From: brian@ora.com (Brian Erwin)
Subject: New Edition:  MH & xmh
Followup-To: poster
Organization: Motorola Computer Group, Schaumburg, IL
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 19:26:00 GMT

O'REILLY PUBLISHES UPDATED GUIDE TO E-MAIL FOR USERS AND PROGRAMMERS

SEBASTOPOL, CA -- O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. has released an updated
edition of its basic guide to electronic mail for users and
programmers.  MH & xmh: E-mail for Users & Programmers, by Jerry Peek,
explains how to use, customize, and program with the MH electronic
mail commands and with xmh, the X client graphical interface for MH.
It has been updated for MH 6.7.2 and X Release 5.

     The book makes learning and using MH and xmh easy.  A reader can
learn to use MH by reading only about 15 pages in Chapter 4.  Chapter
14 covers xmh in about 20 pages. All the rest of the book helps
programmers and users do things at which the standard documentation
only hints.

WHAT'S NEW IN THIS EDITION

MH & xmh has been revised extensively.  These revisions include:  

*  Edge tabs and a "road map" emphasizing the two quick-start 
   tutorials, have been added to make the book easier to use; 

*  A new chapter, with 45 pages on the "mhook" utilities for 
   handling new mail automatically, de-mystifies these, shows 
   examples of ways to customize them and explains techniques 
   for debugging;

*  There's a new xmh Reference Guide in the purple pages at the back; 

*  The chapter with shell programs has three new scripts:

     -- mysend is an MH sendproc that edits messages as they 
        are sent.  It's configured to add a "signature" to the 
        ends of messages, but you can adapt it to do almost 
        anything else.

     -- edprofile lets R5 xmh users change how some commands work, 
        just by clicking a button.

     -- autoinc handles incoming mail automatically.  It's nice for 
        people who can't use mhook utilities, also for handling mail 
        in a batch.  The rmmer message-removing script is more 
        efficient; it can also prompt for confirmation before removing 
        messages from certain folders; 

*  Many programs from the first edition have been improved and the 
   index expanded; 
 
*  The .xmhcheck file, for incorporating mail from many mailboxes 
   is covered; 

*  Chapter 10 has more examples of MH formatting (for the commands 
   scan, repl, mhl, etc.).  It also covers the new mh-format features 
   introduced in MH 6.7.2; 
 
*  The Release 5 xmh is more flexible--especially the XmhShellCommand 
   for running any UNIX shell command on selected mail messages; 
 
*  New sections tell how to handle packed mail files with packf and 
   use the MH-like "mail shell" msh; 
 
*  There are even more tips for using MH and xmh in real applications, 
   including new time-saving aliases, buttons, and command versions.  
   Several new sections show how to use UNIX links to organize mail; 

*  Appendix B, "Early History of MH," written by Bruce Borden and 
   Stockton Gaines, provides insight into why MH is the way it is.

         MH & xmh:  E-mail for Users & Programmers\fR
         ISBN 1-56592-027-9
         728 pages
         Price:  $29.95

This and other O'Reilly books are available through bookstores or
directly from the publisher.  For a list of our overseas distributors
or U.S. bookstores, FAX (707/829-0104), phone (707/829-0515 or
800/998-9938 in US or Canada), or write O'Reilly & Associates, 103
Morris St., Sebastopol, CA, 95472, USA.
-- 
Brian Erwin, brian@ora.com
Public Relations, O'Reilly & Associates
103A Morris Street, Sebastopol CA 95472
707-829-0515, Fax 707-829-0104
Newsgroups: comp.newprod