From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Tim X Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: VM makes primary folder buffer read-only Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 23:00:55 +1000 Organization: Posted via Supernews, http://www.supernews.com Message-ID: <874phc9uk8.fsf@lion.rapttech.com.au> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1191159650 20019 80.91.229.12 (30 Sep 2007 13:40:50 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 13:40:50 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sun Sep 30 15:40:47 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1Ibz2L-0006mp-Ug for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:40:46 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1Ibz2I-0000r4-5L for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 30 Sep 2007 09:40:42 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!goblin1!goblin.stu.neva.ru!border1.nntp.ams.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!feeder1.cambrium.nl!feed.tweaknews.nl!138.199.65.86.MISMATCH!sn-xt-ams-06!sn-xt-ams-08!sn-post-ams-02!sn-post-sjc-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.1.50 (gnu/linux) Cancel-Lock: sha1:FsmKx0R5Mz8f7abtiusEo12RJlM= Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Original-Lines: 50 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:152485 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:47994 Archived-At: Feliks Kluzniak writes: > Hello, > > I am using GNU Emacs 21.3.1 and am trying to switch from Rmail to VM. > > Seems to be working fine, except that if the buffer of the primary > folder has been modified, then command vm-save-folder fails with the > message > > Folder is read-only: # > > Neither changing the permissions of the file, nor C-x C-q seem to help. > > Anyone recognize this? Any ideas how to proceed? > > Thanks in advance, > -- Feliks > > Yep, this happens because something is trying to update your vm INBOX while your reading it. This is a bad thing (TM). Are you using procmail or some other program to sort/process your mail and then write it directly to the INBOX folder? If so, don't. Basically, you need to write to a *.spool file. then when you visit the mailbox, it reads mail from the *.spool file and puts it in the main file. If, while reading the mailbox, you hit g, it will check the spool file and read in the mail. You shouldn't need this with the INBOX file. This is handled by the movemail program and reads mail from the system mail folder (i.e. /var/mail/username) into a file called NEWMAIL. When you start vm, it looks in NEWMAIL and reads that mail into INBOX. The contents of INBOX should only be modified by VM (usually, by hitting 'g'). Note that as vm is extremely configurable, names like INBOX, NEWMAIL, *.spool etc, are all controlled by variables and could be different, depending on what has been customized etc. Check the vm website and documentation for more information - in particular, the FAQ has a section about using procmail, which should explain everything. Tim -- tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au