bionic (6) mailgo.6.gz

NAME

       mailgo - shell script for using mgt to automate email go games

SYNOPSIS

       mailgo [-r] [-n] [-c] [-e] [filename]

DESCRIPTION

       mailgo  helps  manage email games by processing Smart-Go game records received by mail, invoking mgt, and
       automatically sending your next move back.

       Invoking mailgo with no flags instructs the program to search the specified file for a go game,  ignoring
       mail  headers  or other such garbage.  mailgo will invoke the game processor specified in the environment
       variable MAILGO or of this variable is undefined, will attempt to run mgt from the  inherited  path.   If
       you  give  the  filename -- then mailgo will read its input from stdin, allowing you to redirect messages
       into mailgo directly from your mailer.  Your mail program  may  not  support  redirecting  messages  into
       external programs.  Check it's man page to find out.  This option to use stdin as the input is only valid
       if you give mailgo no other arguments.  (Technical note:  mgt  is  instructed  to  read  its  input  from
       /dev/tty if you use this feature.)

       If your opponent loses your move, you can resend the game with the -r switch.

       To  start  a  new  game,  use the -n switch.  Without a file, you will be prompted for your address, your
       opponent's address, and the filename for both your and your  opponent's  local  game  record.   The  game
       processor  will  then be invoked for you to make the first move.  If a filename is specified, the address
       and filename data is taken from that file.

       The -c switch causes the program to delete any extraneous files it might have created during  a  previous
       run which was abnormally terminated.  These files have the form: MailGo*

       To  edit  the  mailgo  headers  (including mail addresses, file names and game record format) or the game
       record, use the -e switch with the file name of the mailgo file you wish to edit.   The  file  may  be  a
       saved  mailgo  mail message or a processed mailgo game file.  The -e option will not mail changes because
       of the possibility of confusing addresses.  To mail edited files, use 'mailgo  <file>'  for  edited  mail
       messages and 'mailgo -r <file>' for edited files which have been previously processed by mailgo.

       mailgo  also  supports  go board sizes of 9x9, 13x13 and 19x19.  Handicaps maybe set to values of 2-4 for
       9x9 games, 2-5 for 13x13 games and 2-9 for 19x19 games.  Any other board size or  handicap  must  be  set
       behind mailgo's back.

FILE FORMAT

        ---GoGaMeStArT---
        TO: opponent@hissite
        TOFILE: his_game_record
        FROM: me@mysite
        FROMFILE: my_game_record
        FORMAT: format_code
        (
        Smart-Go game data
        )

        ---GoGaMeEnD---
        Trailing garbage ignored

       The game data file contains a leading tag to indicate the start of the data.  It contains both addresses,
       as should be used to mail the game files, and it contains the files  to  store  the  games  in.   In  the
       example above, you are playing opponent@hissite, and the game is being stored in my_game_record.

       The file format used can be either long, short, or extrashort indicated by L, S, and E respectively.  The
       long format uses the full size Smart-Go file saved with no options from mgt.  The extrashort format  uses
       mgt  with  the  -s  option  to save short format files.  This format may cause problems for some mailers,
       however, because the lines will grow longer than 512 bytes.  In any game  record  format,  if  very  long
       comments  are  created, there is a danger of causing mailer problems.  The short format is similar to the
       extrashort format but has extra newlines inserted.  The short format is the default when selecting format
       from  the  prompt,  but the long format is the default if a file contains no FORMAT line.  When mailgo is
       used normally, the file specified on the command line is removed at successful completion,  and  the  new
       game  is  saved to the file specified in the received game record.  If the destination file does not look
       like a mailgo file, mailgo will query for confirmation.

       When a new game is started, the first mailgo message contains the line NEWGAME inserted before the FORMAT
       line.  This is used to check for the overwriting of old game records.

FILES

       mgt

       Smart-Go.def, the Smart-Go format definition.

BUGS

       mailgo  tries to handle the case where you start a new game but do not make the first move.  If after the
       first move you have a reason to convince mgt that  you  have  changed  the  game  record  without  really
       changing anything, you should enter and exit the comment editor.

AUTHOR

       Adrian Mariano (adrian@bsdserver.ucsf.edu)

                                                23 November 1992                                       MAILGO(6)