HELP SEND (UNIX Version)                               A.Sloman Aug 1989

There are two procedures for sending mail from inside VED, -ved_send- and
-ved_sendmr-,  invoked as follows.

<ENTER> send <name1> <name2> <name3>
    Sends current file as mail to the named people.

<ENTER> send
    Sends whole file to people named in "To:" line at top of file.

<ENTER> sendmr <name1> <name2> <name3>
    Sends the marked range to the named people.

<ENTER> sendmr
    Sends marked range to people named in "To:" line at top of the
    marked range.

Within the file you can also specify a subject, "Cc:" and "Bcc:" lists,
and other items to go into the mail header, as explained below.

NB
The Unix Poplog ved_send program was changed substantially after Poplog
version 13.6. You are advised to note especially the sections of this
file below concerned with -ved_send_mailer-, -ved_send_aliases-, and
-ved_send_record-, vedindent_From.

CONTENTS - (Use <ENTER> g to access sections)

 -- Different versions of ved_send and ved_sendmr
 -- Using ved_send and ved_sendmr with recipients named in the file
 -- Sending copies and "blind copies": Cc and Bcc
 -- Alternate forms
 -- WARNING: check the marked range before <ENTER> sendmr
 -- REMAINING FACILITIES NOT AVAILABLE IN VMS POPLOG
 -- Alterations made to message to preserve Unix mail file format
 -- Disabling "From" line insertion: vedinsert_From
 -- Disabling "From" indentation: vedindent_From
 -- Altering the mailer: ved_send_mailer
 -- Aliases defined in vedmailrc (.mailrc)
 -- Format for mail aliases file (.mailrc or vedmailrc)
 -- Alias substitution in the VED file: ved_send_aliases
 -- The "metoo" option
 -- Keeping a summary log file: MAILREC
 -- Keeping a copy of all mail: ved_send_record
 -- Sending long files without waiting: ved_send_wait
 -- RELATED DOCUMENTATION
 -- Acknowledgements

-- Different versions of ved_send and ved_sendmr ----------------------

There are different versions of the library program, suiting different
needs.

On Unix systems with the Berkeley Unix mail system the most
sophisticated options are available, using LIB * VED_SEND. It is
included with all Unix versions of POPLOG, though some versions of Unix
may not support all the facilities. If LIB * VED_SEND does not work,
there is a simpler version in LIB * OLDSEND. The differences are
indicated below.

The version of LIB * VED_SEND on VMS is equivalent to LIB * OLDSEND.

If you use a UNIX system on which the more sophisticated facilities
don't work (try them in order to find out), then you can include the
line

    loadlib("oldsend");

in your vedinit.p file, to get the older simpler version. See
    HELP * INITIAL


-- Using ved_send and ved_sendmr with recipients named in the file ----

The first lines of the file or marked range should be of the form below,
starting at the beginning of the line (permitted variations are
described later):

    To: tom dick fred
    Re: the sending of mail
    Cc: harry pop
    Bcc: mark

Followed by your message. (The last two options do not work in VMS
or in LIB * OLDSEND).

If both a 'To:' and a 'Re:' line are specified then the 'To:' line should
be specified first.  (On VMS machines it is necessary to separate the
names of recipients with commas.)


-- Sending copies and "blind copies": Cc and Bcc ----------------------

N.B. The Cc: and Bcc: options are not available in VMS or LIB OLDSEND.

People specified in the To, Cc and Bcc slots will all receive a copy of
the message.  However those mentioned in the Bcc slot get "blind"
copies, i.e. they will not be included in the mail header, so other
recipients will not know that they have received a copy of the message.


-- Alternate forms ----------------------------------------------------

The program is fairly relaxed about the form used for the field names,
E.g. For the To: line you can use any of:

    To: TO: to:

For the Subject line, any of:

    RE: Re: re: Subject: subject: Subj: SUBJ: SUBJECT: subj:

For the Cc: line, any of:

    Cc: cc: CC:

For the Bcc: line, any of

    Bcc: bcc: BCC:

(For the full lists of options see LIB * VED_SEND)

On VMS or using LIB OLDSEND, the message is written to VEDMESSAG.LIS, in
the user's login directory, and is deleted after the message has been
sent.

For other UNIX systems the file is sent via a Unix "pipe" to the
Unix mail program. (See -ved_send_mailer-, below).

(Earlier versions of LIB VED_SEND piped the mail to the unix sendmail
program, which was considerably slower.)


-- WARNING: check the marked range before <ENTER> sendmr --------------

It is often useful to keep a lot of messages in one big file, e.g.
alternating mail read in (SEE HELP * VED_MAIL) and mail sent out in
response.

However, there is a danger that you may accidentally send out more than
you intend, if you don't check that the beginning and end of the marked
range start where you intend. This can sometimes lead to considerable
embarrassment.


-- REMAINING FACILITIES NOT AVAILABLE IN VMS POPLOG -------------------

-- Alterations made to message to preserve Unix mail file format ------

The format for a Unix mail file requires each mail message to be
preceded by a blank line (if not at top of file) and start with a line
containing 'From ' then the sender's name, date of receipt and possibly
other information.

It is also necessary for any line within a message that starts with
'From ' to be indented so that it is not confused with the beginning of
a message. The normal way to indent it is to insert ">" at the beginning
of the line.

The VED command <ENTER> mcm, described in HELP * VED_MAIL, assumes
this format, as does the Unix mail reader.

So, in order to preserve Unix mail file format, the command

    <ENTER> sendmr      (but not <ENTER> send)

when invoked with no arguments automatically inserts a 'From' line at
the top of the message (if there is not one already), and inserts '>'
where necessary at the beginning of lines in the message that start with
'From '. (These alterations to the VED buffer can be prevented, as
explained below.)

The line inserted at the top of the message has the format:

    From <user's full name> <date>

The user's full name is obtained using the procedure -sysgetusername-
which looks in the unix password file for your full name. If it does not
find it there it will use the value of -popusername-
    (See REF * SYSUTIL/popusername, REF * SYSUTIL/sysgetusername).

Note that although these alterations are made, the procedures -ved_send-
and -ved_sendmr- do not alter the value of the VED variable
-vedchanged-. So if you do not make any changes yourself to the file
before or after giving the <ENTER> sendmr command, then the file will
not be written to disk when you leave VED.

The Automatic changes to the file to preserve Unix mail format can be
suppressed, as follows:


-- Disabling "From" line insertion: vedinsert_From --------------------

Insertion of a 'From ' header line to separate the current message from
previous messages can be disabled by the Pop-11 command

    false -> vedinsert_From,

or, in your vedinit.p file:

    vars vedinsert_From = false;

which can be done either before or after compiling lib ved_send.

Insertion of the From line is also disabled if you send the whole file,
ie give the command

    <ENTER> send

Or if you give the recipient on the command line, e.g.

    <ENTER> sendmr joe


-- Disabling "From" indentation: vedindent_From -----------------------

Insertion of ">" at beginnings of lines in the message that start with
'From ' can be disabled by the Pop-11 command

    false -> vedindent_From,

or, in your vedinit.p file:

    vars vedindent_From = false;

which can be done either before or after compiling lib ved_send.


-- Altering the mailer: ved_send_mailer -------------------------------

The user-assignable variable -ved_send_mailer- has as its name a mail
front end program capable of expanding aliases in the user's .mailrc
file.

On Unix system V the default value is '/usr/bin/mailx', otherwise
'/usr/ucb/Mail', the Berkeley Unix mailer.

If these mail front ends are not available users can assign a suitable
pathname specifying a mail sending program to -ved_send_mailer- in their
vedinit.p file.
    (For full details see LIB * VED_SEND)

The mailer program should be capable of being invoked by piping a mail
message into a call of the form

    MAILER name1 name2 name3 ....

(with no extra flags). Header information will be in the mail message
in lines starting with "~" in the following format

    ~b for Bbc: list
    ~c for Cc: list
    ~s for Subject: list

If your mailer cannot cope with this, then it may be necessary to define
a suitable filter program. (See Unix 'man mail' for full specification of
your mailer.) Alternatively use LIB * OLDSEND


-- Aliases defined in vedmailrc (.mailrc) -----------------------------

The user's login directory can contain a file called '.mailrc' in which
aliases are defined, giving abbreviations for commonly used mail
addresses. This is the file that is also used by the unix mail command.

Alternatively you can set the Unix environment variable MAILRC to
indicate a different file to be used. (See Unix 'man mail')

If you wish to use a different aliases file for the VED-based mailer,
assign the name of the file to the Pop-11 variable -vedmailrc-

E.g. If you wished to share a collection of mail aliases with other
users, you could do something like the following in your vedinit.p file:

    vars vedmailrc = '/usr/grouplib/vedmailaliases';

(The system wide unix mail aliases file will work automatically with
this program, as 'mail' pipes the message through 'sendmail', and
sendmail looks in /usr/lib/aliases.)


-- Format for mail aliases file (.mailrc or vedmailrc) ----------------

Aliases can be defined either for individual names or for lists of
names. E.g. the following formats should all work:

    alias julie fgin57@uk.ac.rl.gz
    alias moonuk techhelp%moonuk@moon.com
    alias progs alanj johng johnw benr richb kaths aledm julie joe
    alias joe psunb!psunc!jsmith
    alias gkt gkt%sysdes%alvey@uk.ac.rl.gm

Notice that an alias defined in one place may be included in a list
in another place: the aliases are all expanded fully.

If you want to define an alias for a very long list of names in your
vedmailrc file, you will need to get them all in one line (at present).
This requires setting -vedbreak- false when editing your vedmailrc file.
See HELP * VED_BREAK

If an alias name starts with "|" then the rest of the name should be
a program, as described in Unix 'man mail'.

E.g. in your vedmailrc file, the line:

    alias proc |process

Will mean that if 'proc' is named as a recipient of the message, then
the message should be piped to the program called 'process'.


-- Alias substitution in the VED file: ved_send_aliases ---------------

The boolean variable ved_send_aliases (default TRUE) tells the program
whether to replace addresses in the VED file with their expanded
versions. If it is made FALSE aliases will not be expanded in the file,
though the Mail program will still expand them, provided that your
-vedmailrc- file is the same as the one you use for the system mailer
(e.g. '.mailrc' in your login directory).

If you use different alias files for ved_send and ordinary unix then you
should not make ved_send_aliases false.


-- The "metoo" option -------------------------------------------------

In your vedmailrc file you may have one of the following commands:
    set metoo
    unset metoo

If it is set then if you send mail to any system wide alias and it
includes your name you will receive a copy. If not you will not.


-- Keeping a summary log file: MAILREC --------------------------------

It is sometimes useful to keep brief records of whom you have sent mail
to when and on what topic.

You can ask the program to keep a record of each message you send
in a file you specify. Each record will simply have the date, to whom
mail was sent, and the subject, e.g. in a form like:
        Sun Mar 24 23:43:46 GMT 1985
        To: alanf
        Cc: fred
        Re: sending mail from ved
        Sun Mar 24 23:49:58 GMT 1985
        To: smith@svpb
        Re: netmail
        Sun Mar 24 23:54:35 GMT 1985
        To: fred@uk.ac.ed.aiva joe@uk.ac.fgh.cs
        Re: arpa mail
        Bcc: local_arpa_boss

You can specify the name of the file in which the records are to be kept
by setting Unix environment variable $MAILREC. For example, if you
wanted mail to go into your file called 'mailrec' in your 'mail'
subdirectory you could put the following into your .login file:

    setenv MAILREC $HOME/mail/mailrec

That works if you are a CSH user. If you are a SH user, put into
your .profile

    MAILREC=$HOME/mail/mailrec
    export MAILREC

If you don't define MAILREC, no record is kept.

The UNIX version of VED_SEND, VED_SENDMR may later be integrated into a
complete VED-based package for reading and writing mail, saving folders,
etc.


-- Keeping a copy of all mail: ved_send_record ------------------------

The Unix mailer allows you to have in your .mailrc file a line in the
format
    set record = <filename>

in which case a copy of every message you send is stored in that file.

If you wish to suppress this for mail sent from VED do the following.

1. Remove the 'set record' line from .mailrc.

2. In your .login do
    setenv record <filename>

    (This has the advantage that you can use environment variables in the
    file name, which 'set' in .mailrc does not allow)

Then if the variable ved_send_record has value FALSE (the default) then
your mail will be piped to the mail program with the $record environment
variable temporarily suppressed.

In this way the record will be kept if you send mail without using VED,
but will be suppressed if you send it from VED. If you want the record
kept in both cases, then do

    vars ved_send_record = true;

in your vedinit.p


-- Sending long files without waiting: ved_send_wait ------------------

When ved_send or ved_sendmr sends mail, it creates a SENDMAIL process,
and sends the mail to it via a pipe. It waits until all the message has
been written. For a long message this can take some time. If you wish
not to wait, then assign FALSE to the variable -ved_send_wait-, whose
default value is TRUE. E.g. in your vedinit.p do

    vars ved_send_wait = false;

Making it FALSE will cause an extra process to be spawned to transfer
the mail from the VED buffer to SENDMAIL. The original process will not
wait for any of this to be finished. The benefit is that the user can
get on with somehing else. The cost is an extra process running on the
machine, which will help to slow it down, especially if there is a
shortage of memory.


-- RELATED DOCUMENTATION ----------------------------------------------

Other information on UNIX options:
HELP * VED_MAIL -- Reading incoming Unix mail messages into VED
HELP * REPLY    -- replying to mail in VED, using ved_reply or ved_Reply
HELP * VED_MDIR -- creating a directory of messages in a unix mail file

HELP * MAIL     -- making the Berkeley UNIX Mail command use VED

Also Unix 'man' files for 'mail' and 'sendmail'

PROGRAM LIBRARIES
LIB * VED_SEND
LIB * OLDSEND
LIB * VED_MAIL
LIB * VED_REPLY


-- Acknowledgements ---------------------------------------------------

Several people besides the author of this file have contributed to the
evolution of the VED-based mailer including Mark Rubinstein, Roger Evans,
Tom Khabaza, Chris Thornton, James Goodlet, and Jason Handby.

--- C.unix/help/send
--- Copyright University of Sussex 1989. All rights reserved. ----------
