Bug in mailx(1)

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4 total messages Started by Tom Neff Tue, 15 Aug 1989 20:21

#59

Author: Tom Neff
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 1989 20:21

16 lines
1218 bytes

System V/386 Release 3.2, Release 2.1.  Monday, 3:23 PM. My partner is
Bill Gannon...  OOPS wrong show.  never mind :-)

Anyway, when you run mailx(1), which I'm not sure why anyone in his
right mind would to begin with, the -e option (check for mail and report
results via the exit code) leaves a very nice little lock file dangling
after it exits (e.g., /usr/mail/tneff.lock).

I found this out because I had a "mailx -e" in my profile to check for
pending mail at login time, and when I installed the useful little agent
"deliver" it had mild coronaries at the perennial presence of this .lock
file.  Deliver could be modified to actually read the lock file and
verify the process number, but there's still a bug in mailx.
-- 
"We walked on the moon --	((	Tom Neff
	you be polite"		 )) 	tneff@bfmny0.UU.NET

Re: Bug in mailx(1)

#65

Author: T. William Wells
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 1989 00:36

12 lines
924 bytes

In article <14551@bfmny0.UUCP> tneff@bfmny0.UUCP (Tom Neff) writes:
: Anyway, when you run mailx(1), which I'm not sure why anyone in his
: right mind would to begin with, the -e option (check for mail and report
: results via the exit code) leaves a very nice little lock file dangling
: after it exits (e.g., /usr/mail/tneff.lock).

It's a known bug. :-( The workaround is to just check for the mailbox
yourself: if [ -s /usr/mail/tneff ];....

---
Bill                    { uunet | novavax | ankh | sunvice } !twwells!bill
bill@twwells.com

Re: Bug in mailx(1)

#67

Author: Per Baekgaard
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 1989 06:09

10 lines
759 bytes

From article <14551@bfmny0.UUCP>, by tneff@bfmny0.UUCP (Tom Neff):
> ... when you run mailx(1) ...  with, the -e option ... [it]
> leaves ... [the] lock file dangling after it exits ...

Same bug exists in the interactive 386/ix system, release 2.0.0, with a
mailx claiming itself to be version 3.1.

-- 
Per Baekgaard @ GMI Data / Dansk Data Elektronik A/S, Herlev, Denmark.
E-mail: peb@dde.dk   or    ...!uunet!mcvax!dkuug!dde!peb

Re: Bug in mailx(1)

#76

Author: Kriss Allan Schmidt, Unix System...
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 1989 15:34

16 lines
1390 bytes

In article <150@caspian.dde.uucp>, peb@dde.uucp (Per Baekgaard) writes:
> From article <14551@bfmny0.UUCP>, by tneff@bfmny0.UUCP (Tom Neff):
> > ... when you run mailx(1) ...  with, the -e option ... [it]
> > leaves ... [the] lock file dangling after it exits ...
> 
> Same bug exists in the interactive 386/ix system, release 2.0.0, with a
> mailx claiming itself to be version 3.1.
> 
It's also present in Microports Unix System V/386 Release 3.0, Version 3.0e.
A what of our mailx revealed only that it was the "Final Release".
BTW, we're running this on a Zenith 386.
-- 
     Lake ___ Campus  :     Kriss Allan Schmidt      :  *    /|     ^
  |   |  |      |   | :  kschmidt@celina.Wright.EDU  :     /__|  ^    
  | | |  `---,  |   | :     "Learn by the Lake!"     :   _____|____^ 
   V V    ___|  |___| :..............................:,.,\,,.,,.,,/,.

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