Re: fetchmail, exim and pine
On Sat, Nov 27, 1999 at 08:39:41PM +0000, John wrote
> I still have difficulty with email configurations. Although I can
> send and receive mail, things are very basic. Would someone
> kindly help me a little further along by explaining/answering:-
>
> a. My .fetchmailrc contains 'warning 3600' at the end the basic
> config. (i.e. poll pop.xxxx.xxx with proto POP3 user "xxxx"
> there with password "xxxx" is xxxx here warning 3600)
>
> b. I understand a .forward file (in my home directory) will enable
> me to sort incoming mail. Can I create it in a text editor (say
> pico or ee - my favourites) and are there any special rules
> and examples.
>
At its simplest a .forward file contains one or more addresses, one
to a line; your mail is forwarded to each of them (instead of being
delivered to your local mailbox). Exim, procmail and various other
mail delivery/processing software allow you to place more complex
rules in there, to do all sorts of fancy sorting tricks; you should
refer to their documentation for the specifics on each one.
> c. What are RFC 821 and RFC 822.
>
RFC 821 and RFC 822 are technical documents ('Requests for Comment')
that propose standards for (RFC 821) SMTP, the protocol used to transfer
mail from one host to another (also used by most "internet client"
mail programs for sending mail) and (RFC 822) the format of internet
mail messages. As an end-user you probably don't need to read them,
unless you're especially interested in the nitty-gritty of how these
things work, or want to find out (e.g.) exactly what you're allowed to
put in your "from" address. They are in the (15Mb) package 'doc-rfc'.
> d. As a very inexperienced novice, I still find it best to study
> the printed word. I don't have a printer attached to this
> installation, so I use mtools and take text onto a floppy
> for printing by another machine. Is there any easy way to
> make man pages (e.g. 'exim.8.gz' after unzipping) capable
> of being reproduced without the 'weird bits' which I don't
> at present understand.
Man (via groff, which does the hard work) understands several output
formats; if you have access to a postscript printer you can create
a ready-for-printing copy of a man page by (e.g.)
man -Tps exim > exim-man.ps
or, if you have an HP LaserJet 4 or other PCL5-compatible printer,
man -Tlj4 exim > exim-man.lj4
This should produce a file that you can just copy to the printer
for neatly-formatted output. See man groff for a complete list of
output types, although they are the ones that you are most likely
to use.
You would print these files by copying them to the printer, with
e.g.
C> copy a:exim-man.ps lpt1:
Check the name of the printer; it's been a long time since I did that...
If you're printing on a Mac there is no simple way of copying a
file directly to the printer; if your printer does postscript, you
can use the "Download commands to the printer" (?) menu item in
the LaserWriter utility to print a raw postscript file.
If the printer you are using doesn't do postscript or PCL but is supported
by magicfilter or apsfilter, you might want to consider installing
magicfilter/apsfilter and printing to a file; you could then use something
like
man -t exim | lpr
to format the man page ready for your printer, and then copy the file
that is created to the non-print-challenged PC.
John P.
--
huiac@camtech.net.au
john@huiac.apana.org.au
"Oh - I - you know - my job is to fear everything." - Bill Gates in Denmark
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