writing to /var/spool/MailScanner/incoming

[Julian Field]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1



Richard Frovarp wrote:
> Mark Nienberg wrote:
>> I have /var/spool/MailScanner/incoming mounted as tmpfs.
>>
>> I have a mail related script (duplicate msg remover) that could 
>> benefit from writing to tmpfs instead of physical disk.  Is it OK for 
>> my script to use some space in MailScanner/incoming or does 
>> MailScanner only expect to see it's own stuff in there?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Mark
>>
>
> Isn't this really dangerous? If you lose power or reboot the machine 
> without an empty incoming queue, you will lose messages. To reboot you 
> would have to stop the incoming mail process, let MailScanner clean 
> out the queue, then reboot. Or am I missing something that would 
> prevent you from losing messages?
It is perfectly safe. The name "incoming" is probably not the best thing 
I could have called it, with hindsight. It is actually the working 
directory used by MailScanner while it is in the middle of processing 
the messages. There is always either (a) a copy in mqueue.in or (b) a 
copy in mqueue.in and mqueue or (c) a copy in mqueue. There is no time 
at which there is no copy on disk. There is *always* a copy on a 
disk-based filesystem, so it is perfectly safe.

Jules

- -- 
Julian Field MEng CITP
www.MailScanner.info
Buy the MailScanner book at www.MailScanner.info/store

MailScanner customisation, or any advanced system administration help?
Contact me at Jules at Jules.FM

PGP footprint: EE81 D763 3DB0 0BFD E1DC 7222 11F6 5947 1415 B654
For all your IT requirements visit www.transtec.co.uk



-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: PGP Desktop 9.6.1 (Build 1012)
Charset: ISO-8859-1

wj8DBQFGQKqcEfZZRxQVtlQRAlOPAJoD45xf592WtAT/vgtZO1JsTlSdTgCgr5eh
RJVrQFW4ZjdsiRAK1OJ2JDA=
=qbRN
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.
For all your IT requirements visit www.transtec.co.uk