procmail
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reading message before rcfile

1999-01-29 09:40:32
[This is a procmail _use_ question, so I'm posting to the Procmail List
 rather than following Philip's instructions to continue the original
 thread on procmail-dev.]

Stan Ryckman <stanr(_at_)sunspot(_dot_)tiac(_dot_)net> had asked, regarding 
Sean Straw's use
of a global lockfile to minimize simultaneous swapping,

R> But... *exactly* *when* does procmail read in the message;
R> the first time it "needs" it (presumably after things like the above
R> at the start of .procmailrc), or right away (in which case the
R> message has already consumed the memory it needs by the time the
R> LOCKFILE is set?

Philip Guenther responded,

G> Procmail reads in the message before opening any rcfiles.  About the
G> only case which would be helped by delaying it would be this very
G> case:  an early assignment to LOCKFILE, before any recipes.

What if the global lockfile is assigned on procmail's command line?  Does
procmail then secure the lock before reading the message into memory?