BSD 4_3_Reno release

[unix-history] / usr / src / usr.bin / write / write.1

diff --git a/usr/src/usr.bin/write/write.1 b/usr/src/usr.bin/write/write.1
index e90fb93..f624e1c 100644 (file)
--- a/usr/src/usr.bin/write/write.1
+++ b/usr/src/usr.bin/write/write.1
@@ -1,64 +1,83 @@
-.\"    @(#)write.1     6.1 (Berkeley) %G%
+.\" Copyright (c) 1989 The Regents of the University of California.
+.\" All rights reserved.

 .\"
 .\"

-.TH WRITE 1 ""
-.AT 3
+.\" This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by
+.\" Jef Poskanzer and Craig Leres of the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.
+.\"
+.\" 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 MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
+.\"
+.\"    @(#)write.1     6.3 (Berkeley) 11/21/89
+.\"
+.TH WRITE 1 "November 21, 1989"
+.UC 4

 .SH NAME
 .SH NAME

-write \- write to another user
+write - send a message to another user

 .SH SYNOPSIS
 .SH SYNOPSIS

-.B write
-user [ ttyname ]
+.B write user
+[
+.B ttyname
+]
+.ft R

 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .I Write
 .SH DESCRIPTION
 .I Write

-copies lines from your terminal to that of
-another user.
-When first called,
-it sends the message
-.PP
-     Message from yoursystem!yourname yourttyname...
+allows you to communicate with other users, by copying lines from
+your terminal to theirs.

 .PP
 .PP

-The recipient of the message should write back at this point.
-Communication continues until an end of file is
-read from the terminal or an interrupt is sent.
-At that point
+When you run the

 .I write
 .I write

-writes `EOT' on the other terminal and exits.
+command, the user you are writing to gets a message of the form:
+.sp
+.nf
+.ti +5
+Message from yourname@yourhost on yourtty at hh:mm ...
+.fi
+.sp
+Any further lines you enter will be copied to the specified user's
+terminal.
+If the other user wants to reply, they must run
+.I write
+as well.

 .PP
 .PP

-If you want to write to a user who is logged in more than once,
-the
-.I ttyname
-argument may be used to indicate the
-appropriate terminal name.
+When you are done, type an end-of-file or interrupt character.
+The other user will see the message ``EOF'' indicating that the
+conversation is over.

 .PP
 .PP

-Permission to write may be denied or granted by use of the
-.I mesg
+You can prevent people (other than the super-user) from writing to you
+with the
+.IR mesg (1)

 command.
 command.

-At the outset writing is allowed.
-Certain commands, in particular
+Some commands, for example

 .I nroff
 and
 .I nroff
 and

-.IR  pr (1)
-disallow
-messages in order to prevent messy output.
+.IR pr ,
+disallow writing automatically, so that your output isn't overwritten.

 .PP
 .PP

-If the character `!' is found at the beginning of a line,
+If the user you want to write to is logged in on more than one terminal,
+you can specify which terminal to write to by specifying the terminal
+name as the second operand to the
+.I write
+command.
+Alternatively, you can let

 .I write
 .I write

-calls the shell
-to execute the rest of the
-line as a command.
+select one of the terminals \- it will pick the one with the shortest
+idle time.
+This is so that if the user is logged in at work and also dialed up from
+home, the message will go to the right place.

 .PP
 .PP

-The following protocol is suggested for using
-.IR write :
-when you first write to another user, wait for him to
-write back before starting to send.
-Each party should end each message with a distinctive
-signal\(em\fB(o)\fR
-for `over' is conventional\(emthat the other may reply.
-.B (oo)
-for `over and out' is suggested when conversation
-is about to be terminated.
-.SH FILES
-/etc/utmp      to find user
-.br
-/bin/sh                to execute `!'
+The traditional protocol for writing to someone is that the string ``-o'',
+either at the end of a line or on a line by itself, means that it's the
+other person's turn to talk.
+The string ``o-o'' means that the person believes the conversation to be
+over.

 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 .SH "SEE ALSO"

-mesg(1), who(1), mail(1)
+mesg(1), talk(1), who(1)