MESG(1) User Commands MESG(1)
NAME
mesg - display (or do not display) messages from other users
SYNOPSIS
mesg [option] [n|y]
DESCRIPTION
The mesg utility is invoked by a user to control write access others
have to the terminal device associated with standard error output. If
write access is allowed, then programs such as talk(1) and write(1) may
display messages on the terminal.
Traditionally, write access is allowed by default. However, as users
become more conscious of various security risks, there is a trend to
remove write access by default, at least for the primary login shell.
To make sure your ttys are set the way you want them to be set, mesg
should be executed in your login scripts.
The mesg utility silently exits with error status 2 if not executed on
terminal. In this case execute mesg is pointless. The command line
option --verbose forces mesg to print a warning in this situation. This
behaviour has been introduced in version 2.33.
ARGUMENTS
n
Disallow messages.
y
Allow messages to be displayed.
If no arguments are given, mesg shows the current message status on
standard error output.
OPTIONS
-v, --verbose
Explain what is being done.
-h, --help
Display help text and exit.
-V, --version
Print version and exit.
EXIT STATUS
The mesg utility exits with one of the following values:
0
Messages are allowed.
1
Messages are not allowed.
>1
An error has occurred.
FILES
/dev/[pt]ty[pq]?
HISTORY
A mesg command appeared in Version 6 AT&T UNIX.
SEE ALSO
login(1), talk(1), write(1), wall(1), xterm(1)
REPORTING BUGS
For bug reports, use the issue tracker at
https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues.
AVAILABILITY
The mesg command is part of the util-linux package which can be
downloaded from Linux Kernel Archive
<https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.
util-linux 2.38.1 2022-05-11 MESG(1)
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