.TH MAILS 1
.SH NAME
Mails, mail2fs, Arch, Save, Reply \- reading and processing mail
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B mail2fs
[
.B -D
]
[
.B -n
]
[
.B -d
.I dir
]
[
.I mbox
]
.PP
.B Mails
[
.B -alsA
]
[
.I mbox
]
.PP
.B Save
.I mbox
.PP
.B Arch
.PP
.B Reply
[
.I addr
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
These programs cooperate to provide mail processing and reading facilities for
Plan B users. They are an alternative to programs mentioned in
.IR mail (1).
.PP
In Plan B, mails for users are parsed and decoded first,
and then stored in a file hierarchy where these and other
tools can be used to process them.  A mailbox is a directory, usually under
.BR /mail/box/$user/ ,
that contains one directory per month (e.g.,
.BR 200603/
for mails processed on March 2006).  In these diretories, there is one directory per message. The
convention is that (message directory) names starting with
.B a.
correspond to archived messages not to be usually shown to the user. Names starting with
.B s.
correspond to messages that seem to be spam (not usually shown either). Other messages use a
serial message number as their directory name.
.PP
The directory for a message contains a
.B text
file (with the mail headers and body already processed for reading)
and one extra file for each (file) attachment found in the original
message (when a mail is attached, a directory is created for it following the same conventions
mentioned here).
Because all these files have been already processed for reading,
the usual file handling tools can be used to operate on them (e.g., editors, file search
tools, etc.). 
.PP
.B Mails
is an
.IR rc (1)
script that provides the primary user interface. Option
.B -l
lists message paths and sender addresses in a format suitable for use with
.IR ofaces (1).
.PP
In general
.I Mails
relies on
.I mails
to perform its job and extract from the text of the messages in
.I mbox
(by default,
.B /mail/box/$user/mails
) a summary of messages including their relative path, their subject, and
their sender. This text summary is plumbed to the user's editor. The
.I mails
program is the underlying tool. The description below applies to either programs.
.PP
Flag
.B -a
shows archived  messages also. Flag
.B -s
shows spam messages also. Flag
.B -A
shows all of them.
.PP
The program that actually performs the conversion from UNIX/Plan9 mailbox format into
plan B mail folders is
.IR mail2fs .
It reads
.I mbox
(or
.B /mail/box/$user/mbox
by default) and updates
.B /mail/box/$user/mails
(or
.I dir
when given) with messages found in the Plan 9 mailbox. Once the conversion finishes, the original mailbox
is emptied, unless flag
.B -n
is supplied. The program computes the SHA1 digest of subjects and bodies,
to silently discard duplicate mails.
.PP
.BR Save ,
and
.B Arch
are
.IR rc (1)
scripts that can be used when reading mail with
.IR ox (1)
to save a mail to a different folder and to archive the mail. They must be executed
from the
.I ox
panel that shows the mail file. 
.PP
.I Reply
is another script used both to compose new mails and to reply. It starts
.IR omail (1)
to compose a new mail, using the optional destination mail
.I addr
when given. The snarf buffer is set to the context of the
.I ox
window used to execute the command, which is useful to paste the original
message when replying.
.SH FILES
.TF /mail/box/$user/mbox
.TP
.B /mail/box/$user/mbox
Standard Plan 9 mail box for the user.
.TP
.B /mail/box/$user/mails/
Standard Plan B mail box for the user
.SH SOURCE
.B /sys/src/cmd/mail2fs
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR ox (1)
.br
.IR mail (1)
.br
.IR omail (1)