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SENDFAX(1) General Commands Manual SENDFAX(1)

NAME

sendfax - submit a facsimile job for transmission

SYNOPSIS

sendfax [ options ] [ files... ]

DESCRIPTION

sendfax submits one or more facsimile transmission requests to a HylaFAX facsimile server. Requests are normally processed immediately, although they may also be queued for transmission at a later time using a syntax identical to the at(1) command. For each job that is queued, sendfax prints a job identifier and a job group identifier on the standard output. A job identifier is the token by which jobs are identified within HylaFAX; job group identifiers are used to reference a set of jobs that have been submitted at the same time. Job and job group identifiers can be supplied to the faxrm(1) command to remove the jobs or to the faxalter(1) command to alter job parameters.

Facsimile are made from the concatenation of a cover page (see below) and one or more files specified on the command line. If no files are supplied on the command line, sendfax will read data from the standard input unless polling is requested. Cover pages are distinguished for the purpose of generating ``continuation cover pages'' on the server; these are makeup cover pages that are automatically generated if a job fails after sending the original user-specified cover page.

sendfax passes POSTSCRIPT® and TIFF documents directly through to the fax server for transmission, and attempts to convert other file formats to either POSTSCRIPT or TIFF. In normal operation sendfax automatically converts ASCII-text, troff(1) output, Portable Document Format (PDF), and Silicon Graphics format images for transmission. Support for other file formats can be easily added through an extensible file typing and conversion facility; see typerules(5). Note that since TIFF Class F documents are processed directly it is simple to forward a received facsimile.

By default sendfax will generate a cover page for each facsimile that is to be transmitted. This cover page is created by the ancillary faxcover(1) program using information deduced by sendfax and by information supplied on the command line. Automatic cover page generation may be suppressed with the -n option.

In addition to sending documents, sendfax can be used to poll a remote facsimile machine to retrieve waiting documents. If the -p option is specified, a polling request will be submitted to each destination. If a poll request is made in conjunction with the transmission of documents, the poll request will take place after the documents are transmitted. Documents retrieved by polling are returned to the requestor by electronic mail and may be viewed with a suitable viewer program.

One or more destinations must be specified on the command line using the -d option. A destination is the dialing string to use to contact the remote fax machine. Phone numbers may include non-alphanumeric characters for readability—only alphanumerics, ``+'' (for denoting a country code), and ``#'' (for denoting a subaddress) are significant in placing a call. Alphabetic characters are automatically mapped to their numeric key equivalents: ``abcABC'' to ``2'', ``defDEF'' to ``3'', etc. Dialing prefixes, such as ``1'' and ``011'' (for long distance calling in the United States) need not be included if an unambiguous number is specified. Examples of unambiguous phone numbers are:





+31.77.594.131	to call the Netherlands
+14159657824	to call California
9657824	to make a local call
1-215-356-1666	to call Pennsylvania from within the US





Non-numeric strings, such as ``*70'' (to defeat call waiting), may be included
  in the destination phone number. Whether or not they are stripped from the
  string used to dial the destination fax machine is dependent on the dialstring
  rules configured for use on the server; c.f. hylafax-config(5) and
  dialrules(5).

A destination may also be specified as user@fax-number. In
    this case the user string will be passed to faxcover as the
    identity of the recipient. Note that multi-word names must be enclosed in
    quote marks; for example, ``Sam Leffler@+1.415.555.1212''.


The order of options on the command line is significant. Each fax
    to be transmitted is assigned the current value of parameters specified on
    the command line; e.g. whether or not to generate a cover page. This means
    that options that specify parameters for a particular destination must
    precede the dialstring specified with the -d option. For example,



  

  
sendfax -n -d 5551212 /etc/passwd




submits a fax to 5551212 that has no cover page while



  

  
sendfax -d 5551212 -n /etc/passwd




submits the same fax but with the default cover page handling.
    Note also that parameter values persist across -d options so the
    following



  

  
sendfax -n -d 5551212 -d 5551313 /etc/network




submits two facsimile, both of which have no cover page.






OPTIONS



  
-1

  
Transmit facsimile documents using 1-D MH compression. By default
      HylaFAX will use the optimal compression scheme supported by the
      transmitting modem and receiving facsimile device.

  
-2

  
Transmit facsimile documents using 2-D MR compression, if possible. By
      default HylaFAX will use the optimal compression scheme supported
      by the transmitting modem and receiving facsimile device.

  
-3

  
Transmit facsimile documents using 2-D MMR compression, if possible. By
      default HylaFAX will use the optimal compression scheme supported
      by the transmitting modem and receiving facsimile device.

  

  
Schedule transmission up to one year in advance at the indicated
      time. Time is specified in the format: ``HH:MM [AM|PM] | now
      [+ N period | month DD | dayofweek ]´´
      where month can be Jan(uary), Feb(ruary), Mar(ch), Apr(il), May,
      Jun(e), Jul(y), Aug(ust), Sep(tember), Oct(ober), Nov(ember), or
      Dec(ember); period can be minute(s), hour(s), day(s), week(s), or
      month(s); dayofweek can be Mon(day), Tue(sday), Wed(nesday),
      Thu(rsday), Fri(day), Sat(urday), Sun(day); e.g. ``now + 30
      minutes´´ to schedule transmission 30 minutes in the future.
      Trailing information in the time field (such as YYYY) is ignored.
      By default, sendfax schedules facsimile for immediate delivery.
      Time should be given in the user's local time.

  

  
Archive the job on the server according to the bin/archive script when the
      job is done.

  

  
Transmit facsimile documents using a signalling rate that is constrained
      to be at least speed bits/second. If the specified speed is greater
      than the transmitting modem or receiver is capable of, it is reduced to
      the highest possible speed both devices support. If a negotiated
      signalling rate greater than or equal to speed cannot be negotiated
      then the job is aborted. Possible speeds are: 2400, 4800, 7200, 9600,
      12000, 14400, 16800, 19200, 21600, 24000, 26400, 28800, 31200, and 33600.
      By default HylaFAX will use the fastest possible rate supported by
      the transmitting modem and receiving facsimile device.

  

  
Try to transmit facsimile documents using the desired signalling rate.
      Possible speeds are: 2400, 4800, 7200, 9600, 12000, 14400, 16800, 19200,
      21600, 24000, 26400, 28800, 31200, and 33600. If the specified speed is
      greater than the transmitting modem or receiver is capable of, it is
      reduced to the highest possible speed both devices support. By default
      HylaFAX will use the fastest possible rate supported by the
      transmitting modem and receiving facsimile device (unless restricted by
      other server configuration); this option can be used to reduce the speed.
      Note that international calls are frequently more reliable when
      transmissions are restricted to 9600 bits/second. For Class 1/1.0 devices,
      if the specified speed is not greater than 14400 then V.34 will not be
      attempted, and if the specified speed is 9600 or 7200 then V.29 will be
      assumed in lieu of V.17.

  

  
Pass comments to the faxcover(1) program for inclusion in
      the comments field of any generated cover page.

  

  
Pass file to the faxcover(1) program for use as the cover
      page template.

  

  
Enable notification by electronic mail when the facsimile has been
      delivered. By default HylaFAX will notify the submitter only if
      there is a problem with a job.

  

  
Create a job to transmit the supplied documents to a facsimile machine at
      the indicated destination. If the destination is of the form
      ``user@phone-number#subaddress'' then any cover page
      will show user as the intended recipient, and the remote system
      will be supplied the subaddress value (i.e. for routing) provided that the
      sending modem and the receiving system support it.

  

  
Disable use of the Error Correction Mode (ECM) when transmitting page
      data. Setting ECM to false will limit the maximum speed to 14400 bps. By
      default HylaFAX will attempt to use ECM when both the transmitting
      modem and receiving device support it. Note that international calls are
      sometimes faster when ECM is disabled. Beware also that some modems and/or
      facsimile devices do not properly implement ECM causing transmission
      failures.

  

  
Use from as the identity of the facsimile sender. Otherwise the
      sender is the user that invoked sendfax. The sender is an account
      name to which the HylaFAX software should direct notification
      messages. The from identity may be a fullblown ``From:'' line, e.g.
      e.g. ``Joe Blow <joe@foo.com>'' and ``joe@foo.com (Joe Blow)'' are
      acceptable. If no host-part is specified in the from string the
      local hostname is used. This option is useful when sendfax is
      invoked on behalf of another user, such as in the implementation of an
      electronic mail to fax gateway.

  

  
Use the specified format when imaging tag lines on outgoing pages.
      Consult the description of the TagLineFormat parameter in
      hylafax-config(5) for an explanation of how to construct a format
      string.





  

  
Note that many locales require that proper identification appear
      on all transmitted facsimile; when using this facility one should
      always include proper identification (e.g. a phone number) in the
      imaged taglines.





  

  
Enable usage of any extended resolutions supported by the receiver.
      -G supersedes the usage of any -l or -m options.
      Beware that increased resolution will increase transmission time.

  

  
Force the jobs to be processed on a specific host and, optionally,
      using a particular modem. The host may be either a symbolic
      name or a network address. If no -h option is supplied,
      sendfax uses the FAXSERVER environment variable to
      identify the HylaFAX server to which the jobs should be directed.
      If no server is specified then sendfax attempts to contact a server
      on the local host. If no modem is specified, the job will be submitted to
      any available modem.

  

  
Use the identifier string in any notification messages instead of
      the usual job identifier number. This option is useful for applications
      that cross reference notification messages against job submissions.

  

  
If a job must be requeued because of a communication failure schedule the
      retry according to the specified time. Times are given in seconds.
      Minutes, hours, and days can be specified with ``min'',
      ``hour'', and ``day'' suffixes, respectively. By default
      HylaFAX reschedules jobs using retry times that depend on the
      manner in which the job failed; this interface permits a user to override
      this algorithm and specify a single fixed retry time for all communication
      failures.

  

  
Kill the job if it does not complete in the indicated time. The
      time is specified using notation identical to the -a option.
      Note that the time is relative to the time of the initial
      time-to-send. The default kill time is ``now + 3 hours'' (three hours from
      the time the job is first processed). To retry for an hour, ``now +1
      hour'' could be used.

  

  
Transmit the facsimile at a vertical resolution of 98 lines/inch;
      otherwise known as low resolution.

  

  
Transmit the facsimile at a vertical resolution of 196 lines/inch;
      otherwise known as medium resolution or fine mode.

  

  
Transmit facsimile documents using the specified minimum scanline time.
      Possible times are: 0ms, 5ms, 10ms2, 10ms, 20ms2, 20ms, 40ms2, and 40ms.
      If the specified time is less than the transmitting modem or receiver is
      capable of, it is increased to the lowest possible time both devices
      support. By default HylaFAX will use the lowest possible time
      supported by the transmitting modem and receiving facsimile device (unless
      restricted by other server configuration). This option is mostly useful
      for debugging.

  

  
Suppress the automatic generation of a cover page for subsequent
      facsimile. Note that polling requests do not receive a cover page unless
      they are combined with the transmission of one or more files.

  

  
Do not notify the sender by electronic mail when the facsimile has been
      delivered or requeued.

  

  
Specify the fax owner login name, replacing any FAXUSER environment
      variable that may be set for the same purpose. If neither is specified,
      the user's current login name is used.

  

  
Poll each destination for any available documents. If a poll request is
      made together with document transmission, the poll operation is done after
      the documents are transmitted. Documents received by polling are returned
      to the sender by electronic mail.

  

  
Assign the specified scheduling priority to subsequent jobs. A
      priority is an integer value in the range [0-255]. Lower values result in
      higher priority processing. By default, each job is assigned 127 for an
      initial scheduling priority. If a job's priority is greater than bulk
      faxes then the job's priority is raised (numerically lowered) for each
      failed attempt to transmit so that retransmit attempts are done ahead of
      newly submitted jobs. In the case of bulk faxes (numerically higher than
      190), then the job's priority is lowered (numerically raised) for each
      failed attempt to transmit so that the whole of the bulk-queued jobs will
      be attempted before any are retried. The priority may also be
      specified as one of the following symbolic names: default or
      normal (127), bulk or junk (191), low (190),
      or high (63).

  

  
Enable notification by electronic mail when the facsimile has been
      delivered and when it is requeued for retransmission. By default
      HylaFAX will notify the submitter only if there is a problem with a
      job.

  

  
Pass regarding to the faxcover(1) program as the value of
      the ``Re:'' field of any generated cover page.

  

  
Set the page size to use for the transmitted facsimile. Facsimile are
      normally imaged with a system-default page size (usually letter-size
      pages, 8.5" by 11", for sites in North America). Alternate page
      sizes are specified symbolically using either the name or abbreviation of
      an entry in the pagesizes(5) database; e.g. a3 (ISO A3),
      a4 (ISO A4), a5 (ISO A5), a6 (ISO A6), b4 (ISO
      B4), na-let (North American Letter), us-leg (American
      Legal), us-led (American Ledger), us-exe (American
      Executive), jp-let (Japanese Letter), and jp-leg (Japanese
      Legal). Comparisons are case-insensitive and any match of a substring of
      the full page-size name is sufficient; e.g. ``legal'' would match
      ``American Legal''.





  

  
Note that it may not be permissible to image into the full page area; the
      guaranteed reproducible area for a page is typically inset. Also, note
      that while arbitrary page sizes can be specified through the page size
      database, only a limited set of page dimensions are supported by the Group
      3 facsimile protocol. Thus if an odd-size facsimile is submitted for
      transmission it may not be possible to determine if it can be sent until
      the fax server establishes communication with the remote facsimile
      machine.





  

  
Pass tsi to the server as the suggested sender identification to be used,
      for example, in tagline imaging and fax protocol.

  

  
Make no more than tries attempts to send the facsimile. By default,
      HylaFAX will terminate a job if 3 consecutive attempts to send a
      particular page fail, or it appears the receiver is not a facsimile
      machine. Otherwise HylaFAX places no limit on the number of
      attempts to send a facsimile, instead terminating a job if it is not
      completed within a kill time timeout interval. Note that a try is a
      call in which carrier is established and the facsimile protocol is
      commenced; this is contrasted with a call attempt that might have failed
      because the line was busy. Use ``-1'' to indicate that no tries
      value should be specified to the server.

  

  
Make no more than maxdials calls in attempting to send the
      facsimile. By default, HylaFAX will redial 12 times before killing a job.
      Use ``-1'' to indicate that no maxdials value should be specified
      to the server.

  

  
Pass voice-no to the faxcover(1) program as the sender's
      voice number.

  

  
Pass voice-no to the faxcover(1) program as the destination
      person's voice number.

  

  
Wait for the job to complete before ending the sendfax session. If this
      option is used, the sendfax process will not terminate until the job is
      completed.

  

  
Pass fax-no to the faxcover(1) program as the sender's fax
      number.

  

  
Pass company to the faxcover(1) program as the destination
      company name.

  

  
Pass company to the faxcover(1) program as the sender's
      company name.

  

  
Pass location to the faxcover(1) program as the destination
      company's location.

  

  
Pass location to the faxcover(1) program as the sender's
      company location.

  

  
Read destinations from filename which contains a list of the
      destinations formatted identically as destinations for the -d
      option, one per line. Usage of this option is similar to the -d
      option and may be done in conjunction with other -d and -z
      options.

  

  
Print information on the standard output about each conversion and cover
      sheet generation operation it does. If -v is specified twice, the
      protocol between sendfax and the hfaxd server process that
      does the submission work on the remote machine is also displayed.

  

  
Specify that only certain pages of the fax should actually be transmitted.
      The range is in a comma-seperated list of ranges in the form of
      A[-B][,....]. The range is specified against the resulting document to be
      faxed, excluding any cover pages. So if you have more than one document,
      make sure to account for them, and exclude the cover pages in the range
      specification. Cover pages will always be faxed, so a fax with a coverpage
      and 2 5 page documents with a range specified of of 1,3,10 will fax the
      cover page, and pages 1, 3, and 10 of the combined documents (page 1 and 3
      from the first document, and page 5 of the second document).








CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS


sendfax reads configuration information from the files
    /etc/hylafax/hfaxd.conf, /etc/hylafax/hyla.conf,
    /etc/hylafax/sendfax.conf, and ~/.hylarc; in that order, with
    later-read settings superseding any that may have been previously read.
    Configuration files follow the conventions described in
    hylafax-client(1). The following configuration parameters are
    recognized. Parameters marked with ¹ are not available in
    /etc/hylafax/hfaxd.conf :




Tag	Type	Default	Description
AutoCoverPage	boolean	Yes	automatically generate cover page
ChopThreshold	float	3.0	page chopping threshold
CoverCmd	string	see below	pathname of cover sheet program
Cover-Comments	string	-	cover page comments string
Cover-Company¹	string	-	cover page to-company name string
Cover-Location¹	string	-	cover page to-company location string
Cover-Regarding	string	-	cover page regarding string
Cover-Template	string	-	cover page template filename
Cover-Voice¹	string	-	cover page to-voice number string
Cover-From-Company¹	string	-	cover page from-company string
Cover-From-Location¹	string	-	cover page from-location string
Cover-From-Voice¹	string	-	cover page from-voice number string
Cover-From-Fax¹	string	-	cover page from-fax number string
DateFormat	string	-	cover page date format string
DesiredEC	integer	2	desired type of ECM
DesiredMST	string	-	desired minimum scanling time to use
DesiredSpeed	integer	-	desired signalling rate to use
DialRules	string	see below	file containing dialstring rules
From	string	-	sender's identity
HRes	float	204.	horizontal resolution
Host	string	localhost	host to contact for service
KillTime	string	-	time to expire job
MailAddr	string	-	mail address for notification messages
MaxDials	integer	12	times to retry dialing
MaxTries	integer	3	times to retry transmission
MinSpeed	integer	-	minimum acceptable signalling rate
Modem	string	-	modem to use on server
Notify	string	none	control email notification
PageChop	string	default	control page chop handling
PageLength	float	-	page length in millimeters
PageSize	string	default	page size by name
PageWidth	float	-	page width in millimeters
PassiveMode	boolean	false	whether or not to use passive mode
Port	integer	4559	port to use in contacting server
Priority	string	default	job scheduling priority
Protocol	string	tcp	protocol to use in contacting server
RetryTime	string	-	delay between failed attempts to send
SendTime	string	-	time to send job
TagLine	string	-	tagline format string
TypeRules	string	see below	file containing file typing rules
VRes	float	98.	vertical resolution
Verbose	boolean	No	whether or not to enable protocol tracing


The configuration parameters are explained below. Certain
    configuration parameters, notably those for setting strings on automatically
    generated cover pages, are defined mainly for use by other HylaFAX
    programs that share common code used by sendfax.



  

  
Control whether or not a cover page is automatically generated for each
      job. (Equivalent to the -n option.)

  

  
The amount of white space, in inches, that must be present at the bottom
      of a page before HylaFAX will attempt to truncate the page
      transmission.

  

  
The absolute pathname of the program to use to generate cover pages. The
      default cover sheet program is /usr/bin/faxcover.

  

  
The comments string to pass to the cover sheet program when
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The to-company name string to pass to the cover sheet program when
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The to-company location string to pass to the cover sheet program when
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The regarding string to pass to the cover sheet program when
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The absolute pathname of a cover sheet template file to use in
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The to-voice number string to pass to the cover sheet program when
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The from-company name string to pass to the cover sheet program when
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The from-location string to pass to the cover sheet program when
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The from-voice number string to pass to the cover sheet program when
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The from-fax number string to pass to the cover sheet program when
      auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
The strftime(3) format string to pass to the cover page command
      when auto-generating cover pages.

  

  
Which type of the optional Error Correct Mode (ECM) to use when
      transmitting facsimile. 0 to disable, 1 for 64-byte ECM, and 2 for
      256-byte ECM (default).

  

  
The desired minimum scanline time to use when transmitting facsimile.
      (Equivalent to the -M option.)

  

  
The desired signalling rate to the use when transmitting facsimile.
      (Equivalent to the -B option.)

  

  
The name of the file containing the dialstring processing rules to when
      preparing an externally visible representation of the dialstring (e.g. to
      strip credit card numbers). By default this is
    /etc/hylafax/dialrules.

  

  
The sender's identity. (Equivalent to the -f option.)

  

  
The host to contact for service. (Equivalent to the -h
    option.)

  

  
The horizontal resolution to use when transmitting facsimile. (NB: this
      currently has no effect.)

  

  
The expiration time to assign to each job. (Equivalent to the -k
      option.)

  

  
The electronic mail address to direct notification messages from the
      server. If this string is specified without an ``@hostname'' part then the
      local hostname will automatically be appended. (Equivalent to the
      -f option.)

  

  
The maximum number of times to dial the phone for each job. (Equivalent to
      the -T option.)

  

  
The maximum number of times to retry sending a job. (Equivalent to the
      -t option.)

  

  
The minimum acceptable signalling rate to use when transmitting facsimile.
      (Equivalent to the -b option.)

  

  
The modem to use on the server. (Equivalent to the -h option.)

  

  
Control the email notification messages from the server. This string may
      be one of ``done'', ``none'', ``requeued'' or ``default'' with an
      optionally preceding ``when '' (e.g. ``when done''). Note that ``when
      requeued'' implies ``when done''. (Equivalent to the -D, -R,
      and -N options.)

  

  
Control page chop handling when transmitting facsimile. This string may be
      one of ``none'', ``all'', or ``last' to have no pages chopped, all pages
      chopped, or only the last page chopped; respectively. Page chopping is
      controlled by the ChopThreshold parameter.

  

  
Set the transmitted page length in millimeters.

  

  
Set the page dimensions according to an entry in the pagesizes(5)
      database. (Equivalent to the -s option.)

  

  
Set the transmitted page width in millimeters.

  

  
Whether or not to use passive mode in communication with the server.

  

  
The network port to contact for service. (Equivalent to the -h
      option.)

  

  
The scheduling priority to assign to each job. (Equivalent to the
      -P option.)

  

  
The name of the communication protocol to use when contacting a server.
      (Equivalent to the FAXSERVICE environment variable.)

  

  
The time to delay between job retries due to a communication failure.
      (Equivalent to the -I option.)

  

  
The time to send jobs. (Equivalent to the -a option.)

  

  
The tagline format string to use when transmitting facsimile. (Equivalent
      to the -F option.)

  

  
The name of the file containing file type conversion rules. By default
      this is /etc/hylafax/typerules.

  

  
Control protocol tracing. (Equivalent to the -vv option.)

  

  
Set the vertical resolution in lines/inch to use when transmitting
      facsimile. (Equivalent to the -m and -l options.)








DIAGNOSTICS


The following messages are generated because of problems
    encountered on the local machine.


Could not call server. The facsimile server on the remote
    machine did not respond.


No input data; transmission aborted. No data was supplied
    (typically on the standard input). No facsimile will be sent.


Error converting data; command was %s." A data
    conversion operation failed; the shell command that was used is printed.


Can not convert %s. Data needed to be converted for
    transmission, but the required conversion rule was not located. This may
    indicate that the HylaFAX software was incorrectly installed; or
    perhaps that an NFS-mounted directory is temporarily
    unavailable.


%s: Can not determine file type. sendfax was unable
    to deduce the type of the file.


%s: Not a regular file. The file is something other than a
    regular file; for example, a directory.


The following messages may be printed by sendfax. These
    messages describe problems encountered by the server process on the remote
    machine. This list is incomplete; other messages may be generated by the
    server under unusual circumstances.






FILES


~/.hylarc	per-user configuration file
/etc/hylafax/hyla.conf	system-wide configuration file
/etc/hylafax/sendfax.conf	system-wide configuration file
/etc/hylafax/typerules	file type and conversion rules
/etc/hylafax/pagesizes	page size database
/etc/hylafax/dialrules	optional client dialstring rules
/usr/bin/faxcover	for generating cover sheets
/usr/sbin/textfmt	for converting text to PostScript
/usr/sbin/sgi2fax	for converting SGI RGB images
/var/spool/hylafax/tmp/sndfaxXXXXXX	temporary files






SEE ALSO


at(1), hylafax-client(1), faxalter(1),
    faxcover(1), faxmail(1), faxrm(1), faxstat(1),
    sgi2fax(1), textfmt(1), hfaxd(8),
    hylafax-server(5), typerules(5)







  

    January 6, 2001