Bug#2346: MH can lose mail

[Ian Jackson <ian@chiark.chu.cam.ac.uk>]

Rob Leslie writes ("Bug#2346: MH can lose mail"):
> Package: mh
> Version: 6.8.3-2
>
> Sometimes `inc' loses mail in my maildrop. Sometimes the mail is duplicated. I
> think this is caused by an incompatibility between locking styles in MH and
> mail.local, my local delivery agent.
>
> MH is configured to use fcntl-style locking, while mail.local uses flock.
> The man page for flock(2) says it is translated to fcntl() but my brief look
> at the kernel sources suggests this may be broken and/or no longer true.

Debian systems do mailbox locking with <username>.lock files in the
mail spool area.  This is described in one of the guidelines addenda.

If mh and/or mail.local are configured to use fcntl and/or flock they
must be fixed, urgently !

Ian.