail
65 to use is specified by one of the following command line control
66 arguments:
67
68 -long_header, -lghe
69 specifies that print_mail is to display all information from the
70 message header including network tracing information even if some of
71 the information is redundant. Ie: if the From Sender and
72 Delivery-By fields are all equal this option will force print_mail
73 to display all three fields when it prints the message.
74 -header, -he
75 specifies that print_mail is to display all information from the
76 message header including user-defined fields while excluding the
77 message trace and redundant information. Default
78
79
80 -brief_header, -bfhe
81 specifies that print_mail is to display the minimal amount of
82 information from the message header. The date and authors are
83 always displayed; the subject is displayed if it isn't blank; the
84 number of recipients is displayed either if there is more than one
85 recipient or the user is not the sole recipient of the message; if
86 the message was ever forwarded with comments, these comments will be
87 displayed.
88 -no_header, -nhe
89 specifies that print_mail is to display absolutely no information
90 from the message header. Only the message number, message body line
91 count, and message body will be displayed.
92
93 For more information, type:
94 help message_format.gi
95
96
97 Improved message summaries:
98 The message summary produced by the "-list" control argument has been
99 enhanced to include two new flag characters after the message number.
100 The "A" flag will appear for any message which will be acknowledged
101 after it is printed. The "&" flag will appear for any message which
102 can not be deleted due to insufficient access.
103
104
105 Use of the Acknowledge-To field:
106 The print_mail command now uses the contents of the last Acknowledge-To
107 or Redistributed-Acknowledge-To field in the message to determine to
108 whom it should send message acknowledgements.
109
110
111 10/06/82 List of enhancements in MR10.1:
112 1 an improved mailbox selection capability,
113 2 a program_interrupt handler,
114 3 the "?" response,
115 4 abbreviations for some responses,
116 5 new command line control arguments, and
117 6 improved acknowledgements.
118
119
120 Enhanced mailbox selection:
121 The print_mail command now uses a different interpretation of a
122 non-control argument on its command line when selecting a mailbox.
123 This new interpretation was chosen to simplify the selection of
124 mailboxes and saveboxes in the working directory.
125
126 The new interpretation is:
127 STR
128 is any non-control argument and is first interpreted as:
129 -mailbox STR
130 if no mailbox is found, this specification is then interpreted as:
131 -save STR
132 if no savebox is found, this specification is then interpreted as:
133 -user STR
134
135
136 program_interrupt handler:
137 A program_interrupt handler is added to print_mail which, when invoked,
138 causes print_mail to repeat the "Delete this message?" query for the
139 message it just printed. Thus, if print_mail begins to print a long
140 message, the user may use the BREAK key to interrupt the command and
141 then invoke the program_interrupt command to proceed directly to the
142 "Delete this message?" query without having to print the entire message
143 at his terminal.
144
145
146 The "?" response:
147 Answering the "Delete this message?" query with a question mark ?
148 causes print_mail to print a brief summary of the acceptable responses
149 to this query.
150
151
152 Shorter responses:
153 The following abbreviations are now accepted for the listed responses
154 to the "Delete this message?" query.
155
156 yes: y
157 no: n
158 quit: q
159 reprint: print, pr, p
160
161 y for "yes"
162 n for "no"
163 q for "quit"
164 print, pr, p
165 for "reprint"
166
167
168 New command line control arguments:
169 Several new control arguments are now accepted on the print_mail
170 command line.
171
172 The following control arguments are the inverse of already implemented
173 control arguments and were added to allow overriding non-standard
174 default settings created through the use of abbreviations:
175
176 -long, -lg
177 prints the long form of the greeting message. Default
178 -no_list, -nls
179 does not print a summary of the messages before printing the first
180 message. Default
181
182
183 The following control arguments were added to provide compatibility
184 with new or existing features of read_mail:
185
186 -acknowledge, -ack
187 acknowledges messages which request acknowledgement. Default
188 -no_acknowledge, -nack
189 does not acknowledge messages which request acknowledgement.
190 -header, -he
191 prints the entire header associated with each message. Default
192 -no_header, -nhe
193 prints an abbreviated form of the header giving only the date,
194 author, and subject of the message.
195 -own
196 only prints messages sent by the user using print_mail. The default
197 is to print all messages in the mailbox to which the user has
198 access.
199
200
201 Improved acknowledgements:
202 The message sent when acknowledging a message now includes the subject
203 of the original message if present.