Provided by: xlbiff_4.1-7_amd64 bug

NAME

       xlbiff - mailbox message previewer for X

SYNOPSIS

       xlbiff [ -option ... ]

DESCRIPTION

       The  xlbiff  program  lurks in the background, watching your mailbox file, waiting for new
       mail.  When mail arrives, it invokes the MH scan(1) command and pops up a window with  the
       results.   Clicking  the  left mouse button anywhere in this window makes it go away.  The
       window will also disappear if iconified or if the mailbox size drops to zero.

OPTIONS

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

       -help   This  option  indicates  that  a  brief  summary  of the allowed options should be
               printed on standard output.

       -bottom 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.

       -file filename
               This option specifies the name of the file which should be monitored.  By default,
               it watches /usr/spool/mail/username, where username is your login name.

       -rows height
               This  option specifies the maximum height, in lines of text, of the xlbiff window.
               The default is 20.

       -columns width
               This option specifies the maximum width, in characters, of the xlbiff window.  The
               default is 80.

       -resetSaver
               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.

       -update seconds
               This option specifies the frequency in seconds at which xlbiff should  update  its
               display.  The default is 15 seconds.

       -fade 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.

       -led ledNum
               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).

       -ledPopdown
               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.

       -refresh seconds
               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).

       -mailerCommand command
               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.

       -scanCommand command
               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

       -checkCommand command
               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.

       -volume percentage
               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:

       -display display
               This option specifies the X server to contact.

       -geometry +x+y
               This option specifies the preferred position of the scan window.

       -bg color
               This option specifies the color to use for the background of the window.

       -fg color
               This option specifies the color to use for the foreground of the window.

       -xrm resourcestring
               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.

       file (class File)
               Same as the -file option.

       mailerCommand (class MailerCommand)
               Same as the -mailerCommand option.

       scanCommand (class ScanCommand)
               Same as the -scanCommand option.

       checkCommand (class CheckCommand)
               Same as the -checkCommand option.

       resetSaver (class ResetSaver)
               Same as the -resetSaver option.

       update (class Interval)
               Same as the -update option.

       fade (class Fade)
               Same as the -fade option.

       columns (class Columns)
               Same as the -columns option.

       rows (class Rows)
               Specifies the maximum height, in lines, of the xlbiff window.  The default is 20.

       led (class Led)
               Same as the -led option.

       ledPopdown (class LedPopdown)
               Same as the -ledPopdown option.

       refresh (class Refresh)
               Same as the -refresh option.

       sound (class Sound)
               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.

       volume (class Volume)
               Same as the -volume option.

ACTIONS

       Xlbiff provides the following actions for use in event translations:

       popdown()
               This action causes the window to vanish.

       exit()  This action causes xlbiff to exit.

       The default translations are

               <Button1Press>:  popdown()
               <Button3Press>:  exit()

ENVIRONMENT

       DISPLAY is used to get the default host and display number.

FILES

       /usr/spool/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, esm@pobox.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.

                                           2 June 1994                                 XLBIFF(1x)