Time  ago,  when  most  of  people  used VMS with interactive        

  sessions, they  knew  something  about  managing  their  home        

  directory, as well as compressing, sometime, MAIL.MAI file.          

                                                                      

  Now   that   people   use   very   often  VMS   systems  with        

  POP/SMTP/IMAP   connections,   usually  they    never    make        

  telnet/interactive  connections  to  the  system;  they don't        

  know anything  about  managing  home  directory;  they  never        

  compress their MAIL.MAI file.                                        

                                                                       

  If  you  have  a  lot  of  users,  receving a lot of messages        

  everyday, their mail.mai file could grow greatly,  and  waste        

  [a lot of} space on your disks.                                      

                                                                       

  Since  you  cannot force your users to use telnet/interactive        

  connections, using MAIL utility,  compressing,  deleting  the        

  mail.old  file,  and  doing  it often...well, here's a little        

  utility that can help you doing it automagically.                    

                                                                       

  CRUSHMAIL   scans  a given file specification (for example, a        

  single file spec. like  MYDISK:[MYDIR.MYMAIL]MAIL.MAI,  or  a        

  more   complex   one   like  DISK$1:[000000...]MAIL.MAI)  and        

  compress every MAIL.MAI file it finds.                               

                                                                       

  CRUSHMAIL   doesn't  compress  a MAIL.MAI file if its size is        

  not high enough (as  given  in  P2  parameter);  and  doesn't        

  compress  a MAIL.MAI file if its creation date is 'today' (so        

  you can use it often everyday,  but  compression  will  occur        

  only once a day).                                                    

                                                                       

  You  can  optionally decide to avoid deletion of MAIL.OLD; or        

  to delete it requesting a confirmation (for interactive  use)        

  or automatically (for non interactive use).                          

                                                                       

                                                                       

  Parameters used:                                                     

                                                                       

  P1    input file specification;                                      

        default: DISK$1:[000000...]MAIL.MAI                            

  P2    minimum mail.mai's size; compression will not occur if         

        size is below this limit.                                      

        default: 1000 blocks                                           

  P3    deletion control:                                              

          NODELETE      -> mail.old  file  will  be  saved (no         

                           deletion will occur)                        

          NOCONFIRM     -> mail.old  file will  be deleted; no         

                           confirmation will be requested              

        default: mail.old  files  will  be deleted, requesting         

                 interactive confirmation                              

                                                                       

  Examples:                                                            

                                                                       

  @CRUSHMAIL DISK$1:[000000...]MAIL.MAI 1000                          

                      will  compress  all  mail.mai file in the        

                      whole   DISK$1;   requires    privileges.        

                      mail.old   will  be  deleted,  requesting        

                      interactive confirmation.  If  mail.mai's        

                      size   will  be  lower  of  1000  blocks,        

                      compression will not  occur.  What  about        

                      using  this  command,  e.g., once a month        

                      for every disk?                                  

                                                                       

   @CRUSHMAIL DISK$2:[FRANCO.MYMAIL]MAIL.MAI 2000 NODELETE            

                      will  compress  only  one user's mail.mai        

                      file; mail.old file will NOT  be  deleted        

                      (user   must   do   it  with  interactive        

                      session).  If  mail.mai's  size  will  be        

                      lower  of  2000  blocks, compression will        

                      not occur.                                       

                                                                       

   @CRUSHMAIL DISK$2:[FRANCO.MYMAIL]MAIL.MAI 2000 NOCONFIRM       

                      the  same,  but  mail.old  deletion  will        

                      occur  withoutconfirmation.  What   about        

                      putting  this  command in login.com? (but        

                      caution: will slow  login;  will  display        

                      additional information)                          

                                                                       

                                                                       

      Tested with OpenVMS AXP 7.2.                                     

                                                                       

Comments and...donations to: franco.brunetta@libero.it