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NAME

       package - register package user via mailagent

SYNOPSIS

       package address system version patchlevel [ mailpatches | notifypatches
       ]

DESCRIPTION

       This command is not intended to be run directly  by  a  user,  but  may
       appear  in  any mail whose subject is set to Command. Such mail will be
       processed by the mailagent(1), which will extract all  lines  beginning
       with  @SH,  which  may  specify  this command. The mailagent first sets
       environment variables that will be used by the command.

       Package is used to notify the author of a package about its users.   It
       is  normally  generated automatically by the MailAuthor.U unit when the
       user runs Configure.

       If the patchlevel specified is not  the  latest  for  that  system  and
       version,  mail  is  immediately  sent  suggesting that they upgrade and
       remindng them how to request the latest patches.

       The final parameter, if included may be set to mailpatches  to  specify
       that  the  user  would  like  to have future patches mailed to them, or
       notifypatches to specify that a mail  notification  of  future  patches
       should be sent, rather than the entire patch.

       The user’s address and notification request are saved in the file users
       in the package’s directory.

       Package performs  an  approximate  address  match  in  order  to  avoid
       duplicate entries.  Whenever this elimination occurs, a warning message
       is issued in the logfile.  Two addresses will be said equivalent if one
       of  them  has  an  added  machine  name  or  if  they are really equal.
       Therefore, the following addresses are equivalent:

            ram@acri.fr
            ram@main.acri.fr

       whereas the following two are not equivalent, unfortunately:

            ram@acri.acri.fr
            ram@main.acri.fr

       When a user is asking to be left alone, it is important to let him know
       if  the request failed, because he will be annoyed when the next set of
       patches is issued and he still gets them despite his previous  request.
       Therefore,  if  no  approximate match occurs, a warning message is sent
       back, with a list of  addresses  that  are  close  to  his  own  e-mail
       address,  but  not equivalent. Fortunately, the following addresses are
       considered close:

            ram@acri.fr
            ram@somewhere.com
            raphael@main.acri.fr
            manfredi@acri.acri.fr

       because they either have the same login (important when someone changes
       company) or share the same domain or sub-domain part.

       In order to edit the users file, the edusers script should be used. For
       one thing, it will let you edit the users file  from  whatever  package
       you  name  in the command line, but it will also properly lock the file
       so that the execution of package will stall for  the  duration  of  the
       manual  edition  (provided  you have a strict locking policy defined in
       your ~/.mailagent configuration file).

FORWARDING

       Package supports command forwarding as  described  in  the  mailhelp(1)
       page.

FILES

       ~/.mailagent        configuration file for mailagent.
       System/users        list of users of that system.
                           This  file consists of single line records, one for
                           each registered  user.   Each  record  consists  of
                           three tab-separated fields.

                           The  first  field  indicates  the  level of updates
                           requested  by  the  user  by  a  single  letter  as
                           follows:
                           M      Mail  future  patches  directly  to the user
                                  when they are issued.
                           N      Notify the user of future patches.
                           U      The users chose to let the author know  that
                                  they  have  tried  the program, but does not
                                  wish to know about future updates.
                           L      The user is  no  longer  interested  in  the
                                  program and wants to be left alone.

                           The  second  field  is  their  last  notified patch
                           level, or a dash (-) if it is not known.

                           The third field is the user’s Email address.
       Log/agentlog        mailagent’s log file

AUTHORS

       Graham Stoney <greyham@research.canon.oz.au>
       Raphael Manfredi <Raphael_Manfredi@pobox.com> (minor enhancements)

SEE ALSO

       edusers(1), mailagent(1), metaconfig(1).