HP-UX Mailing Services Administrator's Guide

Mailing Services Overview
The elm Utility
Chapter 120
The elm Utility
The elm utility is based on the public domain elm program. An electronic
mail for UNIX, elm is a Mail User Agent (MUA) system designed to run
with Sendmail or with any other UNIX MTA configured on your system.
The elm program is a screen-oriented mail processing system that
includes the following features:
• An industry-wide MIME standard for nontext mails
• A special forms message and form reply mechanism
• An easy-to-use alias system for individuals and groups
elm operates in three principal modes:
• Interactive mode – Executes as an interactive mail interface
program.
• Message mode – Sends a single interactive message to a list of mail
addresses – from the command prompt.
• File mode – Sends a file or command output to a list of mail
addresses from the command line or by using redirection.
When elm operates in any of these modes, elm honors the values set in
the $HOME/.elm/elmrc initialization file, elm alias database, and the
system elm alias database.
How elm Works
elm’s screen-oriented mail processing interface displays all the options
necessary to send and compose messages on the screen. You can select
the most appropriate option based on your requirement.
When invoked, elm first displays the main or message menu. elm reads
customized variables from the $HOME/.elm/elmrc file to initialize the
parameters. The main menu displays index entries for the messages in
your inbox or selected mail folder. Among other options, you can read,
print, reply to, and forward these messages, as well as initiate new mail
messages to other users. Some commands use a series of prompts to
complete their action. You can use the Ctrl-D keys to cancel their
operations.