[Nym3-commit] r357 - in trunk/nymbaron: Client doc

jr at conuropsis.org jr at conuropsis.org
Sun Oct 16 13:07:30 CEST 2005


Author: jr
Date: 2005-10-16 13:07:28 +0200 (Sun, 16 Oct 2005)
New Revision: 357

Modified:
   trunk/nymbaron/Client/Main.py
   trunk/nymbaron/doc/nymbaron.xml
Log:
- Documentation of the client
- Change some incorrect usage strings


Modified: trunk/nymbaron/Client/Main.py
===================================================================
--- trunk/nymbaron/Client/Main.py	2005-10-14 21:51:31 UTC (rev 356)
+++ trunk/nymbaron/Client/Main.py	2005-10-16 11:07:28 UTC (rev 357)
@@ -745,7 +745,10 @@
 	parser.add_option("-o", "--older", action = "store",
 			  dest = "older", help = "Retrieve only summaries "
 			  "older than msgid, defaults to oldest_mid "
-			  "(a special mid oldest than any other)")
+			  "(a special mid oldest than any other). msgid can "
+			  "be a mid or a reference syn:N, where N is the "
+			  "index of the msgid in the synbox, obtained "
+			  "by list-syn")
 	(options, args) = parser.parse_args(args[2:])
 	ui = CLI()
 	config = Config.Config()
@@ -890,7 +893,7 @@
     if args[1] == "resend-command":
 	parser = OptionParser(usage =
 	"""nymbaron resend-command [options] [ref1 [ref2 [...]]]
-	Resend a command that was sent to the server but that has not yet been
+	Resend commands that were sent to the server but that have not yet been
 	acknowledged. The references are either mids or journal:N where N is the
 	index provided by the list-journal command.""")
 	parser.add_option("-n", "--nickname", action = "store",

Modified: trunk/nymbaron/doc/nymbaron.xml
===================================================================
--- trunk/nymbaron/doc/nymbaron.xml	2005-10-14 21:51:31 UTC (rev 356)
+++ trunk/nymbaron/doc/nymbaron.xml	2005-10-16 11:07:28 UTC (rev 357)
@@ -46,8 +46,29 @@
     <term><command>create</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Send an account creation request at specified server.
+    Send an account creation request at specified server. If options are not all
+    provided, nymbaron will ask interactively for the lacking information. The
+    user has to provide:
+	- a local account identifier.
+	- the address of the nymserver she wants to register her account to.
+	- a list of nyms, that is to say anonymous usernames. The server will
+	choose among them the first free name and attribute it to the user.
+	- a return address, the email address where the packet destined to the
+	nymholder will be returned
+    This information can also be provided through this command option.
     </para>
+    <para>
+    Additionnaly, the user will be prompted for his passphrase to unlock her
+    private keyring. This is necessary to protect the private keys generated for
+    her account in her private keyring. If the keyring doesn't exist yet, it
+    will be created and a password will be asked to protect it.
+    </para>
+    <para>
+    When this command returns, data for this account are stored in the local
+    file system and registration messages were sent to the nymserver. The user
+    can interrupt the creation of an account when by striking Ctrl-C when
+    prompted for information.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -55,8 +76,14 @@
     <term><command>send</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Send an email message through a nymserver.
+    Send an email message through a nymserver. If the account from which the
+    user wants to send a message from isn't designed by the appropriate option,
+    returns without doing anything.
     </para>
+    <para>
+    The message to be sent is taken from a file pointed by the appropriate
+    option or from standard input.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -64,8 +91,27 @@
     <term><command>summarize</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Send a request for synopsis for specified account.
+	Send a request for synopses for specified account. The user can request
+	synopses older than a given mid, precised by a mid or a reference in the
+	synbox ('syn:N', where N is the index of the mid in the synbox). The
+	server will send back at most the number of synopses precised by the
+	user. If no value is given by the user, the defalut value present in the
+	configuration file of the user will be used.
     </para>
+    <para>
+	In the nymserver protocol, the surbs, single-use reply blocks, are
+	potentially a scarce resource. The protocol design takes this into
+	account : instead of sending each message addressed to a nym directly to
+	the nymholder, it generates summaries of the messages. The priority is
+	given to provide the nymholder with some information on every message he
+	receives. She will then request explicitely the retrieval of the message
+	she is interested in.
+    </para>
+    <para>
+	A synopsis actually contains some basic information about a message :
+	its mid, its order of arrival on the server, truncated RFC-822 headers
+	and the first characters of the body.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -73,8 +119,15 @@
     <term><command>delete</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Request email deletion.
+	Request email deletion on the server. The account must be precised by
+	the user. The user gives a list of mid, either by mid or by
+	reference ('syn:N', where N is the index of the mid in the synbox).
     </para>
+    <para>
+	This command enables the user to authorize a message to be deleted on
+	the server. This will free some space of her reserved space on the
+	server.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -82,8 +135,14 @@
     <term><command>get</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Retrieve email
+	Retrieve email from the server. The account must be precised by
+	the user. The user gives a list of mid, either by mid or by 
+	reference ('syn:N', where N is the index of the mid in the synbox).
     </para>
+    <para>
+	This command enables the user to ask explicitely for the retrieval of a
+	list of designed messages.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -91,24 +150,44 @@
     <term><command>process</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Process returning server messages
+	Process returning server messages. The account must be precised by
+	the user, either by the account name or by an idtag. The location of the
+	message is given by the approprite option.
     </para>
+    <para>
+	The message must already have been decrypted and reassembled by
+	mixminion. The mixminion headers must have been removed as well. If you
+	do not understand this lines, you probably want to use mprocess.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 <varlistentry>
     <term><command>mprocess</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Process returning minion messages
+	Process returning minion messages. The location of the message is given
+	by the approprite option.
     </para>
+    <para>
+	This is the command that is used to process a message received from the
+	mixminion network. It will try to reassemble mixminion packets by
+	calling mixminion, and, if successful, will determine the
+	account the message was addressed to and process it.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 <varlistentry>
     <term><command>list-syn</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    List already fetched summaries
+    	List already fetched summaries. The account must be precised by the
+	user.
     </para>
+    <para>
+	This command prints on the standard output the summarized content of the
+	synbox. The user will use dump-syn to get access to the full content of
+	the synopses.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -116,8 +195,15 @@
     <term><command>dump-syn</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Dump already fetched summaries
+	Dump already fetched summaries. The account must be precised by the
+	user.
     </para>
+    <para>
+	Contrary to the list-syn command, this command will output the whole
+	content of the summaries. This may be used to inspect more thoroughly
+	the content of summaries, for example the beginning of bodies of
+	messages before requesting full messages.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -125,8 +211,13 @@
     <term><command>list-mbox</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    List already fetched emails
+	List already fetched emails. The account must be precised by the user.
     </para>
+    <para>
+	This command prints on the standard output the summarized content of the
+	mbox. The user will use export to get access to the full content of a
+	message.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -134,8 +225,16 @@
     <term><command>list-journal</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    List commands recorded in the journal (sent but not acknowledged yet)
+	List commands recorded in the journal (sent but not acknowledged yet).
+	The account must be precised by the user.
     </para>
+    <para>
+	Because of the lack of fiability insurance in the mixminion network, in
+	order to keep track of command messages that were sent but not
+	acknowledged and to be able to resend those messages, the sent command
+	messages are recorded in a local journal. This command enables the user
+	to check the journal. Command messages are removed from the journal as
+	they are acknowledged.
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -143,8 +242,17 @@
     <term><command>send-surb</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Send SURBs
+        Send SURBs. The account must be precised by the user. The number of
+	surbs to send can also be precised. If it is not, the default number
+	present in the configuration file will be used.
     </para>
+    <para>
+	Surbs, single-use reply blocks, are data that enables the nymserver to
+	return commands to the nymholder through the mixminion network. Thus the
+	server doesn't know the identity of the nymholder. As they can only be
+	used once, the server may run out of them. This command enables the user
+	to provide the nymserver with fresh surbs.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -152,8 +260,15 @@
     <term><command>export</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Export already fetched emails to a file
+	Export already fetched emails to a file. The account must be precised by
+	the user. The user gives a list of messages, either by mid or by mbox
+	reference('mbox:N', where N is the index of message in the local mbox).
     </para>
+    <para>
+	This command enables the user to store messages outside of the nymbaron
+	stores. She will then be able to read them with the viewer of her
+	choice.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -161,8 +276,19 @@
     <term><command>resend-command</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Resend a command that has been sent but not acknowledged yet
+	Resend a command that has been sent but not acknowledged yet. The
+	account must be precised by the user. The user gives a list of either
+	sequence numbers or journal references ('journal:N') corresponding to
+	commands present in the journal of already sent commands that have not
+	yet been acknowledged.
     </para>
+    <para>
+	The mixminion network doesn't garante the fiability of the
+	transmissions. The nymserver protocol takes this into account by
+	providing acknowledgement by the server of received command messages
+	from the client. This command enables the user to resend already sent
+	commands which weren't acknowledged by the server.
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -170,8 +296,17 @@
     <term><command>ldelete</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Delete messages from the local mbox
+	Delete messages from the local mbox. The account must be precised by the
+	user. The user gives a list of messages, either by mid or by mbox
+	reference ('mbox:N', where N is the index of message in the local mbox).
     </para>
+    <para>
+	Note than after a deletion of messages, the index designing messages in
+	the local mbox may have changed. Use 'list-mbox' before making further
+	mbox references ('mbox:N' references).
+    </para>
+
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -179,8 +314,15 @@
     <term><command>ldelete-syn</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Delete messages from the local synbox
+	Delete summaries from the local synbox. The account must be precised by
+	the user. The user gives a list of mid, either by mid or by reference
+	('syn:N', where N is the index of the mid in the synbox).
     </para>
+    <para>
+	Note than after a deletion of summaries, the index designing mids in the
+	synbox may have changed. Use 'list-syn' before making further synbox
+	references ('syn:N' references).
+    </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
 
@@ -188,7 +330,7 @@
     <term><command>list-accounts</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    List the accounts of the user
+    List the accounts of the user.
     </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
@@ -197,7 +339,7 @@
     <term><command>passwd</command></term>
     <listitem>
     <para>
-    Change the passphrase that protects the user keyring
+    Change the passphrase that protects the user keyring.
     </para>
     </listitem>
 </varlistentry>
@@ -287,7 +429,7 @@
 
 <refsect1><title>AUTHORS</title>
 <para>
-    Laurent Fousse <email>laurent at komite.net</email> and Jean-René
+    Laurent Fousse <email>laurent at komite.net</email> and Jean-René
     Reinhard
     <email>jr at komite.net</email>.
     <ulink
@@ -296,7 +438,7 @@
 </refsect1>
 <refsect1><title>COPYRIGHT</title>
 <para>
-Copyright &copy; 2004,2005 Jean-René Reinhard
+Copyright &copy; 2004,2005 Jean-René Reinhard
 <email>jr at komite.net</email>
 and Laurent Fousse <email>laurent at komite.net</email>.
 </para>



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