COMSAT(8C)COMSAT(8C)NAMEcomsat - biff server
SYNOPSIS
/usr/etc/comsat
DESCRIPTION
Comsat is the server process which receives reports of incoming mail
and notifies users if they have requested this service. Comsat
receives messages on a datagram port associated with the ``biff''
service specification (see services(5) and inetd(8)). The one line
messages are of the form
user@mailbox-offset
If the user specified is logged in to the system and the associated
terminal has the owner execute bit turned on (by a ``biff y''), the
offset is used as a seek offset into the appropriate mailbox file and
the first 7 lines or 560 characters of the message are printed on the
user's terminal. Lines which appear to be part of the message header
other than the ``From'', ``To'', ``Date'', or ``Subject'' lines are not
included in the displayed message.
FILES
/etc/utmp to find out who's logged on and on what terminals
SEE ALSObiff(1), inetd(8)BUGS
The message header filtering is prone to error. The density of the
information presented is near the theoretical minimum.
Users should be notified of mail which arrives on other machines than
the one to which they are currently logged in.
The notification should appear in a separate window so it does not mess
up the screen.
4.2 Berkeley Distribution May 20, 1986 COMSAT(8C)