Daylight v4.9
Release Date: 1 February 2008

Name

daymessage - send message to Thor/Merlin server or database users

Unix Synopsis

daymessage [options] [database|server] [message]

Description

Messages can be "attached" to a Thor or Merlin server or to a database, in which case the message is sent to the client at login or when a database is opened. Alternatively, a message can be "broadcast" immediately to all clients of a server or database. See the option "-MESSAGE" below.

You can "broadcast" messages to users of a Merlin database (pool), but Merlin can't reconfigure databases (it is a "read-only" server), so recording and erasing messages must be done via Thor.

Each message is sent as one or more "NOTE:" entry in the normal error queue. It is up to the client program to examine the error queue and deal with the messages, so there is no guarantee that a particular client will actually deliver the message to a user.

If no server is specified, a server on the local machine is used.

daymessage determines whether the server is a Thor or Merlin server by the service name (after the first ':'). A service that begins with "thor" (e.g. "@host:thor", "@host:thor2") is assumed to be a Thor server; one that begin with "merlin" (e.g. "@host:merlin", "@host:merlin2") is assumed to be a Merlin server. If no service is specified (e.g. "@host"), it is assumed to be a Thor server.

If you specify a database, you must also specify a host (a minimal specification, such as "mydb@", suffices). A name that doesn't contain an '@' character is interpreted as a server's name.

Messages should be short -- lines should be less than 70 characters wide, and the whole message should be just a few lines.

If no message is specified on the command line, the message is read from standard input, except for "-MESSAGE NONE" (see below), in which case no message is needed.

Options

-MESSAGE NOW|RECORD|FILE|NONE
NOW: Broadcast message to everyone connected to the server.
RECORD: Record the message, send to users as they connect to server.
FILE: Like RECORD, but message names a file on the server's machine from which server gets the message.
NONE: Erase the server's message.
STANDARD THORFILTER OPTIONS:
----------------------------

The following options are common to most or all "thorfilter" programs. They are described in more detail in thorfilters(1).

-SECURE_PASSWORDS TRUE|FALSE

TRUE means don't allow passwords on the command line (require interactive entry). Default: TRUE.
-THOR_IPC_SERVICE service
Names the default TCP/IP service or "port" of the Thor server. (Note: a server name that includes a Thor or Merlin service, e.g. "mymachine:merlin", overrides this.) Default: thor.

Return Value

Returns status 1 if the message is sent, or zero if a problem is detected. Problems include: no such server or database, permission denied (invalid password).

Examples

A Bourne-shell script to send a message to all users of a Thor server:

#!/bin/sh (echo "========================================" echo " The THOR server will go down tonight" echo " at midnight. Be sure to save all" echo " your work and log out before you go" echo " home tonight. -- The management." echo "========================================" ) | daymessage -MESSAGE NOW @host:thor:user

Attach a message to a database. Everyone who opens the database will get the message:

echo "Copyright 2002, unauthorized access prohibited" | daymessage -MESSAGE RECORD company_db@host:thor

Files

$DY_ROOT/bin/daymessage

Daylight License

programs: thormanager

Related Topics

dayevict(1) merlindbping(1) merlinload(1) merlinls(1) merlinping(1) merlinwho(1) thorchange(1) thorcrunch(1) thordbping(1) thordelete(1) thordestroy(1) thordiff(1) thordump(1) thorlist(1) thorload(1) thorlookup(1) thorls(1) thormake(1) thorping(1) thorwho(1)

sthorman(1) thorserver(1) merlinserver(1)

dt_setmessage(3)

licensing(5)

Daylight Theory Manual, Daylight System Administration Manual

Bugs

Since it is up to client programs to read the error queue, there is no guarantee that the message will be delivered in a timely fashion, if at all.