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1.1 root 1: .\" Copyright (c) 1980 Regents of the University of California.
2: .\" All rights reserved. The Berkeley software License Agreement
3: .\" specifies the terms and conditions for redistribution.
4: .\"
5: .\" @(#)msgs.1 6.3 (Berkeley) 5/9/86
6: .\"
7: .TH MSGS 1 "May 9, 1986"
8: .UC 4
9: .SH NAME
10: msgs \- system messages and junk mail program
11: .SH SYNOPSIS
12: .B msgs
13: [
14: .B \-fhlpq
15: ] [
16: number
17: ] [
18: \-number
19: ]
20: .LP
21: .B msgs
22: .B \-s
23: .LP
24: .B msgs
25: .B \-c
26: [
27: \-days
28: ]
29: .SH DESCRIPTION
30: .I Msgs
31: is used to read system messages.
32: These messages are
33: sent by mailing to the login `msgs' and should be short
34: pieces of information which are suitable to be read once by most users
35: of the system.
36: .PP
37: .I Msgs
38: is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file
39: .I \&.login
40: .I (\&.profile
41: if you use
42: .IR /bin/sh ).
43: It will then prompt you with the source and subject of each new message.
44: If there is no subject line, the first few non-blank lines of the
45: message will be displayed.
46: If there is more to the message, you will be told how
47: long it is and asked whether you wish to see the rest of the message.
48: The possible responses are:
49: .TP 7
50: .B y
51: type the rest of the message.
52: .TP 7
53: RETURN
54: synonym for y.
55: .TP 7
56: .B n
57: skip this message
58: and go on to the next message.
59: .TP 7
60: .B \-
61: redisplay the last message.
62: .TP 7
63: .B q
64: drops you out of
65: .I msgs;
66: the next time you run the program it will pick up where you left off.
67: .TP 7
68: .B s
69: append the current message to the file ``Messages'' in the current directory;
70: `s\-' will save the previously displayed message. A `s' or `s\-' may
71: be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message replacing
72: the default ``Messages''.
73: .TP 7
74: .B m
75: or `m\-' causes a copy of the specified message to be placed in a temporary
76: mailbox and
77: .IR mail (1)
78: to be invoked on that mailbox.
79: Both `m' and `s' accept a numeric argument in place of the `\-'.
80: .PP
81: .I Msgs
82: keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file
83: .I \&.msgsrc
84: in your home directory.
85: In the directory
86: .I /usr/msgs
87: it keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers
88: of the messages they represent.
89: The file
90: .I /usr/msgs/bounds
91: shows the low and high number of the messages in the directory
92: so that
93: .I msgs
94: can quickly determine if there are no messages for you.
95: If the contents of
96: .I bounds
97: is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it;
98: .I msgs
99: will make a new
100: .I bounds
101: file the next time it is run.
102: .PP
103: The
104: .B \-s
105: option is used for setting up the posting of messages. The line
106: .IP
107: .DT
108: msgs: "| /usr/ucb/msgs \-s"
109: .PP
110: should be include in
111: .I /usr/lib/aliases
112: to enable posting of messages.
113: .PP
114: The
115: .B \-c
116: option is used for performing cleanup on
117: .I /usr/msgs.
118: An entry with the
119: .B \-c
120: option should be placed in
121: .I /usr/lib/crontab
122: to run every night. This will remove all messages over 21 days old.
123: A different expiration may be specified on the command line to override
124: the default.
125: .PP
126: Options when reading messages include:
127: .TP 7
128: .B \-f
129: which causes it not to say ``No new messages.''.
130: This is useful in your
131: .I \&.login
132: file since this is often the case here.
133: .TP 7
134: .B \-q
135: Queries whether there are messages, printing
136: ``There are new messages.'' if there are.
137: The command ``msgs \-q'' is often used in login scripts.
138: .TP 7
139: .B \-h
140: causes
141: .I msgs
142: to print the first part of messages only.
143: .TP 7
144: .B \-l
145: option causes only locally originated messages to be reported.
146: .TP 7
147: \fInum\fR
148: A message number can be given
149: on the command line, causing
150: .I msgs
151: to start at the specified message rather than at the next message
152: indicated by your
153: .I \&.msgsrc
154: file.
155: Thus
156: .IP "" 7
157: msgs \-h 1
158: .IP "" 7
159: prints the first part of all messages.
160: .TP 7
161: .I "\-number"
162: will cause
163: .I msgs
164: to start
165: .I number
166: messages back from the one indicated by your
167: .I \&.msgsrc
168: file, useful for reviews of recent messages.
169: .TP 7
170: .B \-p
171: causes long messages to be piped through
172: .IR more (1).
173: .PP
174: Within
175: .I msgs
176: you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when
177: .I msgs
178: requests input as to what to do.
179: .SH FILES
180: .ta 2i
181: /usr/msgs/* database
182: .br
183: ~/.msgsrc number of next message to be presented
184: .SH AUTHORS
185: William Joy
186: .br
187: David Wasley
188: .SH SEE ALSO
189: aliases(5), crontab(5), mail(1), more(1)
190: .SH BUGS
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