/usr.bin/mesg/mesg.1

  1.\" Copyright (c) 1987, 1990, 1993
  2.\"	The Regents of the University of California.  All rights reserved.
  3.\"
  4.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
  5.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
  6.\" are met:
  7.\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
  8.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  9.\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
 10.\"    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
 11.\"    documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 12.\" 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
 13.\"    may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
 14.\"    without specific prior written permission.
 15.\"
 16.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
 17.\" ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
 18.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
 19.\" ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
 20.\" FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
 21.\" DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
 22.\" OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
 23.\" HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
 24.\" LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
 25.\" OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
 26.\" SUCH DAMAGE.
 27.\"
 28.\"	@(#)mesg.1	8.1 (Berkeley) 6/6/93
 29.\" $FreeBSD$
 30.\"
 31.Dd May 5, 2002
 32.Dt MESG 1
 33.Os
 34.Sh NAME
 35.Nm mesg
 36.Nd display (do not display) messages from other users
 37.Sh SYNOPSIS
 38.Nm
 39.Op Cm n | Cm y
 40.Sh DESCRIPTION
 41The
 42.Nm
 43utility is invoked by a user to control write access others
 44have to a terminal device.
 45Write access is allowed by default, and programs such as
 46.Xr talk 1
 47and
 48.Xr write 1
 49may display messages on the terminal.
 50.Pp
 51The first terminal device in the sequence of devices associated with standard
 52input, standard output and standard error is affected.
 53.Pp
 54The following options are available:
 55.Bl -tag -width indent
 56.It Cm n
 57Disallow messages.
 58.It Cm y
 59Permit messages to be displayed.
 60.El
 61.Pp
 62If no arguments are given,
 63.Nm
 64displays the present message status to the standard output.
 65.Sh EXIT STATUS
 66The
 67.Nm
 68utility exits with one of the following values:
 69.Pp
 70.Bl -tag -width flag -compact -offset indent
 71.It Li "\ 0"
 72Messages are allowed.
 73.It Li "\ 1"
 74Messages are not allowed.
 75.It Li ">1"
 76An error has occurred.
 77.El
 78.Sh EXAMPLES
 79Disallow messages from other users to the current terminal:
 80.Pp
 81.Dl "mesg n"
 82.Pp
 83Allow messages from other users to
 84.Pa ttyp1
 85(assuming you are also logged in on that terminal):
 86.Pp
 87.Dl "mesg y </dev/ttyp1"
 88.Sh COMPATIBILITY
 89Previous versions of the
 90.Nm
 91utility wrote the message status to the standard error output and
 92affected the terminal attached to standard error without first trying the
 93standard input or output devices.
 94.Sh SEE ALSO
 95.Xr biff 1 ,
 96.Xr talk 1 ,
 97.Xr wall 1 ,
 98.Xr write 1
 99.Sh STANDARDS
100The
101.Nm
102utility conforms to
103.St -p1003.1-2001 .
104.Sh HISTORY
105A
106.Nm
107command appeared in
108.At v1 .