NAME¶
xlbiff - mailbox message previewer for X
SYNOPSIS¶
xlbiff [
-option ... ]
DESCRIPTION¶
The
xlbiff program lurks in the background, watching your mailbox file,
waiting for new mail. When mail arrives, it invokes the MH
scan(1)
command and pops up a window with the results. Clicking the left mouse button
anywhere in this window makes it go away. The window will also disappear if
iconified or if the mailbox size drops to zero.
OPTIONS¶
Xlbiff accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command line options along
with the additional options listed below:
- -help
- This option indicates that a brief summary of the allowed
options should be printed on standard output.
- -bottom
- This option tells xlbiff to realize/unrealize() the
output window instead of using XtPopup/down(). This has the effect of
causing the window manager to reposition the window each time it pops up,
and is useful for when you specify negative Y coordinates, ie, at the
bottom of the screen. Running xlbiff in this situation without
-bottom would cause new lines to run off the bottom edge of the
screen.
- +bottom
- Opposite of -bottom.
- -file filename
- This option specifies the name of the file which should be
monitored. By default, it watches /usr/spool/mail/ username, where
username is your login name.
- -rows height
- This option specifies the maximum height, in lines of text,
of the xlbiff window. The default is 20.
- -columns width
- This option specifies the maximum width, in characters, of
the xlbiff window. The default is 80.
- -resetSaver
- If this option is set, xlbiff will reset the screen
saver when new mail comes in. This is useful if you're doing something
near your workstation but not on it.
- +resetSaver
- Opposite of -resetSaver.
- -update seconds
- This option specifies the frequency in seconds at which
xlbiff should update its display. The default is 15 seconds.
- -fade seconds
- Number of seconds to wait before popping window back down.
This option can be used to monitor events of non-lasting importance, such
as syslog or UUCP queues. The default value of 0 disables the fade
option.
- -led ledNum
- This option specifies a keyboard LED to light up when there
is mail waiting in the file. The default is zero (do not light a
LED).
- -ledPopdown
- This option indicates that the LED should be turned off
when xlbiff is popped down. Ordinarily the LED stays lit to remind one of
awaiting mail. This option has no effect if the -led option is
disabled.
- +ledPopdown
- Opposite of -ledPopdown.
- -refresh seconds
- This option specifies the number of seconds to wait before
re-posting the mail window after you acknowledge it, and it still contains
the same mail. The default is 0 (no refresh). A useful value for this is
1800 (30 minutes).
- -mailerCommand command
- Specifies the command to invoke when the the mailer()
action is activated, eg, "xterm -e elm" or "inc". By
default this is bound to the second mouse button. Invoking this action
will pop down the main window. When the command exits, it will pop up
again. Due to mailbox consistency considerations, the mailerCommand should
not exit before it is finished with the mailbox, i.e. it should not be run
in the background.
There is no default mailerCommand.
- -scanCommand command
- Specifies a shell command to be executed to list the
contents of mailbox file. The specified string value is used as the
argument to a system(3) call and may therefore contain i/o
redirection. The command's stdout is used to generate the window.
Internally, the command is generated as
sprintf(buf, scanCommand, file, columns)
so a %s and %d respectively in scanCommand will generate the values
of file and columns. The default scanCommand is
scan -file %s -width %d
- -checkCommand command
- Specifies a shell command to be executed to check for new
mail (or some other condition) rather than simply examining the size of
the mail file. The specified string value is used as the argument to a
popen(3) call, and the output generated is important. Like
xbiff, an exit status of 0 indicates that a change in condition
demands a new evaluation of scanCommand and subsequent popup, 1 indicates
no change in status, and 2 indicates that the condition has been cleared
and the xlbiff window should pop down. By default, no shell command
is provided.
This option may be useful to monitor logins (by checking update times of
/etc/utmp), when using POP or other custom maildrop mechanisms, and so
forth.
Similarly to scanCommand, the checkCommand is generated internally as
sprintf(buf, checkCommand, file, previous)
previous is the numeric value output by the last time checkCommand
was run, or zero the first time. This is useful for allowing the
checkCommand to maintain state in a primitive fashion. For instance, a
checkCommand such as
compare_size %s %d
would "do the right thing" if compare_size were a script
such as:
#!/bin/sh
NEWSIZE=`wc -c <$1`
echo $NEWSIZE
if [ $NEWSIZE -ne $2 ]; then
if [ $NEWSIZE -eq 0 ]; then
exit 2
else
exit 0
fi
fi
exit 1
The author of xlbiff uses this facility to keep track of several
maildrops with one command. See the Bcheck and Bscan
scripts, included.
- -volume percentage
- This option specifies how loud the bell should be rung when
new mail comes in.
The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments are commonly used with
xlbiff:
- -display display
- This option specifies the X server to contact.
- -geometry +x+y
- This option specifies the preferred position of the scan
window.
- -bg color
- This option specifies the color to use for the background
of the window.
- -fg color
- This option specifies the color to use for the foreground
of the window.
- -xrm resourcestring
- This option specifies a resource string to be used. This is
especially useful for setting resources that do not have separate command
line options.
RESOURCES¶
The application class name is XLbiff. It understands all of the core resource
names and classes as well as:
- bottom (class Bottom)
- Same as the -bottom option.
- file (class File)
- Same as the -file option.
- mailerCommand (class
MailerCommand)
- Same as the -mailerCommand option.
- scanCommand (class ScanCommand)
- Same as the -scanCommand option.
- checkCommand (class CheckCommand)
- Same as the -checkCommand option.
- resetSaver (class ResetSaver)
- Same as the -resetSaver option.
- update (class Interval)
- Same as the -update option.
- fade (class Fade)
- Same as the -fade option.
- columns (class Columns)
- Same as the -columns option.
- rows (class Rows)
- Specifies the maximum height, in lines, of the
xlbiff window. The default is 20.
- led (class Led)
- Same as the -led option.
- ledPopdown (class LedPopdown)
- Same as the -ledPopdown option.
- refresh (class Refresh)
- Same as the -refresh option.
- sound (class Sound)
- Specify a command to be run in place of a bell when new
mail arrives. For example, on a Sun Sparc you might use:
*sound: /usr/demo/SOUND/play -v %d /usr/demo/SOUND/sounds/doorbell.au
The command is generated internally with sprintf, so the characters
``%d'' will be replaced with the numeric value of the volume
resource.
- volume (class Volume)
- Same as the -volume option.
ACTIONS¶
Xlbiff provides the following actions for use in event translations:
- popdown()
- This action causes the window to vanish.
- exit()
- This action causes xlbiff to exit.
The default translations are
<Button1Press>: popdown()
<Button3Press>: exit()
ENVIRONMENT¶
- DISPLAY
- is used to get the default host and display number.
FILES¶
- /usr/spool/mail/username
- default mail file to check.
SEE ALSO¶
X(1),
scan(1)
BUGS¶
specifying dimensions in -geometry causes badness.
The
led option does not work on Suns before SunOS 4.1/X11R5.
AUTHOR¶
Ed Santiago, esm@pobox.com
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS¶
Xlbiff took shape around the
xgoodbye sample program in the
O'Reilly
X Toolkit Intrinsics Programming Manual. A lot of code was
stolen from
xbiff, including this man page. Thanks also to Stephen
Gildea (gildea@expo.lcs.mit.edu) for the many, many contributions that made
xlbiff grow from a midnight hack to a more mature product.