Voting & procmail errors

Has anybody voted as I don't appear to have any mails coming
to the
email address brum-votemissbarbell.co.uk, even test emails from
work?
I'm suspecting that my procmail setup isn't helping as I'm
getting some
errors in the log file that seem to occur at the same time
as mail gets
dropped.

It appears that whole sections of my mail are getting pulled
off the
POP3 server and dropped because of a 'ls: msg.lS0G: No such
file or
directory' error that is listed in the procmaillog file. It
would appear
procmail checks for that file and dies, thus losing all my
mail. It's a
different file each time and the file exists with the same
permissions
as all the other files in the backup directory.

I'm using procmail v3.22 (the latest). Below is the recipe
that deals
with the backup cache, in case I've cocked that up.

# Create a backup cache of 200 most recent messages in case
of
# mistakes (yes, you can change the 200 to 20 or 400 or
whatever
# you want)
:0 c
backup

  :0 ic
  | cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.* | sed -e
1,500d`
      
# Regenerate "From" lines to make sure they are
valid
:0 fhw
| formail -I "From " -a "From "

If this is the offending recipe, does anyone have any ideas
how to fix
it?

Cheers.
Barbie.
-- 
Birmingham Perl Mongers
http://birmingham.pm.org

On Fri Nov 24 10:09:24 2006, Barbie wrote:
> Has anybody voted as I don't appear to have any mails
coming to the
> email address brum-votemissbarbell.co.uk, even
test emails from work?
> I'm suspecting that my procmail setup isn't helping as
I'm getting some
> errors in the log file that seem to occur at the same
time as mail gets
> dropped.

I haven't voted but I hate the thought of Barbie losing
email as I can't
tell if he is receiving my messages or not 
 
> # Create a backup cache of 200 most recent messages in
case of
> # mistakes (yes, you can change the 200 to 20 or 400 or
whatever
> # you want)
> :0 c
> backup
> 
>   :0 ic
>   | cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.* | sed
-e 1,500d`

You have a race condition here.  The problem is occurring
when you
receive more than one message at around the same time.  The
first
message calls the script, expands the msg.* file names, and
then starts
to remove them.  The second message calls the script and
expands the
file names before the first message manages to remove them
so when the
expanded file names are passed to ls some of them aren't
there anymore.

This is Marty's explanation as I know nothing about
procmail.  I asked
him how to fix the problem and he suggested removing the
line  
He
says that you can do the cleanup in a cron job.

> If this is the offending recipe, does anyone have any
ideas how to fix
> it?

Hope that helps.

All the best,

Karen

Um, I'm afraid laziness rules.  I know I didn't email,
sorry.


Colin.

On 11/26/06, Karen Pauley <karenmartian.org> wrote:
> On Fri Nov 24 10:09:24 2006, Barbie wrote:
> > Has anybody voted as I don't appear to have any
mails coming to the
> > email address brum-votemissbarbell.co.uk, even
test emails from work?
> > I'm suspecting that my procmail setup isn't
helping as I'm getting some
> > errors in the log file that seem to occur at the
same time as mail gets
> > dropped.
>
> I haven't voted but I hate the thought of Barbie losing
email as I can't
> tell if he is receiving my messages or not 
>
> > # Create a backup cache of 200 most recent
messages in case of
> > # mistakes (yes, you can change the 200 to 20 or
400 or whatever
> > # you want)
> > :0 c
> > backup
> >
> >   :0 ic
> >   | cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.*
| sed -e 1,500d`
>
> You have a race condition here.  The problem is
occurring when you
> receive more than one message at around the same time. 
The first
> message calls the script, expands the msg.* file names,
and then starts
> to remove them.  The second message calls the script
and expands the
> file names before the first message manages to remove
them so when the
> expanded file names are passed to ls some of them
aren't there anymore.
>
> This is Marty's explanation as I know nothing about
procmail.  I asked
> him how to fix the problem and he suggested removing
the line   He
> says that you can do the cleanup in a cron job.
>
> > If this is the offending recipe, does anyone have
any ideas how to fix
> > it?
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> All the best,
>
> Karen
>

On Sun, Nov 26, 2006 at 10:58:39AM +0000, Karen Pauley
wrote:
> 
> I haven't voted but I hate the thought of Barbie losing
email as I can't
> tell if he is receiving my messages or not 

Thankfully my spam annihilator forwards friends email to my
work account
before doing all the procmail/fetchmail stuff, so it's only
list mail
that's seems to be getting lost ... and the spam that I miss


> You have a race condition here.

Ah. I suspected this recipe might be the culprit, but
looking at FAQs on
procmail didn't really explain what it was doing and how it
might be a
problem. I'll set up a cronjob as Marty suggests. tell him
thanks 

Hopefully all will return to normal now.

> Hope that helps.

So do I.

Cheers,
Barbie.
-- 
Birmingham Perl Mongers
http://birmingham.pm.org

Hi,
I'm emailing off my phone so have to be brief. I did vote,
so it looks
like its fallen into the void.

On 11/24/06, Barbie <barbiemissbarbell.co.uk>
wrote:
> Has anybody voted as I don't appear to have any mails
coming to the
> email address brum-votemissbarbell.co.uk, even
test emails from work?
> I'm suspecting that my procmail setup isn't helping as
I'm getting some
> errors in the log file that seem to occur at the same
time as mail gets
> dropped.
>
> It appears that whole sections of my mail are getting
pulled off the
> POP3 server and dropped because of a 'ls: msg.lS0G: No
such file or
> directory' error that is listed in the procmaillog
file. It would appear
> procmail checks for that file and dies, thus losing all
my mail. It's a
> different file each time and the file exists with the
same permissions
> as all the other files in the backup directory.
>
> I'm using procmail v3.22 (the latest). Below is the
recipe that deals
> with the backup cache, in case I've cocked that up.
>
> # Create a backup cache of 200 most recent messages in
case of
> # mistakes (yes, you can change the 200 to 20 or 400 or
whatever
> # you want)
> :0 c
> backup
>
>   :0 ic
>   | cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.* | sed
-e 1,500d`
>
> # Regenerate "From" lines to make sure they
are valid
> :0 fhw
> | formail -I "From " -a "From "
>
> If this is the offending recipe, does anyone have any
ideas how to fix
> it?
>
> Cheers.
> Barbie.
> --
> Birmingham Perl Mongers
> http://birmingham.pm.org
>
>
>

Yes i voted too. Chris has revoted for both of us to your
new address now.

Mel

On 24/11/06, Barbie <barbiemissbarbell.co.uk>
wrote:
>
> Has anybody voted as I don't appear to have any mails
coming to the
> email address brum-votemissbarbell.co.uk, even
test emails from work?
> I'm suspecting that my procmail setup isn't helping as
I'm getting some
> errors in the log file that seem to occur at the same
time as mail gets
> dropped.
>
> It appears that whole sections of my mail are getting
pulled off the
> POP3 server and dropped because of a 'ls: msg.lS0G: No
such file or
> directory' error that is listed in the procmaillog
file. It would appear
> procmail checks for that file and dies, thus losing all
my mail. It's a
> different file each time and the file exists with the
same permissions
> as all the other files in the backup directory.
>
> I'm using procmail v3.22 (the latest). Below is the
recipe that deals
> with the backup cache, in case I've cocked that up.
>
> # Create a backup cache of 200 most recent messages in
case of
> # mistakes (yes, you can change the 200 to 20 or 400 or
whatever
> # you want)
> :0 c
> backup
>
>   :0 ic
>   | cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.* | sed
-e 1,500d`
>
> # Regenerate "From" lines to make sure they
are valid
> :0 fhw
> | formail -I "From " -a "From "
>
> If this is the offending recipe, does anyone have any
ideas how to fix
> it?
>
> Cheers.
> Barbie.
> --
> Birmingham Perl Mongers
> http://birmingham.pm.org
>
>
>

Actually I just revoted for me, forgot to do yours honey :-p

On 27/11/06, Melinda Marsh <melinda.marsgooglemail.com> wrote:
>
> Yes i voted too. Chris has revoted for both of us to
your new address now.
>
> Mel
>
> On 24/11/06, Barbie <barbiemissbarbell.co.uk>
wrote:
> >
> > Has anybody voted as I don't appear to have any
mails coming to the
> > email address brum-votemissbarbell.co.uk, even
test emails from work?
> > I'm suspecting that my procmail setup isn't
helping as I'm getting some
> > errors in the log file that seem to occur at the
same time as mail gets
> > dropped.
> >
> > It appears that whole sections of my mail are
getting pulled off the
> > POP3 server and dropped because of a 'ls:
msg.lS0G: No such file or
> > directory' error that is listed in the procmaillog
file. It would appear
> > procmail checks for that file and dies, thus
losing all my mail. It's a
> > different file each time and the file exists with
the same permissions
> > as all the other files in the backup directory.
> >
> > I'm using procmail v3.22 (the latest). Below is
the recipe that deals
> > with the backup cache, in case I've cocked that
up.
> >
> > # Create a backup cache of 200 most recent
messages in case of
> > # mistakes (yes, you can change the 200 to 20 or
400 or whatever
> > # you want)
> > :0 c
> > backup
> >
> >   :0 ic
> >   | cd backup && rm -f dummy `ls -t msg.*
| sed -e 1,500d`
> >
> > # Regenerate "From" lines to make sure
they are valid
> > :0 fhw
> > | formail -I "From " -a "From
"
> >
> > If this is the offending recipe, does anyone have
any ideas how to fix
> > it?
> >
> > Cheers.
> > Barbie.
> > --
> > Birmingham Perl Mongers
> > http://birmingham.pm.org
> >
> >
> >
>