The handling of the argument to the -f option is a hack.
Currently, this works:
$ mail -f mbox2
But this does not:
$ mail -fmbox2
Instead of fooling around with argv behind getopt()'s back we can
just treat the remainder of argv[] after option processing as the
file name for -f. It is not possible to use -f in sending mode so
there is no ambiguity.
This doesn't make the no-space usage work but we can make it clear
in the manual that [file] is not actually an argument to -f.
- todd
Index: usr.bin/mail/main.c
===================================================================
--- usr.bin/mail/main.c.orig
+++ usr.bin/mail/main.c
@@ -111,16 +111,10 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
/*
* User is specifying file to "edit" with Mail,
* as opposed to reading system mailbox.
- * If no argument is given after -f, we read his
- * mbox file.
- *
- * getopt() can't handle optional arguments, so here
- * is an ugly hack to get around it.
- */
- if ((argv[optind]) && (argv[optind][0] != '-'))
- ef = argv[optind++];
- else
- ef = "&";
+ * We read his mbox file unless another file
+ * is specified after the arguments.
+ */
+ ef = "&";
break;
case 'n':
/*
@@ -169,17 +163,22 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
/*NOTREACHED*/
}
}
- for (i = optind; (argv[i]) && (*argv[i] != '-'); i++)
- to = cat(to, nalloc(argv[i], GTO));
- for (; argv[i]; i++)
- smopts = cat(smopts, nalloc(argv[i], 0));
+ if (ef != NULL) {
+ /* Check for optional mailbox file name. */
+ if (optind < argc) {
+ ef = argv[optind++];
+ if (optind < argc)
+ errx(1, "Cannot give -f and people to send to");
+ }
+ } else {
+ for (i = optind; argv[i]; i++)
+ to = cat(to, nalloc(argv[i], GTO));
+ }
/*
* Check for inconsistent arguments.
*/
if (to == NULL && (subject != NULL || cc != NULL || bcc != NULL))
errx(1, "You must specify direct recipients with -s, -c, or
-b");
- if (ef != NULL && to != NULL)
- errx(1, "Cannot give -f and people to send to");
/*
* Block SIGINT except where we install an explicit handler for it.
*/
Index: usr.bin/mail/mail.1
===================================================================
--- usr.bin/mail/mail.1.orig
+++ usr.bin/mail/mail.1
@@ -79,13 +79,16 @@ to output all sorts of information usefu
.Nm mail .
.It Fl E
Don't send messages with an empty body.
-.It Fl f Op Ar file
-Read in the contents of your mailbox
-(or the specified
-.Ar file )
-for processing; when you quit,
+.It Fl f
+Use an alternate mailbox.
+Defaults to the user's
+.Ar mbox
+if no
+.Ar file
+is specified.
+When quit,
.Nm mail
-writes undeleted messages back to this
+will write undeleted messages back to this
.Ar file .
.It Fl I
Forces
