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From: art%mwvms@MITRE.ARPA
Newsgroups: mod.computers.vax
Subject: re:mystery MAIL messages
Message-ID: <8603051354.AA15910@mitre.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 5-Mar-86 08:54:49 EST
Article-I.D.: mitre.8603051354.AA15910
Posted: Wed Mar  5 08:54:49 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Mar-86 03:39:46 EST
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Organization: The MITRE Corp., Washington, D.C.
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>I have had a frequent problem with users on my system receiving a MAIL
>notification when they log in, but having no newmail when they enter
>the MAIL Utility.  Evidently, the Newmail field in SYSUAF.DAT is not
>in sync with their actual mail count.  I've tried a few different things
>to straighten this out, and have not been successful.  Does anyone know
>of an easy solution without having to actually modify the SYSUAF field??
>Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Their exists several possiblities as to how the user managed to get the
counter in the SYSUAF out of sync.  PS it is possible to likewise get the
counter out of sysnc the other way so that the user will have mail but not be
notified of its existence.  The simplest way to get the counter back in sync
follows:
$ MAIL
MAIL>SELECT/NEW
no new mail
MAIL>EXIT
$..
At this point the mail pointers should be back in sync.  Other commands which
will get the mail pointers back in sync are PURGE/RECLAIM and COMPRESS.
     
The basic methods used to get the MAIL counts out of sync are:
1)system crashes while in MAIL
2)deletion of mail files outside of mail
3)multiple accounts pointing at the same directory and mail files
4)control Y aborts of mail.
     
Art McClinton
Mitre