NAME

       msgchk - check for messages

SYNOPSIS

       msgchk [-date | -nodate] [-notify all/mail/nomail ] [-nonotify all/mail/nomail ] [-host
            hostname] [-user username] [-sasl] [-saslmech mechanism] [-snoop] [users ... ]
            [-version] [-help]

DESCRIPTION

       The  msgchk program checks all known mail drops for mail waiting for you.  For those drops
       which have mail for you, msgchk will indicate if it believes that you have seen  the  mail
       in question before.

       The  -notify  type  switch  indicates  under  what  circumstances  msgchk should produce a
       message.  The default is -notify all which says  that  msgchk  should  always  report  the
       status  of  the  users  maildrop.   Other values for `type' include `mail' which says that
       msgchk should report the status of waiting mail; and,  `nomail'  which  says  that  msgchk
       should  report  the status of empty maildrops.  The -nonotify type switch has the inverted
       sense, so -nonotify all directs msgchk to never report the status of maildrops.   This  is
       useful if the user wishes to check msgchk's exit status.  A non-zero exit status indicates
       that mail was not waiting for at least one of the indicated users.

       If msgchk produces output, then the -date switch directs msgchk to print out the last date
       mail was read, if this can be determined.

   Using POP
       msgchk  will  normally check all the local mail drops, but if the option “pophost:” is set
       in the mts configuration file “mts.conf”, or if the -host hostname switch is given, msgchk
       will query this POP service host as to the status of mail waiting.

       The  default  is for msgchk to assume that your account name on the POP server is the same
       as your current username.  To specify  a  different  username,  use  the  `-user username'
       switch.

       When  using  POP,  you will normally need to type the password for your account on the POP
       server, in order to retrieve your messages.  It is possible to automate  this  process  by
       creating  a  “.netrc”  file containing your login account information for this POP server.
       For each POP server, this file should have a line of  the  following  form.   Replace  the
       words mypopserver, mylogin, and mypassword with your own account information.

            machine mypopserver login mylogin password mypassword

       This “.netrc” file should be owned and readable only by you.

       For  debugging  purposes, there is also a switch -snoop, which will allow you to watch the
       POP transaction take place between you and the POP server.

       If nmh has been compiled with SASL support, the -sasl switch will enable the use  of  SASL
       authentication.   Depending  on  the  SASL  mechanism used, this may require an additional
       password prompt from the user (but the “.netrc” file can be used to store this  password).
       The -saslmech switch can be used to select a particular SASL mechanism.

       If  SASL  authentication is successful, inc will attempt to negotiate a security layer for
       session encryption.  Encrypted traffic is labelled with  `(encrypted)'  and  `(decrypted)'
       when viewing the POP transaction with the -snoop switch.

FILES

       $HOME/.mh_profile          The user profile
       /etc/nmh/mts.conf          nmh mts configuration file
       /var/mail/$USER            Location of mail drop

PROFILE COMPONENTS

       None

SEE ALSO

       inc(1)

DEFAULTS

       `user' defaults to the current user
       `-date'
       `-notify all'

CONTEXT

       None