MH -- and front-ends, like xmh, through the MH commands they run -- use a file called the MH profile. By default, it's stored in your home directory and named .mh_profile (its name starts with a period, which makes it a hidden file that you won't see in an ls listing unless you use the -A or -a option). The MH profile defines your personal configuration for MH.
When you first use an MH command like inc, if your account doesn't already have an .mh_profile, the command will make one for you. The most basic MH profile has just one line: the Path: entry. (The MH manual pages use several different terms for these elements of the MH profile and similar files: component, entry, and line. In this book, I use the term entry.) You can add to or edit the file any time -- in fact, as you learn more about MH, you'll probably want to make a few changes.
The Example below is a fairly short MH profile.
Path: Mail
Folder-protect: 750
Msg-protect: 640
Signature: Emma H. User
repl: -annotate
scan: -form scan.time
That MH profile says that your MH directory is named Mail
and stored in your home directory.
It sets the default file access modes, with
the numbers used by
chmod(1), for folders and messages. The fourth entry tells
MH how your name should look in the From: header field of
messages you send.
(The MH manual pages call these header
components. Many email users call them headers. The
term used in Internet standards documents like RFC 822 and RFC
1521 is header fields. I use that term in this book.) The
last two entries make -annotate a default switch for the
repl command and change the display format of
the scan command.
Your MH profile can't have blank lines in it. Another Section has detailed information and a longer example. Also see the mh-profile(5) manual page (for help finding online manual pages, see the Section Online Manual Pages).