Annotation of src/usr.bin/msgs/msgs.1, Revision 1.13
1.13 ! deraadt 1: .\" $OpenBSD: msgs.1,v 1.12 2000/11/09 17:52:26 aaron Exp $
1.1 deraadt 2: .\" $NetBSD: msgs.1,v 1.5 1995/09/28 06:57:39 tls Exp $
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35: .\" @(#)msgs.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
36: .\"
37: .Dd April 28, 1995
38: .Dt MSGS 1
1.6 aaron 39: .Os
1.1 deraadt 40: .Sh NAME
41: .Nm msgs
42: .Nd system messages and junk mail program
43: .Sh SYNOPSIS
44: .Nm msgs
45: .Op Fl fhlpqr
46: .Op Ar number
47: .Op Ar \-number
48: .Nm msgs
49: .Op Fl s
50: .Nm msgs
1.13 ! deraadt 51: .Op Fl c Op Ar days
1.1 deraadt 52: .Sh DESCRIPTION
1.3 aaron 53: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 54: is used to read system messages.
55: These messages are
1.8 aaron 56: sent by mailing to the login
57: .Dq msgs
58: and should be short
1.1 deraadt 59: pieces of information which are suitable to be read once by most users
60: of the system.
61: .Pp
1.8 aaron 62: The options are as follows:
1.12 aaron 63: .Bl -tag -width Ds
1.5 aaron 64: .It Fl f
1.8 aaron 65: Do not say
66: .Dq \&No new messages.
1.5 aaron 67: This is useful in a
68: .Pa .login
69: file since this is often the case here.
70: .It Fl q
71: Queries whether there are messages, printing
1.8 aaron 72: .Dq There are new messages.
73: if there are.
74: The command
75: .Ic msgs \-q
76: is often used in login scripts.
1.5 aaron 77: .It Fl h
78: Print the first part of messages only.
79: .It Fl r
1.9 aaron 80: Disables the ability to save messages or enter the mailer.
81: It is assumed that the
1.5 aaron 82: .Ev PAGER
83: environment is set to something secure.
84: .It Fl l
85: Causes only locally originated messages to be reported.
1.13 ! deraadt 86: .It Ar number
1.5 aaron 87: A message number can be given
88: on the command line, causing
89: .Nm msgs
90: to start at the specified message rather than at the next message
91: indicated by your
92: .Pa \&.msgsrc
93: file.
94: Thus
95: .Pp
96: .Dl msgs \-h 1
97: .Pp
98: prints the first part of all messages.
99: .It Ar \-number
100: Start
101: .Ar number
102: messages back from the one indicated in the
103: .Pa \&.msgsrc
104: file, useful for reviews of recent messages.
105: .It Fl p
106: Pipe long messages through the program specified by the
107: .Ev PAGER
1.9 aaron 108: environment variable.
109: If
1.5 aaron 110: .Ev PAGER
1.7 pjanzen 111: is null or not defined,
1.5 aaron 112: .Xr more 1
113: is used.
114: .El
115: .Pp
1.3 aaron 116: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 117: is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file
118: .Pa .login
119: (or
120: .Pa .profile
121: if you use
122: .Xr sh 1 ) .
123: It will then prompt you with the source and subject of each new message.
124: If there is no subject line, the first few non-blank lines of the
125: message will be displayed.
126: If there is more to the message, you will be told how
127: long it is and asked whether you wish to see the rest of the message.
128: The possible responses are:
129: .Bl -tag -width Fl
1.3 aaron 130: .It Ic y
1.1 deraadt 131: Type the rest of the message.
132: .It Ic RETURN
1.3 aaron 133: Synonym for
134: .Ic y .
135: .It Ic n
1.1 deraadt 136: Skip this message
137: and go on to the next message.
1.3 aaron 138: .It Ic \&-
1.1 deraadt 139: Redisplay the last message.
1.3 aaron 140: .It Ic q
1.1 deraadt 141: Drop out of
142: .Nm msgs ;
143: the next time
144: .Nm msgs
145: will pick up where it last left off.
1.3 aaron 146: .It Ic s
1.8 aaron 147: Append the current message to the file
148: .Pa Messages
149: in the current directory;
1.9 aaron 150: .Sq s\-
151: will save the previously displayed message.
152: An
153: .Sq s
154: or
155: .Sq s\-
156: may be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message replacing
157: the default
158: .Dq Messages .
1.3 aaron 159: .It Ic m
1.1 deraadt 160: A copy of the specified message is placed in a temporary
161: mailbox and
1.8 aaron 162: .Xr mail 1
1.1 deraadt 163: is invoked on that mailbox.
1.3 aaron 164: .It Ic p
1.5 aaron 165: The specified message is piped through the program specified by the
166: .Ev PAGER
1.9 aaron 167: environment variable.
168: If
1.5 aaron 169: .Ev PAGER
170: is not defined,
171: .Xr more 1
172: is used.
1.1 deraadt 173: .El
174: .Pp
1.9 aaron 175: The commands
176: .Ic m ,
177: .Ic p ,
178: and
179: .Ic s
180: all accept a numeric argument in place of the
1.5 aaron 181: .Sq \&- .
182: .Pp
1.3 aaron 183: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 184: keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file
185: .Pa \&.msgsrc
186: in your home directory.
187: In the directory
188: .Pa /var/msgs
189: it keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers
190: of the messages they represent.
191: The file
192: .Pa /var/msgs/bounds
193: shows the low and high number of the messages in the directory
194: so that
195: .Nm msgs
196: can quickly determine if there are no messages for you.
197: If the contents of
198: .Pa bounds
199: is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it;
200: .Nm msgs
201: will make a new
202: .Pa bounds
203: file the next time it is run.
204: .Pp
205: The
206: .Fl s
1.9 aaron 207: option is used for setting up the posting of messages.
208: The line
1.1 deraadt 209: .Pp
210: .Dl msgs: \&"\&| /usr/bin/msgs \-s\&"
211: .Pp
212: should be included in
1.10 deraadt 213: .Pa /etc/mail/aliases
1.1 deraadt 214: (see
1.11 millert 215: .Xr newaliases 8 )
1.1 deraadt 216: to enable posting of messages.
217: .Pp
218: The
219: .Fl c
220: option is used for performing cleanup on
1.3 aaron 221: .Pa /var/msgs .
1.1 deraadt 222: An entry with the
223: .Fl c
224: option should be placed in
225: .Pa /etc/crontab
1.9 aaron 226: to run every night.
227: This will remove all messages over 21 days old.
1.1 deraadt 228: A different expiration may be specified on the command line to override
229: the default.
230: .Pp
231: Within
232: .Nm msgs
233: you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when
234: .Nm msgs
235: requests input as to what to do.
236: .Sh ENVIRONMENT
1.3 aaron 237: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 238: uses the
239: .Ev HOME
240: and
241: .Ev TERM
242: environment variables for the default home directory and
1.9 aaron 243: terminal type.
244: If defined and non-null, the
1.5 aaron 245: .Ev PAGER
246: variable is invoked as the pagination program.
1.1 deraadt 247: .Sh FILES
1.4 deraadt 248: .Bl -tag -width /var/msgs/* -compact
249: .It Pa /var/msgs/*
1.1 deraadt 250: database
251: .It ~/.msgsrc
252: number of next message to be presented
253: .El
254: .Sh SEE ALSO
255: .Xr mail 1 ,
1.3 aaron 256: .Xr more 1 ,
1.11 millert 257: .Xr aliases 5 ,
1.5 aaron 258: .\".Xr crontab 5 ,
1.11 millert 259: .Xr newaliases 8
1.1 deraadt 260: .Sh HISTORY
261: The
262: .Nm msgs
263: command appeared in
264: .Bx 3.0 .
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