MAIL(1)                                                   MAIL(1)

     NAME
          mail, go.fishing - mail and mailboxes

     SYNOPSIS
          mail [ arg ... ]

          go.fishing

     DESCRIPTION
          Mail is a shell script that invokes nedmail(1), the mail
          reader, when no recipients appear on the command line and
          marshal(1), the mail preparer, otherwise.  All command line
          options are passed through.  See the man pages for those two
          commands for more details.

          Incoming mail for a user username is put in the file
          /mail/box/username/mbox unless either the file
          /mail/box/username/forward or /mail/box/username/pipeto
          exists.  The mailbox must have append-only and exclusive-
          access mode (see chmod(1)). A user must create his or her
          own mailbox using the -c option of nedmail(1). Mailboxes are
          created writable (append-only) but not readable by others.

          If the file /mail/box/username/forward exists and is read-
          able by everyone, incoming mail will be forwarded to the
          addresses contained in the first line of the file.  The file
          may contain multiple addresses.  Forwarding loops are caught
          and resolved by local delivery.

          If the file /mail/box/username/pipeto exists and is readable
          and executable by everyone, it will be run for each incoming
          message for the user.  The message will be piped to it
          rather than appended to his/her mail box.  The file is run
          as user none.  Its two arguments are the destination address
          (e.g., local!gremlin) and the user's mail box path (e.g.,
          /mail/box/gremlin/mbox)

        Auto-answer
          To use mail as an answering machine while you are away, run
          go.fishing, which will create /mail/box/$user/gone.fishing
          as a flag for pipeto processing, and truncate
          /mail/box/$user/gone.addrs.  Any existing pipeto file that
          uses /mail/lib/pipeto.lib will invoke the gone.fishing
          machinery when it calls spool or spool-tagged-spam.

          If /mail/box/$user/gone.msg exists, it will be sent (just
          once) to everyone who sends you mail that lists your address
          in a `To' or `Cc' header; if not, /mail/lib/gone.msg will be
          sent.  Upon your return, remove /mail/box/$user/gone.fishing
          to stop automatic responses.

     Page 1                       Plan 9             (printed 3/19/24)

     MAIL(1)                                                   MAIL(1)

     FILES
          /sys/log/mail                 mail log file
          /mail/box/*                   mail directories
          /mail/box/*/mbox              mailbox files
          /mail/box/*/forward           forwarding address(es)
          /mail/box/*/pipeto            mail filter
          /mail/box/*/L.reading         mutual exclusion lock for mul-
                                        tiple mbox readers
          /mail/box/*/L.mbox            mutual exclusion lock for
                                        altering mbox
          /lib/face/48x48x?             directories of icons for
                                        seemail
          /mail/lib/pipeto.lib          helper functions for pipeto
                                        files
          /mail/lib/gone.msg            default vacation message
          /mail/lib/gone.fishing        auto-responder as pipeto
                                        script
          /mail/box/$user/gone.fishing  flag to active gone processing
          /mail/box/$user/gone.addrs    list of senders answered by
                                        gone.fishing

     SOURCE
          /rc/bin/mail
          /rc/bin/go.fishing

     SEE ALSO
          aliasmail(8), faces(1), filter(1), marshal(1), mlmgr(1),
          nedmail(1), qer(8), rewrite(6), send(8), smtp(8), upasfs(4)

     Page 2                       Plan 9             (printed 3/19/24)