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To send a fax using HylaFAX, use the sendfax command. Usually you will send a Postscript (or Ghostscript) file or a TIFF document using the sendfax command. Some other file formats (such as ASCII and troff) are converted automatically by sendfax before being sent. Check the documentation that accompanies your version of HylaFAX to find out which file formats are supported.
There are a lot of options possible with sendfax, as Table 60.1 shows. These options can be combined in any order in a complete command.
| HylaFAX option | What it does |
|---|---|
| -c | For comments |
| -d | Specifies destination |
| -f | From |
| -h | Host name |
| -i | Identifier to place on fax |
| -k | Gives the kill time |
| -l | Low resolution mode |
| -m | Medium resolution mode |
| -n | Suppresses cover page |
| -p | Specify page count to include on cover and pages |
| -r | Regarding text |
| -s | Specifies the page size name (default size is 8.5x11) |
| -t | Number of tries to use |
| -v | Echoes status messages to screen |
| -x | Company name to send to |
| -y | Location to send to |
| -D | Notify sender by e-mail when fax sent |
| -R | Notify sender by e-mail if fax must be requeued |
A cover page is generated by default by HylaFAX whenever you send a fax. The information on the cover page is taken from command line arguments to the sendfax command. Low resolution mode (98 lines per inch) is used by default unless you override it with fine resolution (196 lines per inch), called medium resolution by HylaFAX. HylaFAX will retry sending a fax until it connects within 24 hours of the sendfax command. To override this retry time, use the -k option.
If you want to override the default HylaFAX cover page, you can use the faxcover command to specify the desired contents. The faxcover command creates a Postscript sheet for the cover that is attached to the front of each of your outgoing faxes.
There are several options supported by faxcover, as shown in Table 60.2. These options can be combined in any order.
| Faxcover option | What it does |
|---|---|
| -c | Comment |
| -C | Specify a template file |
| -f | From |
| -l | The destination location |
| -n | Sender’s fax number |
| -p | Page count |
| -r | Regarding (Re) comment |
| -s | Pagesize name |
| -t | Recipient |
| -v | Destination voice line number |
| -x | Destination company name |
If you allow HylaFAX to receive faxes, they are placed in the subdirectory recvq under the HylaFAX directory. All incoming faxes are saved as TIFF files. Access to the fax receiver directory can be controlled by the system administrator.
When a fax is received, HylaFAX sends a fax to a user login set by the variable FaxMaster. Alternatively, you can write a shell script that checks for the user the fax is destined for and sends email to them, or spools the incoming fax automatically to a printer.
HylaFAX uses a server process called faxrcvd to receive faxes. The daemon is clever enough to try to determine whether the incoming call is a fax call or a voice call. This allows the same modem to be used for incoming faxes and data calls, which are answered by UUCP or a getty process.
In this chapter you’ve seen how to configure and use HylaFAX, probably the most powerful and effective fax application available for Linux that doesn’t require you to shell out money. From here, there are a number of other chapters that you may want to read:
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