Re: /var/spool/mail/user missing
So then Mark Wagnon (mwagnon1@home.com) said . . .
> Anyway, my problem is:
>
> I was trying to set up another box, and when all was done, I
> couldn't send/receive mail. Well, I could send it, but I couldn't
> receive it.
First, are you sure you can send mail? What tests have you run? Is this a
first-time configuration, or have you gotten mail to work before?
Second, how do you retrieve mail? Does the mail even make it to
/var/spool/mail/$USER?
Third, can you read mail with other MUA's, such as elm or mailx? In other
words, have you decided whether it's a problem with the MUA or the MTA? (Mail
User Agent, Mail Transport Agent)
Third, are you using any sort of MDA, such as procmail that could complicate the
equation at all? (Mail Delivery Agent)
> mutt complained that there was no
> /var/spool/mail/username. I don't remember doing anything different
> this installation. I set up exim like always. What's supposed to go
> into /var/spool/mail--files, folders? Or better yet, what program sets
> that up?
/var/spool/mail contains files composed of "mail text" probably in mbox format.
Anyone else elaborate on this?
If you upgraded, /var/spool/mail/$USER should have existed before, right? Don't
you have a /var/spool/mail/$USER file for your account? What do you get from $
file /var/spool/mail/$USER ?
A verbatim post of all relevant errors would be most helpful.
/var/log/exim/mainlog would help, as would anything in /var/log/mail.err that
could help. (Don't post the whole darned thing, just the parts that seem
relevant: one or two lines should be enough.)
> With this machine. I've done a CD install of slink, which I then
> upgraded to potato.
>
> Any ideas?
Let's isolate the relevant symptoms before we start worrying about version
problems. But while we're on the topic, did you run /usr/sbin/eximconfig after
the upgrade? I believe that usually gets run during the upgrade process. Could
there be a problem there or a question you didn't know the answer to?
--
David S. Jackson http://www.dsj.net
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