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From: brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: ps and wall; How do they work?
Message-ID: <18848:Sep1609:43:5590@kramden.acf.nyu.edu>
Date: 16 Sep 90 09:43:55 GMT
References: <13859@smoke.BRL.MIL> <13958:Sep1510:27:5790@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> <13870@smoke.BRL.MIL>
Organization: IR
Lines: 15

In article <13870@smoke.BRL.MIL> gwyn@smoke.BRL.MIL (Doug Gwyn) writes:
> In article <13958:Sep1510:27:5790@kramden.acf.nyu.edu> brnstnd@kramden.acf.nyu.edu (Dan Bernstein) writes:
> >Such ttys wouldn't be listed as interactive. Problem solved.
> The problem is NOT solved until "mesg" and "write" recognize the same
> conventions.

write already does, just like talk.

mesg does not need to recognize the same conventions, because (as other
people have pointed out) its function is only to change the other-user
write/talk access on an interactive tty. If the session is not
interactive, mesg is senseless: it communicates information to programs
that aren't paying attention in the first place.

---Dan