patch-metamail(1)

💌 patch-metamail(1) — the install-a-patch-to-the-latest-metamail-release girlies' guide 🎀

okay so bestie, you found a General Commands Manual page and it's literally all about patch-metamail. strap in, this one's giving "vintage Unix but make it useful" ✨

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✨ NAME ✨

patch-metamail — install a patch to the latest metamail release 🧚

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

patch-metamail source-tree-root patch-number [hostname [dirname [prefix]]]

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💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

okay so here's the vibe: patch-metamail will attempt to retrieve a patch file for the metamail distribution — it does this by anonymous ftp-ing to a trusted server — and then it installs that patch right into your local copy of the distribution. lowkey iconic. 💖

The first two arguments are required, no exceptions, and they are:

• the root directory of your local copy of the metamail source directory 🌸
• the patch number 🩷

heads up: the first one is site-dependent, and the second one is patch-dependent. iykyk.

In general, patch-metamail is intended to be called via metamail, with a mailcap entry like the following:

application/x-metamail-patch;patch-metamail source-tree-root
%{patchnumber}; needsterminal

The default values for the host to ftp to, the directory name to retrieve the file from, and the patch file name prefix are hard-wired to thumper.bellcore.com, pub/nsb, and "mm.patch.". 🫶

ngl bestie, this next part is the whole entire plot: while you can override these on the command line, it would be a big mistake to make these parameterized based on the contents of a mail message 😭 — because then someone could spoof you into retrieving a new version of metamail with a Trojan horse from their site! 💀

However (and this is the part where you breathe), as long as you retain control over what host and directory the patches are retrieved from, this program is reasonably safe — as safe as the host you're depending on, anyway. ⭐

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• metamail(1)

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👑 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 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.

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💜 AUTHOR 💜

Nathaniel S. Borenstein, Bellcore

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and that's the whole page, bestie — main character energy from start to finish 🦋💅 okurrr, this was Release 1 of the page, and yeah, that's the version/date energy we're closing out on. mwah 💋✨