Library and Etcetera Directories

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The library directory (in the Figure Important parts of a UNIX filesystem, /usr/local/lib/mh) is usually separate from the MH binaries directory. Again, the location is system-dependent -- but the pathname usually has mh and lib someplace in it. The directory has text files like scan.size and scan.timely, standard template files for draft messages such as components, and a few special executable programs like mhl.

You can save the location of the MH library directory in your MH profile by using a handy trick with the mhparam command. Then, whenever you need the library directory pathname, use mhparam in backquotes:

% cp `mhparam library`/replcomps .       ...copy system replcomps file
% cd `mhparam library`              ...now run commands in library directory...

nmh also has an etcetera directory, like /usr/local/nmh/etc, where many of the files from the MH library directory have been moved. The files here are template draft message files, format files for scanning messages, and other non-program files. You can find the pathname of this directory with the almost-undocumented nmh command mhparam etcdir.

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Revised by Jerry Peek. Last change $Date: 1999/10/10 05:14:05 $

This file is from the third edition of the book MH & xmh: Email for Users & Programmers, ISBN 1-56592-093-7, by Jerry Peek. Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. This file is freely available; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. For more information, see the file copying.htm.

Suggestions are welcome: Jerry Peek <jpeek@jpeek.com>