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From: lan_csse@netrix.nac.dec.com (CSSE LAN Test Account)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: SMail and biff
Keywords: smail, biff, comsat
Message-ID: <22812@shlump.lkg.dec.com>
Date: 21 May 91 19:06:40 GMT
References: <2989@odin.cs.hw.ac.uk> <1991May18.043542.27251@Veritas.COM>
Sender: news@shlump.lkg.dec.com
Organization: Digital Equipment
Lines: 16

What biff does is wake up periodically and check the mtime for your
mail file (/usr/spool/mail/$USER).  Test this by:
	echo Hi there >> /usr/spool/mail/$USER
and sit back and wait.  After a couple of minutes, biff will tell you 
that you have new mail.  It's that simple.  All you have to do it get
smail to append the mail to the mailbox.

(Of course, I wouldn't be at all surprised if someone were to decide
that this is too simple-minded, and generate a protocol for dealing
with the job, expanding biff by a couple thousand lines and requiring 
the rewriting of every mail-deliver agent in existence. :-)

{Of course, with xbiff this isn't needed, since adding the X library
itself expands biff from 10240 bytes (on this VAX) to 268288 bytes, 
which should satisfy all but the pickiest memory salesmen. ;-}