Re: tlug: two problems

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Jonathan" == Jonathan Byrne <- 3Web <jq@example.com>> writes:

    Jonathan> I'm having a couple of odd problems on my TurboLinux
    Jonathan> 1.4J machine at work.  The first one is I start up Pine
    Jonathan> (J) and it says it can't open the mailbox lock because
    Jonathan> it's read only.  I've looked at /var/spool/mail/jonathan

The problem is not the mail _file_, it's the _lock_.  If you're using
the usual locking convention, Pine does the equivalent of `touch
/var/spool/mail/jonathan.lock' and a mail program will not open th
email file if that lock file exists.  Some programs want to put that
lock file in /var/spool/mail; others in /var/locks/somewhere.  It's
probably the directory that is not writable by the `mail' group, or
Pine is not in the `mail' group or is not sgid (if the latter, _don't_
make Pine sgid until you've RTFM'd).

You could also have a stale *.lock file that was created when you
su'd, read the mail as root (picking up your non-root user's mail
because su didn't change the $MAIL variable; I don't know if this is
true for su under TL), and somehow left the lock file behind.  If it
was created with root, your regular user would be hosed.  This is
quite low probability though.

>>>>> "<<RONNIE>>" == <<RONNIE>>  <ronalfhe@example.com> writes:

    <<RONNIE>>> will start as the first time .... or just try with
    <<RONNIE>>> this

    <<RONNIE>>> YourHost:~$chmod 700 /var/spool/mail/jonathan

No, the group is probably mail, and mode should be 770 in that case.
If the group is `users' or something like that, it needs fixed, but
RedHat-derived distributions use the group-per-user scheme.

---------------------------------------------------------------
Next Nomikai: 15 May Fri, 19:30 Tengu TokyoEkiMae 03-3275-3691
Next TLUG Meeting: 13 June Sat, Tokyo Station Yaesu gate 12:30
Featuring Stone and Turnbull on .rpm and .deb packages
---------------------------------------------------------------
a word from the sponsor:
TWICS - Japan's First Public-Access Internet System
www.twics.com  info@example.com  Tel:03-3351-5977  Fax:03-3353-6096