07/27/83  Enhancements to the print_mail command

This info segment briefly describes the enhancements made to the
print_mail command in various system releases.


07/27/83  List of enhancements in MR10.2:
   (1) improved mailbox selection,
   (2) improved message selection,
   (3) improved control over message display format,
   (4) improved message summaries, and
   (5) use of the Acknowledge-To field


Improved mailbox selection:
The print_mail command now permits the name of an entry in the system
mail table to be used to specify the mailbox to be examined.  For
example, the command line

     print_mail Palter

will now print the contents of the user Palter's default mailbox
provided that there is no mailbox or savebox in the working directory
named Palter.mbx or Palter.sv.mbx, respectively, and that the the mail
table entry for Palter specifies his default mailbox as its value.

For more detailed information, type:
     help print_mail -ca user; help print_mail -section mailbox selection

For more detailed information about the mail table, type:
     help mail_table.gi


Improved message selection:
The print_mail command now provides greater flexibility in determining
which messages in the mailbox are to be printed.  This new capability
is provided by the following print_mail control arguments:

-accessible, -acc
   specifies that print_mail should only select those messages in the
   mailbox that the user is permitted to read.  If the user has read
   (r) extended access on the mailbox, print_mail will select all
   messages in the mailbox; if the user has own (o) extended access on
   the mailbox, print_mail will select only those messages which the
   user sent to the mailbox.  (Default)
-all, -a
   specifies that print_mail should select all messages in the mailbox
   regardless of who sent them.  Use of this control argument requires
   read (r) extended access on the mailbox.


-own
   specifies that print_mail should select only those messages in the
   mailbox that the user himself sent to the mailbox.  Use of this
   control argument requires own (o) extended access on the mailbox.
-not_own
   specifies that print_mail should select only those messages in the
   mailbox that were not sent by the user.  Use of this control
   argument requires read (r) extended access on the mailbox.


Improved control over message display format:
The print_mail command now provides four levels of detail for the
information displayed from the message header.  Which level of detail
to use is specified by one of the following command line control
arguments:

-long_header, -lghe
   specifies that print_mail is to display all information from the
   message header including network tracing information even if some of
   the information is redundant.  (Ie: if the From, Sender, and
   Delivery-By fields are all equal, this option will force print_mail
   to display all three fields when it prints the message).
-header, -he
   specifies that print_mail is to display all information from the
   message header including user-defined fields while excluding the
   message trace and redundant information.  (Default)


-brief_header, -bfhe
   specifies that print_mail is to display the minimal amount of
   information from the message header.  The date and authors are
   always displayed; the subject is displayed if it isn't blank; the
   number of recipients is displayed either if there is more than one
   recipient or the user is not the sole recipient of the message; if
   the message was ever forwarded with comments, these comments will be
   displayed.
-no_header, -nhe
   specifies that print_mail is to display absolutely no information
   from the message header.  Only the message number, message body line
   count, and message body will be displayed.

For more information, type:
     help message_format.gi


Improved message summaries:
The message summary produced by the "-list" control argument has been
enhanced to include two new flag characters after the message number.
The "A" flag will appear for any message which will be acknowledged
after it is printed.  The "&" flag will appear for any message which
can not be deleted due to insufficient access.


Use of the Acknowledge-To field:
The print_mail command now uses the contents of the last Acknowledge-To
or Redistributed-Acknowledge-To field in the message to determine to
whom it should send message acknowledgements.


10/06/82  List of enhancements in MR10.1:
   (1) an improved mailbox selection capability,
   (2) a program_interrupt handler,
   (3) the "?" response,
   (4) abbreviations for some responses,
   (5) new command line control arguments, and
   (6) improved acknowledgements.


Enhanced mailbox selection:
The print_mail command now uses a different interpretation of a
non-control argument on its command line when selecting a mailbox.
This new interpretation was chosen to simplify the selection of
mailboxes and saveboxes in the working directory.

The new interpretation is:
STR
   is any non-control argument and is first interpreted as:
         -mailbox STR
   if no mailbox is found, this specification is then interpreted as:
         -save STR
   if no savebox is found, this specification is then interpreted as:
         -user STR


program_interrupt handler:
A program_interrupt handler is added to print_mail which, when invoked,
causes print_mail to repeat the "Delete this message?" query for the
message it just printed.  Thus, if print_mail begins to print a long
message, the user may use the BREAK key to interrupt the command and
then invoke the program_interrupt command to proceed directly to the
"Delete this message?" query without having to print the entire message
at his terminal.


The "?" response:
Answering the "Delete this message?" query with a question mark (?)
causes print_mail to print a brief summary of the acceptable responses
to this query.


Shorter responses:
The following abbreviations are now accepted for the listed responses
to the "Delete this message?" query.

   yes: y
   no: n
   quit: q
   reprint: print, pr, p

y  for "yes"
n  for "no"
q  for "quit"
print, pr, p
   for "reprint"


New command line control arguments:
Several new control arguments are now accepted on the print_mail
command line.

The following control arguments are the inverse of already implemented
control arguments and were added to allow overriding non-standard
default settings created through the use of abbreviations:

-long, -lg
   prints the long form of the greeting message.  (Default)
-no_list, -nls
   does not print a summary of the messages before printing the first
   message.  (Default)


The following control arguments were added to provide compatibility
with new or existing features of read_mail:

-acknowledge, -ack
   acknowledges messages which request acknowledgement.  (Default)
-no_acknowledge, -nack
   does not acknowledge messages which request acknowledgement.
-header, -he
   prints the entire header associated with each message.  (Default)
-no_header, -nhe
   prints an abbreviated form of the header giving only the date,
   author, and subject of the message.
-own
   only prints messages sent by the user using print_mail.  The default
   is to print all messages in the mailbox to which the user has
   access.


Improved acknowledgements:
The message sent when acknowledging a message now includes the subject
of the original message if present.


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Historical Background

This edition of the Multics software materials and documentation is provided and donated
to Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Group BULL including BULL HN Information Systems Inc. 
as a contribution to computer science knowledge.  
This donation is made also to give evidence of the common contributions of Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Bell Laboratories, General Electric, Honeywell Information Systems Inc., Honeywell BULL Inc., Groupe BULL
and BULL HN Information Systems Inc. to the development of this operating system. 
Multics development was initiated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project MAC (1963-1970),
renamed the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the mid 1970s, under the leadership
of Professor Fernando Jose Corbato. Users consider that Multics provided the best software architecture 
for managing computer hardware properly and for executing programs. Many subsequent operating systems 
incorporated Multics principles.
Multics was distributed in 1975 to 2000 by Group Bull in Europe , and in the U.S. by Bull HN Information Systems Inc., 
as successor in interest by change in name only to Honeywell Bull Inc. and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. .

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Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without
fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies
and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting
documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining
to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission.
    Copyright 1972 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Honeywell Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by BULL HN Information Systems Inc.
    Copyright 2006 by Bull SAS
    All Rights Reserved