More on Mail

On VM/CMS systems, electronic mail uses system resources in two ways. First, CMS uses a significant chunk of the computer's memory to keep track of each individual mail item in CMS "readers" (the CMS mailbox for incoming mail). Since there are typically 200,000 items, or more, this leads to a noticeable decrease in available memory. And there's also the more obvious need for the disk space it uses.

So, we have limits on the number, size, and length of time that mail files can be kept in CMS readers. For an individual item of mail, the smaller its size, the longer it's kept -- items up to 1,000 80-character lines are kept at least 2 months, but items 100,000 lines and longer are only kept 24 hours (or less, if they cause system-wide problems). There are also limits on the total number of mail items (500), and total size of all items (40 megabytes, or approximately 500,000 lines). And, no, nobody looks at your reader to enforce these rules; a program that we affectionately refer to as the Grim Reaper does it.

Are you going on vacation? We can keep the Grim Reaper at bay while while you're gone (and for a few days beyond). Send the dates you'll be gone to systems@uic.edu.

Do you receive a lot of mail? We encourage you to manage your electronic mail on CMS with the mail command, or on your desktop personal computer with Eudora. Both move all email items from your reader to your own disk space when you read your incoming mail. In either case, you will still need to use the CMS rdrlist command to receive or discard any non-mail items in your reader. See Quick Facts for Reading Mail on CMS for an introduction to mail and rdrlist (use INFORM with the search keywords quick facts mail). Eudora is included in the Network Services Kit for MS Windows and for the Macintosh.

Is most of your mail from mailing lists and newsgroups? Take a look in Usenet/Netnews for your group; the chances are that it's there. "Finding That Newsgroup" on page 4 explains how. If we don't carry your group, drop us a note at consult@uic.edu, and we'll see whether we can get it. "By Your Netid You Shall Be Known" in the September/October issue of The ADN Connection explains how to unsubscribe from email lists.

Do you have a disk space crunch? There are ways to use the space you have more effectively, or it might be that you need more space, either temporary or permanent. There's help on INFORM; use the search keywords cms space. Or call the CSO or send mail to consult@uic.edu , they'll help you find the right answer for you.

Comments are appreciated; send them to
Jim O'Leary, joleary@uic.edu

Sure can! In either case, logon (or login) to the account you want your mail forwarded from, and:

To forward incoming mail on CMS,

in CMS, enter:

tell mailer set forward snow@sherwood.forest

To forward incoming mail on UNIX,

create a file named .forward in your home directory, and put in it the complete electronic mail address(s) of the account(s) that will receive your mail.

Because it's "MIME-aware," it's easy to include any type of file in a note using the Pine mail program on the ADN UNIX systems. Pine itself is very easy to use; if you don't mind searching around a bit, you probably can just enter: pine
and learn by doing. If not, there's information on Pine in INFORM; use the search keyword pine.

There are two ways to include a file in a note you're composing with Pine. If it's a regular text file (you can read it and it has no non-displayable characters), and you're not sure the person you re sending mail to uses a MIME-aware mail program, type Ctrl-r (Pine represents this with ^R ) with your cursor in the body of the note to "read" the file. Then type Ctrl-t and select the file from your directory list. The file will be included in the text of the note, above the current line; any mail system will be able to handle it.

If the file you want to send isn't meant for people to read, include it as a MIME "attachment." With your cursor in the note's header, type Ctrl-j. Type Ctrl-t and select the file from your directory list. The file will be sent with the note in encoded form, not as text.

You need a MIME-aware email program (like pine or Eudora) to read a note with a MIME attachment. Neither mail nor note on CMS are, but you can forward a note with a MIME attachment that you receive on CMS to your UNIX account (use the mail command to forward the note, not note), and read it there.

Eudora, too, is MIME-aware, so you can attach any type of file to a Eudora message. The process is very similar on the Mac and in Windows. Let's use Eudora on the Mac as an example. Create, address, and type the body of the note as usual. To attach a file, select "Attach Document..." from the "Message" menu. This opens a standard file dialog. Select the document to be included, and click on the Open button.

When attached with "Always as Documents" turned off, plain ASCII text files are included in your note (when you send it) as if you had typed them. In this case, unless you know the note will be read with a MIME-aware program, also turn off "QP" (Quoted-Printable); click on the icon to remove the checkmark.

Non-text files must be attached as documents rather than text, and you must chose a format for the attachment. Unless the message is being sent to a Mac (in which case, use BinHex), the best choice is Uuencoding. Set a default in the "Switches" dialog box, or use the "Attachment Type Popup" -- the third icon on the message composition window -- to select the format for a specific attachment.

When you receive a note with an attachment, unless you chose "Automatically save attachments" to in the "Configuration" dialog, Eudora will automatically open a standard file dialog box, allowing you to choose a name and location for the attachment.