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NAME

repl - reply to an nmh message

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

repl may be used to reply to a message.

In its simplest form (with no arguments), repl will set up a message-form skeleton in reply to the current message in the current folder, and invoke the whatnow shell.

repl uses a reply template to construct the draft of the reply. A reply template is simply an mhl format file (see mh-format(5) for details).

If the switch -nogroup is given (it is on by default), then repl will use the standard forms file “replcomps”. This will construct a draft message that is intended to be sent only to the author of the message to which you are replying. If a file named “replcomps” exists in the user’s nmh directory, it will be used instead of this default forms file.

The default reply template “replcomps” will direct repl to construct the reply message draft as follows:

To: <Mail-Reply-To> or <Reply-To> or <From>
cc: <To> and <cc> and <personal address>
Fcc: {fcc switch} or +outbox
Subject: Re: <Subject>
In-Reply-To: <Message-Id>
References: <Message-Id>
Comments: In-Reply-To <From> or <apparently from> or <Sender>
message dated <date>
--------

where field names enclosed in angle brackets (< >) indicate the contents of the named field from the message to which the reply is being made.

By default, the “cc:” field is empty. You may selectively add addresses to this default with the -cc type switch. This switch takes an argument (all/to/cc/me) which specifies who gets added to the default “cc:” list of the reply. You may give this switch multiple times (with different arguments) if you wish to add multiple types of address.

If the switch -group is given, then repl will use the standard forms file “replgroupcomps”. This will construct a draft message that is intended as a group or followup reply. If a file named “replgroupcomps” exists in the user’s nmh directory, it will be used instead of this default forms file, unless you specify another forms file on the command line or in your profile.

The default group reply template “replgroupcomps” will direct repl to construct the reply message draft as follows:

To: <Mail-Followup-To>
Subject: Re: <Subject>
In-Reply-To: Message from <From> of <Date>.
<Message-Id>
--------

or if the field <Mail-Followup-To> is not available:

To: <Mail-Reply-To> or <Reply-To> or <From>
cc: <To> and <cc> and <personal address>
Subject: Re: <Subject>
In-Reply-To: Message from <From> of <Date>.
<Message-Id>
--------

By default, the “cc:” contains all the addresses shown. You may selectively remove addresses from this default with the -nocc type switch. This switch takes an argument ( all/to/cc/me) which specifies who gets removed from the default “cc:” list of the reply. You may give this switch multiple times (with different arguments) if you wish to remove multiple types of address.

In any case, you may specify an alternative forms file with the switch -form formfile.

The -query switch modifies the action of -nocc type switch by interactively asking you if each address that normally would be placed in the “To:” and “cc:” list should actually be sent a copy. This is useful for special-purpose replies. Note that the position of the -cc and -nocc switches, like all other switches which take a positive and negative form, is important.

Lines beginning with the fields “To:”, “cc:”, and ”Bcc:” will be standardized and have duplicate addresses removed. In addition, the -width columns switch will guide repl’s formatting of these fields.

If the draft already exists, repl will ask you as to the disposition of the draft. A reply of quit will abort repl, leaving the draft intact; replace will replace the existing draft with a blank skeleton; and list will display the draft.

See comp(1) for a description of the -editor and -noedit switches. Note that while in the editor, with -atfile and if the current directory is writable, the message being replied to is available through a link named “@” (assuming the default whatnowproc). In addition, the actual pathname of the message is stored in the environment variable $editalt, and the pathname of the folder containing the message is stored in the environment variable $mhfolder. The creation of the “@” file is controlled via the -atfile and -noatfile options.

The -convertargs switch directs repl to pass the arguments for type to mhbuild. Both arguments are required; type must be non-empty while argstring can be empty, e.g., ’’ in a shell command line. The -convertargs switch can be used multiple times. See the Convert Interface section of mhbuild(1) for a description of the convert mechanism, and /usr/share/doc/nmh/contrib/replaliases for examples of its use.

Although repl uses a forms file to direct it how to construct the beginning of the draft, it uses a message filter file to direct it as to how the message to which you are replying should be filtered (re-formatted) in the body of the draft. The filter file for repl should be a standard form file for mhl, as repl will invoke mhl to format the message to which you are replying.

The switches -noformat, -format, and -filter filterfile specify which message filter file to use.

If the switch -noformat is given (it is the default) and the -filter switch is not used, then the message to which you are replying is not included in the body of the draft.

If the switch -format is given, then a default message filter file is used. This default message filter should be adequate for most users. This default filter “mhl.reply” is:

; mhl.reply
;
; default message filter for ’repl’ (repl -format)
;
from:nocomponent,formatfield="%(unquote(decode(friendly{text}))) writes:"
body:component="> ",overflowtext="> ",overflowoffset=0

which outputs each line of the body of the message prefaced with the “>” character and a space.

If a file named “mhl.reply” exists in the user’s nmh directory, it will be used instead of this form. You may specify an alternate message filter file with the switch -filter filterfile.

Other reply filters are commonly used, such as:

:
body:nocomponent,compwidth=9,offset=9

which says to output a blank line, and then the body of the message being replied to, indented by one tab stop. Another popular format is:

message-id:nocomponent,nonewline,\
formatfield=“In message %{text}, ”
from:nocomponent,formatfield=“%(decode(friendly{text})) writes:”
body:component=“>”,overflowtext=“>”,overflowoffset=0

This message filter file cites the Message-ID and author of the message being replied to, and then outputs each line of the body prefaced with the “>” character.

You can also use an external format program to format the message body. The format program is specified by the formatproc profile entry, and is enabled by the “format” flag. A message filter using an external format program would look like this:

body:component=“>”,nowrap,format

See the mhl(1) documentation for more information. The format program can be changed by the -fmtproc program and -nofmtproc switches.

To use the MIME rules for encapsulation, specify the -mime switch. This directs repl to generate an mhbuild composition file. Note that nmh will not invoke mhbuild automatically; you must specifically give the command

What now? mime

prior to sending the draft.

If the -annotate switch is given, the message being replied to will be annotated with the lines

Replied: date Replied: addrs

where the address list contains one line for each addressee. The annotation will be done only if the message is sent directly from repl. If the message is not sent immediately from repl, “comp -use” may be used to re-edit and send the constructed message, but the annotations won’t take place. Normally annotations are done inplace in order to preserve any links to the message. You may use the -noinplace switch to change this.

Although the default template specifies that a copy of the reply will be put in the folder ’outbox’, if the -fcc +folder switch is given it will override the default value. More than one folder, each preceded by -fcc can be named.

In addition to the standard mh-format(5) escapes, repl also recognizes the following additional component escape:

Escape Returns Description

To avoid reiteration, repl strips any leading ’Re: ’ strings from the subject component.

The -draftfolder +folder and -draftmessage msg switches invoke the nmh draft folder facility. This is an advanced (and highly useful) feature. Consult mh-draft(5) for more information.

Upon exiting from the editor, repl will invoke the whatnow program. See whatnow(1) for a discussion of available options. The invocation of this program can be inhibited by using the -nowhatnowproc switch. (In fact, it is the whatnow program which starts the initial edit. Hence, -nowhatnowproc will prevent any edit from occurring.)

The -build switch is intended to be used by the Emacs mh-e interface to nmh. It implies -nowhatnowproc. It causes a file <mh-dir>/reply to be created, containing the draft message that would normally be presented to the user for editing. No mail is actually sent.

The -file msgfile switch specifies the message to be replied to as an exact filename rather than as an nmh folder and message number. The same caveats apply to this option as to the -build switch.

FILES

repl looks for all format, filter and template files in multiple locations: absolute pathnames are accessed directly, tilde expansion is done on usernames, and files are searched for in the user’s Mail directory as specified in their profile. If not found there, the directory “/etc/nmh” is checked.

/etc/nmh/replcomps The standard reply template
or <mh-dir>/replcomps Rather than the standard template
/etc/nmh/replgroupcomps The standard ’reply -group’ template
or <mh-dir>/replgroupcomps Rather than the standard template
/etc/nmh/mhl.reply The standard message filter
or <mh-dir>/mhl.reply Rather than the standard filter
$HOME/.mh_profile The user profile
<mh-dir>/draft The draft file

PROFILE COMPONENTS

Path: To determine the user’s nmh directory
Alternate-Mailboxes: To determine the user’s mailboxes
Current-Folder: To find the default current folder
Draft-Folder: To specify the default draftfolder
Editor: To override the default editor
Msg-Protect: To set mode when creating a new message (draft)
fileproc: Program to refile the message
mhlproc: Program to filter message being replied-to
whatnowproc: Program to ask the “What now?” questions

SEE ALSO

comp(1), forw(1), mh-draft(5), mh-format(5), mhbuild(1), send(1), whatnow(1)

/usr/share/doc/nmh/contrib/replaliases

DEFAULTS

’+folder’ defaults to the current folder
’msg’ defaults to cur
’-nogroup’
’-nocc all’ with ’-nogroup’, ’-cc all’ with ’-group’
’-noannotate’
’-nodraftfolder’
’-noformat’
’-inplace’
’-nomime’
’-noquery’
’-noatfile’
’-width 72’

CONTEXT

If a folder is given, it will become the current folder. The message replied to will become the current message.

BUGS

If any addresses occur in the reply template, addresses in the template that do not contain hosts are defaulted incorrectly. Instead of using the localhost for the default, repl uses the sender’s host. Moral of the story: if you’re going to include addresses in a reply template, include the host portion of the address.

The -width columns switch is only used to do address-folding; other headers are not line-wrapped.

If whatnowproc is whatnow, then repl uses a built-in whatnow, it does not actually run the whatnow program. Hence, if you define your own whatnowproc, don’t call it whatnow since repl won’t run it.