GMSGS IS A PROGRAM TO MAKE IT CONVENIENT TO READ SYSTEM MESSAGES. IT IS DESIGNED TO BE PUT IN .DDT. (INIT) FILES, AND SETS THINGS UP SO THAT RMAIL MAY BE USED TO VIEW THE SYSTEM MESSAGES AS WELL AS A USER'S OWN MAIL. (SEE .INFO.;RMAIL ORDER FOR HOW TO USE RMAIL). GMSGS IS INVOKED FROM DDT WITH THE COMMAND :GMSGS OR :GMSGS WHICH DEFAULTS TO YOUR (YOUR SELF). GMSGS LOOKS ON THE .MSGS.; DIRECTORY FOR ANY NEW FILES, AND COPIES THEM INTO 'S MAIL FILE (; MAIL OR COM: MAIL). (IF "/M" APPEARS IN THE COMMAND STRING, THEY ARE MAILED TO THROUGH THE COMSAT INSTEAD OF DIRECTLY, SO THAT ANY FORWARDING, ETC. THAT THE USER HAS REQUESTED WILL TAKE PLACE). NORMALLY, THE COPIED FILES APPEAR AT THE FRONT OF THE MAIL FILE IN REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, EACH PRECEDED BY ITS NAME AND FOLLOWED BY A ^_. HOWEVER, IF "/R" APPEARED IN THE COMMAND LINE, THE MESSAGES GO AT THE END OF THE MAIL FILE IN FORWARD CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. WHEN "/M" IS USED, "/R" CONTROLS ONLY THE ORDERING OF THE MESSAGES; THE USER'S MAILING OPTIONS DETERMINE WHETHER THEY GO AT THE BEGINNING OR THE END OF ANY MAIL FILE. THE COMMAND STRING MAY ALSO SPECIFY THE NAMES OF THE MACHINES WHOSE MESSAGES ONE WISHES TO SEE. THEY SHOULD BE SPECIFIED BY GIVING THE NAMES OF THE MACHINES, EACH PRECEDED BY A "*", AS IN "*AI", OR "*ML". "*" BY ITSELF SPECIFIES ALL MACHINES. IF MACHINE NAMES ARE NOT SPECIFIED, THE DEFAULT IS O SHOW ONLY THE MESSAGES OF THE MACHINE GMSGS IS RUNNING ON. EXAMPLE: :GMSGS JRL *ML *MC WOULD GIVE JRL ALL NEW MESSAGES INTENDED EITHER FOR ML OR FOR MC. IT COULD BE RUN ON ANY I.T.S. SYSTEM AND STILL ACHIEVE THAT RESULT. :GMSGS * RMS GIVES RMS ALL MESSAGES INTENDED FOR ANY I.T.S. (NOTICE THAT THE ORDER OF THE USER NAME AND MACHINE NAMES IS IRRELEVANT). A MESSAGE FILE IS "NEW" IF IT HAS APPEARED SINCE THE LAST TIME GMSGS WAS USED (OR, THE DDT COMMAND :MSGS WAS USED) BY USER . THIS CAUSES EACH FILE THAT APPEARS ON THE .MSGS.; DIRECTORY TO BE PROCESSED EXACTLY ONCE BY EACH USER. IF THERE ARE NO NEW MESSAGES, GMSGS PRINTS NOTHING AND WRITES NO FILES. IF THERE ARE MESSAGES, GMSGS REWRITES THE MAIL FILE AND TYPES OUT "(THERE ARE MESSAGES)". THE TYPEOUT CAN BE INHIBITED BY PLACING "/S" IN THE COMMAND STRING. IF THE /N SWITCH IS SPECIFIED, THEN GMSGS, IN ADDITION TO ITS NORMAL FUNCTIONS, ANNOUNCES THE ARRIVAL OF MAIL. IF THE USER'S MAIL FILE IS MORE RECENT THAN HIS _MSGS_ FILE, INDICATING THAT MAIL HAS ARRIVED SINCE THE PREVIOUS GMSGS, "(THERE IS MAIL)" IS PRINTED. GMSGS RETURNS WITH .BREAK 16,340000 IF THERE WERE MESSAGES; WITH .BREAK 16,140000 IF THERE WERE NONE. THE /D SWITCH CAUSES THE DISTRIB AND EXPIRES SPECIFICATIONS TO BE INCLUDED WITH MESSAGES WHEN THEY ARE WRITTEN INTO THE MAIL FILE.