# 2.11BSD#431 - /usr/man/cat8/comsat.0

    COMSAT(8)	    UNIX Programmer's Manual		COMSAT(8)

    NAME
         comsat - biff server

    SYNOPSIS
         /usr/libexec/comsat

    DESCRIPTION
         Comsat is the server process which receives reports of
         incoming mail and notifies users if they have requested this
         service.  Comsat receives messages on a datagram port asso-
         ciated with the ``biff'' service specification (see ser-
         vices(5) and inetd(8)).  The one line messages are of the
         form

    	  user@mailbox-offset

         If the user specified is logged in to the system and the
         associated terminal 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 char-
         acters 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.

    FILES
         /var/run/utmp  to find out who's logged on and on what ter-
         minals

    SEE ALSO
         biff(1), inetd(8)

    BUGS
         The message header filtering is prone to error.  The density
         of the information 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.

    Printed 11/24/99	November 16, 1996			1

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