QMAIL gist: :QMAIL name@site,name2@site2,... ^C QMAIL details: Qmail sends messages to people over the network or locally; the "Q" is for "queue" as it always operates by queueing mail to a special independent program which does the actual sending. It can be used as something of an adulterated DDT ":MAIL" command as shown above (":QMAIL FOO MESSAGE^C will work), but is much more useful when one knows the magic character... i.e., alt-mode.  (alt-mode) followed by: ?- lists commands. T- To: ,,... i.e. add to mailing list. U- Un-to: ,... uh, take him off mailing list. '*' works as either a name or site. Alone, flushes all. S- Subject: specify a subject line. Null line deletes. F- From: this command is unnecessary unless your UNAME is not the real you. A- Append at end of message text. Q- Quit, as in :KILL ----------------------------------------------- Keyboard notes: ^G: stops typeout ^L: re-displays mailing list and text. ^Q: quote next char. CR: safe reply to most any input request. RUBOUT: is moderately clever. ALT-MODE: command invocation, echoes as a ">" prompt. (on TV's) META & TOP: will quote and TOPify, respectively. ----------------------------------------------- OTHER COMMANDS: /- Slashification switch complement. When on, characters will be converted to lowercase unless preceded by a slash, just as in TECO. Useful for entering lower case on uppercase terminals such as Datapoints. L- List the mailing list. Useful for non-displays. Z- Zap, i.e. clear message buffer (but preserve mailing list) ^C- Sends message but restarts Qmail instead of quitting. Note this is ^C, not just plain ^C. W- Write containing message text. Useful if Edit-escape (see below) is too kludgy for you or doesn't work. I- Insert Just like Append. Y- Yank in as message text, anything already in message buffer will be flushed. G- Get Starts reading data as if it came from the console; information in the file will simply be added to whatever already exists. Commands can be given. PUT will write a file which GET understands. P- Put out which contains all info necessary to recreate the entire message. E- Edit Escape to TECO. This writes a file named _MAIL_ _EDIT_ on the directory the user's sname points to, and valrets a ":TECO _MAIL_ _EDIT_" to DDT. In most cases, barring invalid system names and cranky TECO INIT's, this kludge will get the message thus far into a TECO buffer, where the user can then edit to his heart's content. When QMAIL is proceeded (not restarted!) it will try to read that file back into its own buffer, so after TECO'ing the message one should write it back where it came from. (EWEE) Some time in the future this will be replaced by a more winning invocation; until then, good luck. R Receipt-switch complement. Default (off) means you will be mailed a receipt for only those messages which could not be sent immediately. If enabled, receipts will always be given. This dates from days of unreliable service. V Variant force. Default variety of message is ITS for solely intra-ITS mail, TENEX for mail with one or more non-ITS recipients. This command will force format to whichever you specify. (CR restores the default) ============================================================ Syntax of a "name" or recipient The general format is , @, or %. (From TIPs, % is easier to type). All reasonable host nicknames (and unique fractions thereof) should be recognized. Let me know if your favorite names aren't there. There are two special "name" formats with special effects. One is "sticky site"; giving a host specification (i.e., "@site") alone will make that host apply to all subsequent names which have no host spec, but only until another host spec is found. If this is another sticky site, the default host is now this new sticky site, otherwise it reverts to the local site regardless of the unsticking host spec. The idea is to be able to specify a site and follow it with the names of all recipients at that site; e.g. @sail, foo1,foo2, foo3, bar @ ml,friend sends to FOO1, FOO2, and FOO3 at Stanford, BAR at Mathlab, and FRIEND locally. The second special format is "(filename)" where the file is taken to contain a string of names in the same format as might be typed in; that is, a distribution list. The world is actually pushed and popped, so distribution lists can include the names of other lists, to a depth of 7 or so. E.G. @ai,larry,curly,moe,(klh;people list),oof sends to 3 people at MIT-AI, to all the recipients listed in "klh;people list", and OOF locally. ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ADDENDUM Also, there is a job (disowned, variously named after some communications satellite or another) which does the actual mailing, and enables network mail to be "sent" irregardless of remote host status; the satellite simply waits until the destination comes alive. If it is running, mail should be delivered within a minute; QMAIL writes the message instantly to a file and exits, but the satellite may take a while to notice the file. Note that this scheme is painless for messages to many recipients, to dead foreign hosts, and to large mail files (such as SYS). If the satellite is not orbiting (or otherwise screwed) mail will take longer, i.e. until it is restarted or fixed, but will eventually arrive. (neither crash, glitch, nor parity etc...) All bugs, suggestions, etc to KLH @ AI.