man pages for pine
SunOS 5.7 Last change: Version 4.05
NAME
pine - a Program for Internet News and Email
SYNTAX
pine [ options ] [ address , address ]
pinef [ options ] [ address , address ]
DESCRIPTION
Pine is a screen-oriented message-handling tool. In its
default configuration, Pine offers an intentionally limited
set of functions geared toward the novice user, but it also
has a growing list of optional "power-user" and personal-
preference features. pinef is a variant of Pine that uses
function keys rather than mnemonic single-letter commands.
Pine's basic feature set includes:
View, Save, Export, Delete, Print, Reply and Forward
messages.
Compose messages in a simple editor (Pico) with word-
wrap and a spelling checker. Messages may be postponed
for later completion.
Full-screen selection and management of message fold-
ers.
Address book to keep a list of long or frequently-used
addresses. Personal distribution lists may be defined.
Addresses may be taken into the address book from
incoming mail without retyping them.
New mail checking and notification occurs automatically
every 2.5 minutes and after certain commands, e.g.
refresh-screen (Ctrl-L).
On-line, context-sensitive help screens.
Pine supports MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions),
an Internet Standard for representing multipart and mul-
timedia data in email. Pine allows you to save MIME objects
to files, and in some cases, can also initiate the correct
program for viewing the object. It uses the system's mail-
cap configuration file to determine what program can process
a particular MIME object type. Pine's message composer does
not have integral multimedia capability, but any type of
data file --including multimedia-- can be attached to a text
message and sent using MIME's encoding rules. This allows
any group of individuals with MIME-capable mail software
(e.g. Pine, PC-Pine, or many other programs) to exchange
formatted documents, spread-sheets, image files, etc, via
Internet email.
Pine uses the c-client messaging API to access local and
remote mail folders. This library provides a variety of
low-level message-handling functions, including drivers for
a variety of different mail file formats, as well as rou-
tines to access remote mail and news servers, using IMAP
(Internet Message Access Protocol) and NNTP (Network News
Transport Protocol). Outgoing mail is usually handed-off to
the Unix sendmail, program but it can optionally be posted
directly via SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
OPTIONS
The command line options/arguments are:
address Send mail to address. This will cause
Pine to go directly into the message
composer.
-a Special anonymous mode for UWIN*
-c context-number context-number is the number correspond-
ing to the folder-collection to which
the -f command line argument should be
applied. By default the -f argument is
applied to the first defined folder-
collection.
-d debug-level Output diagnostic info at debug-level
(0-9) to the current .pine-debug[1-4]
file. A value of 0 turns debugging off
and suppresses the .pine-debug file.
-d key[=val] Fine tuned output of diagnostic messages
where "flush" causes debug file writing
without buffering, "timestamp" appends
each message with a timestamp, "imap=n"
where n is between 0 and 4 representing
none to verbose IMAP telemetry report-
ing, "numfiles=n" where n is between 0
and 31 corresponding to the number of
debug files to maintain, and "verbose=n"
where n is between 0 and 9 indicating an
inverse threshold for message output.
-f folder Open folder (in first defined folder
collection) instead of INBOX.
-F file Open named text file and view with
Pine's browser.
-h Help: list valid command-line options.
-i Start up in the FOLDER INDEX screen.
-I keystrokes Initial (comma separated list of) keys-
trokes which Pine should execute on
startup.
-k Use function keys for commands. This is
the same as running the command pinef.
-n number Start up with current message-number set
to number.
-nr Special mode for UWIN*
-o Open first folder read-only.
-p config-file Use config-file as the personal confi-
guration file instead of the default
.pinerc.
-P config-file Use config-file as the configuration
file instead of default system-wide con-
figuration file pine.conf.
-r Use restricted/demo mode. Pine will
only send mail to itself and functions
like save and export are restricted.
-z Enable ^Z and SIGTSTP so pine may be
suspended.
-conf Produce a sample/fresh copy of the
system-wide configuration file,
pine.conf, on the standard output. This
is distinct from the per-user .pinerc
file.
-create_lu addrbook sort-order
Creates auxiliarly index (look-up) file
for addrbook and sorts addrbook in
sort-order, which may be dont-sort,
nickname, fullname, nickname-with-
lists-last, or fullname-with-lists-last.
Useful when creating global or shared
address books. After creating the index
file in this way, the file should be
moved or copied in a way which preserves
the mtime of the address book file. The
mtime of the address book file at the
time the index file was built is stored
inside the index file and a comparison
between that stored value and the
current mtime of the address book file
is done when somebody runs pine. If the
mtime has changed since the index file
was made, then pine will want to rebuild
the index file. In other words, don't
build the index file with this option
and then copy the address book to its
final destination in a way which changes
the file's mtime.
-pinerc file Output fresh pinerc configuration to
file.
-sort order Sort the FOLDER INDEX display in one of
the following orders: arrival, subject,
from, date, size, orderedsubj or
reverse. Arrival order is the default.
The OrderedSubj choice simulates a
threaded sort. Any sort may be reversed
by adding /reverse to it. Reverse by
itself is the same as arrival/reverse.
-option=value Assign value to the config option option
e.g. -signature-file=sig1 or -feature-
list=signature-at-bottom (Note:
feature-list values are additive)
* UWIN = University of Washington Information Navigator
CONFIGURATION
There are several levels of Pine configuration. Configura-
tion values at a given level over-ride corresponding values
at lower levels. In order of increasing precedence:
o built-in defaults.
o system-wide pine.conf file.
o personal .pinerc file (may be set via built-in
Setup/Config menu.)
o command-line options.
o system-wide pine.conf.fixed file.
There is one exception to the rule that configuration values
are replaced by the value of the same option in a higher-
precedence file: the feature-list variable has values that
are additive, but can be negated by prepending "no-" in
front of an individual feature name. Unix Pine also uses the
following environment variables:
TERM
DISPLAY (determines if Pine can display IMAGE attach-
ments.)
SHELL (if not set, default is /bin/sh )
MAILCAPS (semicolon delimited list of path names to
mailcap files)
FILES
/usr/spool/mail/xxxx Default folder for incoming
mail.
~/mail Default directory for mail fold-
ers.
~/.addressbook Default address book file.
~/.addressbook.lu Default address book index file.
~/.pine-debug[1-4] Diagnostic log for debugging.
~/.pinerc Personal pine config file.
~/.newsrc News subscription/state file.
~/.signature Default signature file.
~/.mailcap Personal mail capabilities file.
~/.mime.types Personal file extension to MIME
type mapping
/etc/mailcap System-wide mail capabilities
file.
/etc/mime.types System-wide file ext. to MIME
type mapping
/usr/local/lib/pine.info Local pointer to system adminis-
trator.
/usr/local/lib/pine.conf System-wide configuration file.
/usr/local/lib/pine.conf.fixed Non-overridable configuration
file.
/tmp/.\usr\spool\mail\xxxx Per-folder mailbox lock files.
~/.pine-interrupted-mail Message which was interrupted.
~/mail/postponed-msgs For postponed messages.
~/mail/sent-mail Outgoing message archive (FCC).
~/mail/saved-messages Default destination for Saving
messages.
SEE ALSO
pico(1), binmail(1), aliases(5), mailaddr(7), sendmail(8),
spell(1), imapd(8)
Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine
Pine Information Center: http://www.washington.edu/pine
Source distribution:
ftp://ftp.cac.washington.edu/pine/pine.tar.Z
Pine Technical Notes, included in the source distribution.
C-Client messaging API library, included in the source dis-
tribution.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The University of Washington Pine development team (part of the UW Office
of Computing & Communications) includes:
Project Leader: Mike Seibel.
Principal authors: Mike Seibel, Steve Hubert, Laurence Lundblade.
C-Client library & IMAPd: Mark Crispin.
Pico, the PIne COmposer: Mike Seibel.
Bug triage, user support: David Miller.
Port integration: David Miller.
Documentation: David Miller, Stefan Kramer, Kathryn Sharpe.
PC-Pine for DOS: Mike Seibel.
PC-Pine for Windows: Tom Unger.
Project oversight: Terry Gray.
Principal Patrons: Ron Johnson, Mike Bryant.
Additional support: NorthWestNet.
Initial Pine code base: Elm, by Dave Taylor & USENET Community Trust.
Initial Pico code base: MicroEmacs 3.6, by Dave G. Conroy.
User Interface design: Inspired by UCLA's "Ben" mailer for MVS.
Suggestions/fixes/ports: Folks from all over!
Copyright 1989-1996 by the University of Washington.
Pine and Pico are trademarks of the University of Washington.
98.05.06