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RCFILE

Syntax
Description
Default Setting
Resource Variables
Examples
Version
See Also

Syntax

Envariable: M2H_RCFILE=filename
Element: N/A
Command-line Option: -rcfile filename

RCFILE tells MHonArc what the resource file is. The resource file allows you to specify most of the resources set by environment variables and command-line options, and it allows you to specify other resources to control MHonArc's behavior.

The -rcfile command-line option can be specified multiple times. For example,

prompt> mhonarc -rcfile file1.mrc -rcfile file2.mrc ...

Each resource file specified will be loaded in the order specified on the command-line.

Resource file syntax

Resources are set in the file by using elements similiar in style to HTML/SGML markup. However, MHonArc uses simpler parsing rules for the resource file than standard SGML:

Any line that is not a recognized element open tag, and the line is not contained within an element, is ignored. This implies that regular text can be put anywhere outside of recognized elements for commenting purposes.

NOTE:
You should use SGML comment declarations () when commenting a resource file. This will eliminate possible conflicts if more stricter parsing rules are adopted.

The opening tag of an element must occur by itself on a single line.

Correct:

<LiTemplate>
<li><strong>$SUBJECT$</strong>
<ul><li><em>From</em>: $FROM$</li></ul>
</li>
</LiTemplate>

Wrong:

<LiTemplate><li><strong>$SUBJECT$</strong>
<ul><li><em>From</em>: $FROM$</li></ul>
</li>
</LiTemplate>

Comments inside elements are treated as part of the element content.

Each element must have a close tag, </element_name>, on its own line.

Correct:

<LiTemplate>
<li><strong>$SUBJECT$</strong>
<ul><li><em>From</em>: $FROM$</li></ul>
</li>
</LiTemplate>

Wrong:

<LiTemplate>
<li><strong>$SUBJECT$</strong>
<ul><li><em>From</em>: $FROM$</li></ul>
</li></LiTemplate>

Close tags are not needed for boolean resources.

Some elements can take an optional attribute called "Override", if applicable. This tells MHonArc that the contents of the element will completely override the default behavior of MHonArc, and previous instances of the element, for example: "<EXCS Override>". If "Override" is not specified, then the contents of the element augment the current setting.
Some elements can take an optional attribute called "Chop", if applicable. This tells MHonArc to remove the last line-break of the element's content.
Element names are case-insensitive.
Elements can occur in any order in the resource file.

Elements canNOT be nested. Many resources define the values of resource variables, which may be used within resource elements:

Correct:

<TTitle>
Example List Threads
</TTitle>

<TIdxPgBegin>
<html>
<head>
<title>$TIDXTITLE$</title>
...
</TIdxPgBegin>

Wrong:

<TIdxPgBegin>
<html>
<head>
<title>
<TTitle>
Example List Threads
</TTitle>
</title>
...
</TIdxPgBegin>

Resource variables

Many resources are allowed to have resource variables as part of there content. Resource variables represent data that can only be defined during run-time. I.e. Resource variables will get expanded to an appropriate value during the execution of MHonArc. For more information on resource variables, see the section: Resource Variables.

The description for each resource will contain a list of all applicable variables that may be used in defining the resource's value.

Localized resource file variations

MHonArc supports the ability to define locale specific variations of a resource file based upon the LANG resource setting. For example, take the following command-line invocation:

prompt> mhonarc -lang en_US -rcfile settings.mrc ...

MHonArc will check for and read the following resource files, in order:

settings.mrc
settings.mrc.en
settings.mrc.en_us

NOTE:

MHonArc will quietly ignore any locale-specific files that do not exist.

NOTE:

Setting LANG via a resource file element will only affect subsequent resource file resolution: subsequent resource files loaded via multiple -rcfile options and resource files loaded via the INCLUDE and OTHERINDEXES resource.

Therefore, if you manage multiple archives comprising multiple languages, you can define generic settings in a shared resource file and then define language-specific overrides and/or variations. Continuing with the previous example, the following invocation can be used for a French Canadian archive:

prompt> mhonarc -lang fr_CA -rcfile settings.mrc ...

Causing the following resource files to be examined:

settings.mrc
settings.mrc.fr
settings.mrc.fr_ca

The following is the list of files examined given a resource file file.mrc and the generic locale setting language_country.codeset:

file.mrc
file.mrc.language
file.mrc.language.codeset
file.mrc.language_country
file.mrc.language_country.codeset

By leveraging the use of custom resource variables, you can parameterize textual labels so the locale-specific resource files only need to define variable values instead of redefining layout. For example, take the following default value of the NEXTBUTTON resource:

<NextButton chop>
[<a href="$MSG(NEXT)$">Date Next</a>]
</NextButton>

To facilitate the the localization of your archives, the resource should be changed so the button label becomes a custom resource variable references:

<NextButton chop>
[<a href="$MSG(NEXT)$">$BUTTON-DATE-NEXT-LABEL$</a>]
</NextButton>

You will notice that "Date Next" has been changed to " $BUTTON-DATE-NEXT-LABEL$ ". Therefore, in the locale specific resource file, all that needs to be done is to define $BUTTON-DATE-NEXT-LABEL$ . Continuing with the settings.mrc example, the following would be defined in settings.mrc.en to set the English version of the label:

<DefineVar chop>
$BUTTON-DATE-NEXT-LABEL$
Date Next
</DefineVar>

<!-- MHonArc resource file
  -->
<SORT>
<TITLE>
MHonArc test
</TITLE>
 
<TTITLE>
MHonArc test (by thread)
</TTITLE>
 
<!--=== Index Page Customizations =========================================-->
 
<!-- Have LISTBEGIN contain last updated information
  -->
<LISTBEGIN>
<address>
Last updated: $LOCALDATE$<br>
$NUMOFMSG$ messages in chronological order<br>
</address>
<ul>
<li><a href="$TIDXFNAME$">Thread Index</a></li>
</ul>
<p>
Listing format is the following:
<p>
<ul><li> 
<strong>Subject</strong>
(# of follow-ups)
<em>From</em><br>
</ul>
<p>
<hr>
<ul>
</LISTBEGIN>
 
 
<!-- A compact listing template
  -->
<LITEMPLATE>
<li> 
<strong>$SUBJECT:40$</strong>
($NUMFOLUP$) <em>$FROMNAME$</em><br>
</LITEMPLATE>
 
<LISTEND>
</ul>
<p>
<hr>
<strong>
<a href="http://example.com/">Home</a>
</strong>
<p>
</LISTEND>
 
<!--=== Thread Index Page Customizations ==================================-->
<THEAD>
<address>
Thread index<br>
Last updated: $LOCALDATE$<br>
$NUMOFMSG$ messages<br>
</address>
<ul>
<li><a href="$IDXFNAME$">Main Index</a></li>
</ul>
<hr>
</THEAD>
 
<!--=== Message Customizations ============================================-->
<EXCS override>
apparently
errors-to 
followup
forward 
lines 
message-id
mime- 
nntp- 
originator 
path 
precedence 
received 
replied 
return-path 
status 
via 
x- 
</EXCS>

<LABELSTYLES>
-default-
subject:strong
from:strong
to:strong
</LABELSTYLES>
 
<FIELDSTYLES>
-default-
subject:strong
from:strong
to:strong
keywords:em
newsgroups:strong
</FIELDSTYLES>
 
<MSGHEAD>
<address>
MHonArc test archive
</address>
</MSGHEAD>
 
<MSGFOOT>
<strong>
<a href="http://example.com/">Home</a> |
<a href="$IDXFNAME$">Main Index</a> |
<a href="$TIDXFNAME$">Thread Index</a>
</strong>
</MSGFOOT>
 
<!--=== Icons =============================================================-->
<ICONS>
application/*;[20x22]/icons/generic.gif
application/msword;[20x22]/icons/layout.gif
application/postscript;[20x22]/icons/ps.gif
application/rtf;[20x22]/icons/layout.gif
application/x-csh;[20x22]/icons/script.gif
application/x-dvi;[20x22]/icons/dvi.gif
application/x-gtar;[20x22]/icons/tar.gif
application/x-gzip;[20x22]/icons/compressed.gif
application/x-ksh;[20x22]/icons/script.gif
application/x-latex;[20x22]/icons/tex.gif
application/octet-stream;[20x22]/icons/binary.gif
application/x-patch;[20x22]/icons/patch.gif
application/pdf;[20x22]/icons/pdf.gif
application/x-script;[20x22]/icons/script.gif
application/x-sh;[20x22]/icons/script.gif
application/x-tar;[20x22]/icons/tar.gif
application/x-tex;[20x22]/icons/tex.gif
application/x-zip-compressed;[20x22]/icons/compressed.gif
application/zip;[20x22]/icons/compressed.gif
audio/*;[20x22]/icons/sound1.gif
chemical/*;[20x22]/icons/sphere2.gif
image/*;[20x22]/icons/image2.gif
message/external-body;[20x22]/icons/link.gif
multipart/*;[20x22]/icons/layout.gif
text/*;[20x22]/icons/text.gif
video/*;[20x22]/icons/movie.gif
*/*;[20x22]/icons/generic.gif
</ICONS>

More examples are available under Appendix: Resource File Examples.

Version

1.0