MSGS(1) MachTen Reference Manual MSGS(1)

NAME
msgs - system messages and junk mail program

SYNOPSIS
msgs [-fhlpq] [number] [-number]
msgs [-s]
msgs [-c] [-days]

DESCRIPTION
Msgs is used to read system messages. These messages are sent by mailing
to the login ‘msgs’ and should be short pieces of information which are
suitable to be read once by most users of the system.

Msgs is normally invoked each time you login, by placing it in the file
.login (or .profile if you use sh(1)). It will then prompt you with the
source and subject of each new message. If there is no subject line, the
first few non-blank lines of the message will be displayed. If there is
more to the message, you will be told how long it is and asked whether
you wish to see the rest of the message. The possible responses are:

-y Type the rest of the message.

RETURN Synonym for y.

-n Skip this message and go on to the next message.

- Redisplay the last message.

-q Drop out of msgs; the next time msgs will pick up where it
last left off.

-s Append the current message to the file ‘‘Messages’’ in the
current directory; ‘s-’ will save the previously displayed
message. A ‘s’ or ‘s-’ may be followed by a space and a file
name to receive the message replacing the default ‘‘Mes-
sages’’.

-m A copy of the specified message is placed in a temporary
mailbox and mail(1) is invoked on that mailbox. Both ‘m’ and
‘s’ accept a numeric argument in place of the ‘-’.

Msgs keeps track of the next message you will see by a number in the file
.msgsrc in your home directory. In the directory /var/msgs it keeps a
set of files whose names are the (sequential) numbers of the messages
they represent. The file /var/msgs/bounds shows the low and high number
of the messages in the directory so that msgs can quickly determine if
there are no messages for you. If the contents of bounds is incorrect it
can be fixed by removing it; msgs will make a new bounds file the next
time it is run.

The -s option is used for setting up the posting of messages. The line

msgs: "| /usr/ucb/msgs -s"

should be included in /etc/aliases (see newaliases(1)) to enable posting
of messages.

The -c option is used for performing cleanup on /var/msgs. An entry with
the -c option should be placed in /etc/crontab to run every night. This
will remove all messages over 21 days old. A different expiration may be
specified on the command line to override the default.

Options when reading messages include:

-f Do not to say ‘‘No new messages.’’. This is useful in a
.login file since this is often the case here.

-q Queries whether there are messages, printing ‘‘There are new
messages.’’ if there are. The command ‘‘msgs -q’’ is often
used in login scripts.

-h Print the first part of messages only.

-l Option causes only locally originated messages to be report-
ed.

num A message number can be given on the command line, causing
msgs to start at the specified message rather than at the
next message indicated by your .msgsrc file. Thus

msgs -h 1

prints the first part of all messages.

-number Start number messages back from the one indicated in the
.msgsrc file, useful for reviews of recent messages.

-p Pipe long messages through more(1).

Within msgs you can also go to any specific message by typing its number
when msgs requests input as to what to do.

ENVIRONMENT
Msgs uses the HOME and TERM environment variables for the default home
directory and terminal type.

FILES
/usr/msgs/* database
~/.msgsrc number of next message to be presented