ALL my email vanished

[Hendrik Boom <hendrik@pooq.com>]

I don't mean I sent a message and it disappeared.
I mean all my email in /var/spool/mail/hendrik
vanished.

On Thu, Dec 01, 2005 at 10:55:10AM -0500, Hendrik Boom wrote:
> Last nighe all my email in /var/spool/mail/hendrik vanished
> without a trace.  Some new mail has appeared since the vanishing.
> Everyone else's email in intact.
> 
> I read my mail with mutt.
> 
> I use the exim that comes with sarge, undoctored except for a minimal
> configuration done at installation time, waying I receive and send
> messages by SMTP and will forward messages for one or two other sites.
> 
> Does any one have an idea
>   how this could have occurred?
>   how I can track down the problem?
> or. most importantly,
>   how I can prevent it in the future?
> 
> -- hendrik
> 
> I don't know if this is relevant (but if not it is likely another problem)  but after the disappearance I did receive
> a message of over 50000 lines from root, apparently on behalf of
> scrollkeeper, with messages like
> 
> /etc/cron.monthly/scrollkeeper:
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> /usr/share/gnome/help/gdm/zh_CN/legal.xml:9: parser error : Entity 'ldquo' not defined
>                    <para>
> 
> binary gibberish on the line after <para>.
> 
> Here's another from further down.
> 
> 
> /usr/share/gnome/help/drivemount/de/drivemount.xml:47: parser error : Failure to process entity legal
>    &legal;
>   
> 
> 
> And another
> 
> /usr/share/gnome/help/command-line/de/command-line.xml:307: parser error : Entity 'auml' not defined
>              <term> Vom Benutzer abfragbare Befehls-Vervollst&auml;ndigungsfunkt
>  
> 
> It ends with
> 
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd
> I/O error : Attempt to load network entity http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd