Mush SunView Port Available for Beta-Test

[Barton E. Schaefer]

The long-awaited but slow-to-appear SunView port of mush 6.5.6 is now
available for beta-test.  Anyone with a Sun (or without, though you won't
be quite as helpful :-) and with ftp access to ucbvax.berkeley.edu is
encouraged to pick up file pub/mushview.tar.Z and go bug-hunting.

This is for the most part a very straightforward conversion of the old
SunWindows code in 6.5.6 to use the newer SunView library.  XView and
other Xs are not supported.  The tool code has been tested on 3/50, 3/60,
386i, and assorted other Sun workstations running SunOS 3.5, 4.0.1, and
4.0.3; it appears to work, but we make no guarantees at this point.  The
line/curses mode code has been tested on some of the Suns and a Sequent
Symmetry (DYNIX 3.0.12, BSD universe only).  The tool code needs heavier
use, and the rest could stand testing on some SysV/Xenix systems, so
this is definitely a beta release and should not yet be considered
"official".

Thanks to Rich Burridge of Sun Australia for doing most of the drudgework
involved in the conversion.  Rich has also given the code a very thorough
linting; it is cleaner now than it has been since the "passed lint the
last time it was checked" remark got put in the README several versions
ago.  :-)  A SysV linting would also be appreciated if anyone volunteers.

Bug reports for the SunView interface should be sent to Rich at

		rburridge at sun.com

In addition to the conversion, there have been a number of enhancements
and bug fixes to 6.5.6 included in this version.  The following is an
excerpt from the lastest README file (it may even be more up-to-date
than the copy that is with the tar.Z):

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

mush -I file
mush -I! file
    The new -I (-init) option allows the user to specify an init file that
    is read before any of the other init files.  -I! causes the specified
    file to replace the system Mushrc file; otherwise, the given file and
    the system Mushrc are both read.  -I has no effect on reading of the
    user's own $HOME/.mushrc file (except that the indicated file could
    "setenv MAILRC", thus changing the location of the user's file).

mush -n
mush -n!
    The first form of this option now works like the ucbMail -n option,
    that is, it prevents sourcing of the system Mushrc but the user's own
    $HOME/.mushrc is still read.  The new -n! variation prevents either
    file from being sourced, which was the old behavior of -n.  Using -n
    does not change the effect of -I, so the following are equivalent:
	    mush -n -I file			mush -I! file

my_hdr From: address
    This is now allowed (it is allowed but neither documented nor correctly
    used in 6.5.6, and was not allowed previously).  The user's From: header
    is verified as best mush can, and used if it appears valid.  It is up
    to the MTA to assure authenticity and/or add a Sender: header.  Mush
    provides a From: if the user does not or if it cannot verify the one
    given.

pipe -p pattern
    The pipe command has been modified to allow its use as a shell script
    extractor.  See the man page and "pipe -?" for details.  The syntax of
    this variation is a little nonstandard at the moment and may change.

reply
    Assorted repairs have been made to to take_me_off() (implements the
    inverse of $metoo) and reply_to().  These include doing a better
    (though still not perfect) job of getting the name and address to
    match when replying to forwarded mail.

sort
    The current message now moves with the sort, that is, the same actual
    message (not necessarily the same message *number*) will be the
    current message after the sort as was current before the sort.

save/copy
    The 'p' (printed) and 'f' (forwarded) Status flags are now properly
    saved when messages are saved/copied, and restored when the folders
    are read.

undigest -p pattern
    The specified pattern is used as the article separator for unpacking
    digests.  The default is "--------".  A literal match (no regexps or
    wildcards) is done at beginning-of-line.

$domain_route
    This variable allows the user to specify that domain short-circuiting
    should be done in conjunction with auto_route.  Addresses that are
    already in RFC822 domain form (user at domain) are not normally changed.
    UUCP paths that contain fully-qualified domains are short-circuited
    to the rightmost such domain.  Optionally, domain_route may be set
    to a string, in which case all addresses are rewritten to UUCP form,
    short-circuited, and the given string is then prepended as the first
    host in the path.  This variable is intended for use at RFC976 Class 3
    UUCP hosts, or UUCP sites with a connection to a Class 3 host.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

As usual, the BUGS section of the man page covers some known problems; these
include:
    Function keys clash with window operations
    Resizing is handled badly
    Pixrect allocation restricts the size of pageable messages

And of course I'm sure you hungry beta-testers will find others.

As usual, Dan and I can be reached at:

		Dan Heller	island!argv at sun.com
				dheller at cory.berkeley.edu
				argv at sun.com (temporarily)
		
		Bart Schaefer	schaefer at cse.ogc.edu

and don't forget:

		Rich Burridge	rburridge at sun.com
				sunaus!richb at sun.com

Miscellaneous comments can be posted to comp.mail.mush for discussion, or
sent to mush-users at garp.mit.edu, which gateways to the newsgroup.

One note:  Both Dan and I are very busy at the moment, which is one reason
bug reports are directed to Rich.  (I'd have let him post this, but he's
vacation until next week. :-)  Response times to mail may vary.
-- 
Bart Schaefer           "And if you believe that, you'll believe anything."
                                                            -- DangerMouse
CSNET / Internet                schaefer at cse.ogc.edu
UUCP                            ...{sequent,tektronix,verdix}!ogccse!schaefer