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Annotation of 43BSD/contrib/notes/man/notes.1, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: .TH NOTES 1 "May 10, 1986" "University of Illinois"
        !             2: .SH NAME
        !             3: notes,
        !             4: autoseq,
        !             5: readnotes \- a news system
        !             6: .SH SYNOPSIS
        !             7: .B notes
        !             8: [
        !             9: .B \-sxin
        !            10: ] [
        !            11: .B "-o"
        !            12: .I date-spec
        !            13: ] [
        !            14: .B "-a"
        !            15: subsequencer
        !            16: ]
        !            17: [
        !            18: .B "\-t"
        !            19: termtype
        !            20: ]
        !            21: [
        !            22: .B "-f"
        !            23: file
        !            24: ]
        !            25: topic1
        !            26: [ ... ]
        !            27: .PP
        !            28: .B autoseq
        !            29: [
        !            30: .B "-a"
        !            31: subsequencer
        !            32: ]
        !            33: .PP
        !            34: .B readnotes
        !            35: [
        !            36: .B "-a"
        !            37: subsequencer
        !            38: ]
        !            39: .SH DESCRIPTION
        !            40: .I Notes
        !            41: supports computer managed discussion forums.
        !            42: It coordinates access to and updates of data bases of notes and their
        !            43: responses.
        !            44: A single 
        !            45: .I notesfile
        !            46: contains an ordered list of
        !            47: .I "base notes,"
        !            48: each of which may have an ordered list of responses associated with it.
        !            49: A
        !            50: .I "note string"
        !            51: consists of a 
        !            52: .I "base note"
        !            53: and all of its responses.
        !            54: Separate 
        !            55: .I notesfiles
        !            56: contain discussions on separate subject matters; microcomputers might
        !            57: be discussed in a 
        !            58: ``micronotes'' notesfile while
        !            59: bicycling enthusiasts make their comments in a ``bicycle'' notesfile.
        !            60: .PP
        !            61: The 
        !            62: .B \-s
        !            63: option signals 
        !            64: .I notes
        !            65: to use the automatic sequencer.
        !            66: With the sequencer enabled,
        !            67: .I notes
        !            68: shows the new notes and responses since your last entry into
        !            69: that notesfile.
        !            70: With the sequencer enabled by 
        !            71: .B \-s
        !            72: the notes program will not enter notesfiles which have no new text.
        !            73: Specify
        !            74: .B \-x
        !            75: to use the sequencer and enter notesfiles even if they have no new 
        !            76: text.
        !            77: The 
        !            78: .B \-i
        !            79: and
        !            80: .B \-n
        !            81: options are still more sequencing modes,
        !            82: .B \-i
        !            83: is similar to 
        !            84: .B \-s
        !            85: but shows the index page instead of the first modified note.
        !            86: .B \-n
        !            87: turns the sequencer off.
        !            88: .PP
        !            89: The 
        !            90: .B -o
        !            91: option helps users find articles that are vaguely remembered
        !            92: with terms such as ``some note in the last 3 days in one of
        !            93: several notesfiles''.
        !            94: These can be found with a command like:
        !            95: 
        !            96:        notes -o "3 days ago" nf1 nf2 nf3
        !            97: 
        !            98: which sequences past all articles written in 
        !            99: notesfiles ``nf1'', ``nf2'', and ``nf3'' in the last 3 days.
        !           100: The user's timestamps are not updated.
        !           101: .PP
        !           102: The
        !           103: .B "-a"
        !           104: option specifies a
        !           105: .IR "subsequencer" "."
        !           106: This allows several people sharing the same signon to
        !           107: maintain their own sequencer file.
        !           108: The actual sequencer name is generated by concatenating the
        !           109: user name and the subsequencer name.
        !           110: It is recommended that subsequencer names be unique within the
        !           111: first 6 characters.
        !           112: .PP
        !           113: Specify 
        !           114: .B "\-t" 
        !           115: .I termtype
        !           116: to override the TERM environment variable.
        !           117: This switch is primarily for V6 systems.
        !           118: .PP
        !           119: The 
        !           120: .B "-f"
        !           121: option directs 
        !           122: .I notes
        !           123: to read the contents of 
        !           124: a file
        !           125: for a list of notesfiles to scan.
        !           126: This file and the directories must be readable by the notesfile 
        !           127: user id.
        !           128: .PP
        !           129: The
        !           130: topic list
        !           131: specifies which notesfiles are to be scanned.
        !           132: The notesfiles are scanned from left to right; upon finishing the
        !           133: first topic, the second is entered.
        !           134: The shell's meta-characters are recognized within a topic
        !           135: but must be escaped to prevent shell interpretation.
        !           136: Specifying ``net.*'' will yield all the notesfiles with the 
        !           137: prefix ``net.''.
        !           138: Specify ``*unix*'' to read all notesfiles with the string ``unix'' in
        !           139: their names.
        !           140: Bracket and question mark constructs are also recognized.
        !           141: .PP
        !           142: Notesfile names are parsed such that a notesfile will be entered
        !           143: only once no matter how many times it is listed on the command
        !           144: line and in any files specified by the
        !           145: .B -f
        !           146: option.
        !           147: Notesfiles can also be excluded by prefixing their names with
        !           148: a `!'.  Thus to see all notesfiles except ``general'', one might
        !           149: type:
        !           150: 
        !           151:        notes "*" !general
        !           152: 
        !           153: .PP
        !           154: The
        !           155: .I autoseq
        !           156: and 
        !           157: .I readnotes
        !           158: commands allow sequencing through a list of notesfiles with the sequencer
        !           159: enabled using with a single command.
        !           160: .I Autoseq
        !           161: and 
        !           162: .I Readnotes
        !           163: function identically.
        !           164: They are
        !           165: syntactically equivalent to 
        !           166: ``notes -s $NFSEQ''.
        !           167: The environment variable NFSEQ contains a comma separated
        !           168: list of notesfile specifications.
        !           169: A typical
        !           170: .I NFSEQ
        !           171: definition for the Bourne shell
        !           172: looks like:
        !           173: 
        !           174: NFSEQ=``general,announce,net.*,bicycle,srg,:/usr/essick/nflist''.
        !           175: 
        !           176: Specifications beginning with a `:' specify a file to read
        !           177: for more notesfile names.
        !           178: In the previous example, the last specification reads the 
        !           179: contents of the file `/usr/essick/nflist' for more notesfile
        !           180: specifications.  Many of these can appear in the
        !           181: .I NFSEQ
        !           182: variable.
        !           183: .PP
        !           184: Notes and responses are entered by using an editor. The default editor is
        !           185: .IR "ed" (1).
        !           186: This can be changed by setting one of the environment variables
        !           187: .I NFED
        !           188: or
        !           189: .I EDITOR.
        !           190: .I Notes
        !           191: looks for 
        !           192: .I NFED
        !           193: before looking for
        !           194: .I EDITOR,
        !           195: allowing users to use different editors for writing notes and
        !           196: for other tools.
        !           197: .PP
        !           198: Some commonly used commands within the notesfile system are listed below:
        !           199: .TP 10
        !           200: space
        !           201: Show the next page of the note/response.
        !           202: .TP 10
        !           203: ;
        !           204: Go the next response, if there are no more responses go to the next note.
        !           205: .TP 10
        !           206: -
        !           207: Go to the previous page of the current note/response.
        !           208: From the first page of a response, go to the previous response
        !           209: (or the base note from the first response).
        !           210: From the first page of a base note, go to the previous note.
        !           211: .TP 10
        !           212: newline
        !           213: Go to the next note.
        !           214: .TP 10
        !           215: j
        !           216: Jump to the next unread note/response (when using sequencer).
        !           217: .TP 10
        !           218: J
        !           219: Jump to the next unread note, ignoring any further responses in the current
        !           220: note string (when using sequencer).
        !           221: .TP 10
        !           222: w
        !           223: When issued from the index page enters a new note.
        !           224: When entered from a note/response display enters a response.
        !           225: A capital-W will include the text of the currently displayed note/response
        !           226: in the new response.
        !           227: .TP 10
        !           228: q
        !           229: Leave the current notesfile.
        !           230: .TP 10
        !           231: Q
        !           232: Leave the current notesfile without updating the sequencer information.
        !           233: .TP 10
        !           234: control-d
        !           235: Return to the shell, ignoring any further notesfiles in the current 
        !           236: invocation. 
        !           237: No sequencer information is updated.
        !           238: .TP 10
        !           239: x
        !           240: Search for a note with the (prompted for) string in its title.
        !           241: Capital-X asks for a new search string, otherwise the last entered
        !           242: string is used.
        !           243: .TP 10
        !           244: s
        !           245: Saves the currently displayed note/response at the end of a (prompted for)
        !           246: file.
        !           247: Capital-S saves the entire note string.
        !           248: .TP 10
        !           249: M
        !           250: Sends the text of the note/response displayed and
        !           251: your comments  to another user(s).
        !           252: The P command routes the letter to the author of
        !           253: the note/response.
        !           254: .TP 10
        !           255: t
        !           256: Issues a write(1) command to the author of the currently displayed 
        !           257: note/response.
        !           258: No action is taken if the note originated on a remote system or
        !           259: is anonymous.
        !           260: .TP 10
        !           261: !
        !           262: Forks a shell.
        !           263: .PP
        !           264: Only the 
        !           265: .I "notesfile owner"
        !           266: can create new notesfiles.
        !           267: The 
        !           268: .I "notesfile owner"
        !           269: will create the notesfile and turn control over to
        !           270: the person requesting the notesfile.
        !           271: This person is the
        !           272: .I "notesfile director;"
        !           273: he may designate others to also be 
        !           274: .I "notesfile directors."
        !           275: The 
        !           276: .I "notesfile director"
        !           277: has special privileges including:
        !           278: deleting any note,
        !           279: determining policy for the notesfile,
        !           280: permitting anonymous notes,
        !           281: and
        !           282: determining accessibility of the notesfile.
        !           283: .PP
        !           284: An interface is provided to
        !           285: .IR news (1).
        !           286: Transfers in both directions are supported.
        !           287: See
        !           288: .IR newsoutput (8)
        !           289: and the 
        !           290: .ul
        !           291: Notesfile Reference Manual
        !           292: for more information on this facility.
        !           293: .PP
        !           294: Facilities for mailing to notesfiles (
        !           295: .IR nfmail (8)
        !           296: ), networking notesfiles (
        !           297: .IR nfxmit (8)
        !           298: ), printing notesfiles (
        !           299: .IR nfprint (1)
        !           300: ), archiving old notes (
        !           301: .IR nfarchive (8)
        !           302: ), and
        !           303: several user routines (
        !           304: .IR nfabort (3)
        !           305: and
        !           306: .IR nfcomment (3)
        !           307: ) exist.
        !           308: .PP
        !           309: The concept of a
        !           310: notesfile
        !           311: was taken from the PLATO system (a trademark of Control Data Corporation)
        !           312: designed at the University of Illinois
        !           313: to provide automated teaching capabilities.
        !           314: .SH FILES
        !           315: .PD 0
        !           316: .TP 45
        !           317: /etc/passwd
        !           318: for the users name
        !           319: .TP 45
        !           320: /etc/group
        !           321: for the users group(s)
        !           322: .TP 45
        !           323: /etc/termcap
        !           324: for terminal capabilites
        !           325: .TP 45
        !           326: /usr/spool/notes
        !           327: the default notesfile data base
        !           328: .TP 45
        !           329: /usr/spool/notes/.utilities
        !           330: utility programs and online help
        !           331: .TP 45
        !           332: /usr/spool/notes/.sequencer/\fIuser\fP
        !           333: Sequencing timestamps for
        !           334: .I user.
        !           335: .TP 45
        !           336: /usr/spool/notes/.sequencer/\fIuser\fP:\fIsubsequencer\fP
        !           337: Sub-sequencing timestamps for
        !           338: .I user.
        !           339: .PD
        !           340: .SH SEE ALSO
        !           341: checknotes(1),
        !           342: ed(1),
        !           343: mknf(8),
        !           344: news(1),
        !           345: newsoutput(8),
        !           346: nfabort(3),
        !           347: nfaccess(8),
        !           348: nfarchive(8),
        !           349: nfmail(8),
        !           350: nfpipe(1),
        !           351: nfprint(1),
        !           352: nfstats(1),
        !           353: nfxmit(8),
        !           354: nfcomment(3),
        !           355: notes(8),
        !           356: termcap(3),
        !           357: write(1),
        !           358: .br
        !           359: .ul
        !           360: The Notesfile Reference Manual
        !           361: .SH AUTHORS
        !           362: .nf
        !           363: Ray Essick (uiucdcs!essick, essick%[email protected])
        !           364: Department of Computer Science
        !           365: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
        !           366: Urbana, IL
        !           367: .sp
        !           368: Rob Kolstad ([email protected])
        !           369: CONVEX Computer Corporation
        !           370: Richardson, TX
        !           371: .fi

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