
 This definition comes from "The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing":

 Signature (Or sig):

   A few lines of information about the sender of an electronic mail
   message or news posting.  Most Unix mail and news software will
   automagically append a signature from a file called .signature in
   the user's home directory to outgoing mail and news.

   A signature should give your real name and your e-mail address
   since, though these appear in the headers of your messages, they
   may be munged by intervening software.  It is currently (1994) hip
   to include the URL of your home page on the World-Wide Web in your
   sig.

   The composition of one's sig can be quite an art form, including
   an ASCII logo or one's choice of witty sayings (see sig quote,
   fool file).  However, large sigs are a waste of bandwidth, and it
   has been observed that the size of one's sig block is usually
   inversely proportional to one's prestige on the net.


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SGROTUM


  Sgrotum (SiGnature ROTUMbulator) is a utility for managing signature
  files. As well as the rotation and randomization of signatures, it
  can insert random quotations - taking care of length, word-wrap and
  justification.



COMPILATION AND INSTALLATION


  See the file named INSTALL for extra details.

  To compile sgrotum, you'll need the development files for either
  glib-1.2.x or glib-2.x.x.

  Two sgrotum-specific options can be passed to configure:

    --enable-oldstyle    Stay compatible with sgrotum <= 0.5.2
                         (No need, unless you used those old
                         versions and don't want to update your
                         sgrotum configuration files.)

    --enable-glib2       Use glib-2.x.x rather than glib-1.2.x


  If using GNU/Linux, something like this should compile and install it:

    $ ./configure
    $ make
    $ make install-strip
    $ make clean

  In this example, the "make install-strip" step assumes you have
  permission to work in /usr/local without being root. Being in the
  "staff" group should do the trick.

  Two files will be installed: the sgrotum binary and the sgrotum
  manual page.

  To uninstall this package, be in the sgrotum source directory and:

    $ make uninstall



SETUP AND USAGE


  Before you can use sgrotum, you'll need to make a preference file
  and at least one signature template file. You'll probably want
  a quote file as well. These files can live anywhere, but a
  ~/.sgrotum directory would be convenient. The manual page should get
  you going:

    $ man sgrotum

  Have a look at the files in the "examples" directory, too.



RUNNING SGROTUM


  Using cron (see "man 1 crontab" and "man 5 crontab"):

    # Crontab entry to run sgrotum at 15 minutes past the hour,
    # from 7:15am until 11:15pm.
    15  7-23  *  *  *   sgrotum /home/trm/.sgrotum/informal


  Using mutt (thanks to Han Boetes for this tip):

    # .muttrc
    set editor="sgrotum $HOME/.sgrotum/informal ; vim"


  Another mutt example, this generates signatures according to
  the mailbox you're in:

    # .muttrc
    folder-hook news 'set signature = "sgrotum -s ~/.sgrotum/plain |"'
    folder-hook clug 'set signature = "sgrotum -s ~/.sgrotum/clug |"'
    folder-hook mbox 'set signature = "sgrotum -s ~/.sgrotum/informal |"'


NOTES


  * To try the examples, be in the sgrotum source directory and:

    $ sgrotum examples/test
    $ sgrotum examples/plain
    $ sgrotum examples/informal
    $ sgrotum examples/lug

    The examples are set up to send their output to stdout.


  * examples/genquotes.sh generates a quote file using the
    "fortune" program. Use "genquotes.sh --help" and "man fortune" for
    examples and details. (Thanks to Han Boetes for this script.)


  * There's now a sgrotum FAQ! (Thanks, Shantanu!)
    Find it here:

        http://www.shantanu.cjb.net/


  * To see if there's a newer version of sgrotum available:
    http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~trmusson/programs.html#sgrotum



If you have any trouble or suggestions:


  Tim Musson
  trmusson@ihug.co.nz

