Annotation of src/usr.bin/msgs/msgs.1, Revision 1.8
1.8 ! aaron 1: .\" $OpenBSD: msgs.1,v 1.7 1999/06/10 22:38:03 pjanzen 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
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
1.8 ! aaron 57: sent by mailing to the login
! 58: .Dq msgs
! 59: and should be short
1.1 deraadt 60: pieces of information which are suitable to be read once by most users
61: of the system.
62: .Pp
1.8 ! aaron 63: The options are as follows:
1.5 aaron 64: .Bl -tag -width Fl
65: .It Fl f
1.8 ! aaron 66: Do not say
! 67: .Dq \&No new messages.
1.5 aaron 68: This is useful in a
69: .Pa .login
70: file since this is often the case here.
71: .It Fl q
72: Queries whether there are messages, printing
1.8 ! aaron 73: .Dq There are new messages.
! 74: if there are.
! 75: The command
! 76: .Ic msgs \-q
! 77: is often used in login scripts.
1.5 aaron 78: .It Fl h
79: Print the first part of messages only.
80: .It Fl r
81: Disables the ability to save messages or enter the mailer. It is
82: assumed that the
83: .Ev PAGER
84: environment is set to something secure.
85: .It Fl l
86: Causes only locally originated messages to be reported.
87: .It Ar num
88: A message number can be given
89: on the command line, causing
90: .Nm msgs
91: to start at the specified message rather than at the next message
92: indicated by your
93: .Pa \&.msgsrc
94: file.
95: Thus
96: .Pp
97: .Dl msgs \-h 1
98: .Pp
99: prints the first part of all messages.
100: .It Ar \-number
101: Start
102: .Ar number
103: messages back from the one indicated in the
104: .Pa \&.msgsrc
105: file, useful for reviews of recent messages.
106: .It Fl p
107: Pipe long messages through the program specified by the
108: .Ev PAGER
109: environment variable. If
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;
1.1 deraadt 150: `s\-' will save the previously displayed message. A `s' or `s\-' may
151: be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message replacing
152: the default ``Messages''.
1.3 aaron 153: .It Ic m
1.1 deraadt 154: A copy of the specified message is placed in a temporary
155: mailbox and
1.8 ! aaron 156: .Xr mail 1
1.1 deraadt 157: is invoked on that mailbox.
1.3 aaron 158: .It Ic p
1.5 aaron 159: The specified message is piped through the program specified by the
160: .Ev PAGER
161: environment variable. If
162: .Ev PAGER
163: is not defined,
164: .Xr more 1
165: is used.
1.1 deraadt 166: .El
167: .Pp
1.5 aaron 168: The commands `m', `p', and `s' all accept a numeric argument in place of the
169: .Sq \&- .
170: .Pp
1.3 aaron 171: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 172: keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file
173: .Pa \&.msgsrc
174: in your home directory.
175: In the directory
176: .Pa /var/msgs
177: it keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers
178: of the messages they represent.
179: The file
180: .Pa /var/msgs/bounds
181: shows the low and high number of the messages in the directory
182: so that
183: .Nm msgs
184: can quickly determine if there are no messages for you.
185: If the contents of
186: .Pa bounds
187: is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it;
188: .Nm msgs
189: will make a new
190: .Pa bounds
191: file the next time it is run.
192: .Pp
193: The
194: .Fl s
195: option is used for setting up the posting of messages. The line
196: .Pp
197: .Dl msgs: \&"\&| /usr/bin/msgs \-s\&"
198: .Pp
199: should be included in
200: .Pa /etc/aliases
201: (see
202: .Xr newaliases 1 )
203: to enable posting of messages.
204: .Pp
205: The
206: .Fl c
207: option is used for performing cleanup on
1.3 aaron 208: .Pa /var/msgs .
1.1 deraadt 209: An entry with the
210: .Fl c
211: option should be placed in
212: .Pa /etc/crontab
213: to run every night. This will remove all messages over 21 days old.
214: A different expiration may be specified on the command line to override
215: the default.
216: .Pp
217: Within
218: .Nm msgs
219: you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when
220: .Nm msgs
221: requests input as to what to do.
222: .Sh ENVIRONMENT
1.3 aaron 223: .Nm msgs
1.1 deraadt 224: uses the
225: .Ev HOME
226: and
227: .Ev TERM
228: environment variables for the default home directory and
1.7 pjanzen 229: terminal type. If defined and non-null, the
1.5 aaron 230: .Ev PAGER
231: variable is invoked as the pagination program.
1.1 deraadt 232: .Sh FILES
1.4 deraadt 233: .Bl -tag -width /var/msgs/* -compact
234: .It Pa /var/msgs/*
1.1 deraadt 235: database
236: .It ~/.msgsrc
237: number of next message to be presented
238: .El
239: .Sh SEE ALSO
240: .Xr mail 1 ,
1.3 aaron 241: .Xr more 1 ,
1.5 aaron 242: .Xr newaliases 1 ,
1.3 aaron 243: .Xr aliases 5
1.5 aaron 244: .\".Xr crontab 5 ,
1.1 deraadt 245: .Sh HISTORY
246: The
247: .Nm msgs
248: command appeared in
249: .Bx 3.0 .
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