MHSTORE(1) [nmh-1.0.4] (MH.6.8) MHSTORE(1)
NAME
mhstore - store contents of MIME messages into files
SYNOPSIS
mhstore [+folder] [msgs] [-file file]
[-part number]... [-type content]...
[-auto] [-noauto] [-check] [-nocheck]
[-rcache policy] [-wcache policy]
[-verbose] [-noverbose] [-version] [-help]
DESCRIPTION
The mhstore command allows you to store the contents of a
collection of MIME (multi-media) messages into files or
other messages.
mhstore manipulates multi-media messages as specified in
RFC-2045 thru RFC-2049.
By default, mhstore will store all the parts of each
message. Each part will be store in a separate file. The
header fields of the message are not stored. By using the
`-part' and `-type' switches, you may limit the scope of
mhstore to particular subparts (of a multipart content)
and/or particular content types.
The option `-file file' directs mhstore to use the specified
file as the source message, rather than a message from a
folder. If you specify this file as -, then mhstore will
accept the source message on the standard input. Note that
the file, or input from standard input should be a validly
formatted message, just like any other nmh message. It
should NOT be in mail drop format (to convert a file in mail
drop format to a folder of nmh messages, see inc (1)).
A part specification consists of a series of numbers
separated by dots. For example, in a multipart content
containing three parts, these would be named as 1, 2, and 3,
respectively. If part 2 was also a multipart content
containing two parts, these would be named as 2.1 and 2.2,
respectively. Note that the `-part' switch is effective for
only messages containing a multipart content. If a message
has some other kind of content, or if the part is itself
another multipart content, the `-part' switch will not
prevent the content from being acted upon.
A content specification consists of a content type and a
subtype. The initial list of standard content types and
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subtypes can be found in RFC-2046. A list of commonly used
contents is briefly reproduced here:
Type Subtypes
------------
text plain, enriched
multipart mixed, alternative, digest, parallel
message rfc822, partial, external-body
application octet-stream, postscript
image jpeg, gif, png
audio basic
video mpeg
A legal MIME message must contain a subtype specification.
To specify a content, regardless of its subtype, just use
the name of the content, e.g., audio. To specify a specific
subtype, separate the two with a slash, e.g., audio/basic.
Note that regardless of the values given to the `-type'
switch, a multipart content (of any subtype listed above) is
always acted upon. Further note that if the `-type' switch
is used, and it is desirable to act on a message/external-
body content, then the `-type' switch must be used twice:
once for message/external-body and once for the content
externally referenced.
Checking the Contents
The `-check' switch tells mhstore to check each content for
an integrity checksum. If a content has such a checksum
(specified as a Content-MD5 header field), then mhstore will
attempt to verify the integrity of the content.
Storing the Contents
The mhstore will store the contents of the named messages in
native (decoded) format. Two things must be determined:
the directory to store the content, and the filenames.
Files are written in the directory given by the nmh-storage
profile entry, e.g.,
nmh-storage: /tmp
If this entry isn't present, the current working directory
is used.
If the `-auto' switch is given, then mhstore will check if
the message contains information indicating the filename
that should be used to store the content. This information
should be specified as the attribute name=filename in the
Content-Type header for the content you are storing. For
security reasons, this filename will be ignored if it begins
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with the character '/', '.', '|', or this switch is not the
default, and it is recommended that you do NOT put the
`-auto' switch in your .mh_profile file.
If the `-auto' switch is not given (or is being ignored for
security reasons) then mhstore will look in the user's
profile for a formatting string to determine how the
different contents should be stored. First, mhstore will
look for an entry of the form:
mhstore-store-<type>/<subtype>
to determine the formatting string. If this isn't found,
mhstore will look for an entry of the form:
mhstore-store-<type>
to determine the formatting string.
If the formatting string starts with a + character, then
content is stored in the named folder. A formatting string
consisting solely of a + character is interpreted to be the
current folder.
If the formatting string consists solely of a - character,
then the content is sent to the standard output.
If the formatting string starts with a '|', then the display
string will represent a command for mhstore to execute which
should ultimately store the content. The content will be
passed to the standard input of the command. Before the
command is executed, mhstore will change to the appropriate
directory, and any escapes (given below) in the display
string will be expanded.
Otherwise the formatting string will represent a pathname in
which to store the content. If the formatting string starts
with a '/', then the content will be stored in the full path
given, else the file name will be relative to the value of
nmh-storage or the current working directory. Any escapes
(given below) will be expanded, except for the a-escape.
A command or pathname formatting string may contain the
following escapes. If the content isn't part of a multipart
(of any subtype listed above) content, the p-escapes are
ignored.
%a Parameters from Content-type (only valid with command)
%m Insert message number
%P Insert part number with leading dot
%p Insert part number without leading dot
%t Insert content type
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%s Insert content subtype
%% Insert character %
If no formatting string is found, mhstore will check to see
if the content is application/octet-stream with parameter
type=tar. If so, mhstore will choose an appropriate
filename. If the content is not application/octet-stream,
then mhstore will check to see if the content is a message.
If so, mhstore will use the value +. As a last resort,
mhstore will use the value %m%P.%s.
Example profile entries might be:
mhstore-store-text: %m%P.txt
mhstore-store-text: +inbox
mhstore-store-message/partial: +
mhstore-store-audio/basic: | raw2audio -e ulaw -s 8000 -c 1 > %m%P.au
mhstore-store-image/jpeg: %m%P.jpg
mhstore-store-application/PostScript: %m%P.ps
Reassembling Messages of Type message/partial
mhstore is also able to reassemble messages that have been
split into multiple messages of type message/partial.
When asked to store a content containing a partial message,
mhstore will try to locate all of the portions and combine
them accordingly. The default is to store the combined
parts as a new message in the current folder, although this
can be changed using formatting strings as discussed above.
Thus, if someone has sent you a message in several parts
(such as the output from sendfiles), you can easily
reassemble them all into a single message in the following
fashion:
% mhlist 5-8
msg part type/subtype size description
5 message/partial 47K part 1 of 4
6 message/partial 47K part 2 of 4
7 message/partial 47K part 3 of 4
8 message/partial 18K part 4 of 4
% mhstore 5-8
reassembling partials 5,6,7,8 to folder inbox as message 9
% mhlist -verbose 9
msg part type/subtype size description
9 application/octet-stream 118K
(extract with uncompress | tar xvpf -)
type=tar
conversions=compress
This will store exactly one message, containing the sum of
the parts. It doesn't matter whether the partials are
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specified in order, since mhstore will sort the partials, so
that they are combined in the correct order. But if mhstore
can not locate every partial necessary to reassemble the
message, it will not store anything.
External Access
For contents of type message/external-body, mhstore supports
these access-types:
afs
anon-ftp
ftp
local-file
mail-server
For the anon-ftp and ftp access types, mhstore will look for
the nmh-access-ftp profile entry, e.g.,
nmh-access-ftp: myftp.sh
to determine the pathname of a program to perform the FTP
retrieval. This program is invoked with these arguments:
domain name of FTP-site
username
password
remote directory
remote filename
local filename
ascii or binary
The program should terminate with an exit status of zero if
the retrieval is successful, and a non-zero exit status
otherwise.
If this entry is not provided, then mhstore will use a
simple built-in FTP client to perform the retrieval.
The Content Cache
When mhstore encounters an external content containing a
Content-ID: field, and if the content allows caching, then
depending on the caching behavior of mhstore, the content
might be read from or written to a cache.
The caching behavior of mhstore is controlled with the
`-rcache' and `-wcache' switches, which define the policy
for reading from, and writing to, the cache, respectively.
One of four policies may be specified: public, indicating
that mhstore should make use of a publically-accessible
content cache; private, indicating that mhstore should make
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use of the user's private content cache; never, indicating
that mhstore should never make use of caching; and, ask,
indicating that mhstore should ask the user.
There are two directories where contents may be cached: the
profile entry nmh-cache names a directory containing world-
readable contents, and, the profile entry nmh-private-cache
names a directory containing private contents. The former
should be an absolute (rooted) directory name. For example,
nmh-cache: /tmp
might be used if you didn't care that the cache got wiped
after each reboot of the system. The latter is interpreted
relative to the user's nmh directory, if not rooted, e.g.,
nmh-private-cache: .cache
(which is the default value).
User Environment
Because the environment in which mhstore operates may vary
for different machines, mhstore will look for the
environment variable $MHSTORE. If present, this specifies
the name of an additional user profile which should be read.
Hence, when a user logs in on a machine, this environment
variable should be set to refer to a file containing
definitions useful for that machine. Finally, mhstore will
attempt to consult one other additional user profile, e.g.,
/usr/freeware/lib/nmh/etc/mhn.defaults
which is created automatically during nmh installation.
FILES
$HOME/.mh_profile The user profile
$MHSTORE Additional profile entries
/usr/freeware/lib/nmh/etc/mhn.defaultSystem default MIME profile entries
PROFILE COMPONENTS
Path: To determine the user's nmh directory
Current-Folder: To find the default current folder
nmh-access-ftp: Program to retrieve contents via FTP
nmh-cache Public directory to store cached external contents
nmh-private-cache Personal directory to store cached external contents
nmh-storage Directory to store contents
mhstore-store-<type>*Template for storing contents
SEE ALSO
mhbuild(1), mhlist(1), mhshow(1), sendfiles(1)
RFC-2045:
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Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One:
Format of Internet Message Bodies,
RFC-2046:
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two:
Media Types,
RFC-2047:
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Three:
Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text,
RFC-2048:
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four:
Registration Procedures,
RFC-2049:
Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Five:
Conformance Criteria and Examples.
DEFAULTS
`+folder' defaults to the current folder
`msgs' defaults to cur
`-noauto'
`-nocheck'
`-rcache ask'
`-wcache ask'
`-noverbose'
CONTEXT
If a folder is given, it will become the current folder.
The last message selected will become the current message.
BUGS
Partial messages contained within a multipart content are
not reassembled.
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