Debian bug report logs - #1710 , boring messages ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent to debian-devel@pixar.com: Subject: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box Reply-To: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell), debian-bugs@pixar.com Resent-From: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) Resent-To: debian-devel@pixar.com Resent-Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 09:33:02 GMT Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk X-Debian-PR-Package: netstd X-Debian-PR-Keywords: Received: via spool for debian-bugs; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 09:33:02 GMT Received: with rfc822 via encapsulated-mail; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 09:25:44 GMT Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp (Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0t6DgY-000BB7C; Fri, 20 Oct 95 02:24 PDT Received: from kryten.it.com.au by pixar.com with SMTP id AA08717 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Fri, 20 Oct 1995 02:23:47 -0700 Received: by kryten.it.com.au id (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.33); Fri, 20 Oct 95 17:24 WST Message-Id: From: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) To: debian-bugs@pixar.com Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 17:24:54 +0800 (WST) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24 PGP2] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 938 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent: From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson) To: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) Subject: Bug#1710: Acknowledgement (was: popclient can't read my mail box) In-Reply-To: References: Thank you for the problem report you have sent regarding Debian GNU/Linux. This is an automatically generated reply, to let you know your message has been received. It is being forwarded to the developers' mailing list for their attention; they will reply in due course. If you wish to submit further information on your problem, please send it to debian-bugs@pixar.com, but please ensure that the Subject line of your message starts with "Bug#1710" or "Re: Bug#1710" so that we can identify it as relating to the same problem. Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message, unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system. Ian Jackson (maintainer, debian-bugs) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent to debian-devel@pixar.com: Subject: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box Reply-To: Ian Jackson , debian-bugs@pixar.com Resent-From: Ian Jackson Resent-To: debian-devel@pixar.com Resent-Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 12:48:01 GMT Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk X-Debian-PR-Package: netstd X-Debian-PR-Keywords: Received: via spool for debian-bugs; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 12:48:01 GMT Received: with rfc822 via encapsulated-mail; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 12:45:53 GMT Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp (Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0t6GoO-000BV1C; Fri, 20 Oct 95 05:44 PDT Received: from artemis.chu.cam.ac.uk by pixar.com with SMTP id AA16002 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Fri, 20 Oct 1995 05:44:03 -0700 Received: from chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk by artemis.chu.cam.ac.uk with smtp (Smail3.1.29.1 #33) id m0t6HqV-0007u9C; Fri, 20 Oct 95 13:50 GMT Received: by chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk id m0t6Go0-0002YFC (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.33); Fri, 20 Oct 95 13:44 BST Message-Id: Date: Fri, 20 Oct 95 13:44 BST From: Ian Jackson To: debian-bugs@Pixar.com 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent: From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson) To: Ian Jackson Subject: Bug#1710: Info received (was Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box) In-Reply-To: References: Thank you for the additional information you have supplied regarding this problem report. It has been forwarded to the developers to accompany the original report. If you wish to continue to submit further information on your problem, please do the same thing again: send it to debian-bugs@pixar.com, ensuring that the Subject line starts with "Bug#1710" or "Re: Bug#1710" so that we can identify it as relating to the same problem. Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message, unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system. Ian Jackson (maintainer, debian-bugs) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent to debian-devel@pixar.com: Subject: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box Reply-To: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell), debian-bugs@pixar.com Resent-From: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) Resent-To: debian-devel@pixar.com Resent-Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 13:33:02 GMT Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk X-Debian-PR-Package: netstd X-Debian-PR-Keywords: Received: via spool for debian-bugs; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 13:33:02 GMT Received: with rfc822 via encapsulated-mail; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 13:18:44 GMT Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp (Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0t6HKF-000BGJC; Fri, 20 Oct 95 06:17 PDT Received: from kryten.it.com.au by pixar.com with SMTP id AA18107 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Fri, 20 Oct 1995 06:15:15 -0700 Received: by kryten.it.com.au id (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.33); Fri, 20 Oct 95 21:10 WST Message-Id: From: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) To: ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk, debian-bugs@pixar.com Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 21:10:23 +0800 (WST) In-Reply-To: from "Ian Jackson" at Oct 20, 95 01:44:00 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24 PGP2] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 977 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 sent: From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson) To: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) Subject: Bug#1710: Info received (was Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box) In-Reply-To: References: Thank you for the additional information you have supplied regarding this problem report. It has been forwarded to the developers to accompany the original report. If you wish to continue to submit further information on your problem, please do the same thing again: send it to debian-bugs@pixar.com, ensuring that the Subject line starts with "Bug#1710" or "Re: Bug#1710" so that we can identify it as relating to the same problem. Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message, unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system. Ian Jackson (maintainer, debian-bugs) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent to debian-devel@pixar.com: Subject: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box Reply-To: Ian Jackson , debian-bugs@pixar.com Resent-From: Ian Jackson Resent-To: debian-devel@pixar.com Resent-Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 13:48:01 GMT Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk X-Debian-PR-Package: netstd X-Debian-PR-Keywords: Received: via spool for debian-bugs; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 13:48:01 GMT Received: with rfc822 via encapsulated-mail; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 13:37:32 GMT Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp (Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0t6Hbr-000BZWC; Fri, 20 Oct 95 06:35 PDT Received: from artemis.chu.cam.ac.uk by pixar.com with SMTP id AA18794 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Fri, 20 Oct 1995 06:35:14 -0700 Received: from chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk by artemis.chu.cam.ac.uk with smtp (Smail3.1.29.1 #33) id m0t6Ie6-0007u9C; Fri, 20 Oct 95 14:42 GMT Received: by chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk id m0t6HbZ-0002YFC (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.33); Fri, 20 Oct 95 14:35 BST Message-Id: Date: Fri, 20 Oct 95 14:35 BST From: Ian Jackson To: debian-bugs@pixar.com In-Reply-To: References: 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/ to /var/spool/mail/, which would be pointless even if it worked. `popclient localhost -o ', on the other hand, ought to work. It does for me. Ian. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent: From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson) To: Ian Jackson Subject: Bug#1710: Info received (was Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box) In-Reply-To: References: Thank you for the additional information you have supplied regarding this problem report. It has been forwarded to the developers to accompany the original report. If you wish to continue to submit further information on your problem, please do the same thing again: send it to debian-bugs@pixar.com, ensuring that the Subject line starts with "Bug#1710" or "Re: Bug#1710" so that we can identify it as relating to the same problem. Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message, unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system. Ian Jackson (maintainer, debian-bugs) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent to debian-devel@pixar.com: Subject: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box Reply-To: Bernd S. Brentrup , debian-bugs@pixar.com Resent-From: Bernd S. Brentrup Resent-To: debian-devel@pixar.com Resent-Date: Fri, 20 Oct 1995 14:18:02 GMT Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: iwj10@cus.cam.ac.uk X-Debian-PR-Package: netstd X-Debian-PR-Keywords: Received: via spool for debian-bugs; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 14:18:02 GMT Received: with rfc822 via encapsulated-mail; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 14:10:47 GMT Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp (Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0t6I7n-000B27C; Fri, 20 Oct 95 07:08 PDT Received: from baal.uni-muenster.de (PPPE169.UNI-MUENSTER.DE) by pixar.com with SMTP id AA20290 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Fri, 20 Oct 1995 07:08:02 -0700 Received: from bora.uni-muenster.de ([192.0.2.2]) by baal.uni-muenster.de with smtp (ident root using rfc1413) id (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.33); Fri, 20 Oct 95 14:35 MET Received: by bora.uni-muenster.de id (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.33); Fri, 20 Oct 95 14:37 MET Message-Id: Date: Fri, 20 Oct 95 14:37 MET From: Bernd S. Brentrup To: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell), debian-bugs@Pixar.com In-Reply-To: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 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 sent: From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson) To: Bernd S. Brentrup Subject: Bug#1710: Info received (was Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box) In-Reply-To: References: Thank you for the additional information you have supplied regarding this problem report. It has been forwarded to the developers to accompany the original report. If you wish to continue to submit further information on your problem, please do the same thing again: send it to debian-bugs@pixar.com, ensuring that the Subject line starts with "Bug#1710" or "Re: Bug#1710" so that we can identify it as relating to the same problem. Please do not reply to the address at the top of this message, unless you wish to report a problem with the bug-tracking system. Ian Jackson (maintainer, debian-bugs) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent: From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson) To: tobias@et-inf.fho-emden.de In-Reply-To: <9510221425.AA02602@server.et-inf.fho-emden.de> References: <9510221425.AA02602@server.et-inf.fho-emden.de> Subject: Bug#1710: marked as done (was: popclient can't read my mail box) Your message dated Sun, 22 Oct 1995 15:25:21 +0100 (MET) with message-id <9510221425.AA02602@server.et-inf.fho-emden.de> and subject line Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box has caused the attached bug report to be marked as done. It is your now responsibility to ensure that the bug report is dealt with. (NB: If you are a system administrator and have no idea what I'm talking about this indicates a serious mail system misconfiguration somewhere. Please contact me immediately.) Ian Jackson (maintainer, debian-bugs) Received: with rfc822 via encapsulated-mail; Fri, 20 Oct 1995 09:25:44 GMT From kryten.it.com.au!andrew Fri Oct 20 02:24:18 1995 Return-Path: Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp (Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0t6DgY-000BB7C; Fri, 20 Oct 95 02:24 PDT Received: from kryten.it.com.au by pixar.com with SMTP id AA08717 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Fri, 20 Oct 1995 02:23:47 -0700 Received: by kryten.it.com.au id (Debian /\oo/\ Smail3.1.29.1 #29.33); Fri, 20 Oct 95 17:24 WST Message-Id: 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) X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL24 PGP2] Content-Type: text Content-Length: 938 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message sent: From: iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk (Ian Jackson) To: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) Subject: Bug#1710 acknowledged by developer (was: popclient can't read my mail box) References: <9510221425.AA02602@server.et-inf.fho-emden.de> In-Reply-To: This is an automatic notification regarding your bug report. Responsibility for it has been taken by one of the developers, namely "Peter Tobias" (reply to tobias@et-inf.fho-emden.de). You should be hearing from them with a substantive response shortly, if you have not already done so. If not, please contact them directly, or email debian-bugs@pixar.com or myself. Ian Jackson (maintainer, debian-bugs) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ian Jackson / iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk , with the debian-bugs tracking mechanism This page last modified 07:43:01 GMT Wed 01 Nov