fax \- make, send, receive, view or print a fax

The commands make, send, receive, view and queue may be
abbreviated to their first characters (e.g. ``fax q'').

Assignments of the form \fIVARIABLE\fB=\fIvalue\fR may appear
before the command name to temporarily change the values of most
fax script variables (e.g. ``fax PAGE=A4 print letter.001'')

\fBfax\fP provides a simple user interface to the efax(1) and
efix(1) programs.  It allows you to send text or Postscript files
as faxes and receive, print or preview received faxes.  The
\fBfax help\fP command prints a summary of the possible commands.

To send a fax, the original files need to be converted from ASCII
or Postscript format into fax format (known as Group 3 or T.4
format).  This can be done automatically by the \fBfax send\fP
command or you can use the \fBfax make\fP command to do the
conversion before sending the fax.  The conversion will create
one file per page.  These files will have the name of the
original file with the page number as an additional suffix.  For
example, running \fBfax make doc.ps\fP on the two-page postscript
file doc.ps would generate the files doc.ps.001 and doc.ps.002.

When sending a fax with the \fBfax send\fP command you may dial
the number manually and use the \fB-m\fP option or you may give
the phone number on the command line.  The names of the files to
be sent are given on the command line, usually by using
wildcards.  For example, to send a multi-page fax consisting of
the files doc.ps.001, doc.ps.002, and so on, you could use the
command \fBfax send 555-1212 doc.ps.0*\fP (if you had already run
the \fBfax make\fP command) or simply \fBfax send 555-1212
doc.ps\fP.  If the number is busy the script will wait and try
again.

Use the \fBfax receive\fP command to answer the phone and receive
a fax.  If a file name is specified the received fax will be
stored in files with the given file name plus an extension equal
to the page number.  If no options are given, the received fax
will be stored in files having a name given by the date and time
and an extension equal to the page number.  For example, a fax
received beginning on July 4 at 3:05:20 pm will generate files
0604150520.001, 0604150520.002, and so on.  The program will
print a warning if the fax was received in low-resolution format
(96 lines per inch) rather than high-resolution (198 lpi).

The \fBfax print\fP, \fBfax view\fP, and \fBfax rm\fP commands
are used to print, preview or remove received fax files.  As with
the send command the file names are usually given using
wildcards.

If efax has been installed for automatic fax reception you can
use the \fBfax queue\fP command to check for files in the
incoming spool directory.  For convenience the \fBfax print\fP,
\fBview\fP and \fBrm\fP commands first check for the named files
in this spool directory.  The \fBfax status\fP command shows the
status of the automatic receive process once, or every \fIt\fP
seconds.  Privileged users can use the \fBfax stop\fP and \fBfax
start\fP commands to stop and restart the fax reception daemon.

The \fBfax answer\fP command is used for unattended reception of
faxes.  It is normally run automatically by init(8), but can also
be run by the \fBfax wait\fP command for occasional use or for
testing before installation in inittab(5) or ttytab(5).  Note
that using \fBfax wait\fP may not allow incoming data calls with
some versions of login(1).

The \fBfax cut\fP comand cuts out a rectangular portion of a fax
image and writes it to the standard output.  This image can then
be pasted into other faxes as described below or the efix program
can be used to convert the image into Encapsulated Postscript
(EPS) format for use with other applications. The \fId\fP and
\fIr\fP arguments give the location of top left corner of the
area to cut out while \fIw\fP and \fIh\fP give the width and
height.  For example, the command \fBfax cut -l 24 22 44 12 mm
30Nov223513.001 >sig.l\fP would cut a 44x12 millimetre rectangle
out of the low-resolution fax file 30Nov223513.001 and save it in
the file sig.l.

The \fBfax paste\fP commands allows you to paste one fax image
into others.  This is useful for adding signatures, letterhead,
or graphics to your faxes.  The \fId\fP and \fIr\fP arguments
give the shift of the pasted-in image \fId\fPown and to the
\fIr\fPight. For example, \fBfax paste 8 4 sig.l order.001\fP
would shift the image in the file sig.l down by 8 inches and
right 4 inches and then paste it into the file order.001.  Use an
option of \fBin\fP, \fBcm\fP, \fBmm\fP, or \fBpt\fP after the
location for other units (e.g. ``fax paste 20 10 mm ...'').

The \fBfax test\fP command extracts configuration information
from the fax script and queries the fax modem for manufacturer,
model and capability information.  When reporting problems with
fax or efax please redirect the output of the \fBfax test\fP
command to a file (e.g. \fBfax test >debug.out\fP) and submit
this file with your bug report.

Faxes can be sent at low or high resolution.  Almost all fax
machines will operate at either resolution.  By default it is
assumed that files are to be generated, sent, received, and
printed at high resolution.  However, all script commands take an
optional \fB-l\fP argument to specify low resolution.

The low resolution switch should be used when printing or
previewing if a ``low-resolution'' warning message was printed
when the fax was received.  If not, the image will appear
distorted (compressed vertically).

The modem commands and responses together with status and error
messages are written to file.  This file will have the same file
name as the received fax image files and an extension of
`.log'. For example, 0604150530.log.

Log file names written by the automatic fax reception process
have a different format as described in the FILES section below.

The following files are created in the FAXDIR spool directory
when automatic fax reception is enabled (see the fax script).
DEV represents the name of the fax modem device file in /dev
(e.g. cua1 for /dev/cua1).

the log file created by the fax answer daemon with process id
DEV.log
contains collected log files for device DEV.  Log files showing a
termination status of 1 (device busy) or 4 (no response from
modem) are not added to this file.
DEV.stop
created by the fax stop command to prevent the fax daemon from
starting up.

Fax was written by Ed Casas.  Please send comments or bug reports
to edc@cce.com.  Please include the type of modem used and a copy
of the session log output.

Fax is copyright 1993, 1994, 1995 by Ed Casas.  It may be used,
copied and modified under the terms of the GNU Public License.

Although \fBfax\fP has been tested, it may have errors that will
prevent it from working correctly on your system.  Some of these
errors may cause serious problems including loss of data and
interruptions to telephone service.

