I am using procmail v3.11pre3 in conjuction with Pine 3.95 _and_ a
mail directory compression script utilizing 'gzip' to uncompress the
mail files prior to opening Pine, and then to recompress files on
closing Pine. I have been using the script for six months without any
problems. Recently I began using Procmail to sort certain mail into a
file that is compressed whenever I don't have a Pine session open.
[Q] 1) Am I in any danger of a serious conflict if procmail attempts
delivery to a mail file during compression or decompression? Should I
be using a global lockfile in my script to prevent procmail from doing
anything during the compression cycle? If so, how is that done? At the
moment my procmail recipe does not recompress the file after delivery,
in case I have Pine open at the time of delivery. Also I have learned
that simultaneous gzips won't lose files but can leave directories
that are messed up. My present recipe:
:0 w:
* ^Subject:.*Redfield
| gzip -dq redfield* ; cat >> redfield
[Q] 2) I would like find a way to have procmail recompress _only if_
Pine is not open. I could set a variable in the script. How do I have
procmail treat a variable value as condition? Say, something like:
* if ZIPPED=yes,
then do the action
Thanks for any advice!
David