Subject: Multiple Address Books

From: Barry Pyle <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 18:01:11 -0600 (MDT)

Using PINE V3.95 on a UNIX system, I have found several references to the
use of multiple address books.  However, I have been unable to determine
exactly how to set one up, and how to transfer addresses from one address
book to another.  I have printed and read "General Information onf the
PINE Message System", "Secrets of Pine 3.9", "Release Notes for Pine
(3.95), and browsed the web site.  The online help for Address Book
Commands mentions the Pine Technical Notes document (included in the Pine
distribution), but I have been unable to locate this document.  

I would greatly appreciate your help before I somehow manage to loose many
of my addresses by trying to transfer them.

Thanks!

Barry H. Pyle, Ph.D., Assistant Research Professor
Microbiology Department, Montana State University - Bozeman
Ph. 406-994-3041, Fax 406-994-4926
E-mail: [email-masked] or [email-masked]

---

From: "Robin S. Socha" <[email-masked]>
Date: 21 Aug 1997 08:05:14 +0200

>> "BP" == Barry Pyle <[email-masked]> writes:

Hi, Barry,

BP> Using PINE V3.95 on a UNIX system, I have found several references to
BP> the use of multiple address books.  However, I have been unable to
BP> determine exactly how to set one up

Address Books

   The address book file is named, by default, .addressbook in the user's
   Unix home directory, or in the case of PC-Pine, ADDRBOOK, in the save
   directory as the PINERC file. There may be more than one address book,
   and the default name can be over-ridden via an entry in any of the
   Pine configuration files. The two configuration variables address-book
   and global-address-book are used to specify the file names of the
   address books. Each of these variables is a list variable. The total
   set of address books for a user is the combination of all the address
   books specified in these two lists. Each entry in the list is an
   optional nickname followed by a file name. The nickname is everything
   up to the last space before the file name. The global-address-book
   list will typically be configured in the system-wide configuration
   file, though a user may over-ride it like most other variables.
   Address books which are listed in the global-address-book variable are
   forced read-only, and are typically shared among multiple users.

BP> and how to transfer addresses from one address book to another.

   Address books are simple text files with lines in the format:
   
     <nickname>TAB<fullname>TAB<address>TAB<fcc>TAB<comments>
     
   The last two fields are optional. A "line" may be made up of multiple
   actual lines in the file by using continuation lines, which are lines
   beginning with SPACE characters. The line breaks may be after TABS or
   in between addresses in a distribution list.
   
And so on ... It's pretty simple. Take your favourite editor (or two
xterms to cut and paste between) and hack away. To make sure you don't 
lose any addresses, do:

	mkdir ~/.Secure
	cp ~/.addressbook* ~/.Secure

provided your alternate addressbooks are all called .addressbook.foo.

BP> The online help for Address Book Commands mentions the Pine
BP> Technical Notes document (included in the Pine distribution), but
BP> I have been unable to locate this document.

It's in the source distribution.

HTH,
Robin

-- 
Robin S. Socha, M.A.
Political Science Dept., Bonn University, Bonn
"They don't let you teach there, do they?"
Annelise Anderson in comp.mail.pine