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Re: unable to lock and fopen /var/spool/mail/jeff

1998-03-30 12:19:35
On Sunday 29 March 1998, at 9 h 33, the keyboard of "J. Bell" 
<jfbell(_at_)gte(_dot_)net> wrote:

The error I get is 'unable to lock and fopen
/var/spool/mail/jeff'

This is typically a permission problem.
 
Do I need to change the permissions of this file. It now
reads:

-rw-rw----     jeff     mail     4932 Mar29 09:12 jeff

By default, nmh's inc tries to use the "lock file" strategy. It attempts 
to create a ".yourloginname" in /var/spool/mail. It needs write-access to 
the directory (not to the above file) or to be setgid mail (does anyone 
know a security problem here).

Anyway, the locking strategy has to be compatible with the other programs 
(for procmail, "procmail -v" tells you what strategy procmail uses). You 
can change nmh strategy in (from memory) config.h.

One other question, I am trying to learn about using all the
different programs (fetchmail, procmail, sendmail, nmh
(exmh)). I don't quite understand something. Is procmail and
nmh the same type of programs?

Not really. procmail is purely a MDA (a delivery agent), like rcvstore 
(in nmh) while most nmh programs (show, scan, pick) implement the MUA 
(the user interface agent).

I have setup procmail (via sendmail) as my local mail
delivery agent.

Good idea.



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