Subject: INBOX(READONLY), How can I fix it?! (fwd)

From: Ahmad Anvari <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 00:42:21 +0330 (IRT)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 00:32:14 +0330 (IRT)
From: Ahmad Anvari <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Subject: INBOX(READONLY), How can I fix it?!

Hi guys,
I have this problem with my pine, whenever I want
to delete a message, it says that your mailbox is
readonly and does not let me delete the message.
I guess I opened my pine last night and I was 
disconnected from the Inetnet accidently. So the
session is still open. However, I checked the
processes of that machine, (ps) there wasn't such
a process!
Somebody, please help! My MailBox is gonna be FULL
and I will be lost among e-mails!
Looking forward for a helping hero,
Ahmad Anvari <http://members.fortunecity.com/anvari>

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From: Gopi Sundaram <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 19:05:12 -0500 (EST)

On Fri, 17 Nov 2000, Ahmad Anvari wrote:

> I guess I opened my pine last night and I was disconnected from
> the Inetnet accidently. So the session is still open. However, I
> checked the processes of that machine, (ps) there wasn't such a
> process!

This happened to me recently, only my machine crashed instead of
getting disconnected.

To fix it, I logged into my IMAP server. Look for a process on that
machine called imapd that is running under your username and kill
that.

Everything should be peachy.

-- 
Gopi Sundaram
[email-masked]
http://www.cse.sc.edu/~gopalan/Pine/

---

From: Ahmad Anvari <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 03:59:52 +0330 (IRT)

Hi Gopi,
I tried (ps fax| grep imap) there was no such process to be
killed. Everytime I do one of the things you guys say, I
reopen the mailbox, and when I see [readonly] thing on that, 
nothing, but *sigh*
Somebody, Anybody!! HELP!
Ahmad

---

From: Gopi Sundaram <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 19:51:35 -0500 (EST)

On Fri, 17 Nov 2000, Ahmad Anvari wrote:

> killed.

Are you sure it was on the IMAP server that you did this? The process
is the imapd that is running on the IMAP server.

If you tried it on your local machine, it won't work unless you for
some reason sit at your IMAP server, and yet make an IMAP connection
to read your email.

Gopi.

P.S. Please don't Cc: me copies of your posts.

---

From: "Mike A. Harris" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 20:21:47 -0500 (EST)

On Fri, 17 Nov 2000, Ahmad Anvari wrote:

>Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 03:59:52 +0330 (IRT)
>To: Pine Discussion Forum <[email-masked]>
>Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
>Subject: Re: INBOX(READONLY), How can I fix it?! (fwd)
>
>
>
>Hi Gopi,

Perhaps there is a lockfile on your mailbox that is stale.  Look
in /var/spool/mail.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
      Mike A. Harris  -  Linux advocate  -  Open source advocate
          This message is copyright 2000, all rights reserved.
  Views expressed are my own, not necessarily shared by my employer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Want to run Microsoft Windows software in Linux?  You can!  VMware allows 
you to install and run other operating systems inside a window in X windows.
You can install Windows 95/98/NT/2000, FreeBSD, Solaris, and many more.
3D Games do not work yet, but virtually all office and productivity software
runs excellent.           http://www.vmware.com

---

From: "Nick Birkett (x8289)" <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 21:09:01 -0500 (EST)

> reopen the mailbox, and when I see [readonly] thing on that, 

I don't know if you have (or can get) super-user privledges but you may
need them.  According to my UNIX system (Solaris), the 'a' option to 'ps'
only lists 'common' processes.  I need to use 'ps -ef' to list all
processes (as was suggested by an earlier posting).  This command will
work from any user (at least on my system).  However, fixing the problem
may need super-user status.

The other option would be a re-boot (again, if you have control over the
machine).

========================================================================
Nicholas Birkett, M.D., M.Sc.
Epidemiology and Community Medicine
University of Ottawa                        [email-masked]
451 Smyth Rd.,                              (613)-562-5800 x 8289 (voice)
Ottawa, Ontario,                            (613)-562-5465          (fax)
Canada.   K1H 8M5
=========================================================================

---

From: Gopi Sundaram <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 21:41:52 -0500 (EST)

On Thu, 16 Nov 2000, Nick Birkett (x8289) wrote:

> I don't know if you have (or can get) super-user privledges but
> you may need them.

Not. The imapd runs as the user as a security feature. The user should
be able to kill it.

Gopi.

---

From: Ahmad Anvari <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 13:17:53 +0330 (IRT)

Gopi,
I did it on the server where my account is defined on. Where
can I find the IMAP server's IP? I looked through pine configuration
and setup preferences but didn't find anything. Also I took
a look at your pine page. I will be so glad if you help, becuase
it's driving me crazy!
Ahmad

---

From: Ahmad Anvari <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 13:19:57 +0330 (IRT)

Gopi,
I looked in /var/spool/mail (ls -a). Only users' email files
were there. No lock files, where should I look for them?
Ahmad

---

From: Mohit Agarwal <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 15:34:10 +0530 (IST)

Just look whether you have a file named "mbox" in your home directory.  If so,
then try deleting it, and then reopen pine.

Good luck :)

---

From: Ahmad Anvari <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 13:40:33 +0330 (IRT)

Nick,
I also tried ps -ef (I'm working on RedHat Linux), no active processes
found! I guess a LOCK file is the most probable thing. We have to look
for that. I also asked one of my friends who has an account defined on
this system and he has the same problem. About the su status, I will
provide it if it's needed! ;-) About rebooting machine, I prefer not
to do that, but it will be done if there's no other way.
Ahmad

---

From: Ahmad Anvari <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 13:44:32 +0330 (IRT)

Hi Mohit,
Unfortunately there is no file named mbox in my home directory!! Here
has so many experts, but nobody can solve it!! It's getting strange huh?
I guess someday I should remove all my private files from my account and
give a global access to the list. So many people working on that may solve
the problem (or may cause the problem worse, becuase of 500 open pine
sessions at once!). [IMHO, this is the worst thing, ReadOnly Folders! :)]
Ahmad