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:
PAGER
,
or, if
PAGER
is null or not defined,
more(1).
The commands `m', `p', and `s' all 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/bin/msgs
-s"
should be included in
/etc/mail/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:
.login
file since this is often the case here.
PAGER
is set to something secure.
.msgsrc
file.
Thus
msgs
-h
1
prints the first part of all messages.
.msgsrc
file, useful for reviews of recent messages.
PAGER
,
or, if
PAGER
is null or not defined,
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.
HOME
and
TERM
environment variables for the default home directory and
terminal type.
/var/msgs/*