Mailbox locking problems

You may experience mailbox locking problems, signified by these error messages:

• mail: Cannot read lock file '/usr/spool/mail/username'

  Or, if mail is delivered to $HOME/.mailbox, the message is

     mail: Cannot read lock file 'username/.mailbox'
  

• This error message can be found in /usr/mmdf/log/msg.log and chan.log:

     10/ 5 10:15:06 local 0913:  [SYSERR (13) Permission denied]
             	        open of /usr/spool/mail/root
     
  
     10/ 5 10:15:06 local 0913:  [SYSERR (13) Permission denied]
              		can't open mailbox '/usr/spool/mail/root'
  

The MLCKTYPE parameter is useful if the users on the system use third party mail user agents (MUAs) that use a lock file that is different from the standard System V lock file.

This mailbox locking problem occurs when MMDF fails to unlink the /usr/spool/mail/username.lock or /tmp/username.mlk file, which is created to lock the mailbox. If mail is delivered to $HOME/.mailbox, the lock file is /tmp/.mailbox.lock. A subsequent fcntl(M) (kernel file locking) process returns with a permission denied error because it cannot lock the mailbox.

To resolve the locking problem, log in as root and enter this at the root prompt:

/usr/mmdf/bin/cleanlck