From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Florian von Savigny Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: modifying movemail Date: 19 Jun 2004 12:27:30 +0200 Organization: 1&1 Internet AG Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1088536874 21519 80.91.224.253 (29 Jun 2004 19:21:14 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 29 Jun 2004 19:21:14 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Jun 29 21:21:01 2004 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1BfOA8-0005vz-00 for ; Tue, 29 Jun 2004 21:21:00 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.33) id 1BfOBo-0003OD-L1 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 29 Jun 2004 15:22:44 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsmi-us.news.garr.it!newsmi-eu.news.garr.it!NewsITBone-GARR!feed.news.tiscali.de!newsfeed01.sul.t-online.de!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!inka.de!rz.uni-karlsruhe.de!feed.news.schlund.de!schlund.de!news.online.de!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 48 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: p50904089.dip0.t-ipconnect.de Original-X-Trace: online.de 1087640851 31416 80.144.64.137 (19 Jun 2004 10:27:31 GMT) Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@einsundeins.com Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2004 10:27:31 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: Gnus/5.09 (Gnus v5.9.0) Emacs/21.2 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:123837 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.4 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:19195 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:19195 Rmail mode uses a small C program, movemail (movemail.exe on Win32), to move mail from a spool file in Unix mbox format to an rmail file. The problem I've got with it is actually a feature: it uses some kind of file locking mechanism to prevent the spool file being accessed by the mail fetching program at the same time. As strace has told me, this seems to use some kind of link, but I don't even know if symbolic or hard. In any case, this seems to be the reason why the spool file cannot be on a FAT32 partition: movemail will get into an endless cycle, trying over and over again to create some link, which the kernel refuses with never-ending patience. The reason why this is a problem is that I use both Emacs versions on a dual-boot system (GNU/Linux and Win32), making it desirable to have the spool files accessible under both OSes, and this is only possible on a FAT32 partition. >>From what I said above, it seems evident that movemail.exe cannot possibly use the same kind of file locking system as movemail (it might be Win32 never permits two processes to modify the same file at the same time, making any further measures superfluous, but who knows). Since both appear to be compiled from the same source, I have had a look at them, hoping to "disable" the file locking mechanism in some way. This seems, however, no trivial task, as so much in the emacs sources understandably has multiple dependencies, and I haven't been able to sort out the crucial difference between compiling movemail.c for Win32 and for Linux. Could anybody provide guidance for me here? Or is the very idea flawed in some way? I am well aware disabling the file locking mechanism means in fact creating an unsafe program (or crippling it, as some would probably put it), but this would pose no danger to my system as it is set up. But it would spare me numerous reboots. -- Florian v. Savigny If you are going to reply in private, please be patient, as I only check for mail something like once a week. - Si vous allez répondre personellement, patientez s.v.p., car je ne lis les courriels qu'environ une fois par semaine.