metasend(1) UNIX System V (Release 1) metasend(1)
NAME
metasend - Crude interface for sending non-text mail
SYNOPSIS
metasend [-b] [-c cc] [-F from] [-e encoding] [-f filename]
[-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 information
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
brackets.
-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.
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metasend(1) UNIX System V (Release 1) metasend(1)-o outputfile -- specifies that the output from metasend
should go to a named file rather than be delivered as mail.
-P preamblefile -- specifies a file containing
alternative 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 combined
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
material for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
provided that the above copyright notice and this permission
notice appear in all copies, and that the name of Bellcore
not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to this
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metasend(1) UNIX System V (Release 1) metasend(1)
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 PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES.
AUTHOR
Nathaniel S. Borenstein, Bellcore
Page 3 (printed 5/3/99)
