XBIFF(1)

✨ XBIFF(1) — the mailbox flag page, bestie edition ✨

okay so you opened the manual for xbiff, from the General Commands Manual section (section 1, the commands one, iykyk). sit down, grab a snack 🍓, we're doing this together.

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

xbiff — a mailbox flag, but for X 💌

---

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

xbiff [ -toolkitoption ... ] [ -option ... ]

---

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so xbiff literally just shows you a lil image of a mailbox. that's the whole vibe. 📬

when there's no mail? the flag on the mailbox is down. when mail arrives? the flag goes up and the mailbox beeps. iconic behavior, honestly.

and by default, if you press any mouse button while you're hovering on the image, that forces xbiff to remember the current size of the mail file as being the ``empty'' size, and it lowers the flag. so basically you're telling it "okay bestie, we're caught up now, chill." 🫶

---

💅 OPTIONS 💅

Xbiff accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command line options, plus these extra ones below. slay.

• -help — prints a brief summary of the allowed options over on the standard error. little cheat sheet moment 📝
• -update seconds — sets how often (in seconds) xbiff refreshes its display. heads up tho: if the mailbox gets obscured and then exposed again, it updates immediately regardless. the default is 30 seconds.
• -file filename — names the file that should be monitored. by default it watches your inbox in whatever the default location is for your system (some examples: /var/mail/username, /usr/spool/mail/username, /var/spool/mail/username, where username is your login name). and if the MAIL environment variable is set, the file it specifies is the one that gets monitored instead. 👀
• -volume percentage — how loud the bell rings when new mail shows up. the percentage is relative to the current volume in xset. so 0 is normal volume, negative percentages head towards minimum (-100 is silent 🤫), and positive percentages head towards maximum volume (100 is loudest 🔥).
• -shape — says the mailbox window should be shaped, if masks for the empty or full images are given.

---

🎀 the standard X Toolkit args you'll actually use 🎀

these are the standard X Toolkit command line arguments that people commonly use with xbiff:

• -display display — which X server to contact.
• -geometry geometry — the preferred size and position of the mailbox window. the mailbox itself is 48 pixels wide and 48 pixels high, and it'll be centered in the window.
• -bg color — the color for the background of the window.
• -bd color — the color for the border of the window.
• -bw number — the width in pixels of the border surrounding the window.
• -fg color — the color for the foreground of the window.
• -rv — simulates reverse video by swapping the foreground and background colors. 🔄
• -xrm resourcestring — a resource string to be used. this one is especially useful for setting resources that don't have their own separate command line options. sneaky and powerful, we love her.

---

👑 X DEFAULTS 👑

the application class name is XBiff. this program uses the Mailbox widget. it understands all of the core resource names and classes, plus these:

• checkCommand (class CheckCommand) — a shell command to run to check for new mail, instead of just examining the size of the file. the string value you give gets used as the argument to a system(3) call, which means it may therefore contain i/o redirection. exit status meanings: 0 means new mail is waiting, 1 means there's been no change in size, and 2 means the mail has been cleared. by default, no shell command is provided.
• file (class File) — the name of the file to monitor. the default is exactly what we described above for the -file command line option.
• onceOnly (class Boolean) — says the bell only rings the first time new mail is found, and doesn't ring again until at least one interval has passed with no mail waiting. the window will keep showing that new mail is there until it's been retrieved. the default is false.
• width (class Width) — the width of the mailbox.
• height (class Height) — the height of the mailbox.
• update (class Interval) — how often, in seconds, the mail gets checked. the default is 30.
• volume (class Volume) — how loud the bell rings. the default is 33 percent. note that this is a percentage of the current xset volume, so to reduce the volume you specify a negative percentage.
• foreground (class Foreground) — the color for the foreground.
• reverseVideo (class ReverseVideo) — says the foreground and background should be reversed.
• flip (class Flip) — whether or not the image shown when mail has arrived should be inverted. the default is ``true.''
• fullPixmap (class Pixmap) — a bitmap to show when new mail has arrived. the default is flagup.
• emptyPixmap (class Pixmap) — a bitmap to show when no new mail is present. the default is flagdown.
• shapeWindow (class ShapeWindow) — whether or not the mailbox window should be shaped to the given fullPixmapMask and emptyPixmapMask. the default is false.
• fullPixmapMask (class PixmapMask) — a mask for the bitmap shown when new mail has arrived. the default is none.
• emptyPixmapMask (class PixmapMask) — a mask for the bitmap shown when no new mail is present. the default is none.

---

🌈 ACTIONS 🌈

the Mailbox widget gives you these actions to use in event translations:

• check() — makes the widget check for new mail and display the flag appropriately. 🔍
• unset() — makes the widget lower the flag until new mail comes in.
• set() — makes the widget raise the flag until the user resets it.

and the default translation is:

<ButtonPress>:  unset()

---

🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

• DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number.
• XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

---

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

X(7), xrdb(1), stat(2)

---

💀 BUGS 💀

the mailbox bitmaps are ugly. 😭 not me saying it, the manpage said it. we're just the messenger.

---

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium Additional hacks by Ralph Swick, DEC/MIT Project Athena

---

okay that's the whole page bestie, you're officially certified in xbiff 💅 this was X Version 11, xbiff 1.0.4, and yeah, we're all gonna pretend those bitmaps are fine. periodt. 👑✨🦋