In Unix, what is metamail and how do I use it?
In Unix, metamail is a utility for integrating
MIME into electronic mail programs like MH and
Berkeley mail. When a mail program encounters a non-text message that
it cannot itself handle, it calls metamail to decode and,
if possible, display it. When invoked, metamail decodes
the quoted-printable or Base64 attachment, and
then consults a mailcap file to determine how to open it.
If there is no mailcap entry for the attachment type,
metamail usually saves it to a file. Otherwise, it
passes the attachment to an interpreter program. For example, it may
open an image viewer to display an attached GIF file.
Note: To properly open most multimedia attachments, such as image and sound files, you'll need to be using the X Window System.
Some computers will have a systemwide mailcap file
located in an administrative directory such as /etc/ or
/usr/local/etc/ . You can also create your own and
keep it in the home directory of your account. For information about
how to create one, read the mailcap man page. For more
information about the metamail program itself, consult
the manual page for metamail.
If you want to install metamail on your system, you can
get it from:
At Indiana University, for personal or departmental Linux or Unix systems support, see At IU, how do I get support for Linux or Unix?
Last modified on December 02, 2009.
