Subject: cannot get mbx format INBOX to work

From: Paul Raines <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 09:01:46 -0500 (EST)

I have used mbxcvt to convert my INBOX (i.e. /var/mail/user) to mbx format
(and have procmail use dmail deliver using dmail).  However, pine directly
or through the uw-imap daemon always claims it is in an invalid format.  
If I move the exact same file into my folder directory and open with pine,
it reads it fine.  So it is a valid mbx file.  It is just pine and uw-imap
refuse to read the INBOX in mbx format.  I am using RedHat 7.1 with 
pine 4.44 and imap-2001a.

I have tried changing inbox-path to '#driver.mbx/INBOX' but then pine
(or uw-imap if I prefix with the {} stuff) just complains that
"#driver.mbx/INBOX" is "no such folder"

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Raines                   email: [email-masked]
MGH/MIT/HMS Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
149 (2301) 13th Street        tel:(617)-724-2369
Charlestown, MA 02129	USA   fax:(617)-726-7422

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From: Mark Crispin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 07:33:03 -0800 (Pacific Standard Time)

> I have used mbxcvt to convert my INBOX (i.e. /var/mail/user) to mbx format

A /var/mail/user file can not be in mbx format.  It can only be in the
traditional UNIX mailbox format.  If you put an mbx format file as a
/var/mail/user file, it will not be recognized as valid since it is not in
traditional UNIX mailbox format.

An mbx-format INBOX is always file "INBOX" in your home directory.

-- Mark --

http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.

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From: Paul Raines <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 11:42:38 -0500 (EST)

> An mbx-format INBOX is always file "INBOX" in your home directory.

Thanks for the quick response.

I am reading drivers.txt again and think I have a better understanding.

Out of curiosity, what then is the point in the tmail program then which
delivers incoming mail to the spool file in mbx format?

So, I moved the /var/mail/user file in mbx format to ~/INBOX and
it all seems to work now. 

One problem is our home directories are on NFS and there is a warning
about mbx format files over NFS.  Is there anyway to remap on a per
user basis where this INBOX file is so it is on a local disk space
on the mail server owned by the user?  I guess I could just remap
the user's home directory in /etc/passwd on per user basis on the
mail server.

It seems that maybe the whole purpose of the "black box mode" maybe
to handle this.  Though it appears to be an all or nothing settings,
not per user.  Also, drivers.txt seems to imply that in black box mode
imapd will no longer "snarf" email from /var/mail/user into the INBOX
file of the user's black box area.  Is this true?  Maybe this is then
where tmail would have to come in to deliver directly to the INBOX
file in each users black box area.

For now, to give users a choice, I am going to try the home dir override
in /etc/passwd method.

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From: Mark Crispin <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Nov 2002 18:12:18 -0500 (Eastern Standard Time)

> delivers incoming mail to the spool file in mbx format?

tmail delivers incoming mail to the ~/INBOX file in mbx format if it
exists.  It can also deliver incoming mail to the spool file in
traditional UNIX format.

But it doesn't deliver incoming mail to the spool file in mbx format...at
least not if properly configured, built, and installed.

> about mbx format files over NFS.

Yes, you can't use NFS-mounted directories for mbx format.  Locking won't
work.  It's just not safe.

If you assign the users a different, locally mounted, directory for their
mail files, you can modify routine mymailboxdir() in env_unix.c to set
that directory for the "home directory" instead of the UNIX home
directory.

> to handle this.

I recommend not using black box mode.  It's an internal UW only mode for a
particular server that is for about a dozen users only.  It's not
supported for outside sites.

-- Mark --