Debian bug report logs - #1710 popclient can't read my mail box Package: netstd ; Reported by: andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell); Done: "Peter Tobias" . ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message received at debian-bugs-done: From server.et-inf.fho-emden.de!tobias Sun Oct 22 07:37:27 1995 Return-Path: Received: from pixar.com by mongo.pixar.com with smtp (Smail3.1.28.1 #15) id m0t71Wg-00061xC; Sun, 22 Oct 95 07:37 PDT Received: from server.et-inf.fho-emden.de by pixar.com with SMTP id AA20309 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for debian-bugs-done-pipe@mongo.pixar.com); Sun, 22 Oct 1995 07:36:47 -0700 Received: by server.et-inf.fho-emden.de (5.65/DEC-Ultrix/4.3) id AA02602; Sun, 22 Oct 1995 15:25:21 +0100 Message-Id: <9510221425.AA02602@server.et-inf.fho-emden.de> 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" Cc: debian-bugs-done@pixar.com Reply-To: tobias@et-inf.fho-emden.de In-Reply-To: from "Andrew Howell" at Oct 20, 95 05:24:54 pm X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.4 PL23] Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Length: 925 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Notification sent to andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) : Bug acknowledged by developer. Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Reply sent to tobias@et-inf.fho-emden.de : You have taken responsibility. Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message received at debian-bugs: From uni-muenster.de!bsb Fri Oct 20 07:08:48 1995 Return-Path: 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 Subject: Re: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box 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.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgement sent to Bernd S. Brentrup : Extra info received and forwarded. Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Information forwarded to debian-devel@pixar.com : Bug#1710 ; Package netstd . Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message received at debian-bugs: From chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk!ian Fri Oct 20 06:35:43 1995 Return-Path: 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 Subject: Re: Bug#1710: popclient can't read my mail box 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgement sent to Ian Jackson : Extra info received and forwarded. Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Information forwarded to debian-devel@pixar.com : Bug#1710 ; Package netstd . Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message received at debian-bugs: From kryten.it.com.au!andrew Fri Oct 20 06:17:31 1995 Return-Path: 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) 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: 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgement sent to andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) : Extra info received and forwarded. Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Information forwarded to debian-devel@pixar.com : Bug#1710 ; Package netstd . Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message received at debian-bugs: From chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk!ian Fri Oct 20 05:44:37 1995 Return-Path: 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 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. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgement sent to Ian Jackson : Extra info received and forwarded. Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Information forwarded to debian-devel@pixar.com : Bug#1710 ; Package netstd . Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Message received at debian-bugs: 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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Acknowledgement sent to andrew@kryten.it.com.au (Andrew Howell) : New bug report received and forwarded. Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Report forwarded to debian-devel@pixar.com : Bug#1710 ; Package netstd . Full text available. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ian Jackson / iwj10@thor.cam.ac.uk , with the debian-bugs tracking mechanism This page last modified 07:43:01 GMT Wed 01 Nov