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COMSAT(8)		     System Manager's Manual		       COMSAT(8)

NAME
     comsat -- biff server

SYNOPSIS
     comsat

DESCRIPTION
     The comsat utility is the server process which receives reports of incoming
     mail  and	notifies  users if they have requested this service.  The comsat
     utility receives messages on a datagram port  associated  with  the  "biff"
     service  specification  (see  services(5) and inetd(8)).  The one line mes-
     sages are of the form:

	   user@mailbox-offset[:mailbox-name]

     If the user specified is logged in to the system and the associated  termi-
     nal 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.

     If  the user specified is logged in to the system and the associated termi-
     nal has the group execute bit turned on (by a "biff b"), two  bell  charac-
     ters (ASCII \007) are printed on the user's terminal.

     If mailbox-name omitted, standard mailbox assumed.

FILES
     /var/run/utx.active
		     to find out who is logged on and on what terminals
     /var/mail/user  standard mailbox

SEE ALSO
     biff(1), inetd(8)

HISTORY
     The comsat utility appeared in 4.2BSD.

BUGS
     The  message header filtering is prone to error.  The density of the infor-
     mation 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.

FreeBSD ports 15.quarterly	January 21, 2010		       COMSAT(8)

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