NAME

maildirwatch - wait for changes to a maildir

SYNOPSIS

maildirwatch {maildir} {command} [argument...]

DESCRIPTION

maildirwatch repeatedly invokes the command, with any optional arguments, an external command, as follows:

•The first time the command gets executed is immediately after maildirwatch starts.

•Subsequent invocatons of command occur whenever there may be some kind of a change to the contents of the maildir.

maildirwatch does not determine what, if anything, changed in the maildir. maildirwatch might occasionally raise a false alarm and run the command even though nothing changed, but that's rare. It's also possible that by the time command actually runs, then whatever was changed in the maildir is no longer changed; it became what it was before it was changed (a mystery that will remain unsolved forever). It's up to the command to intelligently figure out if it needs to do something about whatever it finds in the maildir.

maildirwatch is a rudimentary mechanism for writing shell scripts that deal with newly-delivered mail, in some form or fashion.

EXIT CODE

A non-zero exit code indicates that the specified maildir does not exist or is corrupted.

Otherwise maildirwatch runs until the command exits with a non-zero exit code. maildirwatch prints command's exit code on standard output, and terminates with an exit code of 0.

AUTHOR

Sam Varshavchik

Author

NOTES

1.: maildirmake(1)