Tuesday, March 11, 2003, 11:15:31 AM, Maurice wrote: > I cannot download my mail because I keep getting the above > message, so there's probably little point asking for help on > the list (since I will be unable to receive your answers). > I'd be grateful therefore if someone could write me at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > with a solution.
In my opinion your problem is neither your nor TB!-s fault. >From what I believe, most probably the administrator of your mail server at bluewin.ch is using a less-than-perfect mail storage method. See, your mail can be kept on the server in three ways: one - as a single file in /var/spool/mail (the oldest and least flexible system), in a single file in your home directory - Mailbox (a bit more flexible) or in separate files in subdirectories in a directory Maildir (definitely the best system, since every message is a separate file - more secure and easier to manage). In the old methods, when your mail client (for example TB!) read your mail, it had to lock the mailbox (using a small file created on the server, for example Mailbox.lock), so that no other program writes to it at the same time (for example - an SMTP server, when you got a new message). Most probably due to the fact you lost connection and due to a malfunction on the server, the lock file is still in place on the server, preventing it from both receiving new mail for you and from you reading your mail. You cannot do anything about it. Either the system is configured, so that the lock file will be automatically removed after some time, or not - therefore it's better if you just wrote to the administrator of your mail server ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) and informed him/her of the situation (of the lock on your mailbox). The admin has to issue only one small command to remove this lock so this should be no problem. You can also recommend the admin to switch to Maildir format (I just did that on my server some time ago and I know it's no big deal, you only have to convert user's mailboxes to the new format which is done almost automatically, and possibly a change of pop3 server might be necessary). -- tomasz 'tonid' nidecki, zoliborz, warszawa, poland mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://endemic.org http://mp3.com/tonid http://mp3.com/knownspace * Borg DOS 6.0 * Assimilate drive C:? (Y)es ________________________________________________ Current version is 1.62 | "Using TBUDL" information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
