Ubuntu Manpage: post - deliver a message

NAME

       post - deliver a message

SYNOPSIS

       /usr/lib/mh/post [-alias aliasfile] [-filter filterfile] [-nofilter] [-format | -noformat]
            [-mime | -nomime] [-msgid | -nomsgid] [-messageid localname | random] [-verbose |
            -noverbose] [-watch | -nowatch] [-width columns] [-mts smtp | sendmail/smtp |
            sendmail/pipe] [-server servername] [-port portname/number] [-sasl] [-nosasl]
            [-saslmaxssf ssf] [-saslmech mechanism] [-user username] [-tls] [-initialtls]
            [-notls] file [-version] [-help]

DESCRIPTION

Post is the default program called by send to deliver the message in file to local and
remote users. In fact, most of the features attributed to send in its manual page are
performed by post, with send acting as a relatively simple preprocessor. Thus, it is post
which parses the various header fields, appends a “Date:” line, and interacts with the
mail transport system. Post will not normally be called directly by the user.

Post searches the “To:”, “cc:”, “Bcc:”, “Fcc:”, and “Resent-xxx:” header lines of the
specified message for destination addresses, checks these addresses for validity, and
formats them so as to conform to ARPAnet Internet Message Format protocol, unless the
-noformat flag is set. This will normally cause “@local-site” to be appended to each
local destination address, as well as any local return addresses. The -width columns
switch can be used to indicate the preferred length of the header components that contain
addresses.

If a “Bcc:” field is encountered, its addresses will be used for delivery, and the “Bcc:”
field will be removed from the message sent to sighted recipients. The blind recipients
will receive an entirely new message with a minimal set of headers. Included in the body
of the message will be a copy of the message sent to the sighted recipients. If -filter
filterfile is specified, then this copy is filtered (re-formatted) by mhl prior to being
sent to the blind recipients. Alternately, if the -mime switch is given, then post will
use the MIME rules for encapsulation.

The -alias aliasfile switch can be used to specify a file that post should take aliases
from. More than one file can be specified, each being preceded with -alias. In any
event, the primary alias file is read first.

The -msgid switch indicates that a “Message-ID:” or “Resent-Message-ID:” field should be
added to the header.

The -messageid switch selects the style used for the part appearing after the @ in
“Message-ID:”, “Resent-Message-ID:”, and “Content-ID:” header fields. The two acceptable
options are localname (which is the default), and random. With localname, the local
hostname is used. With random, a random sequence of characters is used instead. Note
that the -msgid switch must be enabled for this switch to have any effect.

The -verbose switch indicates that the user should be informed of each step of the
posting/filing process.

The -watch switch indicates that the user would like to watch the transport system's
handling of the message (e.g., local and “fast” delivery).

Under normal circumstances, post uses the “From:” line in the message draft as the
identity of the originating mailbox. A “From:” line is required in all message draft. By
default the message composition utilities such as comp, repl and mhmail will automatically
place a “From:” line in the message draft. There are two ways to override this behavior,
however. Note that they apply equally to “Resent-From:” lines in messages sent with dist.

The first way is to supply a “Sender:” line. The value of this field will be used as the
originating mailbox identity when submitting the message to the mail transport system. If
multiple addresses are given in the “From:” line, a “Sender:” line is required. If an
“Envelope-From:” line is supplied when multiple addresses are given in the “From:” line, a
“Sender:” header will be generated using the value of the “Envelope-From:” line, if the
“Envelope-From:” line is not blank.

The second way is to supply a “Envelope-From:” line. The value of this field will be used
as the originating mailbox identity when submitting the message to the mail transport
system. This will override both the value of the “From:” line and a “Sender:” line (if
one is supplied). The “Envelope-From:” line is allowed to have a blank value; if the
value is blank, then the mail transport system will be instructed to not send any bounces
in response to the message. Not all mail transport systems support this feature.

The mail transport system default is provided in /etc/nmh/mts.conf but can be overriiden
here with the -mts switch.

If nmh is using the SMTP MTA, the -server and the -port switches can be used to override
the default mail server (defined by the servers entry in /etc/nmh/mts.conf ).

If nmh has been compiled with SASL support, the -sasl and -nosasl switches will enable and
disable the use of SASL authentication with the SMTP MTA. Depending on the SASL mechanism
used, this may require an additional password prompt from the user (but the netrc file can
be used to store this password, as described in the mh-profile(5) man page). The
-saslmech switch can be used to select a particular SASL mechanism, and the -user switch
can be used to select a authorization userid to provide to SASL other than the default.
The credentials profile entry in the mh-profile(5) man page describes the ways to supply a
username and password.

If SASL authentication is successful, nmh will attempt to negotiate a security layer for
session encryption. Encrypted data is labelled with `(sasl-encrypted)' and `(sasl-
decrypted)' when viewing the SMTP transaction with the -snoop switch. The -saslmaxssf
switch can be used to select the maximum value of the Security Strength Factor. This is
an integer value and the exact meaning of this value depends on the underlying SASL
mechanism. A value of 0 disables encryption.

If nmh has been compiled with TLS support, the -tls and -initialtls switches will require
the negotiation of TLS when connecting to the SMTP MTA. The -tls switch will negotiate
TLS as part of the normal SMTP protocol using the STARTTLS command. The -initialtls will
negotiate TLS immediately after the connection has taken place, before any SMTP commands
are sent or received. Encrypted data is labelled with `(tls-encrypted)' and `(tls-
decrypted)' when viewing the SMTP transction with the -snoop switch. The -notls switch
will disable all attempts to negotiate TLS.

FILES

       /etc/nmh/mts.conf          nmh mts configuration file
       /etc/nmh/MailAliases       global nmh alias file
       /usr/bin/mh/refile         Program to process Fcc:s
       /usr/lib/mh/mhl            Program to process Bcc:s

PROFILE COMPONENTS

       post does NOT consult the user's .mh_profile

DEFAULTS

       `-alias' defaults to /etc/nmh/MailAliases
       `-format'
       `-nomime'
       `-nomsgid'
       `-messageid localname'
       `-noverbose'
       `-nowatch'
       `-width 72'
       `-nofilter'

CONTEXT

       None

BUGS

       “Reply-To:”  fields  are  allowed  to  have  groups  in  them  according  to  the  RFC 822
       specification, but post won't let you use them.