Hypermail
Encyclopedia
Hypermail is a free
program for creating email
archives, in the form of cross-referenced HTML
documents. It takes a file in Unix
mbox
format and generates an HTML archive, complete with an index and various sorting options. It is commonly used for creating mailing list archives, but it can archive any collection of emails. It was originally written in Common Lisp
, but was rewritten in C
by Kevin Hughes
for its initial public release in 1994.
The mbox format is used by several email clients on various platforms, including most Unix
and Linux
ones. Popular examples of email clients that use the mbox format (and as such are compatible with Hypermail) include Kmail, pine
and Mozilla Thunderbird
.
Hypermail is operated at the command-line. It was originally intended for use in Unix-like
platforms such as Linux. However, it is also possible to use the program in Microsoft Windows
by compiling it with MinGW
, or by using the Cygwin
library.
Hypermail as a fully native
Windows program by using MinGW. However, certain modifications need to be made to the program's source code. Building Hypermail for Windows using MinGW, by Israel G. Lugo, provides a patch to apply these modifications, as well as step by step instructions on how to accomplish the whole process and some usage examples.
Instructions are also available for creating the executable using Cygwin. Building HYPERMAIL on WIN32 with CYGWIN, by Bob Crispen, guides the user through the steps required, and offers a usage example as well.
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
program for creating email
Email
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
archives, in the form of cross-referenced HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
documents. It takes a file in Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
mbox
Mbox
mbox is a generic term for a family of related file formats used for holding collections of electronic mail messages. All messages in an mbox mailbox are concatenated and stored as plain text in a single file...
format and generates an HTML archive, complete with an index and various sorting options. It is commonly used for creating mailing list archives, but it can archive any collection of emails. It was originally written in Common Lisp
Common Lisp
Common Lisp, commonly abbreviated CL, is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, published in ANSI standard document ANSI INCITS 226-1994 , . From the ANSI Common Lisp standard the Common Lisp HyperSpec has been derived for use with web browsers...
, but was rewritten in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
by Kevin Hughes
Kevin Hughes (www)
Kevin Hughes was one of the pioneers of the World Wide Web in the United States, while a student at Honolulu Community College . He is one of only six inductees in the World Wide Web Hall of Fame announced at the first international conference on the World Wide Web in 1994.He developed the...
for its initial public release in 1994.
The mbox format is used by several email clients on various platforms, including most Unix
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
and Linux
Linux
Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
ones. Popular examples of email clients that use the mbox format (and as such are compatible with Hypermail) include Kmail, pine
Pine (e-mail client)
Pine is a freeware, text-based email client developed at the University of Washington. The first version of this client was written in 1989. Source code was available for only the Unix version under a license written by the University of Washington...
and Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Thunderbird
Mozilla Thunderbird is a free, open source, cross-platform e-mail and news client developed by the Mozilla Foundation. The project strategy is modeled after Mozilla Firefox, a project aimed at creating a web browser...
.
Hypermail is operated at the command-line. It was originally intended for use in Unix-like
Unix-like
A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
platforms such as Linux. However, it is also possible to use the program in Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
by compiling it with MinGW
MinGW
MinGW , formerly mingw32, is a native software port of the GNU Compiler Collection and GNU Binutils for use in the development of native Microsoft Windows applications; MinGW can function either as a cross compiler targeting Windows or as a native toolchain run on Windows itself...
, or by using the Cygwin
Cygwin
Cygwin is a Unix-like environment and command-line interface for Microsoft Windows. Cygwin provides native integration of Windows-based applications, data, and other system resources with applications, software tools, and data of the Unix-like environment...
library.
Building for Windows
It is possible to compileCompiler
A compiler is a computer program that transforms source code written in a programming language into another computer language...
Hypermail as a fully native
Native mode
The term native mode or native code is used in computing in two related senses.*to describe something running on a computer natively or in native mode meaning that it is running without any external support as contrasted to running in emulation....
Windows program by using MinGW. However, certain modifications need to be made to the program's source code. Building Hypermail for Windows using MinGW, by Israel G. Lugo, provides a patch to apply these modifications, as well as step by step instructions on how to accomplish the whole process and some usage examples.
Instructions are also available for creating the executable using Cygwin. Building HYPERMAIL on WIN32 with CYGWIN, by Bob Crispen, guides the user through the steps required, and offers a usage example as well.