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Pine email configuration changes

By Leon Wang

Starting Pine

You should be able to start pine on an ENCS-managed Linux desktop or on our Unix server simply by typing pine.

If you don't see your old email in your Pine INBOX, then you may be running the wrong version of Pine. To find out which Pine you're running, type

which pine

This is probably because you have a .cshrc file in your Unix home directory that overwrites the PATH environment variable. Since there is a system default .cshrc file, you can either remove all "path" statements from your .cshrc, or replace it with one that includes the system default, like so:

set path = ( $path /path/to/other/stuff )

It is best to remove the set path line, unless you have references to non-standard directories (e.g. special-purpose software). The system default path enables you to access all the standard utilities/software.

NOTE: Edits to your .cshrc file won't be applied until you open a new shell. The best thing to do is open a new terminal window (your updated .cshrc will be applied) and do some testing. If something goes wrong you can go back to your original terminal window and revert to your unmodified .cshrc file.

If the above does not do anything, then you may have to rename your .pinerc file in your Unix home directory in order for Pine to read its configuration information from the system-wide `pine.conf` file. Rename it to .pinerc_back so you can retain your custom setting information.

Using Pine

After typing pine you are presented with the main Pine menu screen:

 On the MAIN MENU There are 7 options:

1.   ?           HELP
2.   C           COMPOSE MESSAGE
3.   I           MESSAGE INDEX
4.   L           FOLDER LIST
5.   A           ADDRESS BOOK
6.   S           SETUP
7.   Q           QUIT

Add new IMAP mailboxes to existing folder lists (Optional, for advanced users)

Your IMAP mailboxes are saved under the ~/mail directory by default. If you have another mail directory you wish to view in Pine (e.g., ~/othermails), you can add this extra IMAP mail directory to your existing Pine folder lists from the Pine setup menu, as follows:

Start Pine, type 's' to enter the setup menu, type 'l' to view the folder list, then type 'a' to add new folder setting.

Use the following values:

Nickname:	Use any nickname you wish to describe the mail folder list
Server:	mail.encs.concordia.ca/ssl
Path:	othermails (use your extra IMAP directory name)

More Information on Using Pine

There are many sources of information and help for pine.
* IITS help page: http://alcor.concordia.ca/topics/email/pine/
* Getting Started with Pine 4: http://www.washington.edu/pine/tutorial.4/index.html
* The Pine FAQ: http://www.washington.edu/pine/faq/index.html    
* User's Guide: http://www.washington.edu/pine/user-guide/index.html