Scroll to navigation

XLBIFF(1) General Commands Manual XLBIFF(1)

NAME

xlbiff - mail notification pop-up with configurable message scans

SYNOPSIS

xlbiff [ -option ... ]

DESCRIPTION

Is “you have mail” not quite enough detail? Is a per-message notification too much? Welcome to xlbiff, the X Literate Biff.

Xlbiff presents enough information to tell you: Is this new mail worth reading right now? And it stops distracting you once you decide.

Xlbiff waits in the background, monitoring your mailbox file (or running your custom check-mail script). When a new message arrives, it invokes the MH scan(1) command (or your custom mail-scanning script) and pops up a window with the output (typically the From and Subject line of each new message). If more mail arrives, xlbiff scans again and resizes its preview window accordingly.

Clicking the left mouse button anywhere in the window causes it to vanish. It will also vanish if the mailbox becomes empty. Xlbiff stays out of your way when there is no new mail and pops up only when something requests your attention.

Features:

• occupies no screen real estate until mail comes in
• supports scripts for checking mail
• has configurable screen location, color, and font
• can notify by bell and/or keyboard LED
• shows all new messages in one, easy-to-dismiss window
• lets you click anywhere on it; no trying to select a tiny “x”

OPTIONS

Xlbiff accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command line options along with the additional options listed below:

This option indicates that a brief summary of the allowed options should be printed on standard output.
This option tells xlbiff to realize/unrealize() the output window instead of using XtPopup/down(). This has the effect of causing the window manager to reposition the window each time it pops up, and is useful for when you specify negative Y coordinates, ie, at the bottom of the screen. Running xlbiff in this situation without -bottom would cause new lines to run off the bottom edge of the screen.
+bottom
Opposite of -bottom.
This option specifies the name of the file which should be monitored. By default, it watches /var/mail/username, where username is your login name.
This option specifies the maximum height, in lines of text, of the xlbiff window. The default is 20.
This option specifies the maximum width, in characters, of the xlbiff window. The default is 80.
If this option is set, xlbiff will reset the screen saver when new mail comes in. This is useful if you're doing something near your workstation but not on it.
+resetSaver
Opposite of -resetSaver.
This option specifies the frequency in seconds at which xlbiff should update its display. The default is 15 seconds.
Number of seconds to wait before popping window back down. This option can be used to monitor events of non-lasting importance, such as syslog or UUCP queues. The default value of 0 disables the fade option.
This option specifies a keyboard LED to light up when there is mail waiting in the file. The default is zero (do not light a LED).
This option indicates that the LED should be turned off when xlbiff is popped down. Ordinarily the LED stays lit to remind one of awaiting mail. This option has no effect if the -led option is disabled.
+ledPopdown
Opposite of -ledPopdown.
This option specifies the number of seconds to wait before re-posting the mail window after you acknowledge it, and it still contains the same mail. The default is 0 (no refresh). A useful value for this is 1800 (30 minutes).
Specifies the command to invoke when the the mailer() action is activated, eg, "xterm -e elm" or "inc". By default this is bound to the second mouse button. Invoking this action will pop down the main window. When the command exits, it will pop up again. Due to mailbox consistency considerations, the mailerCommand should not exit before it is finished with the mailbox, i.e. it should not be run in the background.

There is no default mailerCommand.

Specifies a shell command to be executed to list the contents of mailbox file. The specified string value is used as the argument to a system(3) call and may therefore contain i/o redirection. The command's stdout is used to generate the window. Internally, the command is generated as 



              sprintf(buf, scanCommand, file, columns)

so a %s and %d respectively in scanCommand will generate the values of file and columns. The default scanCommand is

		scan -file %s -width %d

Specifies a shell command to be executed to check for new mail (or some other condition) rather than simply examining the size of the mail file. The specified string value is used as the argument to a popen(3) call, and the output generated is important. Like xbiff, an exit status of 0 indicates that a change in condition demands a new evaluation of scanCommand and subsequent popup, 1 indicates no change in status, and 2 indicates that the condition has been cleared and the xlbiff window should pop down. By default, no shell command is provided.

This option may be useful to monitor logins (by checking update times of /etc/utmp), when using POP or other custom maildrop mechanisms, and so forth.

Similarly to scanCommand, the checkCommand is generated internally as



             sprintf(buf, checkCommand, file, previous)

previous is the numeric value output by the last time checkCommand was run, or zero the first time. This is useful for allowing the checkCommand to maintain state in a primitive fashion. For instance, a checkCommand such as



           compare_size %s %d

would "do the right thing" if compare_size were a script such as:



         #!/bin/sh


         NEWSIZE=`wc -c <$1`


         echo $NEWSIZE


         if [ $NEWSIZE -ne $2 ]; then


             if [ $NEWSIZE -eq 0 ]; then


                 exit 2


             else


                 exit 0


             fi


         fi


         exit 1

The author of xlbiff uses this facility to keep track of several maildrops with one command. See the Bcheck and Bscan scripts, included.

This option specifies how loud the bell should be rung when new mail comes in.

The following standard X Toolkit command line arguments are commonly used with xlbiff:

This option specifies the X server to contact.
This option specifies the preferred position of the scan window.
This option specifies the color to use for the background of the window.
This option specifies the color to use for the foreground of the window.
This option specifies a resource string to be used. This is especially useful for setting resources that do not have separate command line options.

RESOURCES

The application class name is XLbiff. It understands all of the core resource names and classes as well as:

bottom (class Bottom)
Same as the -bottom option.
Same as the -file option.
Same as the -mailerCommand option.
Same as the -scanCommand option.
Same as the -checkCommand option.
resetSaver (class ResetSaver)
Same as the -resetSaver option.
Same as the -update option.
Same as the -fade option.
Same as the -columns option.
Specifies the maximum height, in lines, of the xlbiff window. The default is 20.
Same as the -led option.
ledPopdown (class LedPopdown)
Same as the -ledPopdown option.
Same as the -refresh option.
Specify a command to be run in place of a bell when new mail arrives. For example, on a Sun Sparc you might use: 



 *sound: /usr/demo/SOUND/play -v %d /usr/demo/SOUND/sounds/doorbell.au

The command is generated internally with sprintf, so the characters ``%d'' will be replaced with the numeric value of the volume resource.

Same as the -volume option.

ACTIONS

Xlbiff provides the following actions for use in event translations:

This action causes the window to vanish.
This action causes xlbiff to exit.

The default translations are



        <Button1Press>:  popdown()


        <Button3Press>:  exit()

CUSTOMIZING

You may want to tweak some values in the app-defaults file and/or add some resources to your .Xdefaults file. You also probably want to tell your window manager not to put borders or titlebars or whatever around the xlbiff window.

Note that an MH format file, xlbiff.form, is included. This form:

• omits message number, which is meaningless in this context
• omits message size, since “scan -file” can't figure it out
• puts a “*” next to the message if your name is on the To: list
(to distinguish from mailing lists and cc's)
• displays the date in a friendly format
• packs as much subject & body into one line as possible.

The xlbiff.form file was copied and hacked from Jerry Peek's excellent Nutshell book MH & xmh: Email for Users & Programmers.

There are also two sample scripts, Bcheck and Bscan, intended to be used in conjunction. These are for checking mail in “bulk” maildrops. See README.bulk for more info.

ENVIRONMENT

is used to get the default host and display number.

FILES

/var/mail/username
default mail file to check.

SEE ALSO

X(1), scan(1)

BUGS

specifying dimensions in -geometry causes badness.

The led option does not work on Suns before SunOS 4.1/X11R5.

AUTHOR

Ed Santiago <ed@edsantiago.com>

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Xlbiff took shape around the xgoodbye sample program in the O'Reilly X Toolkit Intrinsics Programming Manual. A lot of code was stolen from xbiff, including this man page. Thanks also to Stephen Gildea (gildea@expo.lcs.mit.edu) for the many, many contributions that made xlbiff grow from a midnight hack to a more mature product.

19 Jan 2021