5. Pine Configuration

Pine has three types of configuration files we will concern ourselves with. Each of them can contain all the same settings, but with varied syntax. The decreasing order of precedence for each setting is as follows: /etc/pine.conf.fixed, ~/.pinerc, and /etc/pine.conf. Basically this means if Pine is looking for a specific setting it first checks pine.conf.fixed, if it does not exist it checks ~/.pinerc, if it does not exist it finally checks /etc/pine.conf.

• ~/.pinerc -- This is the local user copy of the configuration file. It is located in the root of the users home directory it only affects that user. You should use this configuration if you do not have superusers/root access on the computer on which you are using Pine. To generate a new configuration file of this type, you issue the command 'pine -pinerc .pinerc.new'.

• /etc/pine.conf -- This is the site-wide Pine configuration file, so it affects all the users running Pine on that machine (It can only be installed by the superuser/root account). The syntax is slightly different than the ~/.pinerc file since it has to represent all the users on the system, not just one. To generate a new configuration file of this type, you issue the command 'pine -conf > pine.conf.new'.

• /etc/pine.conf.fixed -- This has exactly the same purpose and syntax as the /etc/pine.conf file, except for one property. This file is not overridden by the users ~/.pinerc file. Basically all the settings in this file are enforced, and cannot be changed by the user. Initially this file should be empty. You should add settings to it as needed.

Each of these files contain settings in the form of "key=value" pairings. You can change these settings with your favorite editor (ex. vi). For the ~/.pinerc file the user can change the settings directly from Pine, by going into (S)etup then (C)onfig. For LDAP settings go into (S)etup then (D)irectory.

Here are the important settings for communicating with the Exchange Server:

NOTE: The syntax of each setting will be shown in the Example configuration.

• user-domain -- The domain name portion of your email address (So if your email address is [email protected], then yourcompany.com would be your user-domain).

• customized-hdrs -- This is the actually "From:" header that will appear in the message that you compose before you send it out. If you don't specify this header, the user and full name are taken from the system /etc/passwd file. There are other variations to setting up the "From:" header (see Resources).

• smtp-server -- The hostname of your SMTP server. This may or may not be the same as your Exchange Server. (With SMTP Authentication you will need to specify a "/user" parameter on the end of this setting).

• inbox-path -- This contains the default path to your INBOX. (This should point to the remote INBOX on your Exchange/IMAP server).

• folder-collections -- This contains points to other folder collections you wish to view. There are only two sets you should concern yourself with. The first is your INBOX folders (personal folders you create in your INBOX), and the second is your Mailbox folders, which are default folders (ie. Sent Items, Deleted Items, Drafts, Outbox, Public Folders, etc.)

• default-fcc -- This folder contains a carbon copy of all messages that you sent out. (This should point to the "Sent Items" folder on the Exchange server)

• postponed-folder -- This folder contains postponed messages, that you wish to finish later. (If you are using Outlook, this should point to the "Drafts" folder on the Exchange server, otherwise you can create your own on the server)

• ldap-server -- This is the hostname of your LDAP server. There are many parameters available for which you should consult your Pine documentation. (This will be used to access the Global Address List on the Exchange Server).

• rsh-open-timeout -- Pine will use rsh to connect to IMAP by default. This is an Integer value which represents the timeout period. (Since Exchange servers don't run rsh, we are going to want to disable this feature by setting this value to 0).

One potential problem that you may run into is SMTP Authentication. Basically, this means that you need to provide a username and password to use SMTP to send email. I have found no official documentation which states that Pine supports SMTP Authentication (more so on the contrary). The closest thing I've found is the possibility of a /user Parameter to the smtp-server setting, which was mentioned briefly in the change log from version 4.20 to 4.21. It was also brought up a couple of times on the listserv. (see Resources)

If you still have problems with it, here is an alternative which I ended up using. You can have your SysAdmin add your IP address to the Exchange Server to allow you to bypass the SMTP authentication.