FLEXFAX
Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: May 31, 1994
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NAME
FlexFAX - introduction to
FlexFAX
client applications and usage
SYNOPSIS
sendfax
[options]
[files...]
faxstat
[options]
faxrm
[options]
faxalter
[options]
jobid...
fax2ps
[options]
[files...]
DESCRIPTION
FlexFAX
is a facsimile system for
UNIXtm systems.
Among the features of
FlexFAX
are:
- 1)
-
FlexFAX
runs as a network service; this means
a faxmodem may be effectively shared by a large number of users.
- 2)
-
FlexFAX
can be configured to work with a wide variety of fax modems
on a wide variety of systems.
- 3)
-
Access to the system can be restricted by the administrator
to selected hosts and/or users.
- 4)
-
Transmission requests may be processed immediately (default)
or queued for processing at a later time,
in the manner of the
at(1)
command.
- 5)
-
Remote facsimile machines may be polled to retrieve
publicly available documents.
- 6)
-
POSTSCRIPTtm and
TIFF
Class F documents are passed directly to the fax server for transmission;
the system attempts to convert other file formats to either POSTSCRIPT or
TIFF
through the use of an extensible file typing and conversion facility.
In normal operation
ASCII-text,
troff(1)
output,
and
Silicon Graphics images are automatically converted.
Additional file formats can be added; see
typerules(4F).
- 7)
-
The
faxcover(1)
program can be automatically invoked to
create a cover page for each facsimile,
using information deduced by the
sendfax
command.
Alternatively, users may supply their own cover pages using
their preferred tools.
- 8)
-
Facsimile are normally imaged in a system-default page size
(usually letter-size pages, 8.5" by 11", for sites in North America).
Alternate page sizes can be specified with a
-s
option to all
FlexFAX
programs.
Well known page sizes include:
ISO A3,
ISO A4,
ISO A5,
ISO A6,
ISO B4,
North American Letter,
American Legal,
American Ledger,
American Executive,
Japanese Letter,
and
Japanese Legal.
Note that it may not be permissible to image into the
full page area; the guaranteed reproduceable area for a page is
typically smaller.
Also, note that while arbitrary page sizes can be specified,
only a limited number of page dimensions are supported by the
Group 3 facsimile protocol.
Thus if an odd-size facsimile is submitted for transmission
it may not be possible to determine if it can be sent
until the fax server establishes communication
with the remote facsimile machine.
- 9)
-
Facsimile can be sent at low
resolution (98 lines/inch) or
medium resolution (196 lines/inch)---often
called
fine mode.
Documents with mixed resolution pages
are handled correctly.
- 10)
-
Users are notified by electronic mail if a job can not be
transmitted.
It is also possible to receive notification by mail when
a job has been completed successfully and each time that
the job is requeued for retransmission.
Any untransmitted documents are returned to the sender
by electronic mail in a form suitable for resubmission.
The
FlexFAX
software is divided into two packages: software used on client
machines and software used on machines where one or more fax
modems reside.
Client software includes:
- *
-
sendfax,
a program to submit outgoing facsimile;
- *
-
faxstat,
a program obtain status information
about facsimile servers and jobs;
- *
-
faxrm,
a program to remove queued jobs;
- *
-
faxalter,
a program to change parameters of queued jobs; and
- *
-
fax2ps,
a program that converts facsimile documents to POSTSCRIPT so that they
may be viewed with a POSTSCRIPT previewer or printed on a POSTSCRIPT printer.
Many systems also support submission of outgoing
facsimile by electronic mail and/or graphical interfaces to the
sendfax
program.
Such facilities are site-dependent; consult local documentation for
more information.
GETTING STARTED
To use the
FlexFAX
client software on your machine you need to either load the appropriate
software on your machine, or you need to locate a machine that
already has the client software installed and setup symbolic links to
the appropriate directories.
If you choose the latter, then beware that you need links to three
directories: the directory where client applications reside,
${BIN},
the directory where the client application database files reside,
${LIBDATA},
and the directory where document conversion programs reside,
${LIBEXEC}
(the last two directories may be the same on your system).
Once the software is setup on your machine you need to locate a
host that has a facsimile server that you can use.
The host, and possibly the modem on the host, should be defined
in your environment in the
FAXSERVER
variable.
For example, for
csh
users,
-
setenv FAXSERVER flake.asd
or for
ksh
or
sh
users,
-
FAXSERVER=flake.asd; export FAXSERVER
If there are multiple modems on your server then you may be
assigned to use a specific modem.
For example, if you are to use the modem attached to the
ttym2
port on the server machine, then the
FAXSERVER
variable should be setup as
-
FAXSERVER=ttym2@flake.asd; export FAXSERVER
Note also, that before you can submit outgoing facsimile jobs
the administrator for the facsimile server may need to register
your identity in an access control list.
You will encounter the message
``Your host does not have permission to use the fax server''
if access is controlled to your server and you are not properly
registered.
DIAL STRINGS
A dial string specifies how to dial the telephone in order to
reach a destination facsimile machine.
FlexFAX
permits arbitrary strings to be passed to the facsimile server
so that users can specify credit card information,
PBX
routing information, etc.
Non-numeric characters can be included for readability;
anything that must be stripped will be removed by the server
before the dialing string is passed to the fax modem.
Private information such as credit card access codes are
withheld from status messages and publicly accessible log files
(with proper configuration).
Facsimile servers also automatically insert any leading dialing
prefixing strings that are required to place outgoing phone calls;
e.g. dialing ``9'' to get an outside line.
Additionally, if a phone number is fully specified with the
international direct dialing digits (IDDD), then any
prefixing long distance or international dialing codes
that are required to place the call will be inserted
in the dial string by the server.
For example, ``+31.77.594.131'' is a phone number in
the Netherlands; it would be converted to ``0113177594131''
if the call is placed in the United States.
The number ``+14159657824'' is a phone number in California;
if this number is called from within the 415 area code in the
United States, then the server would automatically convert this
to ``9657824'' because in the San Francisco Bay Area, local phone
calls must not include the area code and long distance prefixing
code.
The general rule in crafting dial strings is to specify
exactly what you would dial on your telephone; and,
in addition, the actual phone number can be specified in a
location-independent manner by using the
IDD
syntax of ``+country-code local-part''.
COVER PAGES
The
sendfax
program can automatically generate a cover page for each outgoing
facsimile.
Such cover pages are actually created by the
faxcover(1)
program by using information that is deduced by
sendfax
and information that is supplied on the command line invocation of
sendfax.
Users may also request that
sendfax
not supply a cover page and then provide their own cover page
as part of the data that is to be transmitted.
Automatically-generated cover pages may include the following
information:
-
- *
-
the sender's name, affiliation, geographic location, fax number,
and voice telephone number;
- *
-
the recipient's name, affiliation, geographic location, fax number,
and voice telephone number;
- *
-
text explaining what this fax is ``regarding'';
- *
-
text commentary;
- *
-
the local date and time that the job was submitted;
- *
-
the number of pages to be transmitted.
Certain of this information is currently obtained from a user's
personal facsimile database file;
~/.faxdb.
Note that this file is deprecated; it is described here only
because it is still supported for compatiblity with
older versions of the software.
The
.faxdb
file is an
ASCII
file with entries of the form
-
keyword : value
where
keyword
includes:
-
- Name
-
a name associated with destination fax machine;
- Company
-
a company name;
- Location
-
in-company locational information, e.g. a building#;
- FAX-Number
-
phone number of fax machine;
- Voice-Number
-
voice telephone number.
Data is free format.
Whitespace (blank, tab, newline) can be
freely interspersed with tokens.
If tokens include whitespace, they
must be encloseed in quote marks (``"'').
The ``#'' character introduces a comment---everything to the end of
the line is discarded.
Entries are collected into aggregate records by enclosing them in ``[]''.
Records can be nested to create a hierarchy that that supports the
inheritance of information---unspecified information is
inherited from parent aggregate records.
For example, a sample file might be:
[ Company: "Silicon Graphics, Inc."
Location: "Mountain View, California"
[ Name: "Sam Leffler" FAX-Number: +1.415.965.7824 ]
]
which could be extended to include another person at Silicon Graphics
with the following:
[ Company: "Silicon Graphics, Inc."
Location: "Mountain View, California"
[ Name: "Sam Leffler" FAX-Number: +1.415.965.7824 ]
[ Name: "Paul Haeberli" FAX-Number: +1.415.965.7824 ]
]
Experience indicates that the hierarchical nature of this database
format makes it difficult to maintain with automated mechanisms.
As a result it is being replaced by other, more straightforward
databases that are managed by programs that front-end the
sendfax
program.
RECEIVED FACSIMILE
Incoming facsimile are received by facsimile servers and deposited
in a receive queue directory on the server machine.
Depending on the server's configuration, files in this directory
may or may not be readable by normal users.
The
faxstat
program can be used to view the contents of the receive queue
directory:
flake% faxstat -r
Server on localhost:ttym2 for +1.415.965.7824: Running and idle.
Sender Received At Pages Quality
+15105268781 13:04 1993:05:14 1 NA-LET normal
18:03 1993:05:12 1 fine
12:29 1993:05:12 1 fine
+15105268781 11:16 1993:05:12 5 normal
+15105268781 14:12 1993:05:11 4 NA-LET normal
+15105268781 14:02 1993:05:11 4 NA-LET fine
+15105268781 13:43 1993:05:11 4 normal
Consult the
faxstat
manual page for a more detailed description of this information.
Received facsimile are stored as
TIFF
Class F files.
These files are bilevel images that are encoded using the
CCITT T.4
encoding algorithm.
The
fax2ps(1)
program can be used to view and print these files.
A file can be viewed by converting it to POSTSCRIPT and then
viewing it with a suitable POSTSCRIPT previewing program, such
as
xpsview(1)
(Adobe's Display PostScript-based viewer),
ghostview(1)
(a public domain previewer),
or image viewer programs such as
xv(1)
(shareware and/or public domain),
xtiff(1)
(a program included in the public domain
TIFF
software distribution), or, on Silicon Graphics machines,
faxview(1).
Consult your local resources to figure out what tools are available
for viewing and printing received facsimile.
EXAMPLES
This section gives several examples of command line usage;
consult the manual pages for the individual commands for
information on the options and program operation.
The following command queues the file
zall.ps
for transmission to John Doe at the number (123)456-7890 using fine mode;
the server will attempt to send it at 4:30 A.M.:
-
sendfax -a "0430" -d "John Doe@123.456.7890" -m zall.ps
The following command generates a one-page facsimile that
is just a cover page:
faxcover -t "John Doe" -n "(123)456-7890"
-c "Sorry John, I forgot the meeting..." |
sendfax -n -d "(123)456-7890"
(note that the line was broken into several lines solely for presentation.)
The following command displays the status of the facsimile
server and any jobs queued for transmission:
-
faxstat -a
The following command displays the status of the facsimile
server and any documents waiting in the receive queue on the
server machine:
-
faxstat -r
FILES
${BIN}/sendfax for sending facsimile
${BIN}/fax2ps for converting facsimile to PostScript
${BIN}/faxalter for altering queued jobs
${BIN}/faxcover for generating cover sheets
${BIN}/faxmail for converting email to PostScript
${BIN}/faxrm for removing queued jobs
${BIN}/faxstat for facsimile server status
${LIBEXEC}/sgi2fax SGI image file converter
${LIBEXEC}/textfmt ASCII text converter
${LIBDATA}/typerules file type and conversion rules
${LIBDATA}/pagesizes page size database
${LIBDATA}/faxcover.ps prototype cover page
${LIBDATA}/dialrules optional client dialstring rules
/usr/tmp/sndfaxXXXXXX temporary files
SEE ALSO
at(1),
fax2ps(1),
faxalter(1),
faxcover(1),
faxmail(1),
faxrm(1),
faxstat(1),
sgi2fax(1),
faxd(1),
intro(4F),
dialrules(4F),
pagesizes(4F),
typerules(4F)
Index
- NAME
-
- SYNOPSIS
-
- DESCRIPTION
-
- GETTING STARTED
-
- DIAL STRINGS
-
- COVER PAGES
-
- RECEIVED FACSIMILE
-
- EXAMPLES
-
- FILES
-
- SEE ALSO
-
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