sendfiles (1) - Linux Manuals

sendfiles: send multiple files via a MIME message

Command to display sendfiles manual in Linux: $ man 1 sendfiles

NAME

sendfiles - send multiple files via a MIME message

SYNOPSIS

sendfiles [-compress bzip2 | compress | gzip | lzma | none]: [-from sender] [-delay n | -n] [-version] [-help]; -to recipient -subject subject | recipient subject; file/directory1 [file/directory2 ...]

DESCRIPTION

The shell script sendfiles is used to send a collection of files and directories via electronic mail.

sendfiles will archive the files and directories you name with the tar command, and then mail the compressed archive to the ``recipient'' with the given ``subject''. The archive will be automatically split up into as many messages as necessary in order to get past most mailers.

The -to switch specifies the recipient. The -subject switch specifies the subject. Alternatively, these two required values can be provided without their corresponding switch names.

The -from switch can, and should, be used to specify the sender's mailbox (name and email address). Alternatively, the PERSON environment variable can be used for the same purpose. If neither is used, sendfiles will supply a ``From:'' header field using the sender's local mailbox, see localmbox in mh-format(5).

The -compress command line switch can be used to override the run-time determination of the compression program by sendfiles. -compress none (alternatively, -none) disables compression.

Sometimes you want sendfiles to pause after posting a partial message. This is usually the case when you are running sendmail and expect to generate a lot of partial messages. The -delay switch specifies the number of seconds to pause in between postings, e.g.,

: sendfiles -delay 30 -to recipient -subject ``subject'' files ...

will pause 30 seconds in between each posting. An alternate form of the switch with just the delay time, -30, for example, is also supported.

Extracting the Received Files

When these messages are received, invoke mhstore once for the list of messages. The default is for mhstore to store the combined parts as a new message in the current folder, although this can be changed using storage formatting strings. You can then use mhlist to find out what's inside; possibly followed by mhstore again to write the archive to a file where you can subsequently uncompress and untar it. For instance:

% mhlist 5-8
 msg part  type/subtype             size description
   5       message/partial           47K part 1 of 4
   6       message/partial           47K part 2 of 4
   7       message/partial           47K part 3 of 4
   8       message/partial           18K part 4 of 4
% mhstore 5-8
reassembling partials 5,6,7,8 to folder inbox as message 9
% mhlist -verbose 9
 msg part  type/subtype             size description
   9       application/octet-stream 118K
             (extract with uncompress | tar xvpf -)
             type=tar
             conversions=compress
% mhstore 9
% uncompress < 9.tar.Z | tar xvpf -

Alternately, by using the -auto switch, mhstore will automatically do the extraction for you:

% mhlist 5-8
 msg part  type/subtype             size description
   5       message/partial           47K part 1 of 4
   6       message/partial           47K part 2 of 4
   7       message/partial           47K part 3 of 4
   8       message/partial           18K part 4 of 4
% mhstore 5-8
reassembling partials 5,6,7,8 to folder inbox as message 9
% mhlist -verbose 9
 msg part  type/subtype             size description
   9       application/octet-stream 118K
             (extract with uncompress | tar xvpf -)
             type=tar
             conversions=compress
% mhstore -auto 9
-- tar listing appears here as files are extracted

As the second tar listing is generated, the files are extracted. A prudent user will never put -auto in the .mh_profile file. The correct procedure is to first use mhlist to find out what will be extracted. Then mhstore can be invoked with -auto to perform the extraction.

FILES

^$HOME/.mh_profile~^The user profile

PROFILE COMPONENTS

^Path:~^To determine the user's nmh directory
^Current-Folder:~^To find the default current folder

DEFAULTS

`-delay 0'
`-from localmbox'

CONTEXT

None