New messages delivered by PMDF to your mailbox can be read with a variety of programs including PMDF MAIL, Gold-Mail, VMS MAIL, DECwindows MAIL, the Pathworks MAIL agents, etc. You read these messages as you would any other mail message; no special action is required. Messages delivered by PMDF will have valid From: addresses and can be replied to with the standard REPLY commands.

2.1.1 Receiving Binary Files

2.1.2 Header Lines in Received Messages

The addresses which appear in the VMS MAIL From:, To:, and cc: header lines are not necessarily the same as those which appear in the original message's header. The reason for this is that RFC 822 headers can specify several different types of From:, To:, and Cc: addresses. PMDF has to choose the addresses which best suit VMS MAIL's usage of the VMS MAIL From:, To:, and Cc: header lines. The selection criteria used by PMDF are described below; whether or not PMDF considers Resent- headers when constructing the VMS MAIL headers is configurable by the system manager. Regardless of the addresses chosen, each address will be converted from RFC 822 format to VMS MAIL format (e.g., IN%"address") before being given to VMS MAIL. Doing this allows REPLY commands in VMS MAIL to work correctly. (Also, "reply-to-all" type commands such as those in the PathWorks MAIL programs, will work correctly.) Note that when you use PMDF MAIL, you work with the actual RFC 822 header and not the VMS MAIL header which is merely a distillation of the RFC 822 header.

From:

For the VMS MAIL From: header line PMDF tries to use the RFC 822 header line from the original message header that is most likely to contain the address that replies should be directed to. The headers lines that are uses, in order of decreasing precedence, are:

	1.	Resent-Reply-To: (if present and PMDF is configured to use Resent- headers)
	2.	Resent-From: (if present and PMDF is configured to use Resent- headers)
	3.	Reply-To: (if present)
	4.	From: (if present)
	5.	Resent-Sender: (if present and PMDF is configured to use Resent- headers)
	6.	Sender: (if present)
	7.	envelope return address (always present)

To:

For the VMS MAIL To: header line PMDF tries to use the RFC 822 header line from the original message header that is most likely to indicate who this version of the message was sent to. The fields that are used, in order of decreasing precedence, are:

	1.	Resent-To: (if present and PMDF is configured to use Resent- headers)
	2.	To: (if present)

If neither a Resent-To: or To: header line is present, then the VMS MAIL To: line will be left blank.

cc:

For the VMS MAIL cc: header line PMDF tries to use the RFC 822 header line from the message header that is most likely to indicate who the most recent cc: recipients of the message were. The fields that are used, in order of decreasing precedence, are:

	1.	Resent-cc: (if present and PMDF is configured to use Resent- headers)
	2.	cc: (if present)

If neither a Resent-cc: or cc: header line is present, then the VMS MAIL cc: line will be left blank.

Subject:

The VMS MAIL Subject: line is copied verbatim out of the original RFC 822 message header. If no Subject: line is present, the VMS MAIL Subject: line is left blank.