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1.1 root 1: .\" @(#)2.2 6.1 (Berkeley) 5/26/86
2: .\"
3: .ls 1
4: .se "Other Commands"
5:
6: .ss "Returning to the Index Page"
7:
8: Type ``i'' (``index'') while reading notes or responses
9: to return to the index page.
10:
11: .ss "Searching Titles for Keywords"
12:
13: While reading, you can search backwards for keywords appearing in note titles.
14: Typing ``x'' (``x is the unknown title'') prompts for the substring to be found.
15: Searching begins
16: at the current note (or from the last note shown on the index page)
17: and proceeds towards note 1.
18: The search is insensitive to upper/lowercase distinctions.
19: Use upper case ``X'' to continue the search.
20: The search can be aborted by hitting the RUBOUT (or DELETE) key.
21:
22: .ss "Searching for Authors"
23:
24: The ``a'' command searches backwards for notes or responses written by
25: a specific author.
26: Notesfiles prompts for the author's name.
27: The ``A'' command continues the search backwards.
28: The author name may be preceded by an optional `system!'.
29: Abort the search by hitting the RUBOUT (or DELETE) key.
30:
31: The entire name need not be specified when searching
32: for articles by a particular author.
33: Author searching uses substring searching.
34: Searching for the author ``john'' will yield articles written
35: by a local user ``john'',
36: a remote user ``somewhere!johnston'',
37: and any articles from the ``uiucjohnny'' machine.
38: Author searching is case sensitive.
39:
40: .ss "Stacking Notesfiles"
41:
42: Sometimes it is useful to be able to
43: glance at another notesfile while reading notes.
44: Using ``n'', the user can save (stack) his current place and peruse
45: another notesfile.
46:
47: When on the index page or while reading notes/responses,
48: type ``n'' (``nest'')
49: to read another notesfile.
50: Notesfiles prompts for the notesfile to read.
51: If the notesfile exists, the place is marked in the old notesfile
52: and the new one's index is displayed.
53:
54: Type any of the standard keys to leave the nested notesfile.
55: Both ``q'' and ``Q'' leave the nested notesfile
56: and return to the previously stacked notesfile.
57: Control-d (``signoff'') causes the notesfile program to exit regardless
58: of the depth of nesting.
59:
60: Sequencing is turned off in the new notesfile
61: regardless of its state in the old notesfile.
62: The depth of the stack of notesfiles is limited only by the
63: amount of memory available to the user.
64:
65: .ss "Accessing Archives"
66:
67: As notesfiles grow, it becomes impractical to keep every discussion.
68: In some cases, the old discussions are deleted;
69: other cases require these old discussions to be saved somewhere.
70: Each active notesfile can have an archive notesfile.
71: An archive notesfile contains the old discussions from the
72: active notesfile.
73:
74: The archive of an active notesfile is accessed by explicitly
75: naming the notesfile (/usr/spool/oldnotes/micronotes for example)
76: or through the ``N'' command from the active notesfile.
77:
78: .ss "Policy Note"
79:
80: A notesfile director can write an optional policy note to describe
81: the purpose of a notesfile.
82: Read the policy note by typing ``p'' (``policy'') from the index page.
83:
84: .se "The Sequencer"
85:
86: Most users prefer to scan notesfiles and see only those notes written
87: since their last reading.
88: The notesfile ``sequencer'' provides this capability.
89: It is activated by the ``-s'' option (``sequencer'') on the
90: command line.
91: When the sequencer is activated, the notesfile system automatically remembers
92: the last time the user read notes in each notesfile.
93: Subsequent entries to the
94: notesfile can use the ``last time'' information to show only new notes and
95: responses.
96: If there is nothing new in a notesfile,
97: the sequencer proceeds to the next notesfile specified in the command line.
98:
99: The normal sequencer does not give the user a chance to read
100: the notesfile if there are no new notes or responses;
101: sometimes it is desirable to be able to do so.
102: Use the ``-x'' option
103: to enable the sequencer and enter the notesfile
104: even if there are no new notes.
105:
106: No keys need be pressed if there are no new notes in the entire list
107: and the normal (``-s'') sequencer mode is selected.
108: With the extended (``-x'') sequencer,
109: the user must type ``q'', ``Q'', or control-d
110: for each notesfile regardless of whether
111: there are new notes.
112:
113: The ``-i'' mode of sequencing is similar to the ``-s'' mode.
114: Using the ``-i'' mode, notesfiles without new entries are passed over.
115: The user starts reading
116: on the index page of notesfiles which contain new notes.
117:
118: .ss "Seeing New Notes and Responses"
119:
120: The sequencer always shows the base note of a
121: modified note string,
122: whether or not is has been shown before,
123: in order to establish the context of the new response(s).
124: The ``j'' command skips to the next modified text (note or response).
125:
126: If the rest of a particular note string seems uninteresting,
127: skip to the next modified note string with the ``J'' (``big Jump'')
128: command.
129: This skips any new responses on the current note string.
130: It is common to follow closely only a few note strings,
131: skipping others using the ``J'' command.
132:
133: The ``last time'' information is kept in a special file for
134: each user.
135: When the sequencer is enabled, the time for the notesfile
136: is loaded into
137: a variable and used to specify which notes and responses are new.
138: If the sequencer is not enabled, this variable is initialized to
139: January 1, 1970.
140: The ``j'' and ``J'' keys use this variable to determine which
141: notes and responses are ``new''.
142:
143: If the sequencer is enabled,
144: after exiting a notesfile
145: the ``last time'' information
146: is updated to the time that the user entered this notesfile. The
147: entry time is used rather than the exit time to ensure that all
148: notes are seen, including ones written during the just completed
149: session.
150: If the sequencer is disabled, the ``last time'' information is
151: not modified.
152: The ``last time'' information for a particular notesfile is updated
153: as that notesfile is exited;
154: using ``Q'' or control-D later will have no effect on the sequencer
155: information for notesfiles already read.
156:
157: The ``o'' and ``O'' commands allow the user to modify the
158: variable used to determine whether notes and responses are ``new''.
159: The ``o'' command allows the user to set this variable to any
160: date he wishes.
161: Use the ``O'' command to set this variable to show
162: only notes and responses written that day.
163: The ``last time'' file kept for each user is never modified by
164: the ``o'' and ``O'' commands.
165:
166: When no more new notes or responses exist, both the
167: ``j'' and ``J'' commands will take the user to the index page.
168: To exit the notesfile, use the ``q'' command.
169: Exiting with ``q'' will update the user's
170: ``last entry'' time.
171: Exiting with capital ``Q'' will NOT modify the
172: ``last entry'' time for that notesfile
173: (neither will control-D).
174:
175: The ``l'' and ``L'' command behave similarly to ``j'' and
176: ``J''.
177: The difference is that while ``j'' and ''J' take the user to
178: the last index page when no more new notes or responses
179: exist, the ``l'' and ``L'' commands will leave the notesfile
180: as if a ``q'' had been typed.
181: Thus when no more new notes exist, the ``l'' command is
182: like typing ``jq''.
183:
184: .ss "Alternate Sequencers"
185:
186: If several people share a login account,
187: it is convenient for each to have a set of sequencing
188: timestamps.
189: This is accomplished through the use of the
190: subsequencer option of notesfiles.
191:
192: Specifying the -a option and a subsequencer name
193: causes notes to use a different sequencing timestamp file.
194: Many different subsequencer names can be used with
195: each login account.
196:
197: The main sequencer file for a given account is distinct from
198: each of its subsequencer files.
199: Each of the subsequencer files is normally distinct.
200: If the subsequencer names are not unique in their
201: first 6 characters, subsequencer files may collide.
202:
203: .ss "Automatic Sequencing"
204:
205: An alternate entry to the notes program
206: allows the user to invoke notes with the sequencer enabled and a list
207: of notesfiles to be scanned with a single,
208: simple
209: command.
210: The ``autoseq'' command is invoked by typing
211:
212: autoseq
213:
214: and reads the environment variable ``NFSEQ'' to find the names of all
215: notesfiles to be scanned.
216: On some systems, the ``autoseq'' command
217: may be known as ``readnotes'', ``autonotes'' or some similar
218: variant;
219: substitute the appropriate name in the following paragraphs.
220: The ``NFSEQ'' variable should be defined in .profile for
221: Bourne shell users as follows:
222:
223: .nf
224: .ls 1
225: NFSEQ=``pbnotes,micronotes,helpnotes,works''
226: export NFSEQ
227: .ls
228: .fi
229:
230: For users of the C shell, the following line should be
231: added to the .login file:
232:
233: .nf
234: setenv NFSEQ ``pbnotes,micronotes,helpnotes,works''
235: .fi
236:
237: With NFSEQ assigned this value,
238: a call to autoseq will process the notesfiles
239: ``pbnotes'',
240: ``micronotes'',
241: ``helpnotes'',
242: and
243: ``works''
244: with the sequencer turned on.
245:
246: The full naming conventions,
247: pattern matching capabilities,
248: and `!' exclusion
249: described in section 2.2
250: (``Notesfile Names and Wildcards'') are available in autoseq.
251: To read all notesfiles with ``unix'' in their names, and the
252: four test notesfiles (``test1'' though ``test4''), the NFSEQ
253: variable might be defined as:
254:
255: NFSEQ=``*unix*,test[1234]''
256:
257: If the first character of an entry in the NFSEQ list is ``:'',
258: the notesfile system reads the file name following for a list of
259: notesfiles.
260: To have the automatic sequencer read the file ``/usr/essick/.nfseq''
261: for a list of notesfiles to scan, define NFSEQ as:
262:
263: NFSEQ=``:/usr/essick/.nfseq''
264:
265: For this feature to work, the file must have group read
266: privileges.
267: The notesfile program runs ``set-uid'' and
268: can not read files which are readable only by the owner.
269:
270: The following definitions are also valid.
271: The first one reads the notesfiles specified in the file ``/usr/essick/.nfseq''
272: and then reads the notesfiles pbnotes and micronotes.
273: The second definition will read the notesfile pbnotes, those specified in
274: ``/usr/essick/.nfseq'', micronotes and the ones specified in
275: ``/usr/essick/.other''.
276: If the notesfile program is unable to read the file specified, it
277: skips to the next entry.
278: For a description of the format of these files, see the section 2.3,
279: ``The -f Option''.
280:
281: NFSEQ=``:/usr/essick/.nfseq,pbnotes,micronotes''
282:
283: NFSEQ=``pbnotes,:/usr/essick/.nfseq,micronotes,:/usr/essick/.other''
284:
285:
286: The automatic sequencer uses the ``-s'' mode of sequencing.
287: The user does not enter notesfiles which have no new text.
288: By specifying ``-x'' or ``-i'' on the command line, the user can
289: use the appropriate sequencer mode.
290:
291: The subsequencer option of notes is available from the
292: autoseq program by specifying ``-a name'' on the command line, and has
293: identical semantics with use of this option when invoking notes.
294:
295: .se "Environment Variables"
296:
297: The notesfile program reads several environment variables to
298: tailor the system to the user's preferences.
299: Below is a list of the variables,
300: their purpose,
301: and
302: their default values.
303: These defaults are for UNIX 4.xBSD and may be slightly different
304: for other versions of UNIX.
305:
306: .bx
307: .ix
308: ``NFED'' specifies which editor will be invoked when the user writes a
309: note or response.
310: If this variable is not specified, the notesfile system looks for
311: the environment variable ``EDITOR'' (which many other programs use).
312: If neither ``NFED'' nor ``EDITOR'' are defined, a default editor is
313: used (/bin/ed).
314: .ix
315: ``NFSEQ'' is a list of notesfiles that the user wishes to scan using the
316: automatic sequencing entry to notesfiles.
317: The use of this variable is described in the section on sequencing.
318: If unspecified, the system uses a standard set which usually includes
319: ``general'' and ``net.general''.
320: .ix
321: ``PAGER'' is the paging program (``more'', ``pg'') which is used for scrolling
322: the help files.
323: The default paging program is /usr/ucb/more.
324: .ix
325: ``MAILER'' determines the mail program to use. This defaults to /usr/ucb/mail.
326: .ix
327: ``WRITE'' is used to specify the program for communication between users.
328: If undefined, the Unix program ``write'' is used.
329: .ix
330: ``TERM'' determines the type of terminal in use. This must be set
331: for notes to know what screen handling conventions to use. In most
332: cases the value will be correctly initialized by the system at login
333: time.
334: .ix
335: ``SHELL'' specifies which shell the user is running.
336: This will almost always be set by the operating system.
337: .ex
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