notify(1)                                                         notify(1)

NAME
     notify - notify user of the arrival of new mail

SYNOPSIS
     notify -y [-m mailfile]                                       Format 1

     notify [-n]                                                   Format 2

DESCRIPTION
     notify informs the user of the arrival of new mail messages, i.e. of
     electronic mail sent by the mail command.

     When a new mail message arrives, mail first checks if this message is
     to be forwarded to another recipient or is to be used as the input for
     a command. notify is used to set up forwarding to an alternative mail-
     box.

OPTIONS
     No option specified:
          notify reports on the status of the automatic mail notification
          facility, indicating whether or not it is activated.

     -m mailfile
          (m - mailfile) This option can be used to specify a file in which
          mail messages are to be saved while automatic notification is
          activated.

          mailfile not specified:

          The default file for saving messages is $HOME/.mailfile.

     -n   Removes the mail notification facility.

     -y   Installs the mail notification facility.

   Mode of operation

     notify first checks the system file /var/adm/utmp to determine if the
     recipient is currently logged in. If so, the terminal on which the
     recipient is working (this is also determined from the entry in
     /var/adm/utmp) is opened for writing. The user is then notified about
     the new message. The notification will indicate who the message is
     from. If the message contains a "Subject:" header line, the subject
     will also be included (for security reasons, all unprintable charac-
     ters in the header will be converted to exclamation points).

     If the user is logged in more than once, he or she will get multiple
     notifications, one per terminal. The mesg -n command can be used to
     disable notifications for a particular login session. This command
     removes the write permission to the terminal specified.





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notify(1)                                                         notify(1)

     If more than one system is connected via NFS (Network File System),
     notify checks the /var/adm/utmp files on all the systems connected.

     If problems are encountered when delivering mail to the appropriate
     mailbox file, notify checks the directory of the mailbox file in the
     system file /etc/mail/notify.fsys. If the file's directory is found in
     the first column of the file, the message is forwarded to the system
     listed in the second column of the file. If it is not found here, the
     message is returned to the sender.

EXAMPLES

     Example 1

     To check if notify is activated:

     $ notify
     /usr/bin/notify: Mail notification not active

     Example 2

     To activate the mail notification facility:

     $ notify -y
     /usr/bin/notify: Asynchronous 'new mail' notification installed
     /usr/bin/notify: New mail messages will go to '/$HOME/.mailfile'
     /usr/bin/notify: Be sure to re-define ${MAIL} appropriately

FILES
     /tmp/notif*
          Temporary file.

     /var/mail/*
          Users' standard mailboxes.

     /usr/lib/mail/notify2
          Program that performs the notification.

     /etc/mail/notify.fsys
          List of file systems.

     /var/adm/utmp
          List of users who are logged in.

SEE ALSO
     mail(1), mesg(1).








Page 2                       Reliant UNIX 5.44                Printed 11/98