NAME

qmsg - send message to batch jobs

SYNOPSIS

[BE] qmsg [-E][-O] message_string job_identifier ...

DESCRIPTION

To send a message to a batch job is to request that a server write a message string into one or more output files of the batch job. A message is sent to a batch job by a request to the batch server that manages the batch job. The qmsg utility is a user-accessible batch client that requests the sending of messages to one or more batch jobs.

The qmsg utility shall write messages into the files of batch jobs by sending a Job Message Request to the batch server that manages the batch job. The qmsg utility shall not directly write the message into the files of the batch job.

The qmsg utility shall send a Job Message Request for those batch jobs, and only those batch jobs, for which a batch job_identifier is presented to the utility.

The qmsg utility shall send Job Message Requests for batch jobs in the order in which their batch job_identifiers are presented to the utility.

If the qmsg utility fails to process any batch job_identifier successfully, the utility shall proceed to process the remaining batch job_identifiers, if any.

The qmsg utility shall not exit before a Job Message Request has been sent to the server that manages the batch job that corresponds to each successfully processed batch job_identifier.

OPTIONS

The qmsg utility shall conform to the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 12.2, Utility Syntax Guidelines.

The following options shall be supported by the implementation:

-E

Specify that the message is written to the standard error of each batch job.

The qmsg utility shall write the message into the standard error of the batch job.

-O

Specify that the message is written to the standard output of each batch job.

The qmsg utility shall write the message into the standard output of the batch job.

If neither the -O nor the -E option is presented to the qmsg utility, the utility shall write the message into an implementation-defined file. The conformance document for the implementation shall describe the name and location of the implementation-defined file. If both the -O and the -E options are presented to the qmsg utility, then the utility shall write the messages to both standard output and standard error.

OPERANDS

The qmsg utility shall accept a minimum of two operands, message_string and one or more batch job_identifiers.

The message_string operand shall be the string to be written to one or more output files of the batch job followed by a <newline>. If the string contains <blank>s, then the application shall ensure that the string is quoted. The message_string shall be encoded in the portable character set (see the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 6.1, Portable Character Set).

All remaining operands are batch job_identifiers that conform to the syntax for a batch job_identifier (see Batch Job Identifier ).

STDIN

Not used.

INPUT FILES

None.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

The following environment variables shall affect the execution of qmsg:

LANG

Provide a default value for the internationalization variables that are unset or null. (See the Base Definitions volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, Section 8.2, Internationalization Variables for the precedence of internationalization variables used to determine the values of locale categories.)

LC_ALL

If set to a non-empty string value, override the values of all the other internationalization variables.

LC_CTYPE

Determine the locale for the interpretation of sequences of bytes of text data as characters (for example, single-byte as opposed to multi-byte characters in arguments).

LC_MESSAGES

Determine the locale that should be used to affect the format and contents of diagnostic messages written to standard error.

LOGNAME

Determine the login name of the user.

ASYNCHRONOUS EVENTS

Default.

STDOUT

None.

STDERR

The standard error shall be used only for diagnostic messages.

OUTPUT FILES

None.

EXTENDED DESCRIPTION

None.

EXIT STATUS

The following exit values shall be returned:

 0

Successful completion.

>0

An error occurred.

CONSEQUENCES OF ERRORS

In addition to the default behavior, the qmsg utility shall not be required to write a diagnostic message to standard error when the error reply received from a batch server indicates that the batch job_identifier does not exist on the server. Whether or not the qmsg utility waits to output the diagnostic message while attempting to locate the job on other servers is implementation-defined.

APPLICATION USAGE

None.

EXAMPLES

None.

RATIONALE

The qmsg utility allows users to write messages into the output files of running jobs. Users, including operators and administrators, have a number of occasions when they want to place messages in the output files of a batch job. For example, if a disk that is being used by a batch job is showing errors, the operator might note this in the standard error stream of the batch job.

The options of the qmsg utility provide users with the means of placing the message in the output stream of their choice. The default output stream for the message-if the user does not designate an output stream-is implementation-defined, since many implementations will provide, as an extension to this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001, a log file that shows the history of utility execution.

If users wish to send a message to a set of jobs that meet a selection criteria, the qselect utility can be used to acquire the appropriate list of job identifiers.

The -E option allows users to place the message in the standard error stream of the batch job.

The -O option allows users to place the message in the standard output stream of the batch job.

Historically, the qmsg utility is an existing practice in the offerings of one or more implementors of an NQS-derived batch system. The utility has been found to be useful enough that it deserves to be included in this volume of IEEE Std 1003.1-2001.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

None.

SEE ALSO

Batch Environment Services, qselect

CHANGE HISTORY

Derived from IEEE Std 1003.2d-1994.

Issue 6

The LC_TIME and TZ entries are removed from the ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES section.