Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Thu, 13 Jul 2000 15:02:34 +0100
From:      Ben Smithurst <ben@FreeBSD.org>
To:        Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com>
Cc:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: /var/mail  Read only with mutt
Message-ID:  <20000713150234.G48641@strontium.scientia.demon.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <87sntfapy5.fsf@satellite.local.lan>
References:  <87sntfapy5.fsf@satellite.local.lan>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help

--uAgJxtfIS94j9H4T
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Harry Putnam wrote:

> A new comer to FreeBSD, I think I may have something set wrong on my
> mail spool directory.  Accessing mail from /var/mail/$USER with mutt
> (version mutt-1.2).  I'm getting a message from mutt that the mailbox
> is readonly if I use the `d' (delete) key.  However looking at the
> permissions with ls -l tells a different story:
>=20
> ls -l /var/mail
> total 183
> total 183
> -rw-------  1 reader  reader  112437 Jul 12 16:22 reader
> -rw-------  1 root    wheel    61616 Jul 12 03:10 root
>=20
> Does that look like the normal permissions for mailspool files?
>=20
> What other reason may cause that error from mutt?

Mutt might need write access to /var/mail to create lock files.  I think
it depends how you compile Mutt -- I'm not sure of the details, but I
think there's a setgid mail helper program called mutt_dotlock which
can handle the locking.  I prefer to make /var/mail mode 1777 (i.e.
world writable with the sticky bit, like /tmp).  Just do a 'chmod 1777
/var/mail'.  If you intend to upgrade using make world, you should put
this command in /etc/rc.local or somewhere since the upgrade will reset
/var/mail to its default mode (775).

--=20
Ben Smithurst                 / ben@FreeBSD.org / PGP: 0x99392F7D
FreeBSD Documentation Project /

--uAgJxtfIS94j9H4T
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature
Content-Disposition: inline

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGPfreeware 5.0i for non-commercial use
MessageID: fLZSkh/6umrmVtlSwwvZMznVP0XxCEvU

iQCVAwUBOW3L+SsPVtiZOS99AQEIDgP8C8voYxzPCdG+Q90Y1lmo3nVas60qgida
OPU6vdDiF63oqyzzst6BIVDbNq49o+tZU5EH/BQlPq4sgrzHKJ3S8Fnb9t/n1FP2
AUEkdM5t8ng/AxrTdRVn4D1lTcUHcS3UpYzquavgibT3LIcZJwJmiOhCol7R/nsJ
M0X6lkC8+bU=
=b3qa
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--uAgJxtfIS94j9H4T--


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20000713150234.G48641>