Mailer macros/rules

[miller@GEM.cam.nist.gov (Bruce R. Miller)]

    Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 12:21:41 +0100
    Date: Thu, 21 Feb 91 12:22+0100
    From: Keunen%milou.nrb.be@Warbucks.AI.SRI.COM (Vincent Keunen)

    Here is our problem:
 
    We have a symbolics connected via decnet to a vax.  This vax accesses a
    uucp server (central in Belgium) thru a software named "Decus UUCP for
    the vax".  Everything seems to work quite well, except that decus uucp
    adds lines at the top of message headers (probably to be recognized by
    vms-mail which is the mail system used here locally).
 
    Example:
 
    *    Received: from NRBV01 by MILOU via DNA with DNA-MAIL id 4932; Thu, 21-Feb-91 06:56:00-+0100
    *    Date: Thu, 21-Feb-91 06:56:02-+0100
    *    From: UUCP%"dave@cs.wisc.edu"@NRBV01
    *    Subject: IFIP symposium on integrated net mgt
    *    To: keunen
    *    
	 Received: from nrb by nrb.be (DECUS UUCP w/Smail);
		   Thu, 21 Feb 91 06:54:33 +0100
      [`Normal' header deleted]
 
 
    Lines marked with * are added by Decus uucp.  The problem is that
    because of this format, all header lines are shown in the message
    (otherwise, the useless lines are skipped which is handy).
 
Actually the problem is the BLANK line after the headers that the Vax
added and before the headers that came with the orignal message.   The
blank line tells Zmail that that is the end of the headers; it treats
the rest as the text of the message, so you get the joy of reading it.
The problem apparently comes from DNA-MAIL not recognizing that it is
*forwarding* mail which already has headers;
It just adds its own & a blank line, and thats that.

    The question is : How do I avoid this problem?

	    - is there a configuration for this type of header?
	    - do I have to remove the * lines from each message
	      (and lose the ability of automatic reply)?
	    - if I have to remove the lines, how do i do that?
	      (are there mail macros or do i have to look into 
	       rules,...?)
A simple approach if you only have a few messages to deal with
(but tedious for a lot) is to use edit message (click-L on the message),
c-K to remove the blank line, then <end>. 
 
    I'd appreciate any help (pointers would also be good).
 
 
    Thank you for your help.
 
 
    Vincent Keunen
 
Another option is one I used while we were running DNA & had a lot of
mail forwarded through the vax: I wrote a patch (a heuristic HACK,
really) to (:method dna-mail-server :server-top-level) which causes it
to take the blank lines less seriously. It's not foolproof, but it sure
helped. I also haven't used it since rel 7, but it probably works in
rel8--- but you're welcome to it.



bruce
miller@cam.nist.gov