80 lines
3.6 KiB
TeX
80 lines
3.6 KiB
TeX
\section{Standard Module \sectcode{mailcap}}
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\label{module-mailcap}
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\stmodindex{mailcap}
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Mailcap files are used to configure how MIME-aware applications such
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as mail readers and Web browsers react to files with different MIME
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types. (The name ``mailcap'' is derived from the phrase ``mail
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capability''.) For example, a mailcap file might contain a line like
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\samp{video/mpeg; xmpeg \%s}. Then, if the user encounters an email
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message or Web document with the MIME type \mimetype{video/mpeg},
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\samp{\%s} will be replaced by a filename (usually one belonging to a
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temporary file) and the \program{xmpeg} program can be automatically
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started to view the file.
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The mailcap format is documented in \rfc{1524}, ``A User Agent
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Configuration Mechanism For Multimedia Mail Format Information,'' but
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is not an Internet standard. However, mailcap files are supported on
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most \UNIX{} systems.
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\begin{funcdesc}{findmatch}{caps, MIMEtype%
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\optional{, key\optional{,
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filename\optional{, plist}}}}
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Return a 2-tuple; the first element is a string containing the command
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line to be executed
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(which can be passed to \code{os.system()}), and the second element is
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the mailcap entry for a given MIME type. If no matching MIME
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type can be found, \code{(None, None)} is returned.
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\var{key} is the name of the field desired, which represents the type
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of activity to be performed; the default value is 'view', since in the
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most common case you simply want to view the body of the MIME-typed
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data. Other possible values might be 'compose' and 'edit', if you
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wanted to create a new body of the given MIME type or alter the
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existing body data. See \rfc{1524} for a complete list of these
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fields.
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\var{filename} is the filename to be substituted for \samp{\%s} in the
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command line; the default value is
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\code{'/dev/null'} which is almost certainly not what you want, so
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usually you'll override it by specifying a filename.
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\var{plist} can be a list containing named parameters; the default
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value is simply an empty list. Each entry in the list must be a
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string containing the parameter name, an equals sign (\code{=}), and the
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parameter's value. Mailcap entries can contain
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named parameters like \code{\%\{foo\}}, which will be replaced by the
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value of the parameter named 'foo'. For example, if the command line
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\samp{showpartial \%\{id\}\ \%\{number\}\ \%\{total\}}
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was in a mailcap file, and \var{plist} was set to \code{['id=1',
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'number=2', 'total=3']}, the resulting command line would be
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\code{"showpartial 1 2 3"}.
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In a mailcap file, the "test" field can optionally be specified to
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test some external condition (e.g., the machine architecture, or the
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window system in use) to determine whether or not the mailcap line
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applies. \code{findmatch()} will automatically check such conditions
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and skip the entry if the check fails.
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\end{funcdesc}
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\begin{funcdesc}{getcaps}{}
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Returns a dictionary mapping MIME types to a list of mailcap file
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entries. This dictionary must be passed to the \code{findmatch()}
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function. An entry is stored as a list of dictionaries, but it
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shouldn't be necessary to know the details of this representation.
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The information is derived from all of the mailcap files found on the
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system. Settings in the user's mailcap file \file{\$HOME/.mailcap}
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will override settings in the system mailcap files
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\file{/etc/mailcap}, \file{/usr/etc/mailcap}, and
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\file{/usr/local/etc/mailcap}.
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\end{funcdesc}
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An example usage:
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\begin{verbatim}
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>>> import mailcap
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>>> d=mailcap.getcaps()
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>>> mailcap.findmatch(d, 'video/mpeg', filename='/tmp/tmp1223')
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('xmpeg /tmp/tmp1223', {'view': 'xmpeg %s'})
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\end{verbatim}
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