Mail In Linux

In Multi-user system, it is often necessary for one user to know what the other is doing. When there are a hundred odd users sharing the system resources, some of them are invariably located quite a distance apart. Communication through the system seems quite natural and necessary the system administrator also requires sending messages to some, and sometimes to all of them.

Mail #

The mail command is a quick and easy way to email someone. Just type mail and the address of the person we want to mail. We will then be prompted for a subject and any cc’s. Then just type our message and control-d on a line by itself to send the mail

Mail Headers #

Mail headers have the following construction

mail  <username>

Subject: Title describing the message (optional)

Cc: List of people to receive a carbon copy (optional)

Bcc: List of people to receive blind carbon copy (they do not see user names in the received message. Optional)

Mailboxes #

UNIX uses two mailboxes to hold mail messages

system mailbox (/vsr/spool/mail/)
user mail box (..../.../mbox)

Mail arrives in the system mailbox, and is saved in our user mail box after we have read it. The user mail box is normally located in their $HOME directory. To list all mails which he got say command only mail with out any arguments Type

mail

The mail program displays a title message and lists all available mail headers,

SCO System V Mail (version 3.2)  Type ? for help.
"/usr/spool/mail/brianb": 3 messages 3 new
N 3 brianb Mon May 31 15:02 10/299 My message3
N 2 brianb Mon May 31 15:01 9/278
>N 1 brianb Mon May 31 15:00 12/415 My first message &

This initial screen displays the subject fields of messages which have arrived. The format of the display is,

Type Message_number From_User Date/Time Subject
N denotes a new message
> denotes the current message & mail prompt symbol

Note how message number 2 does not have a subject heading. This is because the mail message was sent from a file, and the -s option was not specified on the command line when the mail program was invoked. To read message type number associated to that mail. To quit from this mail prompt say q

Sending Mail to People at Other Host Machines or Sites #

We send mail to other people at remote sites by specifying their specific mail address.

Examples

mail your_user_name@server.com

write #

The write command is used to send on-line messages to another user on the same machine. The format of the write command is as follows:

write username
text of message
^D

After typing the command, we enter our message, starting on the next line, terminating with the end-of-file character. The recipient will then hear a bleep, then receive our message on screen, with a short header attached. The following is a typical exchange. User UserRavi types:

write UserRavi
Hi there - want to go to lunch?
^D

User lnp8zz will hear a beep and the following will appear on his/her screen:

Message from UserRavi on sun050 at 12:42
Hi there - want to go to lunch?
EOF

If UserAjay wasn’t logged on, the sender would see the following:

write UserAjay
UserAjay not logged in.

talk #

The command talk creates a two-way, screen-oriented communication program. It allows users to type simultaneously, with their output displayed in separate regions of the screen. To send a talk request, type talk and then @. So, for example, to send a talk request to dmb, who is logged on to cslab0a, type talk raju@wilshire. The recipient of the request is then prompted for a response.

Example

talk <username>
talk username@<their machinename> [to send a message to remote user]

Note: The mesg command may, of course, be used to disable write,talk access to a terminal.

walls #

wall is a Unix command line utility. That would only invoked by Administrator, it displays the contents of a file or standard input to all logged-in users. Invocation wall is invoked as follows:

raju@wilshiresoft:# wall <filename>

To take standard input as the file, omit the filename.

When invoked, wall displays the following output:

# Broadcast Message from raju@wilshiresoft
# (/dev/pts/0) at 01:23 ...

Pine (e-mail client) #

Pine is a powerful freeware e-mail client: the University of Washington’s Program for Internet News & Email. Many people believe that Pine stood for Pine is not Elm. However, its original author, Laurence Lundblade

pine <Enter>