MAIL.LOCAL(8) | System Manager's Manual | MAIL.LOCAL(8)

# NAME

`mail.local` —
store mail in a mailbox

# SYNOPSIS

`mail.local` | [`-l`] [`-f` from] user ...

# DESCRIPTION

`mail.local` reads the standard input up to an end-of-file and appends it to each user's mail file. The user must be a valid user name.

The options are as follows:

`-f` from
  Specify the sender's name.
`-l`
  Request that `username.lock` files be used for locking.

Individual mail messages in the mailbox are delimited by an empty line followed by a line beginning with the string ``From ''. A line containing the string ``From '', the sender's name and a time stamp is prepended to each delivered mail message. A blank line is appended to each message. A greater-than character (``>'') is prepended to any line in the message which could be mistaken for a ``From '' delimiter line.

If the [`-l`] flag is specified mailbox locking is done with `username.lock` files. Otherwise, the mailbox is exclusively locked with flock(2) while mail is appended.

If the ``biff'' service is returned by getservbyname(3), the biff server is notified of delivered mail.

# ENVIRONMENT

`TZ`
  Used to set the appropriate time zone on the timestamp.

# FILES

/tmp/local.XXXXXX
  temporary files
/var/mail/user
  user's mailbox directory

# EXIT STATUS

The `mail.local` utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

# SEE ALSO

mail(1), sendmail(1), flock(2), getservbyname(3), comsat(8)

# HISTORY

A superset of `mail.local` (handling mailbox reading as well as mail delivery) appeared in Version 7 AT&T UNIX as the program mail(1).

December 11, 1993 | NetBSD 9.5