A mailbox is a "segment" where mail is received and stored. A mailbox may also receive messages, if it is specified by the send_messages "command." Otherwise, deferred messages are placed in a temporary segment which has no visible name. Once you read the messages from that segment, the messages disappear. Every mailbox has a name that ends with the suffix '.mbx' (for example: letters.mbx). This suffix is added automatically when you create a mailbox, and whenever you refer to a mailbox when using one of the mail commands, you do not have to include the suffix explicitly in the name. For example, the "command line": read_mail high_priority will cause read_mail to read from the mailbox named high_priority.mbx. Mailboxes with the '.mbx' suffix may be used for receiving and saving mail. There are also mailboxes whose name contains the double suffix '.sv.mbx'; these are used exclusively for saving mail that has been received in another mailbox. The first time mail is sent to you, a mailbox is automatically created to receive that mail. This mailbox is named with your "user name" and the suffix '.mbx' (e.g., JSmith.mbx). This is the only mailbox created automatically. Any other mailboxes you wish to have for receiving and saving mail must be created with the mbx_create command. For example, the command line: mbx_create high_priority.sv will create a mailbox named high_priority.sv.mbx. When your mailbox contains more than one piece of mail, each one is assigned a number, and you can refer to them by those numbers. If you do not give a number when making a request, the request operates on the current piece of mail. When you enter read_mail, number 1 is automatically current. You can designate another piece to be current by listing it with the list request. In fact, whenever you request anything be done with a piece of mail, it becomes the current piece, unless, of course, you delete it, in which case the one after it becomes current. ----------------------------------------------------------- Historical Background This edition of the Multics software materials and documentation is provided and donated to Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Group BULL including BULL HN Information Systems Inc. as a contribution to computer science knowledge. This donation is made also to give evidence of the common contributions of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Bell Laboratories, General Electric, Honeywell Information Systems Inc., Honeywell BULL Inc., Groupe BULL and BULL HN Information Systems Inc. to the development of this operating system. Multics development was initiated by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Project MAC (1963-1970), renamed the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the mid 1970s, under the leadership of Professor Fernando Jose Corbato. Users consider that Multics provided the best software architecture for managing computer hardware properly and for executing programs. Many subsequent operating systems incorporated Multics principles. Multics was distributed in 1975 to 2000 by Group Bull in Europe , and in the U.S. by Bull HN Information Systems Inc., as successor in interest by change in name only to Honeywell Bull Inc. and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. . ----------------------------------------------------------- Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission. Copyright 1972 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Honeywell Information Systems Inc. Copyright 2006 by BULL HN Information Systems Inc. Copyright 2006 by Bull SAS All Rights Reserved