The elm utility is based on the public domain elm program. An electronic mail for UNIX, elm is a Mail User Agent (MUA) system designed to
run with Sendmail or with any other UNIX MTA configured on your
system.
The elm program is a screen-oriented mail processing system
that includes the following features:
An industry-wide
MIME
standard for nontext mails
A special forms message and
form reply mechanism
An easy-to-use alias system
for individuals and groups
elm operates in three principal modes:
Interactive
mode - Executes as an interactive mail interface program.
Message mode - Sends
a single interactive message to a list of mail addresses - from
the command prompt.
File mode - Sends
a file or command output to a list of mail addresses from the command
line or by using redirection.
When elm operates in any of these modes, elm honors the values set in the $HOME/.elm/elmrc initialization file, elm alias database, and the system elm alias database.
How elm Works |
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elm’s screen-oriented mail processing interface
displays all the options necessary to send and compose messages
on the screen. You can select the most appropriate option based
on your requirement.
When invoked, elm first displays the main or message menu. elm reads customized variables from the $HOME/.elm/elmrc file to initialize the parameters. The main menu
displays index entries for the messages in your inbox or selected
mail folder. Among other options, you can read, print, reply to,
and forward these messages, as well as initiate new mail messages
to other users. Some commands use a series of prompts to complete
their action. You can use the Ctrl-D keys to cancel their operations.
For a detailed description of all the commands used to edit
and send mail messages, type man 1M elm at the HP-UX prompt.
The
elm Configuration File |
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The elm configuration file, $HOME/.elm/elmrc, defines the initial values for the elm configuration variables. You can create the configuration
file by choosing the o option (the options menu) in the main menu, which displays
a list of all the elm configuration variables. Choose the appropriate
option in the options menu to modify the configuration variable.
When invoked, elm reads the customized variables from the $HOME/.elm/elmrc file to initialize the parameters.
The following types of configuration
variables are available in the elm configuration file:
String - String
variables have the following form:
string-name = string-value |
Numeric - Numeric
variables have the following form:
numeric_variable- name = numeric value |
Boolean - Boolean
variables have the following form:
and
Some examples of elm variables follow:
U>ser level : Beginning User |
The $HOME/.elm/elmrc file can contain any combination of the string, numeric,
and Boolean variables.
For a detailed description of the numeric, string and boolean
variables, type man 1 elm at the HP-UX prompt.
