Re: [cobalt-users] Deleting 1 mail of a users mailbox.

["Rob Evans" <robe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: cobalt-users-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:cobalt-users-admin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Robbert Hamburg
> (HaVa Web- & Processdesign)
> Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 12:23 PM
> To: cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [cobalt-users] Deleting 1 mail of a users mailbox.
>
> Hi All,
>
> I have a customer who send a very large mail to someone else. The mail was
> bounced by that server and is now getting back and back to the users
mailbox
> everyday !.
>
> Is there a way to delete that mail from the mailspool BUT not deleting the
> entire contents ??
>
> TIA Robbert

Robbert,
I've had to deal with this situation several times on our Qube 2700WG.  I
use the following steps - 2 and 7 are only needed if the mail file for the
user is large and your root file system (where the /tmp directory is
situated) has little free space.

1) Log onto the server, and gain "root" access.
2) Issue the following commands to ensure a large tmp directory:
        mv /tmp /temp
        ln -s /home/tmp /tmp
3) Change to the mail directory (different servers have different
structures):
        cd /var/spool/mail   or   cd /home/spool/mail
4) Open the mail file for the user in question:
        mail -f username
    - it might take some time to read a large mail file
    - the first 20 headers will be listed
    - type ? for help on sub-commands
5) Delete the message(s) causing the problem:
        d<message list>
6) If you made a mess and want to quit without saving, type:
        x
    Otherwise, to save and exit, type:
        q
7) Restore the original tmp directory - this is necessary so that it is
accessible (on the root file system) if a reboot is required:
        rm /tmp
        mv /temp /tmp

I've also used the above process where a user is having trouble reading a
malformed mail item, though "mail" may also have trouble handling it.  Steps
2 and 7 above are not needed in the case where the mail file is not too
large.

Hope this helps - I'm sorry for not responding earlier.

Regards, Rob Evans
----------------------------------------------------------------
Phone: +61 2 9452 9129            Fax: +61 2 9975 2899
E-mail address: robe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Address: Fujitsu Australia Software Technology Pty Ltd,
              2nd Floor, Fujitsu House,
              14 Rodborough Road,
              Frenchs Forest  NSW  2086  Australia
_______ www.fastware.com _____________________