NAME
binmail - send or receive mail among users

SYNOPSIS
/bin/mail [ + ] [ -i ] [ person ] ...
/bin/mail [ + ] [ -i ] -f file

DESCRIPTION
Note: This is the old version 7 UNIX system mail program. The
default mail command is described in mail(1), and its binary is in
the directory /usr/ucb.

mail with no argument prints a user’s mail, message-by-message, in
last-in, first-out order; the optional argument + displays the mail
messages in first-in, first-out order. For each message, it reads
a line from the standard input to direct disposition of the
message.

newline
Go on to next message.

d Delete message and go on to the next.

p Print message again.

- Go back to previous message.

s [ file ] ...
Save the message in the named files (‘mbox’ default).

w [ file ] ...
Save the message, without a header, in the named files (‘mbox’
default).

m [ person ] ...
Mail the message to the named persons (yourself is default).

EOT (control-D)
Put unexamined mail back in the mailbox and stop.

q Same as EOT.

!command
Escape to the Shell to do command.

* Print a command summary.

An interrupt normally terminates the mail command; the mail file is
unchanged. The optional argument -i tells mail to continue after
interrupts.

When persons are named, mail takes the standard input up to an
end-of-file (or a line with just ‘.’) and adds it to each person’s
‘mail’ file. The message is preceded by the sender’s name and a
postmark. Lines that look like postmarks are prepended with ‘>’.
A person is usually a user name recognized by login(1). To denote
a recipient on a remote system, prefix person by the system name
and exclamation mark (see uucp(1)).

The -f option causes the named file, for example, ‘mbox’, to be
printed as if it were the mail file.

When a user logs in he is informed of the presence of mail.

FILES
/etc/passwd to identify sender and locate persons
/usr/spool/mail/* incoming mail for user *
mbox saved mail
/tmp/ma* temp file
/usr/spool/mail/*.lock lock for mail directory
dead.letter unmailable text

SEE ALSO
mail(1), write(1), uucp(1), uux(1), xsend(1)*, sendmail(8)

BUGS
Race conditions sometimes result in a failure to remove a lock
file.

Normally anybody can read your mail, unless it is sent by
xsend(1)*. An installation can overcome this by making mail a
set-user-id command that owns the mail directory.

__________
* Not currently supported under MachTen