Apur-ee.267
net.unix-wizards
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!pur-ee!rick
Tue Mar 16 16:10:05 1982
Biff -s
Here at Purdue, I added a "biff -s" option. This actually turns on the
setuid bit on your terminal.

I then modified /bin/mail to do all of the things comsat used to do. We
no longer use comsat. There were 2 reasons for this.  One, we wanted to
avoid using multiplexed files and 2) we wanted to be able to use this
feature on our V7 11/70's, which do not have multiplexed files.

/bin/mail, after it delivers the mail, looks to see if the user is
logged on, and if so, checks the mode on his terminal.  If the execute
bit is on (which you get from "biff y", it delivers the old style biff
message. However, if the setuid bit is on (from biff -s), it delivers a
"short" notification such as:

       New mail from username Subject: Something or other

The old, verbose biff message was so annoying that I did not use biff.
I find the "short" notification about right.

I will be happy to post the sources if there is sufficient interest.

                       Rick Adams
                       Purdue University
                       decvax!pur-ee!rick
                       ucbvax!pur-ee!rick


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