What is Ixbiff?

Ixbiff is a daemon that notifies the user when new mail arrives by blinking the keyboard leds. For obvious reasons, only the default three leds is supported and it can be configured via the supplied configuration file.

Package history

Release date	Version	Comments
2005-07-17	0.03d	Fixed #258927, updated debian policy version
2001-10-16	0.03c	Fixed #124768, made it compatible with newer kernels
2001-10-16	0.03b	Several bug fixes. Fixed #100416, the annoying leds-state-doesnt-change-while-in-mailclient bug, and a bug that affected ixbiff's logging
2001-05-28	0.03a	Lots of changes. Fixed #98696, added lots of bells & whistles, etc
2001-05-22	0.02c	Fixed #98021
2001-04-19	0.02b	Initial release

This package history is probably out of date (I only update it every now and then). For an up-to-date list of changes, please refer to the package changelog.

Why ixbiff?

Back in the days of BBS's and irciing, I used to have a nickname ixion (pronounced iks'-ee-ahn) and the old UNIX mail notifier daemon used to be called biff (which was in turn named after a friendly golden Labrador who used to chase frisbees in the halls at UCB while 4.2BSD was in development (it had a well-known habit of barking whenever the mailman came)). Now you know why someone would call a mail notifier ixbiff.

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