MHonArc Frequently Asked Questions
* About the FAQ
+ Summary
+ Version
+ Location
+ Author
* General
+ What is MHonArc?
+ What's the latest version of MhonArc?
+ Where can I get MHonArc?
+ How much does MHonArc cost?
+ Where can I get help on MHonArc?
* Supported Platforms and Environments
+ What platforms can MHonArc run under?
+ What about Mac?
+ What version of Perl is required to run MHonArc?
* Supported Mail User Agents (MUAs)
+ What MUAs does MHonarc support?
* General Usage
+ I get an error that "newgetopt.pl" cannot be required, where
is it?
+ What are "resources"?
* Archive Operations
+ Why does a message get split into mulitple messages with no
headers?
+ Can I have additional indexes beyond the default main and
thread index?
+ Can I have multi-page indexes?
+ Can I sort messages by author?
+ Do I have to respecify the resource file each time I update
an archive?
+ Can I move a message from one archive to another?
+ Can I reconstruct a database from the HTML messages?
* Threading
+ How does threading work?
+ Why isn't threading working for me?
+ Why not use subjects for detecting threads?
+ How can I get my MUA to define the References or In-Reply-To
field?
* MIME
+ What is MIME?
+ Does MHonArc support RFC 1522?
+ How can I get MHonArc to recognize content-types it states it
does not recognize?
_________________________________________________________________
About the FAQ
Summary
This documents contains answers to some of the frequently asked
question on MHonArc. MHonArc is a Perl program for converting e-mail
messages as specified in RFC 822 and RFC 1521 (MIME) to HTML. MHonArc
has the ability to maintain an archive of converted messages, or it
can be used as basic e-mail->HTML converter.
The FAQ is intended to compliment the documentation provided in the
MHonArc distribution. Hence, the documentation is still the key source
to answers to any question you may have.
Version
FAQ version: 96/11/05 (1.4)
Location
<URL:http://www.oac.uci.edu/indiv/ehood/MHonArc/faq.html>
Author
Earl Hood, ehood(_at_)medusa(_dot_)acs(_dot_)uci(_dot_)edu
_________________________________________________________________
General
What is MHonArc?
MHonArc is a Perl program for converting e-mail messages as specified
in RFC 822 and RFC 1521 (MIME) to HTML. MHonArc has the ability to
maintain an archive of converted messages, or it can be used as basic
e-mail->HTML converter.
What's the latest version of MhonArc?
v1.2.3 and v2.0.0 alpha 2. v2.0.0a2 does not contain updated
documentation. Anytime v2.0 is mentioned, v2.0.0.a2 is applicable,
unless noted otherwise.
Where can I get MHonArc?
The latest information on MHonArc, and its availability, may be
obtained at <URL:http://www.oac.uci.edu/indiv/ehood/mhonarc.html>.
How much does MHonArc cost?
Its FREE! MHonArc is distributed under the GNU General Public License.
A copy of the license is included in the distribution. Please read it
for more information.
Although MHonArc is freely available, it is NOT in the public domain.
Applicable copyrights still apply.
Where can I get help on MHonArc?
The first place to try is the documentation that comes with MHonArc.
The documentation is quite extensive, and may provide answers to most
of your questions.
Second, you can read this FAQ.
Third, a mailing list,
mhonarc(_at_)rosat(_dot_)mpe-garching(_dot_)mpg(_dot_)de, is available
to provide a discussion forum on the usage and development of MHonArc.
Appropriate topics for the list include: usage questions, bug reports,
behavioral enhancements, documentation bugs, and general help.
To subscribe to the mailing list, send mail to
mhonarc-request(_at_)rosat(_dot_)mpe-garching(_dot_)mpg(_dot_)de with the
command,
subscribe
as the message body.
If you send mail mhonarc(_at_)rosat(_dot_)mpe-garching(_dot_)mpg(_dot_)de,
your message will
be distributed to all subscribers on the list.
The mailing list is archived by Majordomo. You can also use the WWW to
access the archive (with full text search using glimpse) at
<URL:http://www.rosat.mpe-garching.mpg.de/mailing-lists/mhonarc/>
_________________________________________________________________
Supported Platforms and Environments
What platforms can MHonArc run under?
MHonArc is known to run under Unix, MS-DOS/Windows, WinNT, Win95,
OS/2. The usage of MHonArc is more oriented towards Unix environments.
What about Mac?
MHonArc has been coded to support MacPerl, but no adequate testing has
been done to verify the code. Please notify the author if you are
interested in testing MHonArc under MacPerl.
What version of Perl is required to run MHonArc?
MHonArc can run under Perl 4 or 5. Perl 5 is recommended for
performance reasons and for the possibility that future releases of
MHonArc use Perl 5 features.
_________________________________________________________________
Supported Mail User Agents (MUAs)
What MUAs does MHonarc support?
MHonArc can convert mail that is stored in UUCP mailbox format (ie.
all messages are in a single file), or in the format used by the Rand
Message Handler (MH) (messages are contained in separate files within
a directory). MHonArc is known to work with the following MUAs: MH,
mail, Mail, Elm, Eudora, WinVN, Windows Trumpet, and NUPop.
NOTE
To support some MUA's, it may require redefining the MSGSEP
resource.
_________________________________________________________________
General Usage
I get an error that "newgetopt.pl" cannot be required, where is it?
newgetopt.pl comes with the standard Perl distribution. Check with
your sys admin on where it is located (it should be in the default
Perl search path).
What are "resources"?
The behavior of MHonArc is controled by resources. Resources are set,
or defined, by command-line options, envionment variables, or a
resource file. For example, the OUTDIR resource tells mhonarc where
the archive is located. To set the resource, you can use the -outdir
command-line option, the M2H_OUTDIR environment variable, or the
<OUTDIR> resource file element.
See the documentation for more information.
_________________________________________________________________
Archive Operations
Why does a message get split into mulitple messages with no headers?
If you are processing UUCP mailbox files, messages are separated by a
line starting with "From " (ie. The word "From" followed by a space).
Some mail software will prefix lines in message bodies with a `>' to
avoid MUA's from incorrectly treating the line as a message separator.
However, some mail software doesn't.
To avoid incorrect separator detection, many MUAs perform a more
stricter detection of separators beyond "From ". MHonArc, by default,
will treat lines starting with "From " as a message separator, which
can lead to incorrect message termination if the From line has not
been escaped with a `>'.
To fix the problem, use the MSGSEP resource to instruct MHonArc to use
a stricter test detecting a message separator. The following MSGSEP
resource setting is known to work well:
<MSGSEP>
^From \S+\s+\S+\s+\S+\s+\d+\s+\d+:\d+:\d+\s+\d+
</MSGSEP>
If this fails, you can try the CONLEN resource available in v2.0. The
CONLEN resource, when set, tells MHonArc to utilize the Content-Length
fields in the message head. If your MTA defines this field accurately
(sendmail on Solaris does), then you can utilize this feature.
Can I have additional indexes beyond the default main and thread index?
Yes. In version 1.2 (or later), a resource file element was added
called OTHERINDEXES. With this element, you are able to define an
arbitrary number of indexes you desire. The additional indexes may be
in any format you desire and that is supported by MHonArc. Refer to
the documentation for the usage of OTHERINDEXES.
Can I have multi-page indexes?
Yes, in v2.0 or later. Setting the MULTIPG and IDXSIZE will cause
indexes to to be listed on mutlipages with IDXSIZE determine the
number of messages listed per page.
Can I sort messages by author?
No. Since the existance of author names is not guaranteed, or
consistent, sorting messages by author would not be perfect. Plus, the
author has never had any need to have the feature :-)
Do I have to respecify the resource file each time I update an archive?
No. The archive database stores all resource settings. The only time
you need to respecify the resource file is if changes are required in
the layout of the archive.
NOTE
When utilizing the OTHERINDEXES resource, the resource
filenames listed in the main resource file are stored in the
database, but the resources for each additional index are NOT.
Hence, the resource files defining the additional indexes must
be accesible.
Can I move a message from one archive to another?
No. In order to achieve the same effect, you must add the original,
unprocessed, message to the destination archive, then remove the
appropriate HTML version of the message from the source archive.
Can I reconstruct a database from the HTML messages?
Maybe. There is currently no utility to perform this task, but is
possible to write one. The utility can scan each HTML messages and
extract the necessary information required to restore the database.
How well the database is reconstructed is heavily dependent on how the
messages are formatted. v2.0 messages contain more comment
declarations at the top of each message to provide better recovering
support over earlier versions.
_________________________________________________________________
Threading
How does threading work?
MHonArc utilizes the References and In-Reply-To fields of mail
messages for generating threads. It is up to the mail user agents
(MUAs) to define these fields. The References field is normally
utilized by news software, while In-Reply-To is normally utilized be
e-mail software.
In v2.0, MHonArc will also check message subjects for threads. Hence,
if the MUA fails to include the reference message ID, MHonArc will
still group messages of the same subject together (utilizing the
message date for thread order).
Why isn't threading working for me?
In versions prior to v2.0, If the mail you archive does not contain
References and In-Reply-To fields, MHonArc will not detect a thread,
even though there are messages that are follow-ups to existing
messages.
Why not use subjects for detecting threads?
v2.0, or later, will perform subject detection.
How can I get my MUA to define the References or In-Reply-To field?
The answer varies depending on your MUA. You'll need to look at the
documentation of your MUA to find the answer.
For MH users, the following in your replcomps file will work:
%<{date}In-reply-to: Your message of "\
%<(nodate{date})%{date}%|%(pretty{date})%>."%<{message-id}
%{message-id}%>\n%>\
Or, you can use the following if you prefer the References field
format:
%<{message-id}References: \
%<{references}%(void{references})%(trim)%(putstr) %>
%(void{message-id})%(trim)%(putstr)\n%>\
Author welcomes feedback from users on how to configure other MUAs.
_________________________________________________________________
MIME
What is MIME?
MIME stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. MIME is defined
by RFC 1521 and 1522. An HTML version of the RFCs are available at
<URL:http://www.oac.uci.edu/indiv/ehood/MIME/MIME.html>.
In sum, MIME "redefines the format of message bodies to allow
multi-part textual and non-textual message bodies to be represented
and exchanged without loss of information." [RFC 1521]
Does MHonArc support RFC 1522?
v2.0 or later.
How can I get MHonArc to recognize content-types it states it does not
recognize?
This question can be anwsered by reading the "MIME" section of the
MHonArc documentation. The solution may require registering a
pre-existing filter for the given content-type, or hooking in a new
filter.
_________________________________________________________________
FAQ version: 96/11/05 (1.4)
