NAME

       package - register package user via mailagent

SYNOPSIS

       package address system version patchlevel [ mailpatches | notifypatches ]

DESCRIPTION

       This  command  is  not intended to be run directly by a user, but may appear in any mail whose subject is
       set to Command. Such mail will be processed by the mailagent(1), which will extract all  lines  beginning
       with  @SH,  which  may  specify this command. The mailagent first sets environment variables that will be
       used by the command.

       Package is used to  notify  the  author  of  a  package  about  its  users.   It  is  normally  generated
       automatically by the MailAuthor.U unit when the user runs Configure.

       If  the  patchlevel  specified  is  not  the latest for that system and version, mail is immediately sent
       suggesting that they upgrade and remindng them how to request the latest patches.

       The final parameter, if included may be set to mailpatches to specify that the user would  like  to  have
       future  patches  mailed  to  them, or notifypatches to specify that a mail notification of future patches
       should be sent, rather than the entire patch.

       The user's address and notification request are saved in the file users in the package's directory.

       Package performs an approximate address match  in  order  to  avoid  duplicate  entries.   Whenever  this
       elimination occurs, a warning message is issued in the logfile.  Two addresses will be said equivalent if
       one of them has an added machine name or if they are really equal. Therefore, the following addresses are
       equivalent:

            ram@acri.fr
            ram@main.acri.fr

       whereas the following two are not equivalent, unfortunately:

            ram@acri.acri.fr
            ram@main.acri.fr

       When a user is asking to be left alone, it is important to let him know if the request failed, because he
       will be annoyed when the next set of patches is issued and  he  still  gets  them  despite  his  previous
       request.  Therefore,  if  no  approximate  match  occurs,  a warning message is sent back, with a list of
       addresses that are close to his own e-mail  address,  but  not  equivalent.  Fortunately,  the  following
       addresses are considered close:

            ram@acri.fr
            ram@somewhere.com
            raphael@main.acri.fr
            manfredi@acri.acri.fr

       because they either have the same login (important when someone changes company) or share the same domain
       or sub-domain part.

       In order to edit the users file, the edusers script should be used. For one thing, it will let  you  edit
       the  users  file  from  whatever package you name in the command line, but it will also properly lock the
       file so that the execution of package will stall for the duration of the  manual  edition  (provided  you
       have a strict locking policy defined in your ~/.mailagent configuration file).

FORWARDING

       Package supports command forwarding as described in the mailhelp(1) page.

FILES

       ~/.mailagent        configuration file for mailagent.
       System/users        list of users of that system.
                           This file consists of single line records, one for each registered user.  Each record
                           consists of three tab-separated fields.

                           The first field indicates the level of updates requested by  the  user  by  a  single
                           letter as follows:
                           M      Mail future patches directly to the user when they are issued.
                           N      Notify the user of future patches.
                           U      The  users  chose to let the author know that they have tried the program, but
                                  does not wish to know about future updates.
                           L      The user is no longer interested in the program and wants to be left alone.

                           The second field is their last notified patch level, or a  dash  (-)  if  it  is  not
                           known.

                           The third field is the user's Email address.
       Log/agentlog        mailagent's log file

AUTHORS

       Graham Stoney <greyham@research.canon.oz.au>
       Raphael Manfredi <Raphael_Manfredi@pobox.com> (minor enhancements)

SEE ALSO

       edusers(1), mailagent(1), metaconfig(1).

                                                                                                      PACKAGE(1)