MREPLY(1) MREPLY(1)
13 April 1994
NAME
mreply - mail filter, mailing list server, file server.
SYNOPSIS
MReply [ -c configfile ] [ -e errfile ] [ -e logfile ]
[ -L ] [ address ]
DESCRIPTION
MReply is a simple mail server that takes action based on commands
given to it, typically in incoming mail messages. Possible actions
include adding or removing the mailer's address to or from a given
list, sending the mailer a file in plaintext or uuencoded form,
receive and uudecode/store a file from the mailer, or forwarding the
message to another user, a pipe, or a mailbox.
Invocation
MReply can be invoked in two different ways:
+ If address is not specified, MReply will consider the first few
lines of the input as mail headers, and try to extract the default
reply address by parsing these. This way, MReply can be invoked
automatically upon arrival of incoming mail messages. If your
system uses `sendmail' as the local mail delivery agent, create a
publicly readable file named `.forward' in your home directory,
containing the following line:
|"exec /path/mreply #your-login-name"
Be sure to include the double quotes, as well as the pound sign in
front of your login name. (Your name should only be a comment, not
an argument for MReply; and is needed because of a bug in
`sendmail').
+ Otherwise, MReply goes into a local mode, and will display a
command prompt to standard output. Enter your commands
interactively at this prompt; address specifies the default reply
address.
OPTIONS
-c configfile Specify a configuration file other than the default
`.mreply.rc'.
-e errfile Specify an error output file other than the default
`mreply.err'.
-l logfile Specify a request log file other than the default
`.mreply.log'. Can be overridden by a .logfile
specification in the configuration file; see below.
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-L Use long log file format. Can be overridden by a
.logfile specification in the configuration file; see
below.
USAGE
Requests should be given in the body of the message, one per line,
using the following syntax:
COMMAND [site*][argument ...] [TO|AS address] If site is given,
i.e. if the second word contains a `*', it specifies another mail
server to which the request will be forwarded. Each site can be
declared with a .site specification in the configuration file;
see below. A simple `*' without site in front of it will cause
the request to be forwarded to ALL other mail servers that this
server knows about. If `TO address' or `AS address' is given,
address will override any address given in the mail header or on
the command line. Built-in commands and their corresponding
arguments are:
JOIN [list] / SUBSCRIBE [list]
Append address to list. If list is not specified, append to
the `[DEFAULT]' list, if any. See also the description of
the .LIST and .LISTDIR specifications, below.
LEAVE [list] / UNSUBSCRIBE [list]
Remove address from list. If list is not specified, remove
from the `[DEFAULT]' list, if any.
REVIEW [list]
List all subscribers of list. If list is not specified, list
subscribers of the `[DEFAULT]' list, if any. Availibility
of this command can be prevented by declaring a list
`concealed'; see the description of the .LIST and .LISTDIR
specifications below.
WHICH [site]
Give a list of all the lists to which address is subscribed.
If several listnames refer to the same listfile, only the
first one will be included in the response. If site
(possibly just a `*') is specified, forward the request.
CHANGE old-address
Change old-address to address in all lists known to this
server.
SEND [packet [splitsize]]
Send packet via e-mail, as plain text or as a uuencoded
shell archive. If packet is not specified, send the
`[DEFAULT]' packet, if any. The optional second argument
splitsize specifies the maximum size (in bytes or kilobytes)
per mail message. See also the description of the .PACKET
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and .PACKETDIR specifications, below.
ACCESS [code]
Provide a code for a subsequent file submission. See also
the description of the .RECEIVEDIR specification, below.
TEXT filename
Save the rest of the message as plaintext to filename in the
directory specified with the .RECEIVEDIR specification
and/or the ACCESS command. See below for details.
BEGIN mode filename
Uudecode the rest of the message to filename in the
directory specified with the .RECEIVEDIR specification
and/or the ACCESS command. See below for details.
The mode should be an octal number describing the
permissions of the stored file.
HELP [topic]
Return some text specified in the configuration file to
address. Intended for basic help on syntax, available
commands, lists, packets and/or sites, whichever applicable.
SERVERINFO [site]
Return some information about the site configuration and the
current version of MReply to address. If site is specified
(see the description of the .SITE and .SERVER
specifications, below), forward the request.
Examples
The following are some examples of legal syntax for commands given to
MReply:
JOIN announcement AS alice@wonderland.com (Alice)
leave notgnu*mailing
SEND DNOT 60 TO foo@bar.com (Foo Bar)
send info
SERVERINFO
change foo@obsolete.com to foo@bar.com (Foo Bar)
CONFIGURATION
The following syntax is available in the configuration file, by
default `.mreply.rc' in your home directory.
Keywords
These are looked up at various points during processing of the
request, and determine the behaviour of this particular server. Each
keyword specification should occur on a separate line. In cases where
several instances of the same keyword occur, the first matching
specification is chosen.
.SERVICEADDRESS address
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.OWNERADDRESS address
Declaration of the address for this service, and its owner.
These are used in various contexts, such as in the "X-Loop:"
mail header and ServerInfo responses. If not present,
MReply will assume "Your Name <username@host>" as both
server and owner address.
.FORWARD destination
.FORWARDALL destination
.LOOPEDFORWARD destination
.NOFORWARD
Forward non-request mails, all mails, looped mails, and no
mail, respectively. For these specifications, destination
should be preceeded by !, | or >, the following way:
.forward ! user@host.domain
Forward the mail to another address.
.forward | /path/command arguments
Forward the mail to a command via '/bin/sh'.
.forward > /path1/mbox1 [/path2/mbox2 ...]
Forward the mail to the first successfully opened
file of the ones specified. If the mailbox name
ends with a "/", it is assumed to be a directory,
and your login name is appended. For instance,
"/usr/spool/mail/, /usr/mail/" is expanded to
"/usr/spool/mail/your-name, /usr/mail/your-name".
If neither !, | or > is the first character, > is assumed.
The following processing takes place:
+ If no configuration file is found, the mail is
forwarded to your regular mailbox in
"/usr/spool/mail/,/usr/mail/,mbox".
+ Otherwise, if the mail has been here before (i.e.
contains an appropriate X-loop: header), it is
forwarded via the .LOOPEDFORWARD specification, your
regular mailbox by default.
+ Otherwise, if a .FORWARDALL specification is found, all
mail is forwarded according to this.
+ Otherwise, if a .NOFORWARD specification is found, all
mail (request or not) is processed, and responded to.
+ Otherwise, only request mail is processed and responded
to, while regular mail is forwarded via .FORWARD; your
mailbox by default.
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.LIST listname listfile [modifier...]
.LIST listname ! user@host.domain
.LIST listname | /path/command arguments
.LIST listname > mailbox-file
Specification of subscriber lists. In the first case,
commands like `SUBSCRIBE listname' or `REVIEW listname' will
affect listfile, whose name is absolute (full path) or
relative to your home directory. A special case occurs if
the first character of the second argument is `!', `|' or
`>'. The request will then be forwarded to e.g. another
server, or to a mailbox for manual processing, with a syntax
similar to that described under the .FORWARD specification
above. If listname is `[DEFAULT]', this line applies to
commands without any argument, for instance a simple
`SUBSCRIBE' or `UNSUBSCRIBE AS user@host.domain'. The
following modifiers are available:
AUTOMATIC Automatically add the mailer's address to
this list, even if no explicit JOIN or
SUBSCRIBE command is given. Not valid if the
mail is determined to be a `regular' mail.
MANUAL Only add mailers who give explicit JOIN /
SUBSCRIBE commands. (Default).
CONCEALED Do not allow REVIEW commands on this list.
REVEALED Allow REVIEW on this list. (Default).
It should be noted that many consider it poor `netiquette'
to add someone's name to a mailing list unless they ask for
it explitictly, particularly if the list carries a lot of
traffic.
.LISTDIR directory [modifier...]
.LISTDIR ! user@host.domain
.LISTDIR | /path/command arguments
.LISTDIR > mailbox-file
In the first case, this is a directory where to look for a
filename matching the argument of e.g. a JOIN or LEAVE
command, if no matching .LIST specification is found. Note
that such lookup will be case sensitive, so the case of the
argument has to match the case of the desired filename.
Several of these lines will cause MReply to look through all
the specified directories, in the order of appearance. All
the other lines specify forwarding, with syntax similar to
the .FORWARD specification above. Subsequent .LISTDIR
specifications will have no effect.
.PACKET packetname filename encoding
.PACKET packetname ! user@host.domain
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.PACKET packetname | /path/command arguments
.PACKET packetname > /path/mailbox
Specification of available packets. In the first case, when
a SEND packetname command is given, the associated filename
(absolute or relative to your home directory) is returned to
address; whereas the other lines are syntax for forwarding
the request, e.g. to another server, or to a mailbox for
manual processing. If packetname is `[DEFAULT]', this line
applies to SEND commands without any arguments. The
following encodings are available:
PLAIN Send the file `as is', i.e. plaintext.
(Default)
ENCODED Send file as a uuencoded shell archive.
.PACKETDIR directory [encoding]
.PACKETDIR ! user@host.domain
.PACKETDIR | /path/command arguments
.PACKETDIR > mailbox-file
In the first case, this is a directory where to look for a
filename matching the argument of a `SEND argument' command,
if no matching .PACKET specification is found. Note that
such lookup will be case sensitive, so the case of the
argument has to match the case of the desired filename.
Several of these lines will cause MReply to look through all
the specified directories, in the order of appearance. All
the other lines specify forwarding, with syntax similar to
the .FORWARD specification above. Subsequent .PACKETDIR
specifications will have no effect.
.RECEIVEDIR directory [access-code]
Directory in which to place files submitted to this server.
If access-code is specified, the mailer has to gain access
via an `ACCESS access-code' command before being allowed to
submit files to this directory. Several directories with
different access-codes can be specified. The first valid
entry is chosen, therefore a specification without access-
code should appear as the last one. File names supplied by
the mailer are stripped to the base, so that the files will
not appear in any other directory than the one (s)he has
gained access to.
.SITE siteid address
Specify another site to which requests may be forwarded, if
the mailer uses a syntax like:
COMMAND siteid*[argument ...] [TO|AS address] Note that
several requests may be sent in the same mail, if they
are being forwarded to the same address.
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.SERVER address
If the above syntax is used, but no matching siteid is
found, forward the request to address, rather than giving an
`IllegalSite' response. (See below).
.SETENV variable value
Set environment variable variable to value. If value is an
empty string, clear the variable.
.UNSETENV variable
Clear environment variable variable.
.LOGFILE filename [logtype]
Use filename to log the request, rather than the default
`.mreply.log' or any file specified with the `-l logfile'
option on the command line. If logtype is specified, it
overrides the -L option or the default `short' logging.
Valid logtypes are:
SHORT Use a one-line log format.
LONG Use a multi-line format with more
information; useful for debugging during
configuration of your system.
.PURGEHEADER Header-Field:
Delete the mail header specified before forwarding the mail.
.INSERTHEADER Header-Field: Text
Add a new header before forwarding the mail, if not already
existing. Executed after .PURGEHEADER, hence uniqueness can
be guaranteed by providing both specifications on the same
Header-Field.
.ADDHEADER Header-Field: Text
Add a new header before forwarding the mail, without
checking to see if it already exists.
.HEADER Header-Field: Text
Specify a header for reply mail, i.e. responses to commands.
If no `To:' and `From:' headers are specified, they will be
automatically generated.
.SIGNATURE [command [argument]]
Specify a signature to append to all responses, as well as
mails forwarded to anything else than a mailbox. If command
and possibly argument is specified, this signature is used
only in response to matching command lines. See also the
.END statement, below.
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.MESSAGE message-label [argument]
Specification of various responses returned to address upon
completion of a request. Also valid inside other .MESSAGE,
.COMMAND, .LABEL, or .SIGNATURE declarations. Every line
that is not initialized with a `.' is included in the
response to address. The following message-labels should be
specified:
If .LIST or .LISTDIR specifications exist:
Added, AlreadyAdded, Removed, NotInList, Review,
ConcealedList, IllegalList, Which, Changed,
NoChange.
If .PACKET or .PACKETDIR specifications exist:
SendPlain, SendEncoded, IllegalPacket.
If .RECEIVEDIR specifications exist:
ReceivePlain, ReceiveEncoded, DecodeError,
NoAccess.
If .SITE is defined, and .SERVER is not:
IllegalSite.
Always:
Help, Unavailable, SyntaxError, EmptyMail.
Optional:
AutoAdded, Forwarded, Looped, Resent, Header,
Signature, ServerError.
See also the .END statement, below.
.IGNORE message [argument]
If no matching `.MESSAGE message' statement can be found,
this prevents an error message from being returned to
address. Functionally equivalent to `.MESSAGE message',
followed immediately by `.END'.
.COMMAND command [argument]
Start of a user-defined command. Also valid inside other
.MESSAGE, .COMMAND, .LABEL, or .MESSAGE declarations. Every
line that is not initialized with a `.' is included in the
response to address. See also the .END statement, below.
.END
The end of a .MESSAGE, .COMMAND, or .SIGNATURE
specification, or a .LABEL when called via .GOSUB. Neither
of these can be nested, so one .END statement may complete
several specifications. In the case of .LABEL, subsequently
return to the line after the calling .GOSUB statement, if
any. .END is automatically assumed when encountering an
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.ELIF, .ELSE or .ENDIF statement matching an .IF statement
prior to the beginning of the .MESSAGE, .COMMAND, .LABEL, or
.SIGNATURE, or upon encountering end-of-file.
.INCLUDE filename
Include the text from filename in the response. Only valid
during parsing of .MESSAGE, .COMMAND, or .SIGNATURE
specifications.
.EXEC command arguments
Execute command via `/bin/sh'. Input is taken from the mail
message, starting at the current point; standard output is
included in the reply to the user; and output sent to
standard error is stored in the variable $ERRORMESSAGE. The
return status from the program is stored in $RETURNSTATUS.
Upon completion, if the mail message is not exhausted, and
no .FLUSH command is given, parsing of the remainder of the
message will continue. Only valid during parsing of
.MESSAGE, .COMMAND, or .SIGNATURE specifications.
.FLUSH
Eat the rest of the mail message. Useful in certain cases
after an .EXEC command. Only valid during parsing of
.MESSAGE, .COMMAND, or .SIGNATURE specifications.
.LABEL label
Label for .GOTO and .GOSUB. Valid at any point in the
configuration file, even if inside unsuccessful .IF, .ELIF
or .ELSE statements. See also the .END statement, below.
.GOTO label
.GOSUB label
Jump to `.LABEL label', and continue parsing from there. In
the case of .GOSUB, return to the current point upon .END,
.ENDIF, or end-of-file, as described for the .END statement,
above.
.IF [NOT] expression
.AND [NOT] expression
.OR [NOT] expression
.ELIF [NOT] expression
.ELSE
.ENDIF
Conditional parsing of the enclosed sections. Conditions
are evaluated from left to right (actually top down) without
any different priority levels. (However, nested conditions
are available).
Syntax for expression:
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TO address
True if address exists in any of the To:, Cc:,
Apparently-To:, or Resent-To: headers.
FROM address
True if address exists in any of the Return-Path:,
From, Resent-From:, Sender:, X-From:, From: or
Reply-To: headers.
FILE name CONTAINS string
FILE name EQUALS string
FILE name EXISTS
HEADER Field: CONTAINS string
HEADER Field: EQUALS string
HEADER Field: EXISTS
string CONTAINS string
string EQUALS string
string EXISTS
Each condition has to start on a separate line, and the
number of .ENDIF statements has to match the number of
.IF's.
Substitutions
Various substitutions are available in the configuration file,
including environment variables, shell command outputs, and some
built-in commands. The following is a description of syntax for
these.
\c
If `\' is the last non-white character on the line, include
the next line in the declaration. Otherwise, escape
character c according to the following:
+ If c is one of b, t, n, v, f, or r, insert a backspace,
horizontal tab, newline, vertical tab, formfeed, or
return character, respetively.
+ Otherwise, insert c `as is', i.e. do not interpret any
special meaning of it. For instance, `\\' gives `\',
and `\)' gives `)'.
~/
~user/
Substitute your own home directory, and the home directory
of user, respectively.
:variable:
$variable
${variable}
Substitute environment variable variable. The following
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variables are automatically specified by MReply:
USER Username of the process owner, initialized at
startup.
HOME The process owner's home directory, initialized at
startup.
PATH The search path for sub-command executions. If
not present before invoking MReply, initialized to
some basic search-path at that time.
ACCESS
The access-code supplied via the ACCESS command;
initialized to `[DEFAULT]' at startup.
SERVICEADDRESS
The address of this service, as read from the
.SERVICEADDRESS specification in the configuration
file at startup.
OWNERADDRESS
The address of the owner, as read from the
.OWNERADDRESS specification in the configuration
file at startup.
HEADERADDRESS
The default reply address, as specified on the
shell command line or extracted from the mail
header, converted to the form:
user@host.domain (Real Name)
FULLADDRESS
The reply address for this command, as specified
with the TO or AS keywords; by default equal to
HEADERADDRESS.
ADDRESS
The user@host.domain part of FULLADDRESS.
USERNAME
The user part of FULLADDRESS.
FULLNAME
The Real Name part of FULLADDRESS, or if not
given, the user part of it.
NAME Generally the first word of FULLNAME.
COMMANDLINE
The command line currently being processed.
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COMMAND
The first word of COMMANDLINE.
ARGUMENTS
All arguments for the current command. A
substring of COMMANDLINE starting at the second
word (after the `*' if site* is specified), and
ending before TO, AS, or end-of-line.
ARGUMENT
The first argument for the current command.
Generally equal to the second word, but exceptions
may occur if `site*' or `TO|AS address' is
specificed.
ARGUMENT2
The second argument for the current command.
Generally equal to the third word.
SITEID
The site specified on the command line, if any.
PATHNAME
The full path of the file associated with a given
argument. Initialized after successfully parsing
a .LIST, .LISTDIR, .PACKET, PACKETDIR, or
.RECEIVEDIR specification, before returning a
response to the reply address.
FILENAME
The base of PATHNAME
PARTS
The number of e-mails composing a file sent in
response to the SEND command. Available for the
SendPlain or SendEncoded responses.
MESSAGE
The response message that is currently being sent,
i.e. `Added', `AlreadyAdded', `Removed', etc.
ERRORMESSAGE
Initialized upon ServerError responses, or
whenever an invoked shell command writes to
standard error.
RETURNSTATUS
Initialized upon completion of an invoked shell
command; and contains its return value.
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Environment variables are inherited by invoked sub-shell
commands, and are set or cleared with the .SETENV or
.UNSETENV commands in the configuration file.
$function(arg1, arg2...)
Substitute with output from a built-in function. Wherever a
numeric argument is required, any non-numeric syntax will
produce an error message in the error file. Functions can
be nested, so an argument can contain a call to another
function. Available functions are:
$WORD(string, wordNo[, noOfWords])
Word number wordNo of string. The first word is
number 1, however if wordNo is 0 the word is only
copied if there are no leading spaces in string.
If noOfWords is given, it specifies the number of
words to copy; a value of 0 indicates to copy the
remainder of the string.
$CHAR(string, charNo[, noOfChars])
Character number charNo of string. The first
character is number 1. If noOfChars is given, it
specifies the number of characters to copy; a
value of 0 indicates to copy the remainder of the
string.
$REPL(string, charNo, noOfChars, newString)
Replace noOfChars characters, starting at position
charNo of string, with newString.
$POS(string, substring)
Position of substring within string. The first
position is 1; if substring is not found, return
`0'.
$LEN(string)
The length of string.
$ADD(n1, n2...)
The sum of the numerical arguments n0, n1... The
maximum number of arguments is 10.
$SUB(n1, n2...)
All arguments starting with n2 subtracted from n1.
The maximum number of arguments is 10.
$UPCASE(string)
Convert string to uppercase.
$HEADER(Field:)
The Field: header of the input mail.
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`command arguments`
$(command arguments)
Substitute with the output from command, executed via
/bin/sh. Return status is stored in the variable
RETURNSTATUS, and any output written to standard error is
stored in ERRORMESSAGE.
FILES
$HOME/.mreply.rc Default configuration file.
$HOME/.mreply.log Default log file.
$HOME/mreply.err Default error file.
/etc/passwd Used to obtain the USER and HOME variables.
/usr/spool/mail/$USER, /usr/mail/$USER
Default mailbox.
/usr/lib/sendmail Used to send or forward mail.
/bin/sh Used to interpret sub-command lines.
SEE ALSO
sh(1), sendmail(8),
BUGS
There is currently no way of extending a specification over several
lines in the configuration file, without at the same time getting one
or more NEWLINE characters inserted at the line breaks. In English:
If you e.g. want to execute a long command line via .EXEC, the command
can become long and ugly also in this file. During processing of a
mail message, or even a single command, the configuration is (partly)
parsed several times. Therefore, one should not count on evironment
variables being un-initialized if they are assigned a value further
down in the file. To secure against this, give a .UNSETENV variable
statement prior to referencing the variable. There are no known
misbehaviors in this version of MReply. If you discover any, please
send a mail to the address below.
NOTES
To receive the newest version, send an e-mail containing a SEND MREPLY
command in the body to <tor@netcom.com>, or retreive it via anonymous
FTP to ftp.netcom.com in /pub/tor/mreply. A mailing list for future
update announcements is available. To subscribe, send a SUBSCRIBE
MREPLY command to the same address.
AUTHOR
Tor Slettnes <tor@netcom.com>
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