EC - Perl/Tk email reader and composer.


CAUTIONS

1. As of Version 1.16, EC stores its library modules in the site_perl
   library directory.  If you try to run an earlier version, you'll
   likely receive "module not found" errors, at least, due to version 
   icompatibilities. The safest course, after installing the new version, 
   is to remove the library modules of the old version with the commands:

     $ rm -rf ~/.ec/EC
     $ rm -rf ~/.ec/Tk

2. Remember to make backups of the .ecconfig and .servers files before
   upgrading.


CONTENTS

  SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
  INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING
  PRINTING THE DOCUMENTATION
  TROUBLESHOOTING


SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

You will need, in addition to Perl:

1. A recent version of Perl/Tk.
2. Local or Internet connections to a POP3 and SMTP server.


INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING

1.  Unpack the tar archive, preferably in your home directory 
    (which you've already done it you're reading this).

      tar zxvf ec-<version>.tar.gz

2.  Install the program, library, and documentation files.  You can 
    build the files while logged in as a normal user.  The actual 
    installation requires system administrator privileges.

      $ cd ec-<version>
      $ perl Makefile.PL
      $ make

    Then log in as the system adminstrator and install:

      # make install

2.  Install the configuration files for each user.  They reside in
    a subdirectory of each user's $HOME directory.  The default 
    configuration files are located in the configs/ subdirectory: 
    configs/dot-ecconfig and configs/dot-servers.  

    If you are upgrading you may not need to re-install the 
    configuration files, although you should check carefully
    that the upgrade is compatible with the old configuration
    files.

    By default, the program looks for the configuration files
    as $HOME/.ec/.ecconfig and $HOME/.ec/.servers.  The 
    subdirectory and files are hidden.  Use the -a command
    line option to ls to view them.  

    For security, the .servers file has limited permissions, so 
    that only the files owner can view them.  The program complains 
    if the permissions are not correct.

    While logged in as a normal user, install the configuration
    files with the following commands:

      # mkdir ~/.ec
      # cp configs/dot-ecconfig ~/.ec/.ecconfig
      # cp configs/dot-servers ~/.ec/.servers
      # chmod 0600 ~/.ec/.servers

3.  Edit the .ec/.ecconfig file with the program options of 
    your choice.  You can read and edit the file with a text editor
    or from the Help -> Sample .ecconfig File... menu option.  
    The comments in the .eccfile explain the function of each option
    and the possible values for them.  The help file, the Help -> Help
    menu option, provides additional information.

4.  On Solaris systems, make sure that the value of "mailspooldir"
    in the ~/.ec/.ecconfig file is set to the system's mail spool
    directory, the /var/mail directory in standard configurations.

    You may also need to change the value of $SOCK_STREAM line 53 of
    the ec program to '2' to communicate directly with SMTP and 
    POP3 servers.  

5.  EC requires, at the very least, a top-level mail subdirectory, 
    and two sub-sub-directories, one for incoming mail and another 
    for deleted messages.  Create the directories defined in the
    configuration file with the following commands:

      $ mkdir ~/Mail
      $ mkdir ~/Mail/incoming
      $ mkdir ~/Mail/trash

    These are the path names used in the standard configuration.
    If you change them. make sure also to edit the options in the
    $HOME/.ec/.ecconfig file.


PRINTING THE DOCUMENTATION

It is possible produce this documentation in various formats
using Perl's POD formatting utilities:

  pod2html <ec >doc.html
  pod2latex <ec >doc.tex
  pod2man <ec >doc.man
  pod2text <ec >doc.txt
  pod2usage <ec >doc.msg

Refer to your system's manual pages for instructions of how
to use these utilities.


TROUBLESHOOTING

1. The installation should copy the executable programs to the same 
   directory as the perl interpreter.  If the ec program is in your 
   $HOME directory, typing simply, "ec" should produce a response like this:

     bash: ec: command not found

   Standard practice on Unix systems is *not* to include the
   current directory in the search path for programs, as a 
   security measure.  So, you need to specify the directory
   explicitly.  Here are two ways to do it:

     # The dot is a synonym for the current directory.
     $ ./ec   
     # A tilde is a synonym for your home directory.  
     $ ~/ec

   Refer to the documentation for the shell (man bash, man csh, man ksh,
   etc.),  or almost any book about Unix.

2. Setting the Location of the Perl Interpreter

  If you try to run ec and get an error message like this:

    bash: ec: No such file or directory

  Then you need to edit the first line of the ec program file to 
  the path to the system's perl interpreter.  Usually this is 
  /usr/bin/perl (the default in the distributed program), or 
  /usr/local/bin/perl.  If neither of these work, try using the 
  output of the command: "which perl".


If the program doesn't work for some reason that isn't covered in the
TROUBLESHOOTING section, please let the author know.  Send bug
reports, suggestions, and other feedback to rkiesling@mainmatter.com.

