Debian bug report logs - #1710
popclient can't read my mail box

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From server.et-inf.fho-emden.de!tobias Sun Oct 22 07:37:27 1995
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Subject: Re: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box
To: andrew@kryten.it.com.au
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 1995 15:25:21 +0100 (MET)
From: "Peter Tobias" <tobias@server.et-inf.fho-emden.de>
Cc: debian-bugs-done@pixar.com
Reply-To: tobias@et-inf.fho-emden.de
In-Reply-To: <m0t6Dh8-000AZYC@kryten.it.com.au> from "Andrew Howell" at Oct 20, 95 05:24:54 pm
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Andrew Howell wrote:
> Package: netstd
> Version: 1.18-1
> 
> popclient fails to read my mailbox whether the following error
> 
> [kryten:/home/andrew] popclient -u andrew localhost
> Enter mailserver password:
> kryten POP3 Server (Version 1.004) ready.
> cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew
> 
> [kryten:/home/andrew] dir /var/spool/mail/andrew
> -rw-rw----   1 andrew   mail         1047 Oct 20 17:12 /var/spool/mail/andrew
> 
> I have a similiar problem when using 'mail -p'
> 
> [kryten:/home/andrew] mail -p
> Enter POP password:
> mail: opening pop connection: -ERR cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew

This bug is fixed in the new netstd-1.19 package.


Peter

-- 
 Peter Tobias                                EMail:
 Fachhochschule Ostfriesland                 tobias@et-inf.fho-emden.de
 Fachbereich Elektrotechnik und Informatik   tobias@perseus.fho-emden.de
 Constantiaplatz 4, 26723 Emden, Germany

Message received at debian-bugs:

From uni-muenster.de!bsb Fri Oct 20 07:08:48 1995
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From: Bernd S. Brentrup <bsb@uni-muenster.de>
To: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell), debian-bugs@Pixar.com
Subject: Re: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box
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Andrew Howell writes:
>Package: netstd
>Version: 1.18-1
>
>popclient fails to read my mailbox whether the following error
>
>[kryten:/home/andrew] popclient -u andrew localhost
>Enter mailserver password:
>kryten POP3 Server (Version 1.004) ready.
>cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew
>
>[kryten:/home/andrew] dir /var/spool/mail/andrew
>-rw-rw----   1 andrew   mail         1047 Oct 20 17:12 /var/spool/mail/andrew
>
>I have a similiar problem when using 'mail -p'
>
>[kryten:/home/andrew] mail -p
>Enter POP password:
>mail: opening pop connection: -ERR cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew
>
>Andrew
>
>--
>Dehydration - 34%, Recollection of previous evening - 2%, embarrassment
>factor - 91%.  Advise repair schedule:- off line for 36 hours, re-boot
>startup disk, and replace head - wow, what a night!
>                -- Kryten in Red Dwarf `The Last Day'
>
>Andrew Howell				               andrew@it.com.au
>Perth, Western Australia		      howellaa@cs.curtin.edu.au
>

Look suspiciously like the one I reported in Bug #1704 (with fix)

-- Siggy (the middle S.)

Message received at debian-bugs:

From chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk!ian Fri Oct 20 06:35:43 1995
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Date: Fri, 20 Oct 95 14:35 BST
From: Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk>
To: debian-bugs@pixar.com
Subject: Re: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box
In-Reply-To: <m0t6HDL-000AZYC@kryten.it.com.au>
References: <m0t6Go0-0002YFC@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk>
	<m0t6HDL-000AZYC@kryten.it.com.au>

Andrew Howell writes ("Re: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box"):
> Ian Jackson writes:
> > If it does lock the mailbox correctly you may well find that the
> > problem with `popclient localhost' is that popclient and in.pop3d are
> > clashing over the lock on the mailbox.  `popclient localhost' is an
> > inherently silly thing to do.
> 
> Well netscape 2.0b1's mailmove program didn't have permission to
> create a lock file in /var/spool/mail, and there was no way in hell
> that I was going to make it setuid, so I switched it over to using
> POP instead, and when that gave an error I wondered what the hell was
> going on. So I tried mail and popclient and they both failed as well....

Ah.  When I said `popclient localhost' was inherently silly, this was
because it was a request to move mail from /var/spool/mail/<user> to
/var/spool/mail/<user>, which would be pointless even if it worked.

`popclient localhost -o <filename>', on the other hand, ought to
work.  It does for me.

Ian.

Message received at debian-bugs:

From kryten.it.com.au!andrew Fri Oct 20 06:17:31 1995
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From: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell)
Subject: Re: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box
To: ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk, debian-bugs@pixar.com
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 21:10:23 +0800 (WST)
In-Reply-To: <m0t6Go0-0002YFC@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk> from "Ian Jackson" at Oct 20, 95 01:44:00 pm
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Ian Jackson writes:
> If it does lock the mailbox correctly you may well find that the
> problem with `popclient localhost' is that popclient and in.pop3d are
> clashing over the lock on the mailbox.  `popclient localhost' is an
> inherently silly thing to do.

Well netscape 2.0b1's mailmove program didn't have permission to
create a lock file in /var/spool/mail, and there was no way in hell
that I was going to make it setuid, so I switched it over to using
POP instead, and when that gave an error I wondered what the hell was
going on. So I tried mail and popclient and they both failed as well....

Andrew

-- 
Dehydration - 34%, Recollection of previous evening - 2%, embarrassment
factor - 91%.  Advise repair schedule:- off line for 36 hours, re-boot
startup disk, and replace head - wow, what a night!
                -- Kryten in Red Dwarf `The Last Day'

Andrew Howell				               andrew@it.com.au 
Perth, Western Australia		      howellaa@cs.curtin.edu.au 

Message received at debian-bugs:

From chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk!ian Fri Oct 20 05:44:37 1995
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Date: Fri, 20 Oct 95 13:44 BST
From: Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk>
To: debian-bugs@Pixar.com
Subject: Re: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box

Andrew Howell writes ("Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box"):
> popclient fails to read my mailbox whether the following error
> 
> [kryten:/home/andrew] popclient -u andrew localhost
> Enter mailserver password:
> kryten POP3 Server (Version 1.004) ready.
> cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew

This would appear to imply that popclient has been compiled to dump
mail in the standard incoming mailbox by default.  However, I see from
the manpage:

       The retrieved  messages  are  normally  appended  to  your
       default  system mailbox on the local disk, using the local
       Mail Delivery Agent (MDA),  usually  /usr/bin/mail(1),  so
       that  when  you  invoke your mail reader it can manipulate
       the retrieved messages like any other mail you receive  on
       the client machine.

       Using  the  -o  option,  you  can specify a different mail
       folder to which the retrieved messages will  be  appended.
       If  you  prefer, for example, to have your POP mail from a
       machine called 'mailgrunt' stored in the mbox file in your
       home directory, you would start popclient as follows:

              popclient -o $HOME/mbox mailgrunt

       Note  that  the  folder specified with -o is not locked or
       otherwise protected from other  processes  writing  to  it
       while popclient is writing to it.

I don't find this reassuring.  Could the popclient maintainer please
check that the correct locking *is* done for the system mailbox (it
doesn't imply that it isn't, but it doesn't say that it is), and then
document this ?

If it does lock the mailbox correctly you may well find that the
problem with `popclient localhost' is that popclient and in.pop3d are
clashing over the lock on the mailbox.  `popclient localhost' is an
inherently silly thing to do.

Furthermore, the manpage coontains the following example, which
purports to describe how to use the `-c' (squirt to stdout) option
safely:
              popclient   -k   -c   mailgrunt   |   myfilter
                  > $HOME/filtered.mail
       followed by
              popclient -c mailgrunt > /dev/null

This won't work correctly, because it has a race condition.  It would
appear that there is no safe way to use the -c option except in
conjunction with the -k option.  Could this fact be documented,
please ?

I'm pleased to see, though, that popclient appears to spot write
errors on the output file.

Thanks,
Ian.

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From kryten.it.com.au!andrew Fri Oct 20 02:24:18 1995
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From: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell)
Subject: popclient can't read my mail box
To: debian-bugs@pixar.com
Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 17:24:54 +0800 (WST)
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Package: netstd
Version: 1.18-1

popclient fails to read my mailbox whether the following error

[kryten:/home/andrew] popclient -u andrew localhost
Enter mailserver password:
kryten POP3 Server (Version 1.004) ready.
cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew

[kryten:/home/andrew] dir /var/spool/mail/andrew
-rw-rw----   1 andrew   mail         1047 Oct 20 17:12 /var/spool/mail/andrew

I have a similiar problem when using 'mail -p'

[kryten:/home/andrew] mail -p
Enter POP password:
mail: opening pop connection: -ERR cannot open mailbox /var/spool/mail/andrew

Andrew

-- 
Dehydration - 34%, Recollection of previous evening - 2%, embarrassment
factor - 91%.  Advise repair schedule:- off line for 36 hours, re-boot
startup disk, and replace head - wow, what a night!
                -- Kryten in Red Dwarf `The Last Day'

Andrew Howell				               andrew@it.com.au 
Perth, Western Australia		      howellaa@cs.curtin.edu.au