MAIL 1/11/79 MAIL NAME mail - utility for sending mail to local users SYNOPSIS mail [+r] [+e] [+llistfile] ... [addressee] ... DESCRIPTION mail is a tool designed to allow the user to send mail to fellow users of any system which supports the software tools shell. It operates as follows: The addressees specified in the command line and in any mailing list files specified are validated. If there were any valid users, the standard input is read up to an end-of-file and then mailed to each valid user with an appropriate postmark. (Note: if one wishes to terminate the mail session without sending any mail, type a line consisting of only the letter q [for quit] during the input of mail.) Mailing list files are specified with the +l switch in the command line. The structure of the mailing list files is described below. The +r switch indicates to mail that the user wishes to be notified as the mail is posted to each addressee ('posted' implying that the mail has been appended successfully to the addressee's mail file). The names of valid users may be obtained by prior invocation of the users command. The +e flag will cause the editor "ed" to be invoked, allowing the user to perform complex mail composition. The mailing list files have a very simple structure: user names separated by blanks and tabs, with as many users per line as desired. A pound sign (#) appearing anywhere on a line indicates the start of a comment field, and the rest of the line is ignored by mail. This allows the user complete flexibility in commenting her/his mailing lists for informational purposes. Broadcast mailings are supported, also. One must merely specify all as an addressee in the command line. FILES mymail - file for storage of each users mail mbox - file for storage of saved mail three temporary files are used by mail SEE ALSO -1- MAIL 1/11/79 MAIL users - a program to list users on current host postmn - a program which notifies user of existence of mail msg - the utility for reading and sorting one's mail AUTHOR mail was written by Joe Sventek BUGS/DEFICIENCIES -2-