Daniel Spiljar
6e9600426a
Sync the examples section, refer to RFC 4155 for the mbox mailbox format, and add URLs to Gitea and Github.
281 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
281 lines
6.6 KiB
Plaintext
\input texinfo
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@setfilename mboxgrep.info
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@settitle Grep through mailboxes
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@finalout
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@setchapternewpage odd
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@set EDITION 0.7
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@set VERSION 0.7.12a
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@set UPDATED 23 September 2024
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@dircategory Mail
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@direntry
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* mboxgrep: (mboxgrep). A mail folder scanning utility.
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@end direntry
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@node Top, , , (dir)
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@ifinfo
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This file documents @code{mboxgrep} (version @value{VERSION}), a
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mailbox scanning utility.
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Copyright (C) 2000 - 2003, 2024 Daniel Spiljar
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@end ifinfo
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@menu
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* Introduction:: A short preface.
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* Invoking:: Command-line arguments.
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* Examples:: A few examples of usage.
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* Bugs:: What to do with bugs and similar vermin.
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* To Vicky:: Author's dedication.
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@end menu
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@node Introduction, Invoking, , Top
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@chapter Introduction
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@cindex introduction
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@cindex preface
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@code{mboxgrep} is a small, non-interactive utility that scans mail folders
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for messages matching regular expressions.
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It supports basic and extended POSIX regular expressions. @code{Perl}-style
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regular expressions are supported as well, if @code{mboxgrep} is linked with
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PCRE library.
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Found messages can be either displayed on standard output, counted, deleted,
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piped to a specified command, or copied to another mailbox.
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It can read and write a variety of folder formats:
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@itemize @bullet
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@item
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mbox folders, either plain or compressed
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@item
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MH folders
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@item nnml and nnmh folders used by Gnus
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@item @code{qmail}-style maildirs
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@end itemize
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Additionally, it can read mbox folders or output from another @code{mboxgrep}
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process from standard input. It does so if a single dash (-) is given
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as a file name.
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@node Invoking, Examples, Introduction, Top
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@chapter Command-Line Arguments
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@cindex arguments
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The syntax of @code{mboxgrep} invocation is:
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@example
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mboxgrep [OPTIONS] PATTERN [MAILBOX]
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@end example
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@menu
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* Miscellaneous::
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* File locking::
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* Regexp selection::
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* Output control::
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* Search scope selection::
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* Mailbox type selection::
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@end menu
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@node Miscellaneous, File locking, , Invoking
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@table @samp
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@item --help
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@itemx -h
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Display a brief help screen and exit.
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@item --version
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@itemx -V
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Display program version and copyright information and exit.
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@item --recursive
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@itemx -r
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Descend into directories recursively.
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@end table
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@node File locking, Regexp selection, Miscellaneous, Invoking
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When accessing mbox folders, @code{mboxgrep} puts a shared lock on
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files by default. Note that mbox folders normally should not be accessed
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without locking.
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@table @samp
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@item --file-lock=METHOD
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@itemx -l METHOD
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Specify file locking METHOD. @code{mboxgrep} supports @code{flock} and
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@code{fcntl} file locking. However, one of these methods may be
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unimplemented on your operating system and thus not available in
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@code{mboxgrep} at run time. To disable file locking, specify @code{none}.
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@item --no-file-lock
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@itemx -nl
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Do not attempt to lock mbox folder files.
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@end table
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@node Regexp selection, Output control, File locking, Invoking
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@table @samp
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@item --extended-regexp
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@itemx -E
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PATTERN is an extended regular expression.
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@item --basic-regexp
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@itemx -G
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PATTERN is a basic regular expression.
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@item --perl-regexp
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@itemx -P
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PATTERN is a Perl regular expression.
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@item --regexp=PATTERN
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@itemx -e PATTERN
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Use PATTERN as a regular expression.
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@item --ignore-case
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@itemx -i
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Perform case-insensitive search.
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@item --invert-match
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@itemx -v
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Invert the sense of matching, i.e. select only non-matching messages.
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@end table
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@node Output control, Search scope selection, Regexp selection, Invoking
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By default, @code{mboxgrep} writes found messages to standard output.
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The options below change such behavior.
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@table @samp
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@item --count
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@itemx -c
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Suppress normal output and print the count of matching (or non-matching,
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if used with the @code{-v} option) messages.
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@item --delete
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@itemx -d
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Suppress normal output and delete selected messages.
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Use with extreme caution.
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@item --no-duplicates
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@itemx -nd
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Ignore duplicate messages.
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@item --output=MAILBOX
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@itemx -o MAILBOX
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Suppress normal output and write messages to destination MAILBOX instead.
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Note that @code{mboxgrep} assumes the output folder is of the same format
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as the input folder. Currently there is no possibility to convert folders.
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@item --pipe=COMMAND
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@itemx -p COMMAND
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Suppress normal output and pipe each selected message to a separate
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instance of COMMAND.
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@item --no-messages
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@itemx -s
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Suppress error messages.
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@item --debug
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Print messages useful for debugging.
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@end table
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@node Search scope selection, Mailbox type selection, Output control, Invoking
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@table @samp
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@item --headers
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@itemx -H
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Match PATTERN against message headers.
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@item --body
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@itemx -B
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Match PATTERN against message body.
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@end table
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@node Mailbox type selection, , Search scope selection, Invoking
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@table @samp
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@item --mailbox-format=FORMAT
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@itemx -m FORMAT
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Specify mailbox FORMAT. Supported formats are @code{mbox} (default),
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@code{zmbox} (gzip compressed mbox), @code{bz2mbox} (bzip2 compressed
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mbox) @code{mh}, @code{nnml}, @code{nnmh}, and @code{maildir}.
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@end table
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@node Examples, Bugs, Invoking, Top
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@chapter Examples
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@cindex example
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Scan @env{$MAIL} for messages from Dirty Harry:
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@example
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mboxgrep -H '^From:.*callahan@@sanfranciscopolice\.org' $MAIL
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@end example
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Re-mail to George messages that mention his name:
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@example
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mboxgrep --pipe="/usr/lib/sendmail george" --ignore-case george ~/Mail/*
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@end example
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Display all messages in folder @file{~/Mail/incoming}, except those that
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appear to originate from AOL:
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@example
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mboxgrep -v -H '^Received:.*aol\.com' ~/Mail/incoming
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@end example
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Do a case-insensitive scan of @file{~/Mail/incoming} for messages with subject
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``Weekly News'' and write them to folder @file{~/Mail/archive}:
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@example
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mboxgrep -o ~/Mail/archive -H -i '^Subject: Weekly News' ~/Mail/incoming
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@end example
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Count @emph{all} messages stored in folder @file{spam}, ignoring duplicates:
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@example
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mboxgrep -nd -c . spam
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@end example
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@node Bugs, To Vicky, Examples, Top
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@chapter Detecting Vermin
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@cindex bug, insect, vermin, bugreport
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Shortly, if @code{mboxgrep} crashes and/or works differently than described
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in this manual, you have found a bug.
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Please report bugs to @email{dspiljar@@datatipp.se}.
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Instructions how to reproduce the bug or output from a debugger would be
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highly appreciated. Please do not, however, send any core dumps.
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@node To Vicky, , Bugs, Top
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@chapter Author's Dedication
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@cindex vicky, cat, memory, love
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@code{Mboxgrep} is dedicated in loving memory of Vicky, my cat who died
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of tumor on Sep 12, 2002.
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You haven't been long with us, but you gave us a lot of joy and all
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your big heart that stopped ticking too early. I will never forget
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you. Sleep well, little friend.
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@bye @c cruel world
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