you have mail, no i do not

namit · 12-08-2005, 04:35 AM

I login using ssh but the computer says at the top of screen after i enter my password

You have mail.

what is with that i go into mail and mutt and there are not emails there.

1st where is this setting or banner set?
2 what command can i run to check if i have messages without haveing to go into mutt or mail?

reddazz · 12-08-2005, 05:04 AM

Run "mail" from the command line. You probably have system mail and have not setup you mail client to collect local mail. If you can't find the "mail" command, install the nail package.

namit · 12-08-2005, 05:07 AM

what what about mutt does that not do exactly same thing?

Pierre Lambion · 12-08-2005, 05:09 AM

You could have a look in /var/spool/mail. There might be a mailbox file with your username. Check it and delete it.
biff is the obvious candidate for mail checking. There are alternatives of course. Search for biff on freshmeat and yu will have several hits (clones and such)

P.

namit · 12-08-2005, 05:10 AM

is biff used for ssh?

reddazz · 12-08-2005, 05:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by namit

what what about mutt does that not do exactly same thing?

Mutt will not check for mail in accounts you have not setup. You can set it up to read local mail from /var/spool/mail/username. I just think its easier to use the built in tools Linux/Unix has.

T.Hsu · 12-08-2005, 05:37 AM

Also check these environment variables: $MAIL, $MAILCHECK, $MAILPATH, they control bash mail notification behavior.

namit · 12-08-2005, 05:47 AM

where woudl they be in debian

Nylex · 12-08-2005, 06:02 AM

You can just display the environment variables using echo, e.g.

echo $MAIL

reddazz · 12-08-2005, 06:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by namit

where woudl they be in debian

Have you tried reading the mail using "mail" like I suggested above? Thats the solution to your problem but you seem to be ignoring it. The other solution is to configure your mail client to read local mail stored in /var/spool/mail/username. How you configure this depends on your mail client.

FogSwimmer · 12-08-2005, 06:19 AM

From the command line you can also try

$ mutt -f /var/spool/mail/username

using the location of you mailspool file.

namit · 12-08-2005, 07:30 AM

what is the difference between

/var/spool/mail/username
/var/mail/username

i have been told that when i login the server will tell me that i have mail no matter what.

i will only have new mail when it says you have new mail

Is this right?

trickykid · 12-08-2005, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by namit

what is the difference between

/var/spool/mail/username
/var/mail/username

i have been told that when i login the server will tell me that i have mail no matter what.

i will only have new mail when it says you have new mail

Is this right?

If you don't want this notification, simply disable biff. In some cases, it's called upon in /etc/profile or in your own .bash_profile or .bashrc files in your home directory.

FogSwimmer · 12-08-2005, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by namit

what is the difference between

/var/spool/mail/username
/var/mail/username

In many cases, /var/mail is a symbolic link to /var/spool/mail - so they are the same.
$ file /var/mail
(no trailing / !)

should tell you whether you're dealing with a link on your system or it is the actual location of the mail spool.

f

namit · 12-11-2005, 10:28 AM

i do not mind it coming up but did not understand why it said you have mail and it was right it just should say you have no new mail