>Life is full of risks, Craig. On an active mail server, a crash might
>cause one out of a billion email messages to be lost (assuming a crash
>ten times per year, a 1/30 chance of losing a file in each crash, and
>a million messages a day). That's 99.9999999% reliability, and those
>estimates are WAY out of line with my real-world experience. My Linux
>server never *ever* crashed until it's CPU fan died -- not unless you
>count the various times my cheezy colocation site lost power.
>
>Worry about significant risks in your life, like getting hit by a car.
Sorry about taking so long to reply to this, but it takes time to wipe
that much egg off one's face. You see, I recently upgraded to
Debian's potato, which helpfully grovels through your lost+found
directories and reminds you if they're non-empty. Well lookee here,
see what I found?? Yep. Lost mail. A bunch of files that should
have been in /var/qmail/queue, and were in /lost+found. At least, I
don't remember having ever received that email, so I have to count it
as lost.
So yeah, Linux does seem to be able to lose mail. On the other hand,
there were only four pieces of email lost in about fifty reboots.
Most people have the good sense to run Linux on reliable hardware and
then it never crashes.
Apologies to anyone whose intelligence or integrity I insulted.
--
-russ nelson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://russnelson.com
Crynwr sells support for free software | PGPok | "Ask not what your country
521 Pleasant Valley Rd. | +1 315 268 1925 voice | can force other people to
Potsdam, NY 13676-3213 | +1 315 268 9201 FAX | do for you..." -Perry M.
