[unix-history] / usr / src / libexec / comsat / comsat.8

.\" Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
.\" All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted
.\" provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
.\" duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation,
.\" advertising materials, and other materials related to such
.\" distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed
.\" by the University of California, Berkeley.  The name of the
.\" University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived
.\" from this software without specific prior written permission.
.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED
.\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
.\"
.\"	@(#)comsat.8	6.3 (Berkeley) %G%
.\"
.TH COMSAT 8 ""
.UC 5
.SH NAME
comsat \- biff server
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B /etc/comsat
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Comsat
is the server process which receives reports of incoming mail
and notifies users if they have requested this service.
.I Comsat
receives messages on a datagram port associated with the ``biff'' service
specification (see
.IR services (5)
and
.IR inetd (8)).
The one line messages are of the form
.PP
.ti +0.5i
user@mailbox-offset
.PP
If the
.I user
specified is logged in to the system and the associated terminal has
the owner execute bit turned on (by a ``biff y''), the
.I offset
is used as a seek offset into the appropriate mailbox file and
the first 7 lines or 560 characters of the message are printed
on the user's terminal.  Lines which appear to be part of
the message header other than the ``From'', ``To'', ``Date'',
or ``Subject'' lines are not included in the displayed message.
.SH FILES
.DT
/etc/utmp	to find out who's logged on and on what terminals
.SH "SEE ALSO"
biff(1), inetd(8)
.SH BUGS
The message header filtering is prone to error.
The density of the information presented is near the theoretical minimum.
.PP
Users should be notified of mail which arrives on other
machines than the one to which they are currently logged in.
.PP
The notification should appear in a separate window so it
does not mess up the screen.
Commit	Line	Data
54b3b5b7 KB	1	.\" Copyright (c) 1983 The Regents of the University of California.
54b3b5b7 KB	2	.\" All rights reserved.
05d45a21	3	.\"
54b3b5b7 KB	4	.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted
	5	.\" provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
	6	.\" duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation,
	7	.\" advertising materials, and other materials related to such
	8	.\" distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed
	9	.\" by the University of California, Berkeley. The name of the
	10	.\" University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived
	11	.\" from this software without specific prior written permission.
	12	.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
	13	.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED
	14	.\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
05d45a21	15	.\"
54b3b5b7 KB	16	.\" @(#)comsat.8 6.3 (Berkeley) %G%
	17	.\"
	18	.TH COMSAT 8 ""
05d45a21 KM	19	.UC 5
	20	.SH NAME
	21	comsat \- biff server
	22	.SH SYNOPSIS
	23	.B /etc/comsat
	24	.SH DESCRIPTION
	25	.I Comsat
e8145b60	26	is the server process which receives reports of incoming mail
05d45a21 KM	27	and notifies users if they have requested this service.
05d45a21 KM	28	.I Comsat
e8145b60	29	receives messages on a datagram port associated with the ``biff'' service
05d45a21	30	specification (see
e8145b60 MK	31	.IR services (5)
	32	and
	33	.IR inetd (8)).
	34	The one line messages are of the form
05d45a21 KM	35	.PP
	36	.ti +0.5i
	37	user@mailbox-offset
	38	.PP
	39	If the
	40	.I user
	41	specified is logged in to the system and the associated terminal has
	42	the owner execute bit turned on (by a ``biff y''), the
	43	.I offset
	44	is used as a seek offset into the appropriate mailbox file and
	45	the first 7 lines or 560 characters of the message are printed
	46	on the user's terminal. Lines which appear to be part of
	47	the message header other than the ``From'', ``To'', ``Date'',
	48	or ``Subject'' lines are not included in the displayed message.
	49	.SH FILES
	50	.DT
	51	/etc/utmp to find out who's logged on and on what terminals
	52	.SH "SEE ALSO"
e8145b60	53	biff(1), inetd(8)
05d45a21 KM	54	.SH BUGS
05d45a21 KM	55	The message header filtering is prone to error.
e8145b60	56	The density of the information presented is near the theoretical minimum.
05d45a21 KM	57	.PP
05d45a21 KM	58	Users should be notified of mail which arrives on other
e8145b60	59	machines than the one to which they are currently logged in.
05d45a21 KM	60	.PP
	61	The notification should appear in a separate window so it
	62	does not mess up the screen.