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1 .H0 "Preface" no
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2
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3 .P
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4 MH is a set of mail handling tools with a common concept, like
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5 the Unix toolchest is a set of file handling tools with a common
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6 concept. nmh is the currently most popular implementation of an
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7 MH-like mail handling system.
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8 This thesis describes creating an experimental version of nmh,
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9 named \fImmh\fP,
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10 to modernize, stream-line and to exploit the concepts
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11 even more thoroughly.
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12
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13 .U2 "Background to this Thesis
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14 .P
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15 I have discovered nmh in September 2009. At that time I used to use the
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16 mail client mutt, like many command line-attracted Unix users do.
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17 The concepts of nmh had convinced me at once and thus learning
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18 its different model of email handling had been relatively easy.
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19 The change was like
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20 managing files in the Unix shell when being used to graphical file
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21 managers, or like learning vi when being used to modeless editors.
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22 The transition had not been trivial but, as I was convinced by the new
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23 concepts and
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24 already managed my files with shell tools and edited with vi, not too
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25 difficult neither.
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26 In contrast, setting up nmh to a convenient state became a tendious task
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27 that took several months.
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28 .P
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29 Once having nmh arranged to a convenient state, I enjoyed using it
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30 because of its conceptional elegance and its scripting capabilities.
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31 On the other hand, however, it still was
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32 inconvenient in handling attachments, non-ASCII character encodings,
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33 and similar features of modern emailing.
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34 My setup required more and more additional configuration and helper scripts
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35 to have nmh act the way I expected it to behave, although my
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36 expectations were rather common for modern emailing than exceptionel.
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37 In being a software developer, I wanted to improve the situation.
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38 .P
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39 In Spring 2010, I asked on the nmh-workers mailing list for the
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40 possibility to offer a Google Summer of Code project on nmh.
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41 Participating in the development this way appeared attractive to me,
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42 especially as it would have been possible to have the project
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43 accepted at university. Although the nmh community
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44 generally had been positive on the
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45 suggestion, eventually it had not been possible to manage the
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46 administrative work. Though my proposal had started the nmh community
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47 to move. In the following weeks, goals for nmh's future were discussed
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48 on the list. During the discussions, I became involved in the
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49 question whether nmh should be an MTA. (Thread subject:
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50 ``should nmh be an MTA or an MUA?''.)
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51 In this point, my opinion differed from the opinion of most others
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52 as I voted for the MTA facility of nmh to be removed.
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53 .P
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54 Being unable to work on nmh in a way that would be
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55 accepted as part of my official studies, I had to pick another project.
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56 Half a year later, starting in August 2010,
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57 I took one semester off to travel through Latin America.
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58 Within this time, I had to do practical computer work for three
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59 months.
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60 This brought me back to nmh.
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61 Richard Sandelman, an active nmh user, made it possible for
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62 me to work on nmh. Juan Granda, living in Santiago del
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63 Estero in Argentina, provided a computer and Internet connection for
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64 my work.
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65 Within the three month, I became familiar with nmh's code base and
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66 its community. I learned how things work. Quickly it became obvious that
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67 I wouldn't succeed with my main goal, to improve the character
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68 encoding handling within the project. One obvious problem is the missing
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69 transfer decoding of the quoted text in replies.
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70 As this is one of the most intricate parts of the system, the goal
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71 was simply too difficult to reach.
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72 Instead I improved the code as I read through it. I found minor bugs
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73 for which I proposed fixes to the community. Also I
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74 could improve the documentation. When I started with
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75 larger code changes, I had to discover that the community's wish for
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76 compatibility was stronger than its wish for convenient
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77 out-of-the-box setups \(en in contrast with my opinion.
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78 This lead to long discussions, again.
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79 I came to understand their point of view, but it simply is not mine.
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80 .P
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81 At the end of my three-month project, I had become familiar with
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82 nmh's code base and its community. I had improved the project a bit
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83 and I still was convinced that I wanted to go on with that.
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84 .P
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85 Another half a year later, the end of my studies came within reach.
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86 I needed a topic for my master's thesis.
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87 There was no question: I wanted to work on nmh.
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88 But well, not exactly on nmh,
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89 because I had accepted that the nmh community has different goals
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90 than I have. This would result in long discussions and thus few progress.
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91 After careful thought, I decided to start an experimental version of nmh.
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92 I wanted to follow my own ideas of how nmh should look like. I wanted
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93 to see where that would lead to. I wanted to compare the result of my
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94 work to the present state of nmh. Time should prove me successful or
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95 not.
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96 Nmh would hardly be hurt by my work as I would not interfere with
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97 them. But nmh would profit from my experiences.
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98
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99 .U2 "Focus of this Document
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100 .P
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101 This document describes my work on the experimental version, named
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102 \fImmh\fP. It explains the changes I did to nmh, with having the focus
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103 on the reasons for the changes. It discusses technical, historical,
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104 social and philosophical reasons. On the technical side, this document
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105 explains how an existing project was stream-lined by exploiting the
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106 central concepts better and removing rough edges. On the historical
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107 side, changes in the use cases and the features of email and reactions
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108 to them are discussed. Socially, this document describes the effects
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109 and experiences of a newcomer with revolutionary aims entering an old
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110 and matured software projects and its community. Finally, philosophical
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111 thoughts on style, mainly based to the Unix philosophy, are present
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112 throughout the discussions.
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113 .P
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114 This document is written for the community around MH-like mail systems
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115 \(en developers and users.
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116 First of all, the document shall propagade the design goals and
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117 implementation decisions of mmh. But as well, it shall clarify my
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118 personal perception of the
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119 concepts of MH and Unix, and explain the therefrom resulting point of view.
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120 Despite the focus on MH-like systems, this document can be worthwhile
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121 to anyone interested in the Unix philosophy, as well as anyone
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122 involved in old software projects, be it code or community-related.
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123 .P
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124 The reader is expected to have good knowledge of Unix, C and emailing.
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125 Good Unix shell
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126 knowledge, including shell scripting, is required. MH relies fundamentally
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127 on the shell. Without the power of the shell, MH becomes a motorbike
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128 without winding roads: boring.
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129 Introductions to Unix and its shell can be found in XXX.
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130 The reader is
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131 expected to be familiar with the C programming language, although the
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132 document should be understandable without knowledge of C, too.
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133 The book by Kernighan and Ritchie is the definitive guide to C.
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134 Some book about system-level C programming is worthwile additional
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135 literature. Rochkind and Curry have written such books.
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136 As large parts of the code are old, old books are likely more helpful.
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137 The format of email messages as well as the structure of email transfer
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138 systems should be familiar to the reader, at least on a basic level.
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139 It's advisable to have had, at least cross-read, the RFCs 821 and 822.
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140 The book XXX introduces email well, too.
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141 Frequent references to the Unix philosophy will be made.
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142 Gancarz XXX had tried to sum the philosophy up. Even better but less
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143 concrete is the literature by Kernighan and Pike XXX.
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144 The term paper ``Why the Unix Philosophy still matters'' by myself
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145 provides an overview on the topic, including a case study of MH.
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146 Although a brief introduction to MH is provided in Chapter 1, the reader
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147 is encouraged to have a look at the \fIMH Book\fP by Jerry Peek.
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148 It is the definitive guide to MH and nmh.
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149 The current version is available freely on the Internet XXX.
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150 .P
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151 This document is neither a user's tutorial to mmh nor an introduction
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152 to any of the topics covered. It contains discussions on Unix, email
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153 and system design on an advanced level.
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154 However, as knowledge of the fundamental concepts is the most valuable
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155 information over some program or software system a user can aquire,
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156 this document might be worth a read for non-developers too.
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157
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158
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159 .U2 "Organization
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160 .P
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161 Which font for what use.
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162 Meaning of `foo(1)'.
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163 RFCs.
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164 MH vs. nmh vs. mmh.
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165 .P
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166 This thesis is devided into XXX chapters, ...
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167 .P
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168 .I Chapter 1
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169 introduces ...
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170 .P
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171 .I Chapter 2
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172 describes ...
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173 .P
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174 .I Chapter 3
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175 covers ...
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176
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177
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178 .U2 "Acknowledgments
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179 .P
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180 To be written at the very end.
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181
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182
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183 .\" End or Preface. Start of the normal text.
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184 .\" Switch to arabic page numbers and start on a right page.
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185 .
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186 .if e \{
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187 . pn 1
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188 . af PN 1
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189 .\}
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190 .if o \{
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191 . pn 0
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192 . af PN 0
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193 . bp
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194 .\}
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