rwl@ee.umr.edu (Wayne Little) (03/12/91)
Archive-name: mail/notifier/biff-over-nfs/1991-03-07
Archive: franklin.ee.umr.edu:/pub/biff.over.nfs.Z [131.151.4.11]
Original-posting-by: rwl@ee.umr.edu (Wayne Little)
Original-subject: p.s. to: SUMMARY: How does one notify (biff) users on clients when new mail arrives?
Reposted-by: emv@ox.com (Edward Vielmetti)
On Feb 15, I poted a summary regarding how to get biff notification to
users on clients that NFS mount a central spool.
Since I posted the summary, I have received some additional information; i.e
1. The code From: fabrice@sj.ATE.SLB.COM (Fabrice Le Metayer) for his
comsat/biff replacement
2. Another solution with code involving mods to binmail & comsat from:
Tatsuo -Hybrid Child- Ishii <t-ishii@sramha.sra.co.jp>
Note: The code for the above (1&2) has been appended to the complete archive
of the replies and code I received, and is available as before via
anonymous ftp from: franklin.ee.umr.edu [131.151.4.11] in ~ftp/pub/
-rw-r--r-- 1 rwl 160649 Mar 7 10:38 biff.over.nfs
-rw-r--r-- 1 rwl 76071 Mar 7 10:37 biff.over.nfs.Z
3. A reply from a happy local prof, who is connected to the remote client
from his PC, who used Fuat Baran's mail watch (mw) program discussed
previously. He said (after reading the summary)
-------------------
phew! Thats a lot of stuff. Quick summary: nix biff (sorry, I like it),
use window based tools (gosh, I'd sure like to :-), replace comsat/biff
(argh...) use mw as a user process. I like that one. I'm going to try it.
That's what I had in mind anyway, so this will avoid having to hack out my
own solution. Tnx. [N.B. Works great. Good soln. if only a few need this.]
4. Availability info. from : koreth@EBay.Sun.COM (Steven Grimm) RE: his
biff-comsat replacment program. Here's what Steven shared:
---------------------------------
I'm about ready to submit version 1.3 of my network biff/comsat replacement
to comp.sources.unix. Since that group has such a lousy turnaround time
(even worse than my Atari groups!) I've put it on ucbvax.berkeley.edu, in
pub/comsat.shar.
Using my biff/comsat, mail can be delivered to a server machine. Users on
clients, assuming /etc/hosts.equiv or .rhosts files are properly set up, can
say
% biff y @serverhostname
to receive biffs from incoming mail on the server machine. This version
has support for HPUX and some bug fixes. Installation instructions and manual
pages are, of course, included.
I'm willing to send it out to those who can't use anonymous ftp. Mail
koreth@sun.com for a copy.
-Steven Grimm
---------------------------------
Thanks again to all you kind people on sun-nets who took the time to reply.
The cooperative spirit that prevails here makes a sometimes head-paining-
and-banging type job much more enjoyable (not to mention doable!). :-)
-- Wayne Little Internet: rwl@ee.umr.edu Phone: (314) 341-4546
USPS: Univ. of Missouri-Rolla, EE Dept., Rolla, MO 65401
"I have read in Plato and Cicero sayings that are very wise and very beautiful;
but I never read in either of them: "Come unto me all ye that labour and are
heavy laden." St. Augustine