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From: markw@gvlf8.gvl.unisys.com (Mark H. Weber)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.elm
Subject: Re: HELP: Waiting to retrieve mail...
Message-ID: <1991Mar10.044531.10829@news.gvl.unisys.com>
Date: 10 Mar 91 04:45:31 GMT
References: <23939@hydra.gatech.EDU>
Sender: news@news.gvl.unisys.com (The NEWS user)
Reply-To: markw@gvlf8.gvl.unisys.com (Mark H. Weber)
Organization: Unisys Defense Systems, Great Valley Labs, Paoli, Pa
Lines: 18

In article <23939@hydra.gatech.EDU> gt5223b@prism.gatech.EDU (Doug Berkland) writes:
>Recently whenever I try to run elm, I get the following:
>
>Waiting to read mailbox while mail is being received: attempt #N
>
>Where N = 0 to 7.
>
>What does this mean?
>How do I fix this?
>

Hmmmm.... Sounds like a BSD-type Unix. Look for a file named 'user'.lock
in your mail spool directory (maybe /usr/spool/mail). This file is created
to prevent multiple simultaneous updates to the user's mailbox. A failed
process (like a crashed elm) can leave this file hanging around. You should
be able to delete it, and the problem should go away.

Mark