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'\"macro stdmacro
.if n .pH g1.notify %W% of %G%
.nr X
.if \nX=0 .ds x} notify 1 "Essential Utilities" "\&"
.if \nX=1 .ds x} notify 1 "Essential Utilities"
.if \nX=2 .ds x} notify 1 "" "\&"
.if \nX=3 .ds x} notify "" "" "\&"
.TH \*(x}
.SH NAME
\f4notify\f1 \- notify user of the arrival of new mail
.SH SYNOPSIS
\f4notify\fP \f4\-y\fP [ \f4\-m\fP \f2mailfile\fP ]
.br
\f4notify\fP [ \f4\-n\fP ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
When a new mail message arrives,
the \f4mail\fP command first checks if the recipient's mailbox indicates
that the message is to be forwarded elsewhere (to some other recipient or
as the input to some command).
\f4notify\fP is used to set up forwarding on the user's mailbox so that the new
message is saved into an alternative mailbox and,
if the user is currently logged in,
he or she is notified immediately of the arrival of new mail.
.PP
Command-line options are:
.sp .5
.PD 0
.TP 12
\f4\-m\f2\0mailfile\f1
File to save mail messages into while automatic notification is activated.
If not specified, it defaults to \f2$HOME/.mailfile\fP.
.TP
\f4\-n\f1
Remove mail notification facility
.TP
\f4\-y\f1
Install mail notification facility
.PD
.PP
If invoked with no arguments,
\f4notify\fP reports whether automatic mail notification is activated or not.
.PP
The notification is done by looking in \f4/etc/utmp\f1 to
determine if the recipient is currently logged in,
and if so, on which terminal device.
Then the terminal device is opened for writing and the user is notified about
the new message.
The notification will indicate who the message is from.
If the message contains a \f4Subject:\fP header line it will be included.
(For security, all unprintable characters within the header will be converted
to an exclamation point.)
.PP
If the user is logged in multiple times he or she will get multiple
notifications, one per terminal.
To disable notifications to a particular login session,
the \f4mesg\fP(1) command can be used to disable writing
to that terminal.
.PP
If there are multiple machines connected together via RFS or NFS,
\f4notify\f1 will look up the \f4/etc/utmp\fP files on the other systems as
well.
To do this, the file \f4/etc/mail/notify.sys\f1 will be
consulted, which will contain two columns, the first being the name of a
system and the second being a path to find the root filesystem for that
machine.
.PP
If \f4notify\fP has troubles delivering the mail to the specified mailfile,
\f4notify\fP
will look up the directory of the mailfile in \f4/etc/mail/notify.fsys\fP.
If the file's directory is found in the first column of the file, the mail will be
forwarded to the system listed in the second column instead of being returned
to the sender.
.SH FILES
.PD 0
.TP 18
\f4/tmp/notif\f1\(**
temporary file
.TP 18
\f4/var/mail/\f1\(**
users' standard mailboxes
.TP 18
\f4/usr/lib/mail/notify2\f1
program that performs the notification
.TP 18
\f4/etc/mail/notify.fsys\f1
list of file systems and home systems
.TP 18
\f4/etc/mail/notify.sys\f1
list of machines and paths to their root filesystems
.TP 18
\f4/etc/utmp\f1
list of users who are logged in
.PD
.SH SEE ALSO
\f4mail\fP(1), \f4mesg\fP(1).
.br
.IR "User\'s Guide" .
.br
.ne 8
.SH NOTES
Because \f4notify\fP uses the ``\f4Forward to \(bv\f2command\f1'' facility of
\f4mail\fP to implement notifications,
\f4/var/mail/\f2username\f1 should not be specified as the place
to put newly arrived messages via the \f4\-m\fP invocation option.
The \f4mail\fP command uses
\f4/var/mail/\f2username\f1 to hold either mail messages,
\f4or\fP indications of mail forwarding,
but not both simultaneously.
.PP
If the user is using \f4layers\fP(1),
the notification will \f4only\fP appear in the \f4login\fP window.
.\"@(#)notify.1 1.2
.Ee
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