procmail
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: Getting strange mail

1996-06-07 15:32:52
Michael Below wondered,

| Since at least two days, I'm getting strange e-mail messages every ten
| minutes. They contain nothing else but a line like:
| 
| >From foo(_at_)bar  Tue Jun  4 18:54:39 1996
| 
| Sometimes, the following line is added:
| 
| Status: RO

As Michael wrote later, it occurs when the loop wakes up in this script:

 # QSUB
 while true ; do formail -s procmail < /usr/mail/mbelow && > /usr/mail/mbelow; 
sleep 1200; done

Since that From_ line is what you get when formail is given null input, I'd
have to say that it occurs when /usr/mail/mbelow is empty.  If you are taking
a second look at such a message with most mailers, the MUA will add the usual
Status: header to note that the message has been previously listed on an
index screen (O) and its text displayed (R).

Suggestion -- don't run formail if your mailbox is empty:

  BOX=/usr/mail/mbelow; while true; do test -s $BOX && formail -s procmail < 
$BOX && > $BOX; sleep 1200; done

I'd suggest doing some locking on /usr/mail/mbelow, though, so that you don't
run into a race condition and lose mail.

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>