Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhc!mck
From: mck@hpcuhc.cup.hp.com (Doug McKenzie)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.hp
Subject: Re: biff
Message-ID: <530027@hpcuhc.cup.hp.com>
Date: 4 Feb 91 15:03:42 GMT
References: <Feb.3.11.10.57.1991.22561@yoko.rutgers.edu>
Organization: Hewlett Packard, Cupertino
Lines: 134

>There is a UNIX BSD utility program called 'biff' which notifies the
>user about any incoming mail. Is there any similar program on HP-UX?
>If not, has anyone tried to write code with similar functionality.

Below is a slightly ancient, unsupported version, with man page.

Doug McKenzie
HP-UX Support


# This is a shell archive.  Remove anything before this line,
# then unpack it by saving it in a file and typing "sh file".
#
# Wrapped by Doug McKenzie <mck@hpcugsya> on Mon Feb  4 06:59:53 1991
#
# This archive contains:
#	biff.1	biff.c	
#

LANG=""; export LANG
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:$PATH; export PATH

echo x - biff.1
cat >biff.1 <<'@EOF'
'''\"   UNISRC_ID	@(#)37.1   87/02/20
.TH BIFF 1 "18 July 1983"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
biff \- be notified if mail arrives and who it is from
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B biff
[
.B yn
]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I Biff
informs the system whether you want to be notified when mail arrives
during the current terminal session.
The command
.IP
.B "biff y"
.LP
enables notification; the command
.IP
.B "biff n"
.LP
disables it.
When mail notification is enabled, the header and first few lines of
the message will be printed on your screen whenever mail arrives.
A ``biff y'' command is often included in the file
.I \&.login
or
.I \&.profile
to be executed at each login.
.PP
.I Biff
operates asynchronously.
For synchronous notification use the MAIL variable of
.IR sh (1)
or the
.I mail
variable of
.IR csh (1).
.SH SEE ALSO
csh(1),
sh(1),
mail(1),
comsat(8C)
@EOF

chmod 444 biff.1

echo x - biff.c
cat >biff.c <<'@EOF'
#ifdef hpux
#ifndef lint
static char *UNISRC_ID = "@(#)37.1   87/02/20";
#endif
/* HPUX_ID: @(#)biff.c	37.1     86/06/16 */

#else

#ifndef lint
static char *sccsid ="@(#)biff.c	4.2 (Berkeley) 7/2/83";
#endif
#endif not hpux
/*
 * biff
 */

#include <sys/types.h>
#include <sys/stat.h>
#include <stdio.h>

char	*ttyname();

main(argc, argv)
	int argc;
	char **argv;
{
	char *cp = ttyname(2);
	struct stat stb;

	argc--, argv++;
	if (cp == 0)
		fprintf(stderr, "Where are you?\n"), exit(1);
	if (stat(cp, &stb) < 0)
		perror(cp), exit(1);
	if (argc == 0) {
		printf("is %s\n", stb.st_mode&0100 ? "y" : "n");
		exit((stb.st_mode&0100) ? 0 : 1);
	}
	switch (argv[0][0]) {

	case 'y':
		if (chmod(cp, stb.st_mode|0100) < 0)
			perror(cp);
		break;

	case 'n':
		if (chmod(cp, stb.st_mode&~0100) < 0)
			perror(cp);
		break;

	default:
		fprintf(stderr, "usage: biff [y] [n]\n");
	}
	exit((stb.st_mode&0100) ? 0 : 1);
}
@EOF

chmod 444 biff.c

exit 0