1.\" $NetBSD: msgs.1,v 1.12 2001/12/01 20:44:29 wiz Exp $ 2.\" 3.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990, 1993 4.\" The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. 5.\" 6.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without 7.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions 8.\" are met: 9.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright 10.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. 11.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright 12.\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the 13.\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 14.\" 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software 15.\" must display the following acknowledgement: 16.\" This product includes software developed by the University of 17.\" California, Berkeley and its contributors. 18.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors 19.\" may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software 20.\" without specific prior written permission. 21.\" 22.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND 23.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE 24.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE 25.\" ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE 26.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 27.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS 28.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) 29.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT 30.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY 31.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF 32.\" SUCH DAMAGE. 33.\" 34.\" @(#)msgs.1 8.2 (Berkeley) 4/28/95 35.\" 36.Dd April 28, 1995 37.Dt MSGS 1 38.Os 39.Sh NAME 40.Nm msgs 41.Nd system messages and junk mail program 42.Sh SYNOPSIS 43.Nm 44.Op Fl fhlpqr 45.Op Ar number 46.Op Ar \-number 47.Nm "" 48.Op Fl s 49.Nm "" 50.Op Fl c 51.Op \-days 52.Sh DESCRIPTION 53.Nm 54is used to read system messages. 55These messages are 56sent by mailing to the login `msgs' and should be short 57pieces of information which are suitable to be read once by most users 58of the system. 59.Pp 60.Nm 61is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file 62.Pa .login 63(or 64.Pa .profile 65if you use 66.Xr sh 1 ) . 67It will then prompt you with the source and subject of each new message. 68If there is no subject line, the first few non-blank lines of the 69message will be displayed. 70If there is more to the message, you will be told how 71long it is and asked whether you wish to see the rest of the message. 72The possible responses are: 73.Bl -tag -width Ic 74.It Ic y 75Type the rest of the message. 76.It Ic RETURN 77Synonym for y. 78.It Ic n 79Skip this message 80and go on to the next message. 81.It Ic - 82Redisplay the last message. 83.It Ic q 84Drop out of 85.Nm "" ; 86the next time 87.Nm 88will pick up where it last left off. 89.It Ic s 90Append the current message to the file ``Messages'' in the current directory; 91`s\-' will save the previously displayed message. A `s' or `s\-' may 92be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message replacing 93the default ``Messages''. 94.It Ic m 95A copy of the specified message is placed in a temporary 96mailbox and 97.Xr mail 1 98is invoked on that mailbox. 99.It Ic p 100The specified message is piped through 101.Ev PAGER , 102or, if 103.Ev PAGER 104is null or not defined, 105.Xr more 1 . 106The commands `m', `p', and `s' all accept a numeric argument in place of the `\-'. 107.El 108.Pp 109.Nm 110keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file 111.Pa \&.msgsrc 112in your home directory. 113In the directory 114.Pa /var/msgs 115it keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers 116of the messages they represent. 117The file 118.Pa /var/msgs/bounds 119shows the low and high number of the messages in the directory 120so that 121.Nm 122can quickly determine if there are no messages for you. 123If the contents of 124.Pa bounds 125is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it; 126.Nm 127will make a new 128.Pa bounds 129file the next time it is run. 130.Pp 131The 132.Fl s 133option is used for setting up the posting of messages. The line 134.Pp 135.Dl msgs: \&"\&| /usr/bin/msgs \-s\&" 136.Pp 137should be included in 138.Pa /etc/mail/aliases 139(see 140.Xr newaliases 1 ) 141to enable posting of messages. 142.Pp 143The 144.Fl c 145option is used for performing cleanup on 146.Pa /var/msgs . 147An entry with the 148.Fl c 149option should be placed in 150.Pa /etc/crontab 151to run every night. This will remove all messages over 21 days old. 152A different expiration may be specified on the command line to override 153the default. 154.Pp 155Options when reading messages include: 156.Bl -tag -width Fl 157.It Fl f 158Do not to say ``No new messages.''. 159This is useful in a 160.Pa .login 161file since this is often the case here. 162.It Fl q 163Queries whether there are messages, printing 164``There are new messages.'' if there are. 165The command ``msgs \-q'' is often used in login scripts. 166.It Fl h 167Print the first part of messages only. 168.It Fl r 169Disables the ability to save messages or enter the mailer. It is 170assumed that 171.Ev PAGER 172is set to something secure. 173.It Fl l 174Option causes only locally originated messages to be reported. 175.It Ar num 176A message number can be given 177on the command line, causing 178.Nm 179to start at the specified message rather than at the next message 180indicated by your 181.Pa \&.msgsrc 182file. 183Thus 184.Pp 185.Dl msgs \-h 1 186.Pp 187prints the first part of all messages. 188.It Ar \-number 189Start 190.Ar number 191messages back from the one indicated in the 192.Pa \&.msgsrc 193file, useful for reviews of recent messages. 194.It Fl p 195Pipe long messages through 196.Ev PAGER , 197or, if 198.Ev PAGER 199is null or not defined, 200.Xr more 1 . 201.El 202.Pp 203Within 204.Nm 205you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when 206.Nm 207requests input as to what to do. 208.Sh ENVIRONMENT 209.Nm 210uses the 211.Ev HOME 212and 213.Ev TERM 214environment variables for the default home directory and 215terminal type. 216.Sh FILES 217.Bl -tag -width /var/msgs/* -compact 218.It Pa /var/msgs/* 219database 220.It ~/.msgsrc 221number of next message to be presented 222.El 223.Sh SEE ALSO 224.Xr mail 1 , 225.Xr more 1 , 226.Xr aliases 5 227.\".Xr crontab 5 228.Sh HISTORY 229The 230.Nm 231command appeared in 232.Bx 3.0 . 233