TimesThe Problem, as originally stated: Using mailx, I need to send a mail message to one or more users advising that their interactive terminal session has exceeded the permitted idle time, and that they'll be killed in 15 minutes (the session, not the user). The Korn Shell script to identify the culprit(s) is written and works like a charm on a DEC 3300 running under Digital UNIX 4.0D. However, when I port it over to an Alpha system, also running under Digital UNIX 4.0D, mailx writes the header and first line of the incoming message on the user's screen, which resets their idle time, rendering the script moot. It occurred to me that I needed to unset an option in the Mail.rc file on the Alpha, but the Mail.rc files on both systems are identical. The Korn Shell script is also identical, there are no .mailrc files present in the users' home directories on either system to override the Mail.rc file, and the yet mailx acts differently. It's probably some implementation of the mailx top option that's active on the Alpha and not on the DEC 3300, but I can't find where to turn it off. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I should have also mentioned that the processes to be killed belonged to users who were no longer at their terminals, having gone home for the night or the weekend. Broadcasting to their screens was unproductive on two counts: 1. No one to see the broadcasts 2. The broadcasts reset the idle time for the interactive terminal session, perpetuating the problem. However, the project specifications given to me required mail messages so that when the users returned the following morning, they would see that we tried to notify them, and they would also see some information about the process that had been killed. Thanks to the following very helpful people, who all pointed me in the direction of comsat and/or biff (good dog, biff), with suggestions about what to modify: ALLAN@mnhep.hep.umn.edu belonis@dirac.phys.washington.edu cprice@molbio.unmc.edu GGeorge@edc.gov.ab.ca oisin@sbcm.com rcarsey@monmouth.edu stevev@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu Thanks also to bb1@axe.humboldt.edu for helping me to clean up some rude syntax. The Solution: Comparing /etc/profile on the two systems, I found that biff was indeed set to 'y' on the Alpha. Commenting out that line produces the behavior I wanted: if the user is actually at the terminal and presses the return key, they're informed that they have mail, but an incoming mail message does not broadcast to their screen and does not reset the idle time of the process. ... Al -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- A. Austin | Phone: 610-430-6339 Competitive Media Reporting | FAX: 610-430-6355 1385 Enterprise Drive | email: aaustin@norfolk.cmr.com West Chester, PA 19380 | -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Diplomacy is learning how to say "Nice dog!" - until you can find a big enough stick. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-