derge@paris.crd.ge.com (Gillmer J. Derge) (01/24/91)
On our machines, each has its own /var/spool/mail, so, if I get my mail at, for example, paris, I can not read it on berlin. In order to be able to read my mail on any machine that I choose, I'm forwarding my mail to a file that's generally accessable. The problem is, that if someone sends me mail with an included message, it comes in as two pieces of mail. I've determined that the reason for this is that there is no '>' placed in front of a "From derge... " line. This only happens if I forward mail to a file. Is this something that is correctable by changing the sendmail configuration or by some other method or am I stuck with this "two for the price of one" deal :-)? Note: I'm using a Sparcstation 1, SunOS Version 4.0.3c, and I'm using /usr/ucb/Mail to read my mail. Gill Derge derge@crd.ge.com
rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) (01/25/91)
In article <16051@crdgw1.crd.ge.com> derge@crd.ge.com writes: > > On our machines, each has its own /var/spool/mail, so, if I get >my mail at, for example, paris, I can not read it on berlin. In order >to be able to read my mail on any machine that I choose, I'm forwarding >my mail to a file that's generally accessable. > The problem is, that if someone sends me mail with an included >message, it comes in as two pieces of mail. I've determined that the >reason for this is that there is no '>' placed in front of a >"From derge... " line. This only happens if I forward mail to a file. The E flag on the mailer definition should handle this, but is probably a bad idea since you will be inflicting the same treatment on all users. If your alias is a file name the flag should be on the LOCAL mailer. If a program alias, it should be the PROG mailer. There are probably some people who mail to files specifically to avoid the munging of the 'From' in included text. Believe it or not, but some people actually write research papers with sentences beginning with 'From' and they take a dim view of what /bin/mail does to them. If you want to do this only to yourself, and not inflict it on other users, try an alias such as: "|/bin/sed 's/^From />From /' >> /my/file/path". While pondering this you might also ponder the consequences of two mail messages arriving simultaneously. The standard delivery method with /bin/mail handles this by locking the mail box, but there is no locking when you alias to mail directly to files. -- =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= Neil W. Rickert, Computer Science <rickert@cs.niu.edu> Northern Illinois Univ. DeKalb, IL 60115 +1-815-753-6940