Hi Netters,
I made my original post on this problem about 2 weeks ago. I apologize
for not being able to post the summary sooner.
I guess one of the reasons that I haven't posted it is because the
fix for the problem was simple. I rebooted the server. Not just
because of this minor, annoying problem, but because of a kernel
rebuild. This means, of course, I don't have the slightest idea
as to what fixed it....
I did look at all the responses and performed the indicated suggestions,
checks and configurations....
Respondees stated:
-Biff y does not mess with the OW mailtool, but only the tty login. Mail
tool is set via Edit>Properties, or via the internal variable
(retrieveinterval). Default is 600 seconds, or 5 minutes. If this
is set very large, you may not be notified for a LONG time. And by
the way, biff all by itself displays if biff is set on or off.
-Some stated that they had seen this on their systems. They pointed to
users setting $MAIL in their .login, which stopped mail from finding
the correct mail spool directory.
-I got some very detailed information from a few users who mentioned
how the new mail notification scheme works and how biff/comstat work. I
will not include this since it would take more time than I have.
-Many uses stated to try and quit the mail tool, then open it up again.
-Another mentioned that automounts sometime cause delays, and said to
adjust the NFS mouting parameters (such as noac, or actimeo=0). We have
had some troubles with automounts.
-Some said to make sure /usr/bin/mail exists, has not been aliased or linked to
/usr/ucb/Mail and check its permissions.
-I myself have had screwy mail problems when I have too many folders in
mail directory. Others noted this as well.
So overall, I learned much, but I do not have an actual fix. I just
rebooted....
My thanks to all those who responded:
cogan@afit.af.mil (Bruce Cogan)
Gary Riseborough gary@AODC.gov.au
mjc@eee.eleceng.nottingham.ac.uk
Mick Cottingham mjc@eee.nott.ac.uk
don@mars.dgrc.doc.ca (Donald McLachlan)
David Sansom <david@camscan.co.uk>
danny@ews7.dseg.ti.com
feldt@phyast.nhn.uoknor.edu (Andy Feldt)
Perry_Hutchison.Portland@xerox.com
labsha@vader.cc.emory.edu (Shyela Aberman)
vasey@issi.com
anderson@neon.mitre.org (Mark S. Anderson)
Mark Anderson manderso@mitre.org
efb@suned1.Nswses.Navy.Mil ( Everett F Batey II )
Please note that actual responses, minus any identifying addresses
or names, are available. Just contact me via email.
Dan Zambon
dzambon@afit.af.mil
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