GENSIG(1)GENSIG(1)NAMEgensig - Generate signatures with random taglines on a FIFO.
SYNOPSISgensig [options] file ...
gensig -h|--help
DESCRIPTIONgensig generates random signatures, each with a random tagline, and
writes them out over a FIFO, located by default as ~/.signature . Any
program (such as a mail or news client) that would normally open, read
to EOF, and close, a signature file located there will get a different
signature each time.
When started, gensig normally backgrounds itself to service the signa‐
ture FIFO. A lock/pid file, created right next to the FIFO itself, is
used to keep track of the running gensig process. If another gensig is
found to be running, gensig complains and exits. When gensig is killed
(by another gensig, or with the TERM or INT signals), it cleans up the
lock/pid file, and (by defult) replaces the FIFO with a regular file so
that programs that rely on the existence of your .signature can still
function. To kill a running gensig using a non-default FIFO, use the
same -s fifoname parameter that was used to start up gensig.
The format of the signature file is read from ~/.signature.tmpl (by
default). This should be a few lines of text, somewhere including a %s
(a la printf), specifying where a random tagline is to be inserted.
Taglines are read from the files (or directories) specified on the com‐
mand-line. If none are specified, or if the -a/--add switch is used,
the search continues to an environment variable called TAGLINES. If it
exists, it is interpreted as a colon-separated list of files (or direc‐
tories) to read for taglines. If the environment variable TAGLINES
doesn't exist, then the next place to check is ~/.taglines (file or
directory). If that doesn't exist, then there should be a taglines
file installed from the gensig distribution at /usr/local/share/gen‐
sig/taglines.
OPTIONS
-a|--add
Adds specified files to the taglines sources. Otherwise, speci‐
fied files replace the default tagfiles sources.
-d|--debug
Display debug information (be verbose).
-f|--nofile
Don't leave behind a regular file when killed.
-h|--help
Display syntax & options. Does nothing else.
-k|--kill
Kill a running gensig process, if one is found. Does nothing
else.
-m|--format filename
Specify the signature-format file.
-o|--once
Print a random signature to STDOUT. Does nothing else.
-q|--quiet
Don't complain (just exit) if another gensig is found to be run‐
ning.
-r|--restart
Kill a running gensig (if found) before starting.
-s|--sigfile filename
Specify the name of the signature file (FIFO) to use.
-v|--version
Display version information. Does nothing else.
FILES
Each line of text in a file of taglines is considere' intC)linethe mid‐
tiple-line taglines can be created by using a CR ('
dle of the line. The CR character will be replaced by a LF character
('0 in C) by gensig.
BUGS
Bugs? We don't need to steenking bugs! (But we've probably got some
anyway...)
WHO TO BLAMEgensig was originally written by Andrew Arensburger for SunOS 4, using
the Berkely DB library. The entire package has been rewritten from
scratch by Rob Fugina (robf@geekthing.com), though the original concept
remains the same.
robf@geekthing.com gensig version 2.3 GENSIG(1)
