[Cialug] bsd mail/mailx reading

[Barry Von Ahsen]

it still freaks me out that day you double-clicked on an email in pine over putty and IT OPENED

-barry



On Dec 28, 2012, at 11:54 AM, David Champion wrote:

> Alpine is pretty easy to use, and has menu-based prompts for the commands
> you can't remember. Other than the minimal space it takes to install it, I
> don't see any advantage to using the "mail" command, other than proving
> that you're a command-line ninja.
> 
> I have alpine connected to my imap email, so I can also access it with
> thunderbird, webmail, my phone etc. I find it handy to have an email client
> I can ssh to.
> 
> -dc
> 
> 
> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 11:36 AM, Josh More <jmore at starmind.org> wrote:
> 
>> For me, it's because, as Barry discovered, the commands in the clients are
>> somewhat esoteric.  I use grep all the time and don't have to remind myself
>> how to use them.
>> 
>> And really, on my servers, the only time I should get mail is when
>> something goes horribly wrong, and in those situations, I just need enough
>> data out of the email to put into a tracking system and then the emails can
>> go away.
>> 
>> Processing to zero is usually more cost effective than keeping the emails
>> around for "reference", especially since there has not been a single
>> instance in over 15 years that I've needed to refer to an email on a
>> server.
>> 
>> -Josh
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 11:33 AM, David Champion <dchamp1337 at gmail.com
>>> wrote:
>> 
>>> Captain Obvious says: Why not just use mutt or (al)pine?
>>> 
>>> -dc
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 11:05 AM, Barry Von Ahsen <barry at vonahsen.com
>>>> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> yeah, vi works just as well - delete messages by regex: d/Message: :)
>>>> 
>>>> (may require vim)
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> -barry
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Dec 28, 2012, at 11:01 AM, Josh More wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> I use grep and less directly on the mail spool files.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Then I use "rm *"  :)
>>>>> 
>>>>> -Josh
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 10:59 AM, Scott Yates <Scott at yatesframe.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>>> ish, that sucks.  Time to install Pine or Elm.  lol
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 10:57 AM, Barry Von Ahsen <
>> barry at vonahsen.com
>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> thanks - I think I found that in the past from 'help', but I forgot
>>> to
>>>>>>> mention this is on CentOS, which is slightly confused about what it
>>> can
>>>>>> and
>>>>>>> can't do.  I tried that and:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> & l
>>>>>>> Commands are:
>>>>>>> next, alias, print, type, Type, Print, visual, top, touch,
>> preserve,
>>>>>>> delete, dp, dt, undelete, unset, mail, mbox, more, page, More,
>> Page,
>>>>>>> unread, U, !, copy, chdir, cd, save, source, set, shell, version,
>>>>>>> group, write, from, file, folder, folders, ?, z, headers, help, =,
>>>>>>> Reply, Respond, reply, respond, edit, echo, quit, list, xit, exit,
>>>>>>> size, hold, if, else, endif, alternates, ignore, discard, retain,
>>>>>>> saveignore, savediscard, saveretain, core, #, clobber
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> attempting to run 'list', which it says is a command, gives the
>> same
>>>>>>> message again:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> & list
>>>>>>> Commands are:
>>>>>>> next, alias, print, type, Type, Print, visual, top, touch,
>> preserve,
>>>>>>> delete, dp, dt, undelete, unset, mail, mbox, more, page, More,
>> Page,
>>>>>>> unread, U, !, copy, chdir, cd, save, source, set, shell, version,
>>>>>>> group, write, from, file, folder, folders, ?, z, headers, help, =,
>>>>>>> Reply, Respond, reply, respond, edit, echo, quit, list, xit, exit,
>>>>>>> size, hold, if, else, endif, alternates, ignore, discard, retain,
>>>>>>> saveignore, savediscard, saveretain, core, #, clobber
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> so it's probably a CentOS issue
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> -barry
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> On Dec 28, 2012, at 10:48 AM, Scott Yates wrote:
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> I THOUGHT it was just  "L" (lower case) to list the messages, but
>> i
>>>> may
>>>>>>> be
>>>>>>>> mistaken.  It has been a few years.
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Fri, Dec 28, 2012 at 10:46 AM, Barry Von Ahsen <
>>> barry at vonahsen.com
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> does anybody use bsd mail/mailx for reading?  since it's often
>>>>>> installed
>>>>>>>>> for sending, it's also useful for reading and not needing to
>>> install
>>>> a
>>>>>>>>> "real" client like mutt or (al)pine
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> my question is: when you first run mail, it lists the messages
>> and
>>>> you
>>>>>>> can
>>>>>>>>> operate on them.  after the operations, though, the list goes
>> away.
>>>>>> is
>>>>>>>>> there a way to redisplay the messages without quitting and
>>>> restarting?
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> example: login, start mail, it displays that I have 1000
>> messages.
>>>>>> run
>>>>>>>>> d1-998 to delete the first 998, 999 to read that message, d999 to
>>>>>> delete
>>>>>>>>> it.  how do I re-list the messages to show the headers for
>> message
>>>>>> 1000
>>>>>>>>> (like when I launched mail)?  now I just quit, then restart mail
>>> and
>>>>>> it
>>>>>>>>> shows the one message (as message 1)
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> nothing end of the world, but there must be a Better Way(TM)
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> -barry
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> 
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