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Annotation of 43BSDReno/usr.bin/msgs/msgs.1, revision 1.1

1.1     ! root        1: .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990 The Regents of the University of California.
        !             2: .\" All rights reserved.
        !             3: .\"
        !             4: .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted provided
        !             5: .\" that: (1) source distributions retain this entire copyright notice and
        !             6: .\" comment, and (2) distributions including binaries display the following
        !             7: .\" acknowledgement:  ``This product includes software developed by the
        !             8: .\" University of California, Berkeley and its contributors'' in the
        !             9: .\" documentation or other materials provided with the distribution and in
        !            10: .\" all advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software.
        !            11: .\" Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors may
        !            12: .\" be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without
        !            13: .\" specific prior written permission.
        !            14: .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
        !            15: .\" WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
        !            16: .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
        !            17: .\"
        !            18: .\"     @(#)msgs.1     6.6 (Berkeley) 7/24/90
        !            19: .\"
        !            20: .Dd July 24, 1990
        !            21: .Dt MSGS 1
        !            22: .Os BSD 4
        !            23: .Sh NAME
        !            24: .Nm msgs
        !            25: .Nd system messages and junk mail program
        !            26: .Sh SYNOPSIS
        !            27: .Nm msgs
        !            28: .Op Fl fhlpq
        !            29: .Op Ar number
        !            30: .Op Ar \-number
        !            31: .Pp
        !            32: .Nm msgs
        !            33: .Op Fl s
        !            34: .Pp
        !            35: .Nm msgs
        !            36: .Op Fl c
        !            37: .Op \-days
        !            38: .Sh DESCRIPTION
        !            39: .Nm Msgs
        !            40: is used to read system messages.
        !            41: These messages are
        !            42: sent by mailing to the login `msgs' and should be short
        !            43: pieces of information which are suitable to be read once by most users
        !            44: of the system.
        !            45: .Pp
        !            46: .Nm Msgs
        !            47: is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file
        !            48: .Pa \& .login
        !            49: (or
        !            50: .Pa \&.profile
        !            51: if you use
        !            52: .Xr sh 1 ) .
        !            53: It will then prompt you with the source and subject of each new message.
        !            54: If there is no subject line, the first few non-blank lines of the
        !            55: message will be displayed.
        !            56: If there is more to the message, you will be told how
        !            57: long it is and asked whether you wish to see the rest of the message.
        !            58: The possible responses are:
        !            59: .Tw Fl
        !            60: .Tp Fl y
        !            61: type the rest of the message.
        !            62: .Tp Ic RETURN
        !            63: synonym for y.
        !            64: .Tp Fl n
        !            65: skip this message
        !            66: and go on to the next message.
        !            67: .Tp Fl
        !            68: redisplay the last message.
        !            69: .Tp Fl q
        !            70: drops you out of
        !            71: .Nm msgs ;
        !            72: the next time you run the program it will pick up where you left off.
        !            73: .Tp Fl s
        !            74: append the current message to the file ``Messages'' in the current directory;
        !            75: `s\-' will save the previously displayed message. A `s' or `s\-' may
        !            76: be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message replacing
        !            77: the default ``Messages''.
        !            78: .Tp Fl m
        !            79: or `m\-' causes a copy of the specified message to be placed in a temporary
        !            80: mailbox and
        !            81: .Xr mail  1
        !            82: to be invoked on that mailbox.
        !            83: Both `m' and `s' accept a numeric argument in place of the `\-'.
        !            84: .Tp
        !            85: .Pp
        !            86: .Nm Msgs
        !            87: keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file
        !            88: .Pa \&.msgsrc
        !            89: in your home directory.
        !            90: In the directory
        !            91: .Pa /var/msgs
        !            92: it keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers
        !            93: of the messages they represent.
        !            94: The file
        !            95: .Pa /var/msgs/bounds
        !            96: shows the low and high number of the messages in the directory
        !            97: so that
        !            98: .Nm msgs
        !            99: can quickly determine if there are no messages for you.
        !           100: If the contents of
        !           101: .Pa bounds
        !           102: is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it;
        !           103: .Nm msgs
        !           104: will make a new
        !           105: .Pa bounds
        !           106: file the next time it is run.
        !           107: .Pp
        !           108: The
        !           109: .Fl s
        !           110: option is used for setting up the posting of messages.  The line
        !           111: .Pp
        !           112: .Dl msgs: \&"\&| /usr/ucb/msgs \-s\&"
        !           113: .Pp
        !           114: should be included in
        !           115: .Pa /etc/aliases
        !           116: (see
        !           117: .Xr newaliases 1 )
        !           118: to enable posting of messages.
        !           119: .Pp
        !           120: The
        !           121: .Fl c
        !           122: option is used for performing cleanup on
        !           123: .Pa /var/msgs.
        !           124: An entry with the
        !           125: .Fl c
        !           126: option should be placed in
        !           127: .Pa /etc/crontab
        !           128: to run every night.  This will remove all messages over 21 days old.
        !           129: A different expiration may be specified on the command line to override
        !           130: the default.
        !           131: .Pp
        !           132: Options when reading messages include:
        !           133: .Tw Fl
        !           134: .Tp Fl f
        !           135: which causes it not to say ``No new messages.''.
        !           136: This is useful in your
        !           137: .Pa \& .login
        !           138: file since this is often the case here.
        !           139: .Tp Fl q
        !           140: Queries whether there are messages, printing
        !           141: ``There are new messages.'' if there are.
        !           142: The command ``msgs \-q'' is often used in login scripts.
        !           143: .Tp Fl h
        !           144: causes
        !           145: .Nm msgs
        !           146: to print the first part of messages only.
        !           147: .Tp Fl l
        !           148: option causes only locally originated messages to be reported.
        !           149: .Tp Ar num
        !           150: A message number can be given
        !           151: on the command line, causing
        !           152: .Nm msgs
        !           153: to start at the specified message rather than at the next message
        !           154: indicated by your
        !           155: .Pa \&.msgsrc
        !           156: file.
        !           157: Thus
        !           158: .Pp
        !           159: .Dl msgs \-h 1
        !           160: .Pp
        !           161: prints the first part of all messages.
        !           162: .Tp Ar \-number
        !           163: will cause
        !           164: .Nm msgs
        !           165: to start
        !           166: .Ar number
        !           167: messages back from the one indicated by your
        !           168: .Pa \&.msgsrc
        !           169: file, useful for reviews of recent messages.
        !           170: .Tp Fl p
        !           171: causes long messages to be piped through
        !           172: .Xr more  1  .
        !           173: .Tp
        !           174: .Pp
        !           175: Within
        !           176: .Nm msgs
        !           177: you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when
        !           178: .Nm msgs
        !           179: requests input as to what to do.
        !           180: .Sh ENVIRONMENT
        !           181: .Nm Msgs
        !           182: uses the
        !           183: .Ev HOME
        !           184: and
        !           185: .Ev TERM
        !           186: environment variables for the default home directory and
        !           187: terminal type.
        !           188: .Sh FILES
        !           189: .Dw /usr/msgs/*
        !           190: .Di L
        !           191: .Dp Pa /usr/msgs/*
        !           192: database
        !           193: .Dp ~/.msgsrc
        !           194: number of next message to be presented
        !           195: .Dp
        !           196: .Sh AUTHORS
        !           197: William Joy
        !           198: .br
        !           199: David Wasley
        !           200: .Sh SEE ALSO
        !           201: .Xr aliases 5 ,
        !           202: .\".Xr crontab 5 ,
        !           203: .Xr mail 1 ,
        !           204: .Xr more 1
        !           205: .Sh HISTORY
        !           206: .Nm Msgs
        !           207: appeared in 3 BSD.
        !           208: .Sh BUGS

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