IAS MAIL UTILITY R. N. Stillwell Institute for Lipid Research Baylor College of Medicine Houston, Texas 77030 713-799-4721 IAS MAIL is a utility which allows users to send each other messages. In contrast to the IAS MESSAGE command and the Lipid Research utility SEND (multi-line MESSAGE), the recipient need not be logged in at the time the message is sent. Each user has a "mailbox". When a "letter" is sent, it is deposited in the recipient's mailbox, and only the recipient can retrieve it from the mailbox. If the recipient is logged in at the time the letter is sent, the message "You have mail!" appears on his terminal, accompanied by a beep. If he is not logged in, this message appears next time he does log in, and every time thereafter until he reads and empties his mailbox. SENDING MAIL ------------ To send a letter, type: PDS>MAIL [] where is a user name or a list of names separated by commas, and is an optional filename. For example: PDS>MAIL PDS>MAIL HENRY PDS>MAIL HENRY,DON,FRED LETTER If no parameters are given, is prompted for. If 0 or 1 parameter is given, the file is prompted for, and if is given as a reply, LETTER.TMP is created and filled from the terminal. That is, you type the letter on your terminal, and terminate it by typing . This method does not allow you to correct mistakes after you have typed the at the end of each line; also you can't change your mind about sending the letter after you start typing. Alternatively, you can create a letter as a text file, using an editor such as EDI/KE or TECO, then mail it by naming the file in the MAIL command line, or in reply to MAIL's prompt ("File?"). If a filename is given without an extension, .MAI is supplied. The text file is not deleted after it is mailed. The letter is prefixed with a header containing your name and the date and time. The user name, or one of the user names, may be your own. Thus you can send yourself a copy of a letter, or a message that you will be reminded of next time you log in. An error message is given if a user name is not that of a valid user. Otherwise the letter is placed in the user's mailbox. If you are logged in when someone sends you a letter, you will be notified immediately that you have mail. If you are not logged in, you will get the message next time you log in, and every time you log in until you read and empty your mailbox. To send copies of a letter to a number of users, you may specify several names in the command line, as described above, or you can use a mailing list. Type: PDS>MAIL @filename [letter] If the starts with "@", the remainder of the name is taken as a file name (default extension .MLS, default directory [current] or [10,3]). The file is opened and the user names read from it. This file is a mailing list, and (in the current version of MAIL) must contains a list of user names, separated by commas, in one line of at most 80 characters. You can create your own mailing lists, using an editor, or use one of the public mailing lists found in directory [10,3]. READING MAIL ------------ To see what mail is in your mailbox, type: PDS>MAIL? A summary of your mail is typed: this is just the headers from each letter in your mailbox. To read your mail, type: PDS>MAIL ME The contents of your mailbox is typed, and an opportunity given to reply to each letter and to file it by appending it to a file in your account, or to discard it. When you have read and disposed of all your mail, your mailbox is empty. You may also read a letter and leave it in your mailbox by just typing a in reply to the query "Place the letter in (filename or TRASH): ". If you do this, that letter will appear next time you go through your mailbox, and you will be reminded of it next time you log in.