BURST(1)                                                 BURST(1)

NAME
       burst - explode digests into messages

SYNOPSIS
       burst [+folder] [msgs] [-inplace] [-noinplace] [-quiet]
            [-noquiet] [-verbose] [-noverbose] [-version] [-help]

DESCRIPTION
       Burst considers the specified messages in the named folder
       to  be Internet digests, and explodes them in that folder.

       If `-inplace' is given, each digest  is  replaced  by  the
       "table of contents" for the digest (the original digest is
       removed).  Burst then renumbers all of the  messages  fol-
       lowing  the  digest in the folder to make room for each of
       the messages contained within the digest.  These  messages
       are placed immediately after the digest.

       If  `-noinplace'  is  given,  each digest is preserved, no
       table of contents is produced, and the messages  contained
       within  the  digest  are  placed at the end of the folder.
       Other messages are not tampered with in any way.

       The `-quiet' switch  directs  burst  to  be  silent  about
       reporting messages that are not in digest format.

       The  `-verbose'  switch directs burst to tell the user the
       general actions that it is taking to explode the digest.

       It turns out that burst works equally  well  on  forwarded
       messages  and  blind-carbon-copies as on Internet digests,
       provided that the former two were  generated  by  forw  or
       send.   ^$HOME/.mh_profile~^The  user  profile  ^Path:~^To
       determine the user's  nmh  directory  ^Current-Folder:~^To
       find the default current folder ^Msg-Protect:~^To set mode
       when creating a new message Proposed Standard for  Message
       Encapsulation (RFC-934),
       inc(1),  msh(1), pack(1) `+folder' defaults to the current
       folder `msgs'  defaults  to  cur  `-noinplace'  `-noquiet'
       `-noverbose' If a folder is given, it will become the cur-
       rent folder.  If `-inplace' is given, then the first  mes-
       sage  burst  becomes the current message.  This leaves the
       context ready for a show of the table of contents  of  the
       digest, and a next to see the first message of the digest.
       If `-noinplace' is given, then the first message extracted
       from  the  first digest burst becomes the current message.
       This leaves the context in a similar, but  not  identical,
       state  to the context achieved when using `-inplace'.  The
       burst program enforces a limit on the number  of  messages
       which  may be burst from a single message.  This number is
       on the order of 1000 messages.  There is usually no  limit
       on  the  number of messages which may reside in the folder
       after the bursting.

       Although burst uses a sophisticated algorithm to determine
       where  one  encapsulated  message ends and another begins,
       not all digestifying programs use an  encapsulation  algo-
       rithm.  In degenerate cases, this usually results in burst
       finding an encapsulation boundary prematurely  and  split-
       ting  a  single encapsulated message into two or more mes-
       sages.  These erroneous digestifying  programs  should  be
       fixed.

       Furthermore,  any text which appears after the last encap-
       sulated message is not placed in  a  seperate  message  by
       burst.   In the case of digestified messages, this text is
       usally an "End of digest" string.  As  a  result  of  this
       possibly  un-friendly  behavior on the part of burst, note
       that when the `-inplace' option  is  used,  this  trailing
       information  is  lost.  In practice, this is not a problem
       since correspondents usually place remarks in  text  prior
       to the first encapsulated message, and this information is
       not lost.

[nmh-0.27]                    MH.6.8                            1