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The MAIL Program

Introduction

You can use the MAIL program to send messages to other  users  of  the
system.  You can send mail to a single user or to a group of users who
are either logged in or not logged in.

Running MAIL

To run MAIL, type MAIL after the TOPS-20 prompt @ and press the RETURN
key.  The program responds with the To:  prompt as follows:

     @MAIL<RET>
     To:

Type the name of the user to whom you are  sending  the  message,  and
press RETURN.

If you are sending a message to a group  of  users,  type  the  names,
separating them with commas, and press RETURN.  For example:

     To: Adley,Sartini,McElmoyle<RET>

The program then prompts:

     CC:

Now list any secondary recipients of your message.  Type the  name  or
names  (separated  by commas) and press RETURN.  If you do not want to
send a copy to others, simply press RETURN after the CC:  prompt.

If you type an invalid (nonexistent) user name, the  program  responds
with:

     ?Invalid user name

MAIL returns with either the To:  prompt or  the  CC:   prompt.   Type
CTRL/H  after  either prompt.  This retrieves only the names up to the
error, and you can type any additional valid names.

You cannot send more than one copy of a mail message to  a  user.   If
you  type  a user name more than once after either the To:  or the CC:
prompt, the program prints a warning message.  For example:

     To: Adley<RET>
     CC: Adley<RET>
     %Duplicate name purged - ADLEY

The MAIL program  continues  after  it  prints  the  warning  message;
however,  the  program  removes  the  duplicate  name from the list of
users.

The program then prompts with:

     Subject:

Type a description of the message and press RETURN.  For example:

     Subject: Location of weekly writers meeting<RET>

If  your  description  exceeds  one  line,  you  cannot  continue  the
description  on a second line; you must continue typing when you reach
the  end  of  a  line.   The  system  automatically   continues   your
description  on  the  second line by responding with a carriage return
line feed sequence.  When you have completed typing your  description,
press RETURN.  For example:

     Subject: Location  of  weekly  meeting  and  change  in  software
     release date.<RET>

Note:  The system may interpret a  character  in  the  Subject:   line
(such  as  a  question  mark)  as a special character.  To avoid this,
precede the character with a CTRL/V.

MAIL then prompts with:

     Message (Terminate with ESC or CTRL/Z):

and waits for you to enter your message.   Once  you  have  terminated
your  message by typing ESC or CTRL/Z, the program informs you that it
has processed your message:

     Processing mail...


     No errors.
     -DONE-

and returns you to TOPS-20 command level.

If you send a message to a user who is logged in and  accepting  links
and system messages, that user is informed immediately as follows:

     [You have a message from SENDER]

If you send a message to a user who is not logged  in,  that  user  is
informed the next time he logs in:

     @LOGIN (USER) ADLEY (PASSWORD) (ACCOUNT) 341<RET>
      Job 54 on TTY33 23-Apr-79 09:46:05
      You have a message
     @

If you make an error in sending mail to a user, you receive one of the
following messages:

     [USER NAME] not sent BECAUSE:
     Invalid directory number

or

     Invalid simultaneous access

or

     No such file type (or  some  other  reason  related  to  why  the
     recipient's MAIL.TXT file could not be found)

or

     [USER NAME] not sent BECAUSE:
     Disk quota exceeded

You can use a recovery procedure to resend mail after  receiving  some
of  the  MAIL  error  messages.  This recovery is particularly helpful
when your message is long and you do  not  want  to  retype  it.   The
procedure is as follows:

     1.  Undelete the MAIL.CPY file in your logged-in directory.  This
         file contains the message that could not be sent.

     2.  Rename the  MAIL.CPY  file;  for  example,  ERROR.TXT.   This
         prevents  MAIL  from  deleting  the file a second time during
         message processing.

     3.  After the TOPS-20 prompt @, type:

              @GET SYS:MAIL<RET>

     4.  The system gives the TOPS-20 prompt once again, and you type:

              @REENTER<RET>

     5.  After you press RETURN, the system prompts:

         File name of message file:

         Now type the new file spec of the renamed MAIL.CPY file,  and
         press RETURN:

         File name of message file:  (file spec)<RET>

         The MAIL program now proceeds as though you  had  just  typed
         ESC or CTRL/Z after the message.

See the TOPS-20 User Utilities Manual for options to  the  basic  MAIL
procedure, and the most common MAIL messages.