diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/alpine.1')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/alpine.1 | 356 |
1 files changed, 356 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/alpine.1 b/doc/alpine.1 new file mode 100644 index 00000000..6ae54416 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/alpine.1 @@ -0,0 +1,356 @@ +.TH alpine 1 "Version 2.10" +.SH NAME +alpine \- an Alternatively Licensed Program for Internet News and Email +.SH SYNTAX + +.B alpine +[ +.I options +] [ +.I address +, +.I address +] + +.B alpinef +[ +.I options +] [ +.I address +, +.I address +] +.SH DESCRIPTION + +Alpine is a screen-oriented message-handling tool. In its default +configuration, Alpine offers an intentionally limited set of +functions geared toward the novice user, but it also has a large +list of optional "power-user" and personal-preference features. +.I alpinef +is a variant of Alpine that uses function keys rather than mnemonic +single-letter commands. +Alpine's basic feature set includes: +.IP +View, Save, Export, Delete, Print, Reply and Forward messages. +.IP +Compose messages in a simple editor (Pico) with word-wrap and a spelling +checker. Messages may be postponed for later completion. +.IP +Full-screen selection and management of message folders. +.IP +Address book to keep a list of long or frequently-used addresses. +Personal distribution lists may be defined. +Addresses may be taken into the address book from +incoming mail without retyping them. +.IP +New mail checking and notification occurs automatically every 2.5 minutes +and after certain commands, e.g. refresh-screen (Ctrl-L). +.IP +On-line, context-sensitive help screens. +.PP +Alpine supports MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions), an Internet +Standard for representing multipart and multimedia data in email. +Alpine allows you to save MIME objects to files, and in some +cases, can also initiate the correct program for viewing the object. +It uses the system's +.I mailcap +configuration file to determine what program can process a particular MIME +object type. +Alpine's message composer does not have integral multimedia capability, but +any type of data file --including multimedia-- can be attached to a text +message and sent using MIME's encoding rules. This allows any group of +individuals with MIME-capable mail software (e.g. Alpine, PC-Alpine, or many +other programs) to exchange formatted documents, spread-sheets, image +files, etc, via Internet email. +.PP +Alpine uses the +.I c-client +messaging API to access local and remote mail folders. This +library provides a variety of low-level message-handling functions, +including drivers +for a variety of different mail file formats, as well as routines +to access remote mail and news servers, using IMAP (Internet Message +Access Protocol) and NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol). Outgoing mail +is usually posted directly via SMTP +(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). +.SH OPTIONS +.if n .ta 2.8i +.if t .ta 2.1i + +The command line options/arguments are: +.IP \fIaddress\fR 20 +Send mail to +.I address. +This will cause Alpine to go directly into the message composer. +.IP \fB-attach\ \fIfile\fR 20 +Send mail with the listed +.I file +as an attachment. +.IP \fB-attachlist\ \fIfile-list\fR 20 +Send mail with the listed +.I file-list +as an attachments. +.IP \fB-attach_and_delete\ \fIfile\fR 20 +Send mail with the listed +.I file +as an attachment, and remove the file +after the message is sent. +.IP \fB-aux\ \fIlocal_directory\fR 20 +PC-Alpine only. When using a remote configuration (-p <remote_config>) this tells +PC-Alpine the local directory to use for storing auxiliary files, like debug +files, address books, and signature files. +.IP \fB-bail\fR 20 +Exit if the pinerc file does not exist. This might be useful if the config +file is accessed using some remote filesystem protocol. If the remote mount +is missing this will cause Alpine to quit instead of creating a new pinerc. +.IP \fB-c\ \fIcontext-number\fR 20 +context-number is the number corresponding to the +folder-collection to which the +.I -f +command line argument should be applied. By default the +.I -f +argument is applied to the first defined folder-collection. +.IP \fB-conf\fR 20 +Produce a sample/fresh copy of the +system-wide configuration file, +.I pine.conf, +on the standard output. This is distinct from the per-user +.I .pinerc +file. +.IP \fB-convert_sigs\ \fI-p\ pinerc\fR 20 +Convert signature files into literal signatures. +.IP \fB-copy_abook\ <\fIlocal_abook\fR>\ <\fIremote_abook\fR> 20 +Copy the local address book file to a remote address book folder. +.IP \fB-copy_pinerc\ <\fIlocal_pinerc\fR>\ <\fIremote_pinerc\fR> 20 +Copy the local pinerc file to a remote pinerc folder. +.IP \fB-d\ \fIdebug-level\fR 20 +Output diagnostic info at +.I debug-level +(0-9) to the current +.I .pine-debug[1-4] +file. A value of 0 turns debugging off and suppresses the +.I .pine-debug +file. +.IP \fB-d\ \fIkey[=val]\fR 20 +Fine tuned output of diagnostic messages where "flush" causes +debug file writing without buffering, "timestamp" appends +each message with a timestamp, "imap=n" where n is between +0 and 4 representing none to verbose IMAP telemetry reporting, +"numfiles=n" where n is between 0 and 31 corresponding to the +number of debug files to maintain, and "verbose=n" where n is +between 0 and 9 indicating an inverse threshold for message +output. +.IP \fB-f\ \fIfolder\fR 20 +Open +.I folder +(in first defined folder collection, use +.I -c n +to specify another collection) instead of INBOX. +.IP \fB-F\ \fIfile\fR 20 +Open named text file and view with Alpine's browser. +.IP \fB-h\fR 20 +Help: list valid command-line options. +.IP \fB-i\fR 20 +Start up in the FOLDER INDEX screen. +.IP \fB-I\ \fIkeystrokes\fR 20 +Initial (comma separated list of) keystrokes which Alpine should execute +on startup. +.IP \fB-install\fR 20 +For PC-Alpine only, this option causes PC-Alpine to prompt for some basic +setup information, then exits. +.IP \fB-k\fR 20 +Use function keys for commands. This is the same as running the command +.IR alpinef . +.IP \fB-n\ \fInumber\fR 20 +Start up with current message-number set to +.I number. +.IP \fB-o\fR 20 +Open first folder read-only. +.IP \fB-p\ \fIconfig-file\fR 20 +Use +.I config-file +as the personal configuration file instead of the default +.IR .pinerc . +.IP \fB-P\ \fIconfig-file\fR 20 +Use +.I config-file +as the configuration file instead of default +system-wide configuration file +.IR pine.conf . +.IP \fB-pinerc\ \fIfile\fR 20 +Output fresh pinerc configuration to +.I file, preserving the settings of variables that the user has made. +Use \fIfile\fR set to ``-'' to make output go to standard out. +<IP> \fB-registry\ \fIcmd\fR 20 +For PC-Alpine only, this option affects the values of +Alpine's registry entries. +Possible values for \fIcmd\fR are set, clear, and dump. +\fISet\fR will always reset Alpine's registry +entries according to its current settings. +\fIClear\fR will clear the registry values. +\fIClearsilent\fR will silently clear the registry values. +\fIDump\fR will display the values of current registry settings. +Note that the dump command is currently disabled. +Without the -registry option, PC-Alpine will write values into +the registry only if there currently aren't any values set. +.IP \fB-r\fR 20 +Use restricted/demo mode. +.I Alpine +will only send mail to itself +and functions like save and export are restricted. +.IP \fB-sort\ \fIorder\fR +Sort the FOLDER INDEX display in one of the following orders: +.I arrival, date, subject, orderedsubj, thread, from, size, score, to, cc, +or +.I reverse. Arrival +order is the default. +The OrderedSubj choice simulates a threaded sort. +Any sort may be reversed by adding +.I /reverse +to it. +.I Reverse +by itself is the same as +.IR arrival/reverse . +.IP \fB-supported\fR 20 +Some options may or may not be supported depending on how Alpine +was compiled. +This is a way to determine which options are supported in the particular +copy of Alpine you are using. +.IP \fB-uninstall\fR 20 +For PC-Alpine only, this option causes PC-Alpine to remove references to +Alpine in Windows settings. +.IP \fB-url\ \fIurl\fR 20 +Open the given +.I url. +Cannot be used with +.I -f +or +.I -F +options. +.IP \fB-v\fR 20 +Version: Print version information. +.IP \fB-version\fR 20 +Version: Print version information. +.IP \fB-x\ \fIconfig\fR 20 +Use configuration exceptions in +.I config. +Exceptions are used to override your default pinerc +settings for a particular platform, can be a local file or +a remote folder. +.IP \fB-z\fR 20 +Enable ^Z and SIGTSTP so alpine may be suspended. +.IP \fI-option\=\fIvalue\fR 20 +Assign +.I value +to the config option +.I option +e.g. -signature-file=sig1 or -feature-list=signature-at-bottom +(Note: feature-list values are additive) +.SH CONFIGURATION + +There are several levels of Alpine configuration. Configuration values at +a given level over-ride corresponding values at lower levels. In order of +increasing precedence: + + o built-in defaults. +.br + o system-wide +.I pine.conf +file. +.br + o personal +.I .pinerc +file (may be set via built-in Setup/Config menu.) +.br + o command-line options. +.br + o system-wide +.I pine.conf.fixed +file. + +There is one exception to the rule that configuration values are replaced +by the value of the same option in a higher-precedence file: the +feature-list variable has values that are additive, but can be negated by +prepending "no-" in front of an individual feature name. Unix Alpine also +uses the following environment variables: + + TERM +.br + DISPLAY (determines if Alpine can display IMAGE attachments.) +.br + SHELL (if not set, default is /bin/sh ) +.br + MAILCAPS (semicolon delimited list of path names to mailcap files) +.SH FILES +.if n .ta 2.8i +.if t .ta 2.1i + +/usr/spool/mail/xxxx Default folder for incoming mail. +.br +~/mail Default directory for mail folders. +.br +~/.addressbook Default address book file. +.br +~/.pine-debug[1-4] Diagnostic log for debugging. +.br +~/.pinerc Personal alpine config file. +.br +~/.newsrc News subscription/state file. +.br +~/.mailcap Personal mail capabilities file. +.br +~/.mime.types Personal file extension to MIME type mapping +.br +/etc/mailcap System-wide mail capabilities file. +.br +/etc/mime.types System-wide file ext. to MIME type mapping +.br +/usr/local/lib/pine.info Local pointer to system administrator. +.br +/usr/local/lib/pine.conf System-wide configuration file. +.br +/usr/local/lib/pine.conf.fixed Non-overridable configuration file. +.br +/tmp/.\\usr\\spool\\mail\\xxxx Per-folder mailbox lock files. +.br +~/.pine-interrupted-mail Message which was interrupted. +.br +~/mail/postponed-msgs For postponed messages. +.br +~/mail/sent-mail Outgoing message archive (FCC). +.br +~/mail/saved-messages Default destination for Saving messages. +.SH "SEE ALSO" + +pico(1), binmail(1), aliases(5), mailaddr(7), sendmail(8), spell(1), imapd(8) + +.br +Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine +.br +Alpine Information Center: http://www.washington.edu/alpine +.br +Source distribution: ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/alpine/alpine.tar.gz +.br +Alpine Technical Notes, included in the source distribution. +.br +C-Client messaging API library, included in the source distribution. +.SH ACKNOWLEDGMENTS +.na +.nf + +The University of Washington Alpine development team (part of the UW Office +of Computing & Communications) includes: + + Project Leader: Mike Seibel + Principal authors: Mike Seibel, Steve Hubert, Jeff Franklin + C-Client library & IMAPd: Mark Crispin + Documentation: Many people! + Project oversight: Terry Gray, Lori Stevens + Principal Patrons: Ron Johnson, Mike Bryant + Initial Alpine code base: Pine - by the University of Washington, + Elm - by Dave Taylor & USENET Community Trust + Initial Pico code base: MicroEmacs 3.6, by Dave G. Conroy + User Interface design: Inspired by UCLA's "Ben" mailer for MVS + Suggestions/fixes/ports: Folks from all over! + +$Date: 2009-02-02 13:54:23 -0600 (Mon, 02 Feb 2009) $ |