Date: Tue, 29 Oct 1996 18:37:04 -0500 (EST) From: "Marc G. Fournier" <scrappy@ki.net> To: Terry Lambert <terry@lambert.org> Cc: Mark Crispin <MRC@CAC.Washington.EDU>, current@FreeBSD.org Subject: Re: /var/mail (was: re: Help, permission problems...) Message-ID: <Pine.NEB.3.95.961029182821.10981C-100000@quagmire.ki.net> In-Reply-To: <199610292311.QAA22180@phaeton.artisoft.com>
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On Tue, 29 Oct 1996, Terry Lambert wrote: > > You still don't understand. > > > > Your "mail.local" is not the only mail delivery program, nor is it typical of > > mail delivery programs on UNIX. Most mail delivery programs use .lock files. > > Actually, I would think that if it didn't go through mail.local, then > it isn't in a local user's mailbox: it's still in the delivery queue for > sendmail/smail/mmdf/IMAP/etc. > > I think the only legal access to the local user's mailbox is via > mail.local (incoming) and POP3/IMAP4/ELM/other-mail-reader (content > browsing and manipulation). > Wow...this was meant to be a nice, quick discussion...:( This whole discussion has degenerated (it seems) into a FreeBSD vs "the rest of the world" discussion, which is totally counter-productive. The question that *really* needs to be addressed is whether what Mark is stating is correct (right now, I assume he is) in that other Uinx variants' mail.local programs use .lock files to deal with locking. If the general consensus is that this is the case, then IMAP4's requirement for /var/mail to be 1777 is justified. If it is justified, then we should take whatever measures are required to get rid of the risk associated with having /var/mail 1777, which, as of yet, I haven't heard exactly what the risk involved is. So, can anyone comment on the use/requirement of .lock files for locking on any of the other OS's? Now, Terry mentions mail readers such as ELM, which, from the last time I configured/installed it a couple of years ago, actually gives you a choice of 3 locking methods, none of which are forced upon you...'.lock' being one of the three, and I think fcntl/flock were the other two... Marc G. Fournier scrappy@ki.net Systems Administrator @ ki.net scrappy@freebsd.org
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