write

[Rick Stevens]

tyche wrote:
> On Monday 03 May 2004 17:13, Rick Stevens wrote:
> 
>>tyche wrote:
>>
>>>having a bit of a problem with my write setup. as a trial, i sent a mess
>>>from one username to another, but didnt think to try to answer.
>>>
>>>had a ssh login from the internet, and we couldnt pass messages from user
>>>to user. was wondering what i have screwed up and where to start looking
>>>for the problem
>>
>>You mean "write" as in the user-to-user messaging thing?  Wow!  Haven't
>>used that in a while.
>>
>>You may have to use the full "write username terminalname" command if
>>you have one user logged in multiple times, but it works just fine over
>>ssh.  Note that the terminal name for the user coming in over the
>>network OR via an xterm will be "pts/NN" with "NN" being some number,
>>e.g.
>>
>>	# write rick pts/30
>>
>>Works for me, locally AND over an ssh connection.
>>
>>Remember, the person answering must also run "write" to do the
>>responses, and one can block "write" from hitting your tty by using
>>"mesg n".
> 
> 
> yes that is what i was meaning, and i havent used it in years, why i had 
> asked. apprearently the problem stemmed from NOT using the terminal name. 
> will get that clarified.

Yes, if you have the same user logged in multiple times you should
specify _which_ terminal you want to send the message to.  From
"man write":

	If the user you want to write to is logged in on more than one
	terminal, you can specify which terminal to write to by
	specifying the terminal name as the second operand to the write
	command.  Alternatively, you  can  let  write select one of the
	terminals - it will pick the one with the shortest idle time.
	This is so that if the user is logged  in at work and also
	dialed up from home, the message will go to the right place.

That last bit means that the message will go to the terminal that last
had any input on it (and is probably the active terminal).  In my case,
I have about 30 xterms running and all fairly active.  Specifying the
terminal is fairly critical in my case.  Of course, if you MUST get my
attention, "wall" is good (write to all terminals--just what happens
when reboot issues its "System going down for reboot" message).
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- Rick Stevens, Senior Systems Engineer     rstevens at vitalstream.com -
- VitalStream, Inc.                       http://www.vitalstream.com -
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-    "Hello. My PID is Inigo Montoya.  You `kill -9'-ed my parent    -
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