[comp.protocols.kermit] Multiple copies of Info-Kermit Digest

fdc@WATSUN.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU (Frank da Cruz) (01/09/91)

Apologies for the multiple copies of the Info-Kermit Digest that most of you
have been receiving.  In case you are curious, here is a sketchy explanation
of why this is happening.

There is a bug in our Unix mail system that nobody has been able to fix.
When a digest is sent, a message queue is created.  The Unix mail delivery
agent, sendmail, removes you from the queue after you get your copy of the
Digest.  But the Info-Kermit mailing list is huge, so the queue never fully
disappears -- there are always some subscribers that can't be reached.
Whenever our computer is restarted, the updated mail queue is lost because
of some funny business with lock files, the original queue reappears, and
the Digest is resent to everybody.

Sorry for the inconvenience.  - Frank