Re: Novice user wants to learn basics.

Ok, you're using PINE on a Sun, so this should come close to being a  
workable starting .procmailrc file (don't forget the .forward file)

Here's mine.  Remember to change it to point to your local procmail and it  
should all be ONE LONG LINE even if it got broken up here.


"|IFS=' '&&p=/usr/local/bin/procmail&&test -x $p &&exec $p -Ypf-||exit 75 
#luomat"

And change 'luomat' to whatever your login name is.


Now for the .procmailrc:

#############################################################
#Begin

# set to a real shell, not t/csh
SHELL=/bin/sh

# where everything gets logged
LOGFILE=$HOME/.procmail.log

# see 'man procmailrc'
LOGABSTRACT=all

VERBOSE=yes

# this should cover it
PATH=/usr/local/gnu/bin/:/usr/local/bin:/bin:/usr/ucb:/usr/bin:/usr/etc:/usr:/etc

# ~/mail is for PINE -- MAKE SURE IT EXISTS!
MAILDIR=$HOME/mail

        #############################################################
        # save a copy of *every* incoming message to 'in.backups'
        # this will need regular, manual cleaning out but will
        # eventually save you from lost email because something in
        # procmail wasn't setup correctly
:0cw:
in.backups


        #############################################################
        # send all mail to procmail list to 'in.procmail
:0w:
* ^Resent-Sender: procmail-request(_at_)informatik\(_dot_)rwth-aachen\(_dot_)de
in.procmail

        #############################################################
        # see 'man procmailrc' for the big regex that FROM_DAEMON
        # expands to I like this recipe because it keeps my inbox
        # cleaner
:0w:
* ^FROM_DAEMON
in.mailer

        #############################################################
        # see 'man procmailrc' for ^TO and ^TO_
        # this will catch a lot of spam, but is not a perfect
        # spamtrap and will need tweaking if you get mail to more
        # than one username
:0w:
* ! ^TO_Donrober(_at_)concentric\(_dot_)net
in.bcc

        #############################################################
        # anything which hasn't been filed will be sent to your
        # regular inbox, such as /usr/spool/mail/Donrober, which
        # PINE sees as your 'INBOX'
        #############################################################

# end.... No guarantees
#############################################################