[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Use ls -al
> and check for the file under the name /var/spool/mail/.username
Yes, it could be that the user's spool file locked while reading/writing new
mail data. Usually, mail stored in 'mbox' format will create lock files
(very bad, very slow). My suggestion is that you move your mail storage
format from 'mbox' to Maildir/.
Maildir/ mail storage format is the same way Eudora stores its mail on a
client machine. MS Outlook, Netscape Mail, e.t.c, mimic the 'mbox' format.
With Maildir/, each mail is stored as a single file - this means mail can be
quickly accessed, and no .lock files are created when the spool file is
accessed for read/write i/o.
If you are interested in this format, there are 3 things you'd need to do:
o First, convert all your existing 'mbox' mail to Maildir/. This
will read your 'mbox' spool file, and break each
message up into separate files. I have a script that will do this.
The script will read all users in the
/etc/passwd file, access their /var/spool/mail/username files and
convert each mail into a single file. The script
will then create a ~user/Maildir/ directory in the user's home
directory as specified by the 'homedir' variable for
the user in the '/etc/passwd' file.
o Now that the user's existing mail has taken on a Maildir/ storage
format, you will need to tell your MTA to deliver
mail to the user's home directory in Maildir/ format, and not
'mbox' format. From the last time I checked, Postfix
and Exim can do this with some extra configuration. IIRC, Sendmail
could be patched to support Maildir/ dropping.
Alternatively, you can call an MDA to do the delivery e.g.
maildrop, procmail, smtp.pl, e.t.c.
o The third thing to do now is to be able to read the mail. Unlike
'mbox' format mail, Maildir/ files aren't just
readable in such a straightforward manner. For those who love
Pine, I believe a patch is available to read Maildir/
files; otherwise, Mutt is the most preferred command line MUA for
reading/handling Maildir/ files. I am not sure
of the KDE-based MUA's as I haven't tried them, but you could do
your experiments. As usual, Google is your friend.
>
>
> On Apr 24, 2004, at 10:16 AM, Lule George William wrote:
>
>> Hello all,
>> Something strange has just happened. A user has just lost all his
>> mails, over 32MB of them!!! When I check /var/spool/mail/username, I
>> find that only 12k is left. I am sure he didn't delete them because
>> he needs all of them, what do you think happened? Is there a chance
>> of retrieving any? System: SuSE Linux 7.2, kernel 2.4.4-4GB, 40GB
>> Hard disk and 512 RAM. Neomail is the MUA.
>> **********************************************************************
>> * *
>> Lule George William (Mr)
>> Network and Systems Administrator
>> Uganda Martyrs University, Nkozi
>> P.O. Box 5498 Kampala
>> Uganda
>>
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------
>> This service is hosted on the Infocom network
>> http://www.infocom.co.ug
>>
>>
>
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> KYM-NET LTD. # Intranets & Internet Solutions#
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Regards,
Mark Tinka
Technical Manager, Africa Online Swaziland
---------------------------------------------
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