| 1 | Owl is a tty, curses-based zephyr client. This is a quick guide to |
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| 2 | learning how to use it. |
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| 3 | |
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| 4 | ==================== |
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| 5 | OVERVIEW OF FEATURES |
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| 6 | ==================== |
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| 7 | o) As a tty client it can be run over telnet, rlogin or text ssh sessions |
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| 8 | |
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| 9 | o) It uses a perl configuration file for setting preferences and |
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| 10 | formatting messages |
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| 11 | |
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| 12 | o) emacs style editing of messages |
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| 13 | |
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| 14 | o) It is easy to use and runs without a configfile. |
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| 15 | |
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| 16 | o) There will future support for AIM and ICQ |
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| 17 | |
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| 18 | o) There will be future support for advanced sorting of messages |
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| 19 | |
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| 20 | =============== |
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| 21 | GETTING STARTED |
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| 22 | =============== |
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| 23 | Owl will run happily without a configfile, so to get started just run |
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| 24 | it. Owl will take over the terminal window it's started in. |
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| 25 | |
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| 26 | The Screen |
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| 27 | ---------- |
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| 28 | There are three main parts to the screen. The large top portion of |
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| 29 | the screen is where zephyrs are displayed. The status bar separates |
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| 30 | this area from the one below and displays some status information. |
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| 31 | The space below that is used to type in messages and is also used by |
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| 32 | owl to give warnings and information to the user. |
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| 33 | |
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| 34 | Sending a Zephyr |
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| 35 | ---------------- |
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| 36 | To send a zephyr to yourself hit the 'z' key. This will start a |
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| 37 | zwrite command, which you can finish by typing the name of the user |
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| 38 | you wish to send to, followed by enter. Begin typing your message. |
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| 39 | You will notice that most emacs-style editing is available. When you |
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| 40 | are ready to send type Control-D. If you wish to cancel type |
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| 41 | Control-C. |
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| 42 | |
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| 43 | If instead of a user you wish to send to class/instance simply supply |
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| 44 | -c and -i arguments to the zwrite command. |
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| 45 | |
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| 46 | Manipulating Messages |
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| 47 | --------------------- |
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| 48 | When there are one or more zephyrs in the message window, one of them |
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| 49 | will be the 'current' message. Owl will indicate which one it is with |
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| 50 | an arrow to the left of the message. The following keys will move you |
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| 51 | between messages |
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| 52 | |
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| 53 | n move to the next non-deleted message |
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| 54 | p move to the previous non-deleted message |
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| 55 | C-n , down move to the next message |
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| 56 | C-p , up move to the previous message |
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| 57 | < move to the first message |
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| 58 | > move to the last message |
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| 59 | right scroll the screen to the right |
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| 60 | left scroll the screen to the left |
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| 61 | P move to the next personal message |
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| 62 | M-P move to the previous personal message |
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| 63 | T Mark all 'trash' messages for deletion |
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| 64 | |
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| 65 | When you are ready to delete a message you can mark it for deletion |
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| 66 | and a 'D' will appear to the left of the message. Messages will not |
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| 67 | actually be removed until you perform an expunge. |
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| 68 | |
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| 69 | d mark a message for deletion |
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| 70 | u unmark a message for deletion |
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| 71 | x expunge deleted messages |
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| 72 | T mark all automated messages for deletion |
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| 73 | |
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| 74 | If you would like to respond to a zephyr sent to you there is a reply |
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| 75 | shortcut. This will reply to a personal zephyr, or if the zephyr is |
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| 76 | sent to a zephyr class it will reply to the zephyr class. |
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| 77 | |
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| 78 | r reply to a zephyr |
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| 79 | |
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| 80 | You can scroll within the current message using: |
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| 81 | |
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| 82 | SPACE page down |
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| 83 | b page up |
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| 84 | RETURN line down |
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| 85 | BACKSPACE line up |
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| 86 | |
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| 87 | The pointer will change to indicate that the message is not starting |
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| 88 | at the first line. |
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| 89 | |
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| 90 | Two other keys that relate to the current message: |
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| 91 | |
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| 92 | i print detailed information about the message |
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| 93 | w instruct netscape to visit a URL in the message |
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| 94 | |
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| 95 | |
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| 96 | Other Functions |
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| 97 | ---------------- |
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| 98 | Some other funcions that can be performed with a single keystroke: |
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| 99 | |
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| 100 | A toggle zaway |
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| 101 | h print the help screen |
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| 102 | C-l refresh and resize the screen |
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| 103 | C-z suspend |
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| 104 | |
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| 105 | Command Mode |
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| 106 | ------------ |
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| 107 | Owl has a command mode where you can enter more detailed commands for |
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| 108 | owl to process. To enter command mode: |
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| 109 | |
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| 110 | : begin command mode |
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| 111 | |
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| 112 | Owl will give you a command prompt and you can begin typing your |
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| 113 | command. Type Enter to execute the command, Control-C to cancel. |
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| 114 | Currently support commands are: |
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| 115 | |
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| 116 | quit , exit exit owl |
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| 117 | zwrite send a zephyr |
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| 118 | reply reply to the current zephyr |
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| 119 | set set a variable |
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| 120 | print print a variable |
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| 121 | zlog [in|out] send a login or logout message |
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| 122 | version print the owl version number |
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| 123 | subscribe subscribe to a class, instance, recipient |
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| 124 | unsubscribe unsubscribe from a class, instance, recipient |
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| 125 | unsuball unsubscribe from all messagse |
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| 126 | getsubs print a list of current subscriptions |
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| 127 | zlocate locate a user |
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| 128 | info print detailed information about a message |
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| 129 | help print the help screen |
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| 130 | next move to the next message |
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| 131 | prev move to the previous message |
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| 132 | next-notdel move to the next non-deleted message |
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| 133 | prev-notdel move to the previous not-deleted message |
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| 134 | expunge expunge messages marked for deletion |
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| 135 | first move to the first message |
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| 136 | last move to the last message |
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| 137 | resize resize owl to the current window |
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| 138 | suspend suspend owl |
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| 139 | exec run a shell command |
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| 140 | zaway [on|off|<msg>] Turn zaway on, off, or set the message |
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| 141 | load-subs load subscriptions from a file |
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| 142 | status print info about owl status |
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| 143 | about print info about owl |
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| 144 | |
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| 145 | Variables |
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| 146 | --------- |
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| 147 | The 'set' and 'print' commands let set and print the values of owl |
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| 148 | variables. The currently supported variables are these: |
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| 149 | |
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| 150 | Variables: |
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| 151 | name settings default meaning |
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| 152 | --------------- -------- ------- ------- |
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| 153 | appendtosepbar <string> string to append to the end of the sepbar |
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| 154 | bell on,off on enable / disable the terminal bell |
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| 155 | burningears on,off off [NOT YET IMPLEMENTED] beep on messages matching patterns |
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| 156 | classlogging on,off off turn class logging on or off |
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| 157 | classpath <path> ~/zlog/class |
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| 158 | path for logging class zephyrs |
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| 159 | debug on,off on whether debugging is enabled |
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| 160 | debug_file <path> /var/tmp/owldebug |
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| 161 | path for logging debug messages when debugging is enabled |
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| 162 | disable-ctrl-d on,off off don't send zephyrs on C-d |
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| 163 | |
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| 164 | displayoutgoing on,off on display outgoing messages |
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| 165 | logging on,off off turn personal logging on or off |
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| 166 | loginsubs on,off on load logins from .anyone on startup |
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| 167 | logpath <path> ~/zlog/people |
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| 168 | path for logging personal zephyrs |
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| 169 | personalbell on,off off ring the terminal bell when personal messages are receive |
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| 170 | rxping on,off off display received pings |
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| 171 | shutdownlogout on,off on send a logout message when owl exits |
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| 172 | startuplogin on,off on send a login message when owl starts |
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| 173 | summarymode on,off off [NOT YET IMPLEMENTED] |
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| 174 | txping on,off on send pings |
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| 175 | typewinsize int > 0 8 number of lines in the typing window |
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| 176 | webbrowser none,netscape,galeon netscape web browser to use to launch URLs |
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| 177 | zaway_msg <string> "I'm sorry..." |
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| 178 | current zaway msg for responding to zephyrs when away |
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| 179 | zaway_msg_default <string> "I'm sorry..." |
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| 180 | default zaway msg for responding to zephyrs when away |
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| 181 | zsig <string> zephyr signature |
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| 182 | zsigproc <path> <null> name of a program to run that will generate zsigs |
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| 183 | |
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| 184 | |
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| 185 | ================ |
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| 186 | THE CONFIG FILE |
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| 187 | ================ |
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| 188 | |
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| 189 | *** WARNING: This interface may change substantially in the near future *** |
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| 190 | |
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| 191 | This file is interpreted by the perl interpreter. |
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| 192 | If you wish to execute an owl command use the |
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| 193 | function owl::command(). i.e. |
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| 194 | |
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| 195 | owl::command("set zsigproc \"/mit/kretch/bin/getzsig foo\""); |
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| 196 | |
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| 197 | will set the owl variable zsigproc. Note that commands will currently |
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| 198 | be executed in order after the called configuration subroutine exits. |
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| 199 | |
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| 200 | Subroutines created with the names below will be executed at the |
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| 201 | specified times: |
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| 202 | |
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| 203 | subroutine name properties |
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| 204 | --------------- ---------- |
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| 205 | owl::startup() run when owl first starts |
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| 206 | owl::shutdown() run when owl exits |
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| 207 | owl::format_msg() run when a new message arrives, the return |
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| 208 | value is used to display the message on the |
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| 209 | screen |
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| 210 | owl::receive_msg() run when a message is received, and after |
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| 211 | it has been added to the message list |
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| 212 | |
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| 213 | |
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| 214 | The following variables will be set each time a message is recevied: |
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| 215 | |
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| 216 | $owl::class, $owl::instance, $owl::recipient, |
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| 217 | $owl::sender, $owl::opcode, $owl::zsig, |
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| 218 | $owl::msg, $owl::time, $owl::host, @owl::fields, $owl::id |
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| 219 | |
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| 220 | The "appendtosepbar" variable may be set in owl::format_msg() |
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| 221 | to set text to be appended to sepbar that separates the received |
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| 222 | message list from the edit window. |
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| 223 | |
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| 224 | |
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| 225 | =================== |
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| 226 | FURTHER INFORMATION |
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| 227 | =================== |
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