Annotation of src/usr.bin/msgs/msgs.1, Revision 1.5
1.5 ! aaron 1: .\" $OpenBSD: msgs.1,v 1.4 1998/11/20 02:52:24 deraadt Exp $
1.1 deraadt 2: .\" $NetBSD: msgs.1,v 1.5 1995/09/28 06:57:39 tls Exp $
3: .\"
4: .\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993
5: .\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
6: .\"
7: .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
8: .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
9: .\" are met:
10: .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
11: .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
12: .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
13: .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
14: .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
15: .\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
16: .\" must display the following acknowledgement:
17: .\" This product includes software developed by the University of
18: .\" California, Berkeley and its contributors.
19: .\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
20: .\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
21: .\" without specific prior written permission.
22: .\"
23: .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
24: .\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
25: .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
26: .\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
27: .\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
28: .\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
29: .\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
30: .\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
31: .\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
32: .\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
33: .\" SUCH DAMAGE.
34: .\"
35: .\" @(#)msgs.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 4/28/95
36: .\"
37: .Dd April 28, 1995
38: .Dt MSGS 1
39: .Os BSD 4
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
51: .Op Fl c
52: .Op \-days
53: .Sh DESCRIPTION
1.3 aaron 54: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 55: is used to read system messages.
56: These messages are
57: sent by mailing to the login `msgs' and should be short
58: pieces of information which are suitable to be read once by most users
59: of the system.
60: .Pp
1.5 ! aaron 61: The options available are as follows:
! 62: .Bl -tag -width Fl
! 63: .It Fl f
! 64: Do not say ``No new messages.''.
! 65: This is useful in a
! 66: .Pa .login
! 67: file since this is often the case here.
! 68: .It Fl q
! 69: Queries whether there are messages, printing
! 70: ``There are new messages.'' if there are.
! 71: The command ``msgs \-q'' is often used in login scripts.
! 72: .It Fl h
! 73: Print the first part of messages only.
! 74: .It Fl r
! 75: Disables the ability to save messages or enter the mailer. It is
! 76: assumed that the
! 77: .Ev PAGER
! 78: environment is set to something secure.
! 79: .It Fl l
! 80: Causes only locally originated messages to be reported.
! 81: .It Ar num
! 82: A message number can be given
! 83: on the command line, causing
! 84: .Nm msgs
! 85: to start at the specified message rather than at the next message
! 86: indicated by your
! 87: .Pa \&.msgsrc
! 88: file.
! 89: Thus
! 90: .Pp
! 91: .Dl msgs \-h 1
! 92: .Pp
! 93: prints the first part of all messages.
! 94: .It Ar \-number
! 95: Start
! 96: .Ar number
! 97: messages back from the one indicated in the
! 98: .Pa \&.msgsrc
! 99: file, useful for reviews of recent messages.
! 100: .It Fl p
! 101: Pipe long messages through the program specified by the
! 102: .Ev PAGER
! 103: environment variable. If
! 104: .Ev PAGER
! 105: is not defined,
! 106: .Xr more 1
! 107: is used.
! 108: .El
! 109: .Pp
1.3 aaron 110: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 111: is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file
112: .Pa .login
113: (or
114: .Pa .profile
115: if you use
116: .Xr sh 1 ) .
117: It will then prompt you with the source and subject of each new message.
118: If there is no subject line, the first few non-blank lines of the
119: message will be displayed.
120: If there is more to the message, you will be told how
121: long it is and asked whether you wish to see the rest of the message.
122: The possible responses are:
123: .Bl -tag -width Fl
1.3 aaron 124: .It Ic y
1.1 deraadt 125: Type the rest of the message.
126: .It Ic RETURN
1.3 aaron 127: Synonym for
128: .Ic y .
129: .It Ic n
1.1 deraadt 130: Skip this message
131: and go on to the next message.
1.3 aaron 132: .It Ic \&-
1.1 deraadt 133: Redisplay the last message.
1.3 aaron 134: .It Ic q
1.1 deraadt 135: Drop out of
136: .Nm msgs ;
137: the next time
138: .Nm msgs
139: will pick up where it last left off.
1.3 aaron 140: .It Ic s
1.1 deraadt 141: Append the current message to the file ``Messages'' in the current directory;
142: `s\-' will save the previously displayed message. A `s' or `s\-' may
143: be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message replacing
144: the default ``Messages''.
1.3 aaron 145: .It Ic m
1.1 deraadt 146: A copy of the specified message is placed in a temporary
147: mailbox and
148: .Xr mail 1
149: is invoked on that mailbox.
1.3 aaron 150: .It Ic p
1.5 ! aaron 151: The specified message is piped through the program specified by the
! 152: .Ev PAGER
! 153: environment variable. If
! 154: .Ev PAGER
! 155: is not defined,
! 156: .Xr more 1
! 157: is used.
1.1 deraadt 158: .El
159: .Pp
1.5 ! aaron 160: The commands `m', `p', and `s' all accept a numeric argument in place of the
! 161: .Sq \&- .
! 162: .Pp
1.3 aaron 163: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 164: keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file
165: .Pa \&.msgsrc
166: in your home directory.
167: In the directory
168: .Pa /var/msgs
169: it keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers
170: of the messages they represent.
171: The file
172: .Pa /var/msgs/bounds
173: shows the low and high number of the messages in the directory
174: so that
175: .Nm msgs
176: can quickly determine if there are no messages for you.
177: If the contents of
178: .Pa bounds
179: is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it;
180: .Nm msgs
181: will make a new
182: .Pa bounds
183: file the next time it is run.
184: .Pp
185: The
186: .Fl s
187: option is used for setting up the posting of messages. The line
188: .Pp
189: .Dl msgs: \&"\&| /usr/bin/msgs \-s\&"
190: .Pp
191: should be included in
192: .Pa /etc/aliases
193: (see
194: .Xr newaliases 1 )
195: to enable posting of messages.
196: .Pp
197: The
198: .Fl c
199: option is used for performing cleanup on
1.3 aaron 200: .Pa /var/msgs .
1.1 deraadt 201: An entry with the
202: .Fl c
203: option should be placed in
204: .Pa /etc/crontab
205: to run every night. This will remove all messages over 21 days old.
206: A different expiration may be specified on the command line to override
207: the default.
208: .Pp
209: Within
210: .Nm msgs
211: you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when
212: .Nm msgs
213: requests input as to what to do.
214: .Sh ENVIRONMENT
1.3 aaron 215: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 216: uses the
217: .Ev HOME
218: and
219: .Ev TERM
220: environment variables for the default home directory and
1.5 ! aaron 221: terminal type. If defined, the program specified by the
! 222: .Ev PAGER
! 223: variable is invoked as the pagination program.
1.1 deraadt 224: .Sh FILES
1.4 deraadt 225: .Bl -tag -width /var/msgs/* -compact
226: .It Pa /var/msgs/*
1.1 deraadt 227: database
228: .It ~/.msgsrc
229: number of next message to be presented
230: .El
231: .Sh SEE ALSO
232: .Xr mail 1 ,
1.3 aaron 233: .Xr more 1 ,
1.5 ! aaron 234: .Xr newaliases 1 ,
1.3 aaron 235: .Xr aliases 5
1.5 ! aaron 236: .\".Xr crontab 5 ,
1.1 deraadt 237: .Sh HISTORY
238: The
239: .Nm msgs
240: command appeared in
241: .Bx 3.0 .
![[BACK]](/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to msgs.1 CVS log ![[TXT]](/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [local] / src / usr.bin / msgs