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<title>Procmail - The MH-E Manual</title>
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<a name="Procmail"></a>
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<h2 class="appendix">Appendix B Reading Mailing Lists Effectively</h2>
<p><a name="index-g_t_0040command_007bprocmail_007d-2179"></a><a name="index-g_t_0040command_007bslocal_007d-2180"></a><a name="index-Gnus-2181"></a><a name="index-MH-commands_002c-_0040command_007bslocal_007d-2182"></a><a name="index-Unix-commands_002c-_0040command_007bprocmail_007d-2183"></a><a name="index-mailing-lists_002c-reading-2184"></a>
This appendix explains how to use <a href="http://www.procmail.org/">procmail</a> to file mail from mailing lists into folders which can then
be read easily with MH-E<a rel="footnote" href="#fn-1" name="fnd-1"><sup>1</sup></a>. Some mailing lists have such
high traffic that Gnus must be used and I discuss how to use Gnus
side-by-side with MH-E.
<p><a name="index-g_t_0040file_007b_002eprocmailrc_007d-2185"></a><a name="index-files_002c-_0040file_007b_002eprocmailrc_007d-2186"></a>
First, I'll describe how to put mail from your mailing lists directly
into an MH folder using <samp><span class="command">procmail</span></samp>. First, add the following
to <samp><span class="file">~/.procmailrc</span></samp>. While the logging variables aren't strictly
necessary, they are extremely useful.
<pre class="smallexample"> [1] # Update PATH so procmail can find myrcvstore, rcvstore and mhparam.
[2] PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/mh:/usr/bin/mh:$HOME/bin
[3]
[4] # Point LOGFILE at the actual log file.
[5] LOGFILE=$HOME/.procmail.log
[6]
[7] # This setting provides just the right amount of information.
[8] LOGABSTRACT=all
[9]
[10] # Uncomment the following line to see how your patterns match.
[11] #VERBOSE=yes
[12]
[13] # Place mail sent to any MH-E mailing list in +mh-e.
[14] :0 w: mh-e$LOCKEXT
[15] * ^TO.*mh-e-.*.*sourceforge.net
[16] | myrcvstore -create +mh-e
</pre>
<p><a name="index-g_t_0040command_007brcvstore_007d-2187"></a><a name="index-MH-commands_002c-_0040command_007brcvstore_007d-2188"></a>
Line 14 creates a lock file in your mail directory based upon the name
of the folder. This is done because <samp><span class="command">rcvstore</span></samp> does not
perform locking. While this lock file will prevent <samp><span class="command">procmail</span></samp>
from writing to a folder concurrently, there is a slight chance that
you might lose a message if you're performing operations on a folder
at the same time <samp><span class="command">rcvstore</span></samp> is placing a message there. You
have been warned. Now that that disclaimer is out of the way, note
that I've been using this set-up for over a decade and haven't lost
anything to my knowledge<a rel="footnote" href="#fn-2" name="fnd-2"><sup>2</sup></a>.
<p><a name="index-g_t_0040samp_007bUnseen_002dSequence_003a_007d-MH-profile-component-2189"></a><a name="index-MH-profile-component_002c-_0040samp_007bUnseen_002dSequence_003a_007d-2190"></a>
Line 16 uses the following script, <code>myrcvstore</code>, to massage the
message as described in the comment and file the message in the given
folder<a rel="footnote" href="#fn-3" name="fnd-3"><sup>3</sup></a>.
<pre class="smallexample"> #! /bin/sh
# Accepts a message on standard input and passes it through rcvstore
# after first passing it through any filters. All arguments are passed
# on to rcvstore.
# Force the "From user date" to become part of header. One reason this
# is done is because the presence of the From field confuses dist so
# that dist adds a new header, rather than using the existing header.
# Note that this should not be done for any message that goes into a
# Gnus incoming file (Gnus will thrown an error) nor should it be
# applied to any message that goes to the system mailbox because the
# entire mailbox will be incorporated as a single message.
formail -c -z -R 'From ' X-Envelope-From: |
rcvstore $@
</pre>
<p>If your version of <samp><span class="command">rcvstore</span></samp> doesn't add messages to the
`<samp><span class="samp">unseen</span></samp>' sequence by default, add the following line to your MH
profile:
<pre class="smallexample"> Unseen-Sequence: unseen
</pre>
<p>Now view your new messages with the speedbar (see <a href="Speedbar.html#Speedbar">Speedbar</a>) or with
<kbd>F n</kbd> (<code>mh-index-new-messages</code>). See <a href="Folders.html#Folders">Folders</a>.
<p>If you're on a mailing list that is so voluminous that it is
impossible to read every message, it usually better to read the
mailing list like a newsgroup in a news reader. Emacs has a built-in
newsreader called Gnus. The remainder of this appendix talks about how
to use Gnus with an MH message store. The version of Gnus that was
used to prepare this manual was 5.10. Versions 5.8 through 5.10 should
work but versions prior to 5.8 use different options.
<p>This table contains a list of Gnus options that you will have to
modify. Note that for them to become accessible, you'll have to load
<samp><span class="file">nnml.el</span></samp> first. This can be done with <kbd>M-x load-library
<RET> nnml <RET></kbd>.
<dl>
<dt><code>gnus-secondary-select-methods</code><a name="index-gnus_002dsecondary_002dselect_002dmethods-2191"></a><dd>Select the `<samp><span class="samp">nnml</span></samp>' value. This select method uses directories for
folders and individual files for messages, just like MH. You do not
have to set an address.
<!-- -->
<br><dt><code>mail-sources</code><a name="index-mail_002dsources-2192"></a><dd>Select the `<samp><span class="samp">Several files in a directory</span></samp>' value, check the
`<samp><span class="samp">Path</span></samp>' box and enter <samp><span class="file">~/Mail</span></samp> to tell Gnus where to find
your mail.
<!-- -->
<a name="index-mail_002duser_002dagent-2193"></a><br><dt><code>message-mail-user-agent</code><a name="index-message_002dmail_002duser_002dagent-2194"></a><dd>In order to send mail within Gnus using MH-E, set this option to
`<samp><span class="samp">mail-user-agent</span></samp>' and set the <code>mail-user-agent</code> option to
`<samp><span class="samp">Emacs interface to MH</span></samp>'.
<!-- -->
<br><dt><code>nnmail-keep-last-article</code><a name="index-nnmail_002dkeep_002dlast_002darticle-2195"></a><dd>Since Gnus keeps track of which messages you have read, it would be
bad if Gnus expired the last message, for example, message 100, and
<samp><span class="command">rcvstore</span></samp> gave the next new message number 1. Gnus would then
ignore it since it thinks that you've read messages 1-100. Turning on
this option ensures that the last message is never removed thereby
eliminating this problem.
</dl>
<p>Next add the following to <samp><span class="file">~/.procmailrc</span></samp>. If you don't subscribe
to the GnuCash mailing list, substitute one to which you are
subscribed.
<pre class="smallexample"> PATH=$PATH:/usr/bin/mh
MAILDIR=$HOME/`mhparam Path`
# Place mail sent to the GnuCash mailing list in gnucash.spool, where
# Gnus will pick it up.
:0:
* ^TO.*gnucash.*.*gnucash.org
gnucash.spool
</pre>
<p>Wait for some messages to appear in <samp><span class="file">gnucash.spool</span></samp> and run Gnus
with <kbd>M-x gnus <RET></kbd>. To view the folder created in the
example above, you would tell Gnus about it the first time only with
<kbd>G m gnucash <RET> nnml <RET></kbd>. In MH-E, this folder is
known as `<samp><span class="samp">+gnucash</span></samp>'.
<div class="footnote">
<hr>
<h4>Footnotes</h4><p class="footnote"><small>[<a name="fn-1" href="#fnd-1">1</a>]</small> The MH equivalent, <samp><span class="command">slocal</span></samp>,
can be used as well, but procmail is more flexible and more packages
exist for procmail than for slocal.</p>
<p class="footnote"><small>[<a name="fn-2" href="#fnd-2">2</a>]</small> See
<a href="https://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?func=detailbug&bug_id=4361&group_id=2166">Savannah issue #4361</a> to see if <samp><span class="command">rcvstore</span></samp> locking is still an
issue.</p>
<p class="footnote"><small>[<a name="fn-3" href="#fnd-3">3</a>]</small> The `<samp><span class="samp">-create</span></samp>' argument wasn't always the default
to <samp><span class="command">rcvstore</span></samp>.</p>
<p><hr></div>
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