INTRODUCTION
This is a Mac OS X implementation of the old Berkeley fortune file reader. This is an early alpha release of the software, and the documentation is brief.
WHAT IS IT?
This is a command line application to read random fortunes from your fortune
file repository and display them. It is mainly useful(?) as a .login or a
.logout process.
HOW DO I USE IT?
First unpack the archive with the command
tar -zxvf fortune.tgz
. If you are paranoid and have the Apple Developer Tools installed, read through
the included source code and run make to recompile it, otherwise you can use
the precompiled binaries included in the package.
Once you have binaries you are satisfied with, run the install as root
(i.e. sudo make install) and type in your admin password. This will place all
the required files where they need to be. Then type rehash to load a new
copy of your PATH.
To print a fortune, simply type the command fortune. This will pick one
random fortune from all of the files in your fortune directory, which defaults
to /usr/share/games/fortune.
To prevent a fortune file from being read and displayed, delete the
associated .dat file. For example, to stop limericks from appearing,
type sudo rm -f /usr/share/games/fortune/limerick.dat.
strfile as a precompiled binary as well as the source code for strfile are included in this package.
WHERE DO I GET IT?
The latest version can always be downloaded from
http://www.vushta.com/fortune/fortune_latest.tgz
View the HISTORY file.
CAVEATS
This is early pre-release software, and as such is feature incomplete.
Only files that have been processed with strfile will be used.
To use strfile on a new fortune file, type strfile newfile. Both the
newfile and the assocaited newfile.dat must be in your fortunes directory.
All fortunes must be delimited with a single % on a blank line, or you
must use strfile with the -c argument, and fortune with the -s
argument.
Please report any errors, feature requests or bugs to me:
Thomas Knox tknox@mac.com.