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Mail Message Signatures On The ECN

Have you ever wondered how to insert signatures at the end of mail messages automatically, rather than having to type the whole thing in each time (especially if you have to include a variety of addresses and perhaps a cute quote)? Well wonder no more! Here is a quick guide to signatures on the prevalent mailer systems in use on the ECN.

MAIL:

Mail is probably one of the most common and least powerful mail programs available on the ECN. It has no built-in facility for automatically including a signature in a mail message. The closest equivalent is to type "~r sigfilename" in mail to read in the signature file just before sending. If you are running mail using the VI or EX editor to edit the body of your mail message, then you can use the command ":r sigfilename".

For more information on any of these commands look in the man pages for elm(1), mail(1), mh(1), or comp(1).

MAILTOOL:

Works in a similar manner to MAIL. The signature file must be read in and this is accomplished by bringing up a menu in the compose window (press left mouse button) and highlighting include in the menu. When a dialog window appears, type in the name of your signature file.

MH:

MH is a powerful system of commands for handling mail. Probably the easiest way to insert signatures into outgoing mail in MH is to edit the components file in the Mail directory. If you have the components file, then append the signature lines to the bottom of it. If you don't have a components file, then create it with VI. It must contain the header fields that MH uses to deliver the mail. By default it looks like this:

To:
cc:
Subject:
----------

Text below the dashes becomes part of outgoing message.

ELM:

ELM is configured through a file named elmrc in the .elm directory that is created the first time that ELM is run. If the file elmrc is not in your .elm directory already, it can be created by running ELM, then typing "o" (for options) and ">" to save the configuration. Once the elmrc file is created, ELM's behavior can be altered by modifying the different parameters listed in this file. The parameters of interest regarding the placement of personal signatures to the end of your mail message are:

                       localsignature =

                              and
                       remotesignature =

These lines (when completed) provide an absolute pathname for ELM to use in locating the file you wish appended to your electronic mail. Two fields are provided so that different signatures can be used for local (ECN wide) mail and remote (outside of ECN) mail. For example my elmrc contains:

localsignature = /e/terran/OTHER/sig.short
#"signature" to be appended to local mail

remotesignature = /e/terran/OTHER/sig.long
#"signature" to be appended to remote mail

This causes the specified file that I have placed in the directory /e/terran/OTHER to be read in at the end of any mail message I send.

REMEMBER!

The reason you add a "signature" to your mail message is to provide information to make it easier for the recipient to respond to you. Provide your electronic address (use multiple formats as is appropriate for the networks your respondents may be using), a telephone number (with area code) and a FAX number if appropriate. HOWEVER, keep your "signature" short! Cute poems and words-of-wisdom lose their appeal when they grow so long that the body of the mail message is scrolled off the screen to make room for them.

SAMPLE OF 2 LOCAL SIGNATURES

__________________________
Dave Halsema
halsema@ecn.purdue.edu
Student Programmer/4UNIX Consultant

Terran Lane   (terran@ecn)
"I believe that human beings are incapable of having clues.
As evidence I submit one modern western society." -Tim Stough

SAMPLE OF A REMOTE SIGNATURE

____________________________
Terran Lane  - Engineering Computer Network  - Purdue University
UUCP: pur-ee!terran  ARPA: terran@ecn.purdue.edu
PHONE: 765-494-8649      FAX: 765-494-6440

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