Skip to main content

Raymii.org Raymii.org Logo

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
Home | About | All pages | Cluster Status | RSS Feed

Mail on OpenVMS

Published: 01-04-2018 | Author: Remy van Elst | Text only version of this article


❗ This post is over six years old. It may no longer be up to date. Opinions may have changed.

Table of Contents


openvms

(You can read all my OpenVMS articles by clicking the picture above)

Last week I registered myself with the DECUServe OpenVMS system. I found out how to navigate the filesystem and create files and folders, it was awesome.

This week I learned how to use the OpenVMS MAIL program to read and reply to an email I got from George Cornelius, another user on the DECUServe system

Recently I removed all Google Ads from this site due to their invasive tracking, as well as Google Analytics. Please, if you found this content useful, consider a small donation using any of the options below:

I'm developing an open source monitoring app called Leaf Node Monitoring, for windows, linux & android. Go check it out!

Consider sponsoring me on Github. It means the world to me if you show your appreciation and you'll help pay the server costs.

You can also sponsor me by getting a Digital Ocean VPS. With this referral link you'll get $100 credit for 60 days.

MAIL

This blog item was put together using HP Enterprise's online documentation on the MAIL program.

I saw that George had send me an email, after we had a chat using the OpenVMS phone program. See my earlier article on that.

Login to your OpenVMS system and open the MAIL program:

 $ mail

You have 1 new message.

MAIL>

If you have new mail, you can just press ENTER on this prompt to read the first new email:

#1          29-MAR-2018 03:52:33.56                                  NEWMAIL
From:   EISNER::CORNELIUS    "George Cornelius"
To:     EXAMPLE
CC:     CORNELIUS
Subj:   Hello again

Good talking with you, Remy.

[...]

MAIL>

To see an overview of all your messages, enter the DIR command at the MAIL> prompt:

MAIL> DIR
                                                                         NEWMAIL
      # From                 Date         Subject

      1 EISNER::CORNELIUS    29-MAR-2018  Hello again

MAIL>

To open messages, just press ENTER and the first message opens. Keep pressing ENTER to read all messages. When no more messages are available, the following message will be displayed:

MAIL>
%MAIL-E-NOMOREMSG, no more messages

Reply

To reply to a message, when opened, type REPLY at the mail prompt:

To:     EISNER::CORNELIUS
Subj:   RE: Hello again
Enter your message below. Press CTRL/Z when complete, or CTRL/C to quit:

When you're done typing your message, press CTRL+Z to send it:

(CTRL+Z)
Press RETURN to continue reading your mail

MAIL>

Send mail

At the MAIL> prompt, type SEND to start the interactive mail send program:

 $ mail

MAIL> send
To:     USERNAME
Subj:   Test message
Enter your message below. Press CTRL/Z when complete, or CTRL/C to quit:
Hi USERNAME,

This is a test message since I'm now trying to figure out the mail program.

Hope you're doing well.

Cheers,
Remy
(CTRL+Z)  Exit

MAIL>

To send a message to an actual email address, type their full email address at the To: prompt.

From the DECUS system, it will arrive:

A reply will show up in your OpenVMS shell:

 $ 
New mail on node EISNER from IN%"example@example.nl"  "Remy van Elst"

From Google Apps the email looks a bit messed up due to all the headers:

 $ mail

You have 1 new message.

MAIL>
    #1          31-MAR-2018 15:26:54.11                                  NEWMAIL
From:   IN%"rEXAMPLE@rEXAMPLE.nl"  "Remy van Elst"
To:     IN%"EXAMPLE@encompasserve.org"  "Remy Van Elst"
CC:
Subj:   RE: Tesrt message

Return-path: <rEXAMPLE@rEXAMPLE.nl>
Received: from mail-lf0-f47.google.com
 (mail-lf0-f47.google.com [209.85.215.47]) by Encompasserve.org
 (PMDF V6.7-x02 #1529) with ESMTPS id <01QQSJ9Q4TDO000DJW@Encompasserve.org>
 for EXAMPLE@Encompasserve.org (ORCPT EXAMPLE@encompasserve.org); Sat,
 31 Mar 2018 15:26:53 -0400 (EDT)
Received: from mail-lf0-f47.google.com ([209.85.215.47] EXTERNAL)
 (EHLO mail-lf0-f47.google.com) with TLS/SSL by Eisner.Encompasserve.org
 ([10.10.127.2]) (PreciseMail V3.2-7); Sat, 31 Mar 2018 15:26:50 -0400
Received: by mail-lf0-f47.google.com with SMTP id j68-v6so16143869lfg.13 for
 <EXAMPLE@encompasserve.org>; Sat, 31 Mar 2018 12:30:55 -0700 (PDT)
Received: by 10.46.157.81 with HTTP; Sat, 31 Mar 2018 12:30:32 -0700 (PDT)
X-Received: by 10.46.57.19 with SMTP id g19mr2209803lja.127.1522524652887; Sat,
 31 Mar 2018 12:30:52 -0700 (PDT)
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2018 21:30:32 +0200
From: Remy van EXAMPLE <rEXAMPLE@rEXAMPLE.nl>
Subject: Re: Tesrt message
In-reply-to: <01QQSJ64CQ3M000H2O@Encompasserve.org>
To: Remy Van EXAMPLE <EXAMPLE@encompasserve.org>
Message-id: <CABcRdyR2v-N+EbF+CnrMfzaX2CFCudQuFG+sk3VMzR+BqNzu0A@mail.gmail.com>
MIME-version: 1.0
Content-type: multipart/alternative;
 boundary="Boundary_(ID_W2nyE6Xjtg2UAPih5wVTPQ)"
Received-SPF: pass (encompasserve.com: domain of rEXAMPLE.nl designates
 209.85.215.47 as permitted sender) client-ip=209.85.215.47;
 envelope-from=rEXAMPLE@rEXAMPLE.nl;
DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=rEXAMPLE.nl; s=google;
 h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id:subject:to;
 bh=lKIiBr2zPziUkYl8cnUwPmF57r7kWxesulmzMGsLUUA=;
 b=FYO2LAQ2jj3S6UVoXtRu8sewbAwrpvK9uCaYbebiIAh/ApSZcSwgRDD55YG+/yOB0x
 EFlVfd9NcVS20unRKarWTvE9u8af5thRtV8PGLXmBAN2mijOjug2xyZGgfxCDlt8ABkv
 pVgSfCEly6X7W67A9T6cDldOtDVJgGLKgkEE0=
X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net;
 s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date
 :message-id:subject:to; bh=lKIiBr2zPziUkYl8cnUwPmF57r7kWxesulmzMGsLUUA=;
 b=gKx7GBUmPgX2nxF8msbexWn+0597QNc6iq67iDKMlqX3wTtZN0wVvuzHq0BfMQmTlA
 pyerUqZO9tRanWs/dRNaE1xrCapv2hSA/4gr/jo5XEwE/mEE8uBUCtO8rg9BzDyJzfAj
 OhXgTAuNoJsiLwBRbf7g24rKGT5qzTeYHaIFYETq/0g6hky8daqLCVi8qJixfVPtMbpv
 iOCZ6Iu2z0bc71E+SlV6dhjIm9MY36YH7h38gaYrZdxmEbCnepDqiD1GcnNdmR+dFF0E
 Q2giXIrGZ2aFlP+Jj72s3K0fYp0w4V8etD/YkewgiXecku+dI3LJsGfl7FuWGYAo9fUV oxUg==
X-Gm-Message-State: ALQs6tCqL1HNX8KNCoUPAQtVQqfoUs07X0itWRd9gg3IBnWaspdiyKFv
 Nl3RGyEsphnqwiLfdHwcqu48SHf6UBDMRlMQxYIjKSbH
X-Google-Smtp-Source:
 AIpwx4/DgnBB/lKiJUnzPegbcIFwywyYiss3nh7Ns7gTKOCvq5K5DWA+2PItMJ3L1vVOv5kZGZix26/WdPWpjOoRBNk=
X-PMAS-External: mail-lf0-f47.google.com [209.85.215.47] (EHLO
 mail-lf0-f47.google.com)
X-PMAS-REPUTATION_URI_NONSPAM: URI reputation check (0.000)
X-PMAS-VMF-OK: Envelope FROM: check: Source accepts mail for address (0.000)
X-PMAS-HDR-REFERENCES: Has a valid-looking References header (0.000)
X-PMAS-HDR-IN_REP_TO: Has a In-Reply-To header (0.000)
X-PMAS-BDY-MAILTO_LINK: Includes a URL link to send an email (0.100)

Press RETURN for more...

    #1          31-MAR-2018 15:26:54.11                                  NEWMAIL
X-PMAS-META-FROM_IS_TO2: Same From: and To: personal names,
 but not addresses (4.000)
X-PMAS-Spam-Level: ****
References: <01QQSJ64CQ3M000H2O@Encompasserve.org>
Original-recipient: rfc822;EXAMPLE@encompasserve.org
X-PMAS-Software: PreciseMail V3.2-7 [180329] (Eisner.Encompasserve.org)
X-PMAS-Final-Score: 4.100


--Boundary_(ID_W2nyE6Xjtg2UAPih5wVTPQ)
Content-type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT

Test message arrived.

Hugs and kisses back!



https://raymii.org

On Sat, Mar 31, 2018 at 9:24 PM, Remy Van Elst <EXAMPLE@encompasserve.org>
wrote:

> Hugs and kisses from  a test message
>
> Remy
>

--Boundary_(ID_W2nyE6Xjtg2UAPih5wVTPQ)
Content-type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

--Boundary_(ID_W2nyE6Xjtg2UAPih5wVTPQ)--

Conclusion

Yay! Another OpenVMS facility I found out and used. I love this system, since 1977 it is rocking and still going strong!

Tags: alpha , blog , dec , decus , itanium , openvms , pdp , simh , vax , vms