alpine(1) General Commands Manual alpine(1)
NAME
alpine - an Alternatively Licensed Program for Internet News and Email
SYNTAX
alpine [ options ] [ address , address ]
alpinef [ options ] [ address , address ]
DESCRIPTION
Alpine is a screen-oriented message-handling tool. In its default configuration, Alpine offers an in‐
tentionally limited set of functions geared toward the novice user, but it also has a large list of op‐
tional "power-user" and personal-preference features. alpinef is a variant of Alpine that uses func‐
tion keys rather than mnemonic single-letter commands. Alpine's basic feature set includes:
View, Save, Export, Delete, Print, Reply and Forward messages.
Compose messages in a simple editor (Pico) with word-wrap and a spelling checker. Messages may
be postponed for later completion.
Full-screen selection and management of message folders.
Address book to keep a list of long or frequently-used addresses. Personal distribution lists
may be defined. Addresses may be taken into the address book from incoming mail without retyp‐
ing them.
New mail checking and notification occurs automatically every 2.5 minutes and after certain com‐
mands, e.g. refresh-screen (Ctrl-L).
On-line, context-sensitive help screens.
Alpine supports MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions), an Internet Standard for representing
multipart and multimedia data in email. Alpine allows you to save MIME objects to files, and in some
cases, can also initiate the correct program for viewing the object. It uses the system's mailcap con‐
figuration file to determine what program can process a particular MIME object type. Alpine's message
composer does not have integral multimedia capability, but any type of data file --including multime‐
dia-- can be attached to a text message and sent using MIME's encoding rules. This allows any group of
individuals with MIME-capable mail software (e.g. Alpine, PC-Alpine, or many other programs) to ex‐
change formatted documents, spread-sheets, image files, etc, via Internet email.
Alpine uses the c-client messaging API to access local and remote mail folders. This library provides a
variety of low-level message-handling functions, including drivers for a variety of different mail file
formats, as well as routines to access remote mail and news servers, using IMAP (Internet Message Ac‐
cess Protocol) and NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol). Outgoing mail is usually posted directly
via SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).
OPTIONS
The command line options/arguments are:
address Send mail to address. This will cause Alpine to go directly into the message com‐
poser.
-attach file Send mail with the listed file as an attachment.
-attachlist file-list
Send mail with the listed file-list as an attachments.
-attach_and_delete file
Send mail with the listed file as an attachment, and remove the file after the mes‐
sage is sent.
-aux local_directory
PC-Alpine only. When using a remote configuration (-p <remote_config>) this tells
PC-Alpine the local directory to use for storing auxiliary files, like debug files,
address books, and signature files.
-bail Exit if the pinerc file does not exist. This might be useful if the config file is
accessed using some remote filesystem protocol. If the remote mount is missing this
will cause Alpine to quit instead of creating a new pinerc.
-c context-number context-number is the number corresponding to the folder-collection to which the -f
command line argument should be applied. By default the -f argument is applied to
the first defined folder-collection.
-conf Produce a sample/fresh copy of the system-wide configuration file, pine.conf, on
the standard output. This is distinct from the per-user .pinerc file.
-convert_sigs -p pinerc
Convert signature files into literal signatures.
-copy_abook <local_abook> <remote_abook>
Copy the local address book file to a remote address book folder.
-copy_pinerc <local_pinerc> <remote_pinerc>
Copy the local pinerc file to a remote pinerc folder.
-d debug-level Output diagnostic info at debug-level (0-9) to the current .pine-debug[1-4] file.
A value of 0 turns debugging off and suppresses the .pine-debug file.
-d key[=val] Fine tuned output of diagnostic messages where "flush" causes debug file writing
without buffering, "timestamp" appends each message with a timestamp, "imap=n"
where n is between 0 and 4 representing none to verbose IMAP telemetry reporting,
"numfiles=n" where n is between 0 and 31 corresponding to the number of debug files
to maintain, and "verbose=n" where n is between 0 and 9 indicating an inverse
threshold for message output.
-f folder Open folder (in first defined folder collection, use -c n to specify another col‐
lection) instead of INBOX.
-F file Open named text file and view with Alpine's browser.
-h Help: list valid command-line options.
-i Start up in the FOLDER INDEX screen.
-I keystrokes Initial (comma separated list of) keystrokes which Alpine should execute on
startup.
-install For PC-Alpine only, this option causes PC-Alpine to prompt for some basic setup in‐
formation, then exits.
-k Use function keys for commands. This is the same as running the command alpinef.
-n number Start up with current message-number set to number.
-nowrite_password_cache
Read from a password cache if there is one, but never offer to write a password to
the cache
-o Open first folder read-only.
-p config-file Use config-file as the personal configuration file instead of the default .pinerc.
-P config-file Use config-file as the configuration file instead of default system-wide configura‐
tion file pine.conf.
-passfile <fully-qualified-path>
When password file support is compiled in, use the file specified in <fully-quali‐
fied-path> instead of the default.
-pinerc file Output fresh pinerc configuration to file, preserving the settings of variables
that the user has made. Use file set to ``-'' to make output go to standard out.
-pwdcertdir <fully-qualified-path>
When SMIME and password file support are compiled in, this variable sets the direc‐
tory to store your personal key and certificate to encrypt and decrypt your pass‐
word file.
-r Use restricted/demo mode. Alpine will only send mail to itself and functions like
save and export are restricted.
-registry cmd For PC-Alpine only, this option affects the values of Alpine's registry entries.
Possible values for cmd are set, clear, and dump. Set will always reset Alpine's
registry entries according to its current settings. Clear will clear the registry
values. Clearsilent will silently clear the registry values. Dump will display
the values of current registry settings. Note that the dump command is currently
disabled. Without the -registry option, PC-Alpine will write values into the reg‐
istry only if there currently aren't any values set.
-smimedir <fully-qualified-path>
If SMIME is compiled in, this argument sets the directory where the public, pri‐
vate, and certificate authorities certificates and keys are stored. If not set by
the command line the default is ~/.alpine-smime
-sort order Sort the FOLDER INDEX display in one of the following orders: arrival, date, sub‐
ject, orderedsubj, thread, from, size, score, to, cc, or reverse. Arrival order is
the default. The OrderedSubj choice simulates a threaded sort. Any sort may be
reversed by adding /reverse to it. Reverse by itself is the same as arrival/re‐
verse.
-supported Some options may or may not be supported depending on how Alpine was compiled.
This is a way to determine which options are supported in the particular copy of
Alpine you are using.
-uninstall For PC-Alpine only, this option causes PC-Alpine to remove references to Alpine in
Windows settings.
-url url Open the given url. Cannot be used with -f or -F options.
-v Version: Print version information.
-version Version: Print version information.
-x config Use configuration exceptions in config. Exceptions are used to override your de‐
fault pinerc settings for a particular platform, can be a local file or a remote
folder.
-xoauth2-server ServerName
Name of the service that XOAUTH2 authentication will be attempted. The only ser‐
vice supported as of this writing is Gmail. Note that all of the options
-xoauth2-server, -xoauth2-client-id and -xoauth2-client-secret must be used simul‐
taneously. Example: -xoauth2-server Gmail.
-xoauth2-client-id Client-Id
String that identifies Alpine with the service provider that provides XOAUTH2 au‐
thentication. Note that all of the options -xoauth2-server, -xoauth2-client-id and
-xoauth2-client-secret must be used simultaneously.
-xoauth2-client-secret Client-Secret
Secret string that identifies the Alpine with the service provider that provides
XOAUTH2 authentication. Note that all of the options -xoauth2-server,
-xoauth2-client-id and -xoauth2-client-secret must be used simultaneously.
-z Enable ^Z and SIGTSTP so alpine may be suspended.
-option=value Assign value to the config option option e.g. -signature-file=sig1 or -feature-
list=signature-at-bottom (Note: feature-list values are additive)
CONFIGURATION
There are several levels of Alpine configuration. Configuration values at a given level over-ride cor‐
responding values at lower levels. In order of increasing precedence:
o built-in defaults.
o system-wide pine.conf file.
o personal .pinerc file (may be set via built-in Setup/Config menu.)
o command-line options.
o system-wide pine.conf.fixed file.
There is one exception to the rule that configuration values are replaced by the value of the same op‐
tion in a higher-precedence file: the feature-list variable has values that are additive, but can be
negated by prepending "no-" in front of an individual feature name. Unix Alpine also uses the following
environment variables:
TERM
DISPLAY (determines if Alpine can display IMAGE attachments.)
SHELL (if not set, default is /bin/sh )
MAILCAPS (semicolon delimited list of path names to mailcap files)
FILES
/var/spool/mail/xxxx Default folder for incoming mail.
~/mail Default directory for mail folders.
~/.addressbook Default address book file.
~/.signature File used for signature, appended to every message.
~/.pine-debug[1-4] Diagnostic log for debugging.
~/.pinerc Personal alpine config file.
~/.pine-crash Debug information useful to debug a crash.
~/.newsrc News subscription/state file.
~/.mailcap Personal mail capabilities file.
~/.mime.types Personal file extension to MIME type mapping
/etc/mailcap System-wide mail capabilities file.
/etc/mime.types System-wide file ext. to MIME type mapping
/etc/pine.info Local pointer to system administrator.
/etc/pine.conf System-wide configuration file.
/etc/pine.conf.fixed Non-overridable configuration file.
~/.alpine-smime/ca Directory that contains Certificate Authority files.
~/.alpine-smime/private Directory that contains private key(s).
~/.alpine-smime/public Directory that contains public key(s).
/tmp/.\usr\spool\mail\xxxx Per-folder mailbox lock files.
~/.pine-interrupted-mail Message which was interrupted.
~/mail/postponed-msgs For postponed messages (drafts)
~/mail/sent-mail Outgoing message archive (FCC).
~/mail/saved-messages Default destination for Saving messages.
SEE ALSO
pico(1), binmail(1), aliases(5), mailaddr(7), sendmail(8), spell(1), imapd(8)
Newsgroup: comp.mail.pine
Mailing List:
Alpine-info, at https://www.washington.edu/alpine/alpine-info/
Main Alpine distribution site:
http://repo.or.cz/alpine.git
Alpine Technical Notes, included in the source distribution.
C-Client messaging API library, included in the source distribution.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This software is the result of the contribution of many individuals
who have dedicated their time to support, improve and suggest ways
to improve Alpine through the years. This software would not be
possible without the support of the University of Washington in
Seattle, Washington. The Alpine community extends its most sincere
thanks to all contributors and invites everyone to join in and
contribute to this project.
Version 2.25 alpine(1)