<<< Date Index >>>     <<< Thread Index >>>

Re: /var/mail/$username" is not a mailbox



On Wed, Oct 08, 2008 at 01:06:33PM -0500, Kyle Wheeler wrote:
> On Wednesday, October  8 at 01:37 PM, quoth Indi:
> > I have been using mutt without trouble on OS X for several weeks 
> > until today, when suddenly I got "/var/mail/$username is not a 
> > mailbox". What on earth happened?
> 
> Sounds like your mailspool got corrupted (or transformed into an mbox 
> format that mutt doesn't understand). There are several different mbox 
> formats, all of which are mutually incompatible. Mutt understands 
> three of them. If you somehow got a new program delivering mail to 
> your mailspool that is writing a new and probably incompatible mbox 
> format, that could make mutt unable to understand your mailspool file. 
> For details on some of the different formats, check here: 
> http://homepages.tesco.net./~J.deBoynePollard/FGA/mail-mbox-formats.html
> 
> Note, near the bottom, the problems of incompatibilities:
> 
>      - Delivering messages to "mboxcl2" format mailboxes with "mboxo"
>        or "mboxrd" tools will corrupt the mailbox, rendering all
>        subsequently delivered messages irretrievable.
> 
> Mutt attempts to convert from mboxo and mboxrd format into mboxcl 
> format.
> 
> Generally, this is one of the general problems with mbox mailboxes 
> (i.e. mailspools): everyone has a different idea of how to store 
> messages in that file. The *best* thing to do, as a general rule, is 
> to use mutt to move messages OUT of the mailspool and into a mailbox 
> in your home directory somewhere, that only mutt uses. That way you 
> can be assured that other programs, that might have a different idea 
> of how to store  messages, won't corrupt it. Mutt tries to make this 
> easy by allowing you to specify a $spoolfile and an $mbox to store 
> read messages in. Personally, I prefer not using a centralized 
> mailspool like that, but it's really up to you.
> 
> > I have Googled this extensively and found no useful answer, so have 
> > been forced to revert to claws-mail for an MUA -- arrgh!
> 
> Claws-mail can read the mailspool file? Hmm... I doubt it's doing it 
> correctly...
> 
> Anyway, you can attempt to fix the corrupted file by hand, using a 
> text editor. Or you could try to use Claws-mail to save the messages 
> elsewhere, which should enable mutt to read them in their new 
> location.
> 
> ~Kyle
> -- 
> Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but 
> rather division: For henceforth there shall be five in one house 
> divided, three against two, and two against three. The father shall be 
> divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother 
> against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother 
> in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against 
> her mother in law.
>                        -- Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ (Luke 12:51-53)


Thank you for the helpful advice. I still don't know for sure what happened,
but I "fixed" it like this: 
mv /var/mail/indi out of the way
cp /var/mail/root to /var/mail/indi
chown indi:mail /var/mail/indi
changed .muttrc to use MH instead and redid mailbox entries accordingly

Examining the original /var/mail/indi (in jed) reveals nothing unusual;
there must be some hidden property of which I am ignorant. But I expect it
won't happen again using MH and ~/mail for my spool. :)