msgs -- Command

Read messages intended for all COHERENT users
msgs [-q] [number]

msgs selects  and displays  messages that  are intended to  be read  by all
COHERENT  users.   Messages are  mailed  to the  login  msgs.  They  should
contain information meant to be read once by most users of the system.

The command msgs  normally is in a user's .profile,  so that it is executed
every  time  he logs  in.   When  invoked, it  prompts  the  user with  the
identifier of the  user who sent the message and  the message's size.  msgs
then asks the  user if he wishes to see  the rest of the message.  The user
should reply with one of the following:

    y          Display the message.
    <return>Display the message.
    n          Skip this message and go to the next one.
    -          Redisplay the last message.
    q          Quit msgs.
    number     Display message number; then continue.

If environmental variable PAGER is defined, msgs will ``pipe'' each message
through the  command specified in PAGER. For  example, the .profile command
line:

    export PAGER="exec /bin/scat -1"

would invoke  /bin/scat for each message with the  command line argument -1
(the digit one).

msgs writes  into the file  $(HOME)/.msgsrc the number of  the next message
the user  will see when  he invokes msgs.   msgs keeps all  messages in the
directory /usr/msgs; each message  is named with a sequential number, which
indicates its  message number.  The file  /usr/msgs/bounds contains the low
and high numbers of the  messages in the directory; msgs determines whether
a  user   has  not  read   a  message  by  comparing   the  information  in
$(HOME)/.msgsrc  with  that   in  /usr/msgs/bounds.   If  the  contents  of
/usr/msgs/bounds are  incorrect, the problem can be  fixed by removing that
file; msgs will create a new bounds file the next time it is run.

When the  contents of a  message are no  longer needed, simply  remove that
message.  Avoid  removing the bounds file and  the highest numbered message
at the same time.

msgs accepts the following command-line options:

-q   Query whether there are  messages; print ``There are new messages'' if
     there are,  and ``No new  messages'' if not.   The command msgs  -q is
     often used in profile scripts.

number
     Start  at  message  number rather  than  at  the  message recorded  in
     $(HOME)/.msgsrc.  If number is greater than zero, then start with that
     message;  if number  is  less than  zero, then  begin number  messages
     before the one recorded in $(HOME)/.msgsrc.

Files

/usr/spool/mail/msgs -- Mail messages file
/usr/msgs/[1-9]* -- Data base
/usr/msgs/bounds -- File that contains message number bounds
$(HOME)/.msgsrc -- Number of next message to be presented

See Also

commands,
mail,
PAGER,
scat

© 2012 by Stephen A. Ness