1.\" Copyright (c) 1980, 1990 The Regents of the University of California. 2.\" All rights reserved. 3.\" 4.\" %sccs.include.redist.man% 5.\" 6.\" @(#)msgs.1 6.7 (Berkeley) 03/14/91 7.\" 8.Vx 9.Vx 10.Dd 11.Dt MSGS 1 12.Os BSD 4 13.Sh NAME 14.Nm msgs 15.Nd system messages and junk mail program 16.Sh SYNOPSIS 17.Nm msgs 18.Op Fl fhlpq 19.Op Ar number 20.Op Ar \-number 21.Pp 22.Nm msgs 23.Op Fl s 24.Pp 25.Nm msgs 26.Op Fl c 27.Op \-days 28.Sh DESCRIPTION 29.Nm Msgs 30is used to read system messages. 31These messages are 32sent by mailing to the login `msgs' and should be short 33pieces of information which are suitable to be read once by most users 34of the system. 35.Pp 36.Nm Msgs 37is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file 38.Pa \& .login 39(or 40.Pa \&.profile 41if you use 42.Xr sh 1 ) . 43It will then prompt you with the source and subject of each new message. 44If there is no subject line, the first few non-blank lines of the 45message will be displayed. 46If there is more to the message, you will be told how 47long it is and asked whether you wish to see the rest of the message. 48The possible responses are: 49.Tw Fl 50.Tp Fl y 51type the rest of the message. 52.Tp Ic RETURN 53synonym for y. 54.Tp Fl n 55skip this message 56and go on to the next message. 57.Tp Fl 58redisplay the last message. 59.Tp Fl q 60drops you out of 61.Nm msgs ; 62the next time you run the program it will pick up where you left off. 63.Tp Fl s 64append the current message to the file ``Messages'' in the current directory; 65`s\-' will save the previously displayed message. A `s' or `s\-' may 66be followed by a space and a file name to receive the message replacing 67the default ``Messages''. 68.Tp Fl m 69or `m\-' causes a copy of the specified message to be placed in a temporary 70mailbox and 71.Xr mail 1 72to be invoked on that mailbox. 73Both `m' and `s' accept a numeric argument in place of the `\-'. 74.Tp 75.Pp 76.Nm Msgs 77keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file 78.Pa \&.msgsrc 79in your home directory. 80In the directory 81.Pa /var/msgs 82it keeps a set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers 83of the messages they represent. 84The file 85.Pa /var/msgs/bounds 86shows the low and high number of the messages in the directory 87so that 88.Nm msgs 89can quickly determine if there are no messages for you. 90If the contents of 91.Pa bounds 92is incorrect it can be fixed by removing it; 93.Nm msgs 94will make a new 95.Pa bounds 96file the next time it is run. 97.Pp 98The 99.Fl s 100option is used for setting up the posting of messages. The line 101.Pp 102.Dl msgs: \&"\&| /usr/ucb/msgs \-s\&" 103.Pp 104should be included in 105.Pa /etc/aliases 106(see 107.Xr newaliases 1 ) 108to enable posting of messages. 109.Pp 110The 111.Fl c 112option is used for performing cleanup on 113.Pa /var/msgs. 114An entry with the 115.Fl c 116option should be placed in 117.Pa /etc/crontab 118to run every night. This will remove all messages over 21 days old. 119A different expiration may be specified on the command line to override 120the default. 121.Pp 122Options when reading messages include: 123.Tw Fl 124.Tp Fl f 125which causes it not to say ``No new messages.''. 126This is useful in your 127.Pa \& .login 128file since this is often the case here. 129.Tp Fl q 130Queries whether there are messages, printing 131``There are new messages.'' if there are. 132The command ``msgs \-q'' is often used in login scripts. 133.Tp Fl h 134causes 135.Nm msgs 136to print the first part of messages only. 137.Tp Fl l 138option causes only locally originated messages to be reported. 139.Tp Ar num 140A message number can be given 141on the command line, causing 142.Nm msgs 143to start at the specified message rather than at the next message 144indicated by your 145.Pa \&.msgsrc 146file. 147Thus 148.Pp 149.Dl msgs \-h 1 150.Pp 151prints the first part of all messages. 152.Tp Ar \-number 153will cause 154.Nm msgs 155to start 156.Ar number 157messages back from the one indicated by your 158.Pa \&.msgsrc 159file, useful for reviews of recent messages. 160.Tp Fl p 161causes long messages to be piped through 162.Xr more 1 . 163.Tp 164.Pp 165Within 166.Nm msgs 167you can also go to any specific message by typing its number when 168.Nm msgs 169requests input as to what to do. 170.Sh ENVIRONMENT 171.Nm Msgs 172uses the 173.Ev HOME 174and 175.Ev TERM 176environment variables for the default home directory and 177terminal type. 178.Sh FILES 179.Dw /usr/msgs/* 180.Di L 181.Dp Pa /usr/msgs/* 182database 183.Dp ~/.msgsrc 184number of next message to be presented 185.Dp 186.Sh AUTHORS 187William Joy 188.br 189David Wasley 190.Sh SEE ALSO 191.Xr aliases 5 , 192.\".Xr crontab 5 , 193.Xr mail 1 , 194.Xr more 1 195.Sh HISTORY 196.Nm Msgs 197appeared in 3 BSD. 198.Sh BUGS 199