metasend

NAME

       metasend - Crude interface for sending non-text mail

SYNOPSIS

       metasend   [-b]  [-c cc] [-F from] [-e encoding] [-f file-
       name] [-m MIME-type] [-s subject] [-S splitsize]  [-t  to]
       [-z]  [-n]  [-D  content-description]  [-o outputfile] [-/
       multipart-subtype] [-E] [-P preamble-file]

DESCRIPTION

       The metasend program will allow a user to send one or more
       pre-existing data file as non-text multimedia mail.

       With  no  arguments, the program will ask the user for the
       To, Subject, and CC fields.  It will then ask for the name
       of  a  MIME  content-type.  Next, it will ask the user for
       the name of an existing file containing that type of data.
       After this, it will ask what encoding type, if any, should
       be applied to this data.  Finally, it   will  ask  if  the
       user  wants  to   include  information  from an additional
       file, in which case  the  last  three  questions  will  be
       repeated for  the next file.

       Alternately,  all  of  this information can be provided on
       the comand line, using the following options:

           -b -- specifies Batch  (non-interactive)  Mode.   Will
       exit with an error message if all additional needed infor-
       mation is not provided on the command line.
           -c cc -- specifies the CC address
           -D description -- specifies a string to be used as the
       Content-description value
           -e  encoding  -- specifies the encoding type.  Must be
       either "base64", "quoted-printable", "7bit",  or  "x-uue".
       "7bit" means no encoding is performed.
           -E  --  specifies  that  the  file  being  included is
       already a full MIME entity, and does not need to have  any
       Content-* or other header fields added.
           -f filename -- specifies the file containing the data
           -F from -- specifies the From address
           -i "<content-id> -- specifies the content-id value for
       the MIME  entity.   Must  be  a  legal  content-id  value,
       enclosed in angle brackets.
               -I  "<content-id>" -- specifies the content-id for
       the multipart entity being created by  metasend,  if  any.
       Must be a legal content-id value, enclosed in angle brack-
       ets.
           -m MIME-type -- specifies the MIME content-type
           -n --  specifies that an  additional  file  is  to  be
       included.  Before each use of the -n option on the command
       line, the  options -m, -c, and -f, at a minimum, must have
       appeared,and  must  appear  separately  for  each included
       file.
           -o  outputfile  --  specifies  that  the  output  from

       metasend  should  go to a named file rather than be deliv-
       ered as mail.
           -P preamblefile -- specifies a file containing  alter-
       native  text  to  be  put in the "preamble" area of a MIME
       multipart message.
           -s subject -- specifies the Subject field
           -S splitsize --  specifies  the  maximum  size  before
       splitting into parts via splitmail(1).
           -t to -- specifies the To address
           -z  --  specifies  that  the temporary files should be
       deleted EVEN IF DELIVERY FAILS.
           -/ subtype -- specifies the use of  a  MIME  multipart
       subtype other than "mixed".

       This  is  intended  largely  for  mail  hackers.   A  much
       friendlier interface  to  non-text  mail  is  provided  by
       mailto(1).

       If  more  than  one file is given,  the parts will be com-
       bined into a single multipart MIME  object.

       The mail will be delivered using the splitmail(1) program,
       so  if  it  is  very long it will arrive as several pieces
       which can be automatically reassembled by  metamail.   The
       definition of "very long" can be altered using the -S flag
       or the SPLITSIZE environment variable, as described in the
       splitmail(1) man page.

SEE ALSO

       audiosend(1),  mailto-hebrew(1),  mailto(1),  metamail(1),
       mmencode(1), splitmail(1)

BUGS

       Should do a better job of choosing  the  encoding  if  you
       don't specify one.

       Should  do MIME syntax checking  on user-supplied content-
       type fields.  Users are all too likely  to  provide  bogus
       MIME  content-type values, alas.  In particular, there are
       various characters that are  not  allowed   in  parameters
       unless  the  parameters are enclosed in double quotes, but
       this sort  of  restriction is hard to enforce in  a  shell
       script!

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright  (c)  1991  Bell  Communications  Research, Inc.
       (Bellcore)

       Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this mate-
       rial  for  any  purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
       provided that the above copyright notice and this  permis-
       sion  notice  appear  in  all copies, and that the name of
       Bellcore not be used in advertising or publicity  pertain-
       ing  to  this material without the specific, prior written
       permission of an authorized  representative  of  Bellcore.
       BELLCORE  MAKES  NO  REPRESENTATIONS ABOUT THE ACCURACY OR
       SUITABILITY OF THIS MATERIAL FOR ANY PURPOSE.  IT IS  PRO-
       VIDED  "AS IS", WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES.

AUTHOR

       Nathaniel S. Borenstein, Bellcore