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1.1 root 1: .ls 1
2: .se "Other Commands"
3:
4: .ss "Returning to the Index Page"
5:
6: Type ``i'' (``index'') while reading notes or responses
7: to return to the index page.
8:
9: .ss "Searching Titles for Keywords"
10:
11: Notesfiles can search backwards for keywords appearing in note titles.
12: Typing ``x'' (``x is the unknown title'') prompts for the substring to be found.
13: Searching begins
14: at the current note (or from the last note shown on the index page)
15: and proceeds towards note 1.
16: Upper/lower case information is ignored in the search.
17: Use upper case ``X'' to continue the search.
18: The search can be aborted by hitting the RUBOUT (or DELETE) key.
19:
20: .ss "Searching for Authors"
21:
22: The ``a'' command searches backwards for notes or responses written by
23: a specific author.
24: Notesfiles prompts for the authors name.
25: The ``A'' command continues the search backwards.
26: The author name may be preceded by an optional `system!'.
27: Abort the search by hitting the RUBOUT (or DELETE) key.
28:
29: The entire name need not be specified when searching
30: for articles by a particular author.
31: Author searching uses substring searching.
32: Searching for the author ``john'' will yield articles written
33: by a local user ``john'',
34: a remote user ``somewhere!johnston'',
35: and any articles from the ``uiucjohnny'' machine.
36: Author searching is case sensitive.
37:
38: .ss "Stacking Notesfiles"
39:
40: Sometimes it is useful to be able to
41: glance at another notesfile while reading notes.
42: Using ``n'', the user can save (stack) his current place and peruse
43: another notesfile.
44:
45: When on the index page or while reading notes/responses,
46: type ``n'' (``nest'')
47: to read another notesfile.
48: Notesfiles prompts for the notesfile to read.
49: If the notesfile exists, the place is marked in the old notesfile
50: and the new one's index is displayed.
51:
52: Type any of the standard keys to leave the nested notesfile.
53: Both ``q'' and ``Q'' leave the nested notesfile
54: and return to the previously stacked notesfile.
55: Control-d (``signoff'') causes the notesfile program to exit regardless
56: of the depth of nesting.
57:
58: Sequencing is turned off in the new notesfile
59: regardless of its state in the old notesfile.
60: The depth of the stack of notesfiles is limited only by the
61: amount of memory available to the user.
62:
63: .ss "Accessing Archives"
64:
65: As notesfiles grow, it becomes impractical to keep every discussion.
66: In some cases, the old discussions are deleted;
67: other cases require these old discussions to be saved somewhere.
68: Each active notesfile can have an archive notesfile.
69: An archive notesfile contains the old discussions from the
70: active notesfile.
71:
72: The archive of an active notesfile is accessed by explicitly
73: naming the notesfile (/usr/spool/oldnotes/micronotes for example)
74: or through the ``N'' command from the active notesfile.
75:
76: .ss "Policy Note"
77:
78: A notesfile director can write an optional policy note to describe
79: the purpose of a notesfile.
80: Read the policy note by typing ``p'' (``policy'') from the index page.
81:
82: .se "The Sequencer"
83:
84: Most users prefer to scan notesfiles and see only those notes written
85: since their last reading.
86: The notesfile ``sequencer'' provides this capability.
87: It is activated by the ``-s'' option (``sequencer'') on the
88: command line.
89: When the sequencer is activated, the notesfile system automatically remembers
90: the last time the user read notes in each notesfile.
91: Subsequent entries to the
92: notesfile can use the ``last time'' information to show only new notes and
93: responses.
94: If there is nothing new in a notesfile,
95: the sequencer proceeds to the next notesfile specified in the command line.
96:
97: The normal sequencer does not give the user a chance to read
98: the notesfile if there are no new notes or responses;
99: sometimes it is desirable to be able to do so.
100: Use the ``-x'' option
101: to enable the sequencer and enter the notesfile
102: even if there are no new notes.
103:
104: No keys need be pressed if there are no new notes in the entire list
105: and the normal (``-s'') sequencer mode is selected.
106: With the extended (``-x'') sequencer,
107: the user must type ``q'', ``Q'', or control-d
108: for each notesfile regardless of whether
109: there are new notes.
110:
111: The ``-i'' mode of sequencing is similar to the ``-s'' mode.
112: Using the ``-i'' mode, notesfiles with no new entries are passed over.
113: The user starts reading
114: on the index page of notesfiles which contain new notes.
115:
116: .ss "Seeing New Notes and Responses"
117:
118: The sequencer always shows the base note of a
119: modified note string,
120: whether or not is has been shown before,
121: in order to establish the context of the new response(s).
122: The ``j'' command skips to the next modified text (note or response).
123:
124: If the rest of a particular note string seems uninteresting,
125: skip to the next modified note string with the ``J'' (``big Jump'')
126: command.
127: This skips any new responses on the current note string.
128: It is common to follow in detail only a few note strings and
129: skip others with the ``J'' command.
130:
131: The ``last time'' information is kept in a special file for
132: each user.
133: When the sequencer is enabled, the time for the notesfile
134: is loaded into
135: a variable and used to specify which notes and responses are new.
136: If the sequencer is not enabled, this variable is initialized to
137: January 1, 1970.
138: The ``j'' and ``J'' keys use this variable to determine which
139: notes and responses are ``new''.
140:
141: If the sequencer is enabled,
142: after exiting a notesfile
143: the ``last time'' information
144: is updated to the time that the user entered this notesfile. The
145: entry time is used rather than the exit time to ensure that all
146: notes are seen, including ones written during the just completed
147: session.
148: If the sequencer is disabled, the ``last time'' information is
149: not modified.
150: The ``last time'' information for a particular notesfile is updated
151: as that notesfile is exited;
152: using ``Q'' or control-D later will have no effect on the sequencer
153: information for notesfiles already read.
154:
155: The ``o'' and ``O'' commands allow the user to modify the
156: variable used to determine whether notes and responses are ``new''.
157: The ``o'' command allows the user to set this variable to any
158: date he wishes.
159: Use the ``O'' command to set this variable to show
160: only notes and responses written that day.
161: The ``last time'' file kept for each user is never modified by
162: the ``o'' and ``O'' commands.
163:
164: When no more new notes or responses exist, both the
165: ``j'' and ``J'' commands will take the user to the index page.
166: To exit the notesfile, use the ``q'' command.
167: Exiting with ``q'' will update the user's
168: ``last entry'' time.
169: Exiting with capital ``Q'' will NOT modify the
170: ``last entry'' time for that notesfile
171: (neither will control-D).
172:
173: The ``l'' and ``L'' command behave similarly to ``j'' and
174: ``J''.
175: The difference is that while ``j'' and ''J' take the user to
176: the last index page when no more new notes or responses
177: exist, the ``l'' and ``L'' commands will leave the notesfile
178: as if a ``q'' had been typed.
179: Thus when no more new notes exist, the ``l'' command is
180: like typing ``jq''.
181:
182: .ss "Alternate Sequencers"
183:
184: If several people share a signon,
185: it is convenient for each to have his own set of sequencing
186: timestamps.
187: This is accomplished through the use of the
188: subsequencer option of notesfiles.
189:
190: Specifying the -a option and a subsequencer name
191: causes notes to use a different sequencing timestamp file.
192: Many different subsequencer names can be used with
193: each signon.
194: Two different users using the same subsequencer name will not
195: conflict.
196: It is recommended that all the subsequencer names for a given
197: user be unique in the first 6 characters.
198:
199: The main sequencer file for a given user is distinct from
200: each of its subsequencer files.
201: Each of the subsequencer files is normally distinct.
202: If the subsequencer names are not distinct in the
203: first 6 characters, subsequencer files may collide.
204:
205: .ss "Automatic Sequencing"
206:
207: An alternate entry to the notes program
208: allows the user to invoke notes with the sequencer enabled and a list
209: of notesfiles to be scanned with a single,
210: simple
211: command.
212: The ``autoseq'' command is invoked by typing
213:
214: autoseq
215:
216: and reads the environment variable ``NFSEQ'' to find the names of all
217: notesfiles to be scanned.
218: On some systems, the ``autoseq'' command
219: may be known as ``readnotes'', ``autonotes'' or some similar
220: variant;
221: substitute the appropriate name in the following paragraphs.
222: The ``NFSEQ'' variable should be defined in .profile for
223: Bourne shell users as follows:
224:
225: .nf
226: .ls 1
227: NFSEQ=``pbnotes,micronotes,helpnotes,works''
228: export NFSEQ
229: .ls
230: .fi
231:
232: For users of the C shell, the following line should be
233: added to the .login file:
234:
235: .nf
236: setenv NFSEQ ``pbnotes,micronotes,helpnotes,works''
237: .fi
238:
239: With NFSEQ assigned this value,
240: a call to autoseq will process the notesfiles
241: ``pbnotes'',
242: ``micronotes'',
243: ``helpnotes'',
244: and
245: ``works''
246: with the sequencer turned on.
247:
248: The full naming conventions,
249: pattern matching capabilities,
250: and `!' exclusion
251: described in section 2.2
252: (``Notesfile Names and Wildcards'') are available in autoseq.
253: To read all notesfiles with ``unix'' in their names, and the
254: four test notesfiles (``test1'' though ``test4''), the NFSEQ
255: variable might be defined as:
256:
257: NFSEQ=``*unix*,test[1234]''
258:
259: If the first character of an entry in the NFSEQ list is ``:'',
260: the notesfile system reads the file name following for a list of
261: notesfiles.
262: To have the automatic sequencer read the file ``/usr/essick/.nfseq''
263: for a list of notesfiles to scan, define NFSEQ as:
264:
265: NFSEQ=``:/usr/essick/.nfseq''
266:
267: For this feature to work, the file must have group read
268: privileges.
269: The notesfile program runs ``set-uid'' and
270: can not read files which are readable only by the owner.
271:
272: The following definitions are also valid.
273: The first one reads the notesfiles specified in the file ``/usr/essick/.nfseq''
274: and then reads the notesfiles pbnotes and micronotes.
275: The second definition will read the notesfile pbnotes, those specified in
276: ``/usr/essick/.nfseq'', micronotes and the ones specified in
277: ``/usr/essick/.other''.
278: If the notesfile program is unable to read the file specified, it
279: skips to the next entry.
280: For a description of the format of these files, see the section 2.3,
281: ``The -f Option''.
282:
283: NFSEQ=``:/usr/essick/.nfseq,pbnotes,micronotes''
284:
285: NFSEQ=``pbnotes,:/usr/essick/.nfseq,micronotes,:/usr/essick/.other''
286:
287:
288: The automatic sequencer uses the ``-s'' mode of sequencing,
289: the user does not enter notesfiles which have no new text.
290: By specifying ``-x'' or ``-i'' on the command line, the user can
291: use the appropriate sequencer mode.
292:
293: The subsequencer option of notes is available from the
294: autoseq program by specifying ``-a name'' on the command line.
295: The semantics of this option are identical to those when
296: invoking notes.
297:
298: .se "Environment Variables"
299:
300: The notesfile program reads several environment variables to
301: tailor the system to the user's preferences.
302: Below is a list of the variables,
303: their purpose,
304: and
305: their default values.
306: These defaults are for UNIX 4.1bsd and may be slightly different
307: for other versions of UNIX.
308:
309: .bx
310: .ix
311: ``NFED'' specifies which editor will be invoked when the user writes a
312: note or response.
313: If this variable is not specified, the notesfile system looks for
314: the environment variable ``EDITOR'' (which many other programs use).
315: If neither ``NFED'' nor ``EDITOR'' are defined, a default editor is
316: used (/bin/ed).
317: .ix
318: ``NFSEQ'' is a list of notesfiles that the user wishes to scan using the
319: automatic sequencing entry to notesfiles.
320: The use of this variable is described in the section on sequencing.
321: If unspecified, the system uses a standard set which usually includes
322: ``general'' and ``net.general''.
323: .ix
324: ``PAGER'' is the paging program (``more'', ``pg'') which is used for scrolling
325: the help files.
326: The default paging program is /usr/ucb/more.
327: .ix
328: ``MAILER'' determines the mail program to use. If undefined, this defaults
329: to /usr/ucb/mail.
330: .ix
331: ``WRITE'' is used to specify the program for communication between users.
332: If undefined, the Unix program ``write'' is used.
333: .ix
334: ``TERM'' determines the type of terminal in use. This must be set
335: for notes to know what screen addressing conventions to use. In most
336: cases the value will be correctly initialized by the system at login
337: time.
338: .ix
339: ``SHELL'' specifies which shell the user is running.
340: This will almost always be set by the operating system.
341: .ex
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