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Date:      Mon, 31 Jul 2000 22:15:01 -0500 (CDT)
From:      Doug Lee <dgl@visi.com>
To:        freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Best /var/mail permissions? 
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.4.21.0007312207220.346-100000@kirk.dsl.visi.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.21.0007312222460.30161-100000@peloton.runet.edu>

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> > This locking scheme involves creating a lock file in /var/mail,
> 
> Hmmm - my locks from pine show up on /tmp.  
> 
> I don't think I did anything special - just used the port.  
> 
> Brett

I just used the port as well, but there was a change in behavior between
my last two installations.  There's an option in the Pine configuration
which determines whether it complains if it doesn't have write permission
in /var/mail.  If the option is set to let it complain, the complaint is
something like, "Mailbox vulnerable (should have 1777 permissions in
/var/mail)."  "Vulnerable," according to Pine docs, means susceptible to
corruption by collision between Pine and the mail delivery agent.  I
believe my older Pine installation (same Pine version but FreeBSD 3.4 and
made from an older ports tree) kept trying to write in /var/mail also but
didn't complain, whereas my current Pine installation complains.  Both
take longer without than with the mode 1777 suggested by Pine.

So... I expect you could see the speed increase of expunges and new mail
checks also if you set /var/mail to 1777 even if you don't see warnings
about it.

-Doug




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