faxmail takes an electronic mail message on standard input
and converts it to (Ps(rg in a form that is suitable
for transmission as a facsimile.
The converted document is either written to the standard
output or, if direct delivery is enabled,
it is submitted directly to a (Fx server for transmission.
faxmail is designed for use in constructing electronic mail to facsimile
gateway services.
For example, mail aliases may be created to automatically
transmit electronic mail; e.g.
sam: "|/usr/bin/faxmail -d sam@5551212"
or faxmail may be used as a ``mail transport agent'', extracting the necessary
delivery information directly from the envelope of the mail message.
If faxmail is invoked without enabling direct delivery then it
just formats the mail message on the standard input and
writes the result to the standard output.
To enable direct delivery the -d option must be specified on the command line; see below
for more information.
FORMATTING
faxmail formats a mail message according to the following rules:
First it parses the envelope information interpreting any
meta-header information (see below) that is present.
Once the entire envelope has been collected it emits a
formatted set of header lines.
By default all header information except the
``From'', ``To'', ``Cc'', ``Subject'', and ``Date''
lines are discarded.
Header lines that are kept have the tag (the string to the left of the ``:'')
set in a bold font and the value (the string to the right of the ``:'')
set in an italic font.
Mail messages that conform to the Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions (MIME) specification are parsed
and handled according to the rules given below.
Plain text body parts of a mail message are formatted in a text font with any long lines wrapped at
word boundaries unless the -c option has been specified.
By default, faxmail sets all text in 10 point type on an 8.5" by 11" portrait-oriented page
with .35" top margin, .25" bottom margin and .25" left and right
hand margins.
There are command-line options to control the point size,
page dimensions, orientation, and multi-column formatting.
Text formatting can also be controlled through meta-header
directives placed in the envelope of the mail message.
ENVELOPE PROCESSING
faxmail pre-processes the envelope information (i.e. the header lines) before
formatting the message contents.
Header lines whose names begin with ``X-FAX-'' (case-insensitive) are
handled specially-they are treated as command directives that specify
how to generate the resultant (Ps or, optionally, how to deliver
the resulting document as facsimile.
The set of known meta-headers corresponds to the set of configuration
parameters defined below.
A meta-header is specified as ``X-FAX-parameter'' where parameter is the name of a configuration parameter; e.g.
``X-FAX-TabStop'' to set the number of spaces between tab stops.
Controls for specifying headers to be passed through
in the formatted text identify not only which headers but also the
order in which the headers should be emitted. faxmail initializes the set of headers to retain to: ``To From Subject Cc Date''.
If this order is acceptable then additional headers can simply
be added with the
X-FAX-Headers directive; e.g. ``X-FAX-Headers: Message-id''.
If however a different order is desired then the header
set should be cleared with a ``clear'' header tag
and then completely specified in the desired order; for example,
X-FAX-Headers: clear Message-id Date To Subject From Cc
will cause headers to be emitted in the order
``Message-Id Date To Subject From Cc'' (depending on what headers
are present).
Note in particular that all header lines in the envelope can
be suppressed by specifying ``X-FAX-Headers: clear''; this is
useful, for example, when the body of the mail message contains
a preformatted document that is to be transmitted.
In addition to the above controls,
faxmail can also be instructed to substitute an arbitrary string for a header
tag when generating the final envelope.
This facility can be used to better format ad-hoc header information
that is passed through the envelope of the message.
The ``X-FAX-MapHeader'' meta-header specifies how to map a header line.
For example,
X-FAX-MapHeader: x_FAX_For Deliver FAX To
would cause any header ``x_FAX_For'' that appeared in the envelope
to be replaced in the formatted envelope by ``Deliver FAX To''.
MIME PROCESSING
faxmail parses
MIME mail messages and does some rudimentary work to:
strip out unprintable content such as audio, video, or binary data,
decode encoded parts,
insert ``digest dividers'' between multipart/digest subparts,
format message/rfc822 parts as described above for the top-level envelope, and
optionally convert graphical parts (e.g. images) for display.
MIME processing is fairly simple and (currently) somewhat constrained.
faxmail has builtin support for the following MIME parts:
text/plain, multipart/mixed, multipart/digest, message/rfc822,
application/postscript, and application/x-faxmail-prolog.
Parts can also be processed through external processing scripts that
faxmail looks for in a ``MIME converters'' directory hierarchy.
External scripts may override builtin processing or supplement
the builtin support.
For each
MIME body part with type
T and subtype
S faxmail checks first for an executable script named T/S in the
converter hierarchy.
If a script exists then it is run and the result is appended to
the output PostScript document.
Otherwise if the part has builtin support then it is processed
directly.
Any part that does not have external or builtin support is discarded
and replaced by a message that indicates the part was removed.
This discarded message can be suppressed with the
MarkDiscarded configuration parameter (also settable with an X-FAX-MarkDiscarded
line in the envelope).
The builtin handling support is as follows:
text/plain parts are formatted using the default text font
and point size;
multipart/mixed are ``burst'' and interpreted per the specification
but are otherwise unformatted;
multipart/digest are burst and an optional ``digest divider'' marking
may be inserted before each subpart;
message/rfc822 are formatted as described above with envelope header
lines culled and formatted with bold and italic fonts
(in addition, if there is insufficient space in the current output page/column
for the message envelope, optional divider, and one line of text, then
faxmail will insert a ``break'' so the the message starts at the top of the next
page/column);
application/postscript are copied through untouched to the output;
application/x-faxmail-prolog are copied through untouched to the
end of the prologue section of the generated PostScript document
to permit customization of the formatted output.
faxmail supports the following Content-Transfer-Encoding schemes:
7bit, 8bit, binary, base64, quoted-printable, and x-uuencode.
Any character set that is not us-ascii is treated as iso-8859-1.
In general it is recommended that senders either permit
faxmail to format message contents or completely bypass the formatting
facilities and submit data that is to be processed by
sendfax . Trying to combine the two facilities by, for example, combining PostScript
with text that is to be formatted is unlikely to work well because
faxmail does not track the amount of space on the page that a non-text
MIME part uses.
DIRECT DELIVERY
When
faxmail is invoked with the
-d option it delivers the formatted document directly to a (Fx
server for transmission as facsimile.
Command line arguments may be supplied to specify the
delivery destination and sender identity; typically from
information extracted by the mail transport facility.
A command line
destination is specified with the same syntax as
the argument for the
-d option to the
sendfax(1) command.
Similarly any
from identity specified on the command line follows the same rules
as the
-f option to
sendfax . An explicit dialstring to use in delivery can also be specified with an
X-FAX-Dialstring header in the mail message envelope.
If no sender identity is provided on the command line then
faxmail will extract it from the ``From'' line in the envelope.
faxmail will not submit a message for delivery if either the dialstring
or sender identity is missing or null.
When direct delivery is enabled X-FAX- header lines may be
included in the mail message envelope to control the submission
and delivery process.
As above these lines are specified as ``X-FAX-parameter'' where
parameter is the name of a configuration parameter for the
sendfax program; e.g.
``X-FAX-VRes'' to set the vertical resolution of the transmitted facsimile.
By default automatic cover page generation is enabled when direct
delivery is used; this can be overridden with the
-n option on the command line or by including an
X-FAX-AutoCoverPage header in the message envelope.
OPTIONS
-1
Set text in one column (default).
-2
Set text two columns.
-b font
Make
font , a (Ps font name,
the ``bold font'' used to set header lines.
The default bold font is Helvetica-Bold.
-c
Clip long text lines instead of wrapping them at page margins.
-d
Enable direct delivery of facsimile; the formatted document
will be submitted directly to a (Fx server for transmission
as facsimile.
This option is similar to piping the output of
faxmail to the input of
sendfax (8C) except when direct delivery is enabled
faxmail interprets ``x-fax-'' header lines in the envelope of the mail message to
look for control information to use in delivering the facsimile and,
by default, no automatic cover page generation is done.
-f font
Make
font , a (Ps font name,
the text font used to set the body of mail messages.
The default text font is Courier.
-H height
Use
height as the height, in inches, of the output page.
The default page height is taken from the default page size.
-i font
Make
font , a (Ps font name,
the ``italic font'' used to set header lines.
The default italic font is Helvetica-Oblique.
-M \fBl=\fP#,\fBr=\fP#,\fBt=\fP#,\fBb=\fP#
Set the page margins; the default margins are:
left and right .25 inch, top .35 inch, bottom .25 inch.
-n
Suppress auto cover page generation when doing direct delivery.
-p size
Set all text using
size for the font point size.
-r
Set pages rotated by 90 degrees (in ``Landscape mode'').
-R
Set pages unrotated (in ``Portrait mode'').
-s size
Set the page size to use.
Cover pages are normally generated using
a system-default page size
(usually letter-size pages, 8.5" by 11", for sites in North America).
Alternate page sizes are specified symbolically using either
the name or abbreviation of an entry in the
pagesizes (5F) database; e.g.
a3 (ISO A3),
a4 (ISO A4),
a5 (ISO A5),
a6 (ISO A6),
b4 (ISO B4),
na-let (North American Letter),
us-leg (American Legal),
us-led (American Ledger),
us-exe (American Executive),
jp-let (Japanese Letter),
and
jp-leg (Japanese Legal).
Comparisons are case-insensitive and any match of a
substring of the full page-size name is sufficient; e.g. ``legal'' would
match ``American Legal''.
-u user
Set the user name to use when logging in to do direct delivery.
By default the user is specified by the
MailUser configuration parameter (see below).
If a null user name is specified, then
the facsimile will be submitted using the identity of the user that invoked
faxmail .
-v
Enable tracing of envelope,
MIME, and
job submission processing.
Diagnostic information is written to the standard error (envelope
and MIME processing) and standard output (job submission).
-W width
Use
width as the width, in inches, of the output page.
The default page width is taken from the default page size.
CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS
faxmail reads configuration information from the files
/usr/share/fax/hyla.conf , and
~/.hylarc ; in that order.
Configuration files follow the conventions described in
hylafax-client (1). The following configuration parameters are recognized:
Tag Type Default Description
AutoCoverPage boolean Yes automatically generate cover page
BoldFont string Helvetica-Bold font for setting header tags
Columns integer 1 number of columns in formatted output
DigestDivider string - multipart/digest divider (Ps command
FontPath string see below directory for font metric files
GaudyHeaders boolean No enable/disable gaudy page headers
Headers string see below headers to retain in envelope
ISO8859 boolean Yes use ISO 8859-1 character encoding
ItalicFont string Helvetica-Oblique font for setting header values
LineWrap boolean Yes wrap/truncate text lines
MailUser string - user identity for doing direct delivery
MarkDiscarded boolean Yes mark discarded MIME body parts
MapHeader string - define header mapping
MIMEConverters string see below pathname of MIME converter scripts
Orientation string portrait orientation of text on page
OutlineMargin inches 0 width of outline line
PageCollation string forward collate pages in forward or reverse direction
PageHeaders boolean Yes enable/disable page headers
PageHeight float - output page height
PageMargins string see below margins for formatted page
PageSize string default output page size from database
PageWidth float - output page width
Prologfile string see below pathname of (Ps prologue file
TabStop integer 8 inter-stop setting in characters
TextFont string Courier name of font for setting text
TextLineHeight inches - text formatting line height control
TextPointSize inches see below size to use in setting text
Verbose boolean No trace envelope and MIME processing
Values marked as inches are specified using a syntax that
identifies one of several possible units:
#.##bp big point (1in = 72bp)
#.##cc cicero (1cc = 12dd)
#.##cm centimeter
#.##dd didot point (1157dd = 1238pt)
#.##in inch
#.##mm millimeter (10mm = 1cm)
#.##pc pica (1pc = 12pt)
#.##pt point (72.27pt = 1in)
#.##sp scaled point (65536sp = 1pt)
Unit names can be upper or lower case but no white space
is permitted between the number and the unit.
Values specified with no unit are interpreted as points.
The configuration parameters are explained below.
Most parameters correspond to a command line option.
Parameter values identified above as inches are converted according to the conventions described above.
AutoCoverPage
Control whether or not a cover page is automatically generated
for each job.
BoldFont
The name of the font to use to set header tags (i.e. the
string to the left of the ``:'').
Columns
The number of columns to set text in.
(Equivalent to the -m option.)
DigestDivider
The string to emit in the output before each subpart of a
multipart/digest mail message.
This string is typically a (Ps procedure that draws a
mark of some sort.
Dividers are expected to use no more vertical space on the
output page than a line of text.
FontPath
The path where Adobe Font Metric (AFM) files are
located; by default /usr/share/ghostscript/7.07/lib:/usr/share/ghostscript/fonts:/usr/share/fonts/default/ghostscript:/usr/share/fonts/default/Type1:/usr/share/ghostscript/fonts:/usr/share/ghostscript/Resource:/usr/share/ghostscript/CIDFont:/usr/share/fonts/ttf:/usr/share/fonts/type1.
GaudyHeaders
Control whether or not to use a gaudy-style page header.
Enabling gaudy headers implicitly enables page headers.
Headers
Define the headers retained from the envelope and specify the order
that they should be emitted in the formatted output.
The set of headers is initialized to ``To From Subject Cc Date''.
Headers specified are appended to this list except for
a ``clear'' header that causes the current set of headers to be discarded.
ISO8859
Control the use of "ISO 8859-1" encoding in the generated (Ps
ItalicFont
The name of the font to use to set header values (i.e. the
string to the right of the ``:'').
LineWrap
Control whether long text lines are wrapper or truncated at the
right hand margin.
(Equivalent to the -c option.)
MailUser
The account name to use to login to a fax server when doing direct delivery.
Note that this account name is not used for the identity of the sender;
this comes from the command line or the ``From'' line in the mail message.
If a null account name is specified, then
the facsimile will be submitted using the identity of the user that invoked faxmail .
MapHeader
Define a substitution for the specified header that should be done
each time the header is emitted in the formatted envelope.
Header tags are matched in a case-insensitive manner.
MarkDiscarded
Control whether discarded MIME parts are replaced by a text message indicating the original
content was removed.
MIMEConverters
The pathname of a directory hierarchy that has scripts for
external processing of MIME body parts.
The default pathname is /usr/sbin/faxmail.
Orientation
Control whether pages are oriented horizontally (``landscape'')
or vertically (``portrait'').
(Equivalent to the -r and -R options.)
OutlineMargin
Control whether columns of text have a line drawn around them and
the width of the line.
Setting this parameter to 0 disables outlines.
PageCollation
Control whether the output file has pages collated in the same
order as the input file (``forward'') or in reverse order (``reverse).
PageHeaders
Control whether page headers are generated.
PageHeight
Set the output page height (in inches).
PageMargins
Set the output page margins.
Margins are specified as string of the form:
``l=#,r=#,t=#,b=#''
where l indicates the left margin, r indicates the right margin, t indicates the top margin, b indicates the bottom margin, and
numbers are interpreted as inches . (Equvalent to the -M option.)
PageSize
Set the output page dimensions by name.
(Equivalent to the -s option.)
PageWidth
Set the output page width (in inches).
PrologFile
The pathname of a file containing (Ps that should be included
in the prologue section of the generated (Ps.
The default prologue file is /usr/share/fax/faxmail.ps.
TabStop
Set the tab stop distance (in characters).
TextFont
Set the name of font to use for setting text.
(Equivalent to the -f option.)
TextLineHeight
Set the vertical text line height and spacing.
TextPointSize
Set the point size to use in setting plain text.
(Equvalent to the -p option.)
Verbose
Control tracing envelope and MIME processing.
NOTES
Because a sender's identity in an electronic mail message is inherently
untrustworthy, using faxmail to build a mail to fax gateway is problematic.
Unless mail service is
somehow restricted or the sender's identity is verified using a mechanism
such as RFC 1847's multipart/signed MIME type
there is no reliable way to restrict access to facilities
setup with faxmail .
BUGS
Only the last instance of a header is kept and written to the output.
This means, for example, that only the last of many ``Received'' lines
will be included in the formatted output.
FILES
~/.hylarc per-user configuration file
/usr/share/fax/pagesizes page size database
/usr/share/fax/faxmail.ps (Ps prologue
/usr/share/fax/hyla.conf system-wide configuration file
/usr/share/fax/faxmail.conf system-wide configuration file
/usr/share/fax/sendfax.conf system-wide configuration file for direct delivery
/usr/sbin/faxmail hierarchy for external MIME converters
/usr/share/ghostscript/7.07/lib:/usr/share/ghostscript/fonts:/usr/share/fonts/default/ghostscript:/usr/share/fonts/default/Type1:/usr/share/ghostscript/fonts:/usr/share/ghostscript/Resource:/usr/share/ghostscript/CIDFont:/usr/share/fonts/ttf:/usr/share/fonts/type1 for font metrics
/var/spool/fax/tmp/faxmailXXXXXX temporary files
