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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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