Configuring elm
elm stands for “electronic mail” and is one of the more reasonably named Unix tools. It provides a full-screen interface with a good help feature. We won’t discuss how to use elm here, but only dwell on its configuration options.
Theoretically, you can run elm unconfigured, and everything works well—if you are lucky. But there are a few options that must be set, although they are required only on occasion.
When it starts, elm reads a set of configuration variables
from the elm.rc
file in /etc/elm
.
Then it attempts to read the file .elm/elmrc
in your
home directory. You don’t usually write this file yourself. It is created when
you choose “Save new options” from elm’s options
menu.
The set of options for the private elmrc
file is also
available in the global elm.rc
file. Most settings in
your private elmrc
file override those of the global file.
Global elm Options
In the global elm.rc
file, you must set the options
that pertain to your host’s name. For example, at the Virtual Brewery, the file
for vlager contains the following:
# # The local hostname hostname = vlager # # Domain name hostdomain = .vbrew.com # # Fully qualified domain name hostfullname = vlager.vbrew.com
These options set elm’s idea of the local hostname.
Although this information is rarely used, you should set the options.
Note that these particular options only take effect when giving them in
the global configuration file; when found in your private
elmrc
, they will be ignored.
National Character ...
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