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1 \section{Standard Module \sectcode{mailcap}}
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2 \stmodindex{mailcap}
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3 \renewcommand{\indexsubitem}{(in module mailcap)}
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4
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5 Mailcap files are used to configure how MIME-aware applications such
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6 as mail readers and Web browsers react to files with different MIME
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7 types. (The name ``mailcap'' is derived from the phrase ``mail
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8 capability''.) For example, a mailcap file might contain a line like
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9 \verb\video/mpeg; xmpeg %s\. Then, if the user encounters an email
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10 message or Web document with the MIME type video/mpeg, \verb\%s\ will be
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11 replaced by a filename (usually one belonging to a temporary file) and
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12 the xmpeg program can be automatically started to view the file.
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13
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14 The mailcap format is documented in RFC 1524, ``A User Agent
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15 Configuration Mechanism For Multimedia Mail Format Information'', but
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16 is not an Internet standard. However, mailcap files are supported on
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17 most Unix systems.
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18
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19 \begin{funcdesc}{findmatch}{caps\, MIMEtype\, key\, filename\, plist}
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20 Return a 2-tuple; the first element is a string containing the command
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21 line to be executed
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22 (which can be passed to \code{os.system()}), and the second element is
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23 the mailcap entry for a given MIME type. If no matching MIME
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24 type can be found, \code{(None, None)} is returned.
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25
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26 \var{key} is the name of the field desired, which represents the type of
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27 activity to be performed; the default value is 'view', since in the
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28 most common case you simply want to view the body of the MIME-typed
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29 data. Other possible values might be 'compose' and 'edit', if you
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30 wanted to create a new body of the given MIME type or alter the
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31 existing body data. See RFC1524 for a complete list of these fields.
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32
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33 \var{filename} is the filename to be substituted for \%s in the
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34 command line; the default value is
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35 \file{/dev/null} which is almost certainly not what you want, so
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36 usually you'll override it by specifying a filename.
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37
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38 \var{plist} can be a list containing named parameters; the default
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39 value is simply an empty list. Each entry in the list must be a
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40 string containing the parameter name, an equals sign (=), and the
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41 parameter's value. Mailcap entries can contain
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42 named parameters like \verb\%{foo}\, which will be replaced by the
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43 value of the parameter named 'foo'. For example, if the command line
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44 \verb\showpartial %{id} %{number} %{total}\
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45 was in a mailcap file, and \var{plist} was set to \code{['id=1',
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46 'number=2', 'total=3']}, the resulting command line would be
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47 \code{"showpartial 1 2 3"}.
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48
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49 In a mailcap file, the "test" field can optionally be specified to
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50 test some external condition (e.g., the machine architecture, or the
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51 window system in use) to determine whether or not the mailcap line
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52 applies. \code{findmatch()} will automatically check such conditions
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53 and skip the entry if the check fails.
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54 \end{funcdesc}
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55
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56 \begin{funcdesc}{getcaps}{}
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57 Returns a dictionary mapping MIME types to a list of mailcap file
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58 entries. This dictionary must be passed to the \code{findmatch}
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59 function. An entry is stored as a list of dictionaries, but it
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60 shouldn't be necessary to know the details of this representation.
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61
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62 The information is derived from all of the mailcap files found on the
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63 system. Settings in the user's mailcap file \file{\$HOME/.mailcap}
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64 will override settings in the system mailcap files
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65 \file{/etc/mailcap}, \file{/usr/etc/mailcap}, and
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66 \file{/usr/local/etc/mailcap}.
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67 \end{funcdesc}
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68
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69 An example usage:
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70 \begin{verbatim}
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71 >>> import mailcap
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72 >>> d=mailcap.getcaps()
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73 >>> mailcap.findmatch(d, 'video/mpeg', filename='/tmp/tmp1223')
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74 ('xmpeg /tmp/tmp1223', {'view': 'xmpeg %s'})
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75 \end{verbatim}
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