   TkMail is an X windows interface to the unix Mail command built
   using Tk/Tcl.  Reading, sending, and managing mail messages can
   almost all be done using only the mouse (except for the body of the
   message, of course).  TkMail depends on the unix 'Mail' and
   'sendmail' commands to do the real network mail work. It puts the X
   window interface on top and adds some additional features.

   Major Features:
	- listbox interface to messages for easy click and read
	- viewed messages are editable inside viewing widget so
	  one can add or delete text for printing or piping X selections
	- dynamic (at startup) menus for quick access to mail folders
	  for reading, copying, and moving messages
	- button bar for quick composing, replying to, and forwarding of
	  mail messages
	- built in 'biff' icon for notification of new mail
	- easy inclusion of files into message compositions with
	  automatic uuencoding and compression, if desired
	- access alternate editor for compositions to send
	- spell check compositions using a X windows interface
	  (must have the ispell program version 3.0.09, not 4.0!)
	- reads aliases from either standard .mailrc or elm aliases.txt
	- easy piping of message text through unix filters
	- emacs-like key-bindings for text editing

   Unfortunately, the Mail program is not standard across all
   platforms or even versions of operatings systems, so don't trust
   TkMail without testing!  Make a backup copy of your ~/mbox file and
   some of your folders and then test out the features on those files.

   Please see the help.txt file for more details on usage and
   customization.  Personally, I find the default colors of the Tk
   text widget rather hard on the eyes, so I suggest you at least read
   about customizing the color.

IMPORTANT TO TK3.6 USERS!

   You will find in the contrib directory two files: tk.patch and
   tk.patch2.  If you have not applied tk3.6p1.patch.Z available at
   harbor.ecn.purdue.edu:/pub/tcl/sprite-mirror or the first of patch
   files on contrib to your wish, TkMail will coredump.  The file
   tk.patch2 fixes a minor problem that some users had with "illegal
   unit" messages and should not be stricty necessary if you have
   already patched the raw tk3.6 distribution.

INSTALLATION:

   I have run TkMail on a SUN, IBM RS/6000, SGI, and Linux systems.

   (1)  Edit the Makefile to set the defines to match your site

   (2)  Make sure you have no new mail in your system inbox and
	at least one mail message in your ~/mbox. For safety sake
	make a backup copy of your ~/mbox.

   (3)  Type 'make tests'.  This runs a wish script in the test
	directory which will run tests to see if TkMail can work with
	the settings you defined in the Makefile. Follow the
	instruction you are given. You will be prompted with
	appropriate info before anything destructive is done, so if
	you happen to receive new mail during the test, it will not be
	lost. If the test succeed, then TkMail will probably work with
	your system. If they failed, please mail me the output
        of the tests along with your Makefile settings and
        machine type and operating system.

   (4)  Type 'make' to build the tkmail script executable. 

   (5)  Type 'make install'.

   (6)  Look at the SETTINGS section in the help.txt file for
	descriptions of setting you might want to put into your
	~/.tkmail file (~/.tk/tkmail is also supported). An
	example ~/.tkmail is included in example.tkmail.

   (7)  Some editing of your .mailrc file might be required. See the
	HEADER FIELD STRIPPING section at the top of the tkmail file
	for more info. TkMail always sets the 'append' mode. If you
	prefer a reverse time listing, use the mf(headlist-reverse)
	setting.  The following TkMail variables sometimes have
	similar Mailrc counterparts which should not conflict. Since
	different mailers have different Mailrc variable names for
	these, I can't as yet just grab them from the .mailrc file.

		mf(mail-directory)
		mf(mail-record)
		mf(mail-mbox)
		mf(insert-prefix)
		mf(compose-alternates)
	
   (8)  If you are updating from a version of TkMail previous to
	version 1.6, you will need to modify your ~/.tkmail file
	to use the new variable name scheme. I have included a
	sed script called newvar.sed to quickly do this. Type
		sed -f newvar.sed ~/.tkmail > tkmail.new
        then copy tkmail.new into ~/.tkmail.

	Also look at the first four items of Whats New in 
	the NEWS file.

   Now you are ready to run!

A WORD OF CAUTION:

   The way alot of people use TkMail (including me) is have TkMail
   always running, most of the time as an icon to signal new mail.
   When I log off, I don't bother to quit TkMail (or any of the other
   X applications running) explicitly.  Unfortunately, as far as I
   know, Tk does not give me anyway of catching a quit to the window
   manager.  Therefore, pending deletes and marking of messages as
   read may not be done. On some badly designed systems, it might be
   possible to lose new incorporated mail. You should test this by
   sending yourself a test mail message, running TkMail from a shell
   (not in the background), incorporating the mail, and then killing
   TkMail abruptly (type ^C in the shell).  Rerun TkMail and see if
   the test message is still there.  Please email me if you find this
   behavior on your system.

INFORMATIONAL MAILINGS:

   If you would like me to send you email about new TkMail releases,
   patches, and future directions, please send an email message to 
   raines@bohr.physics.upenn.edu saying so. Suggestions, bug reports,
   and critiques are always welcome.

   The latest version of TkMail is always available by anonymous ftp at
        bohr.physics.upenn.edu:pub/tk/tkmail.tk.Z


FUTURE RELEASE INFORMATION:

   Release 1.6 of TkMail will be the last major release of TkMail for
   at least a month. The next release will be 2.0 and will contain
   several new features.  My plans are to give up fighting all the
   different versions of the Mail command and write my own C program
   or figure out how to use something more standard, like awk, to do
   the Mail-like work.  This will also let me do several things that I
   can't do with the normal BSD Mail program.  Other major additions
   planned include MIME and PGP.  I will still be releasing bug fix
   patches for 1.6 when they are needed.

Paul Raines
Feb 3, 1994

