[SOLVED] How to disable mail notification at console login ?

Linux.tar.gz · 03-11-2012, 10:40 PM

Hi.

So each time i log in in console mode, i have the mail notification.
I searched around, but found nothing that worked.

How to disable this ?

catkin · 03-11-2012, 11:12 PM

Presuming you are using bash, have you inspected the bash initialisation files to see what is triggering it -- /etc/profile (the most likley candidate), one of ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, and ~/.profile, in that order and ~/.bashrc (often sourced by ~/.bash_profile)

bormant · 03-12-2012, 08:59 AM

/etc/profile

Code:

...
# Notify user of incoming mail.  This can be overridden in the user's
# local startup file (~/.bash.login or whatever, depending on the shell)
if [ -x /usr/bin/biff ]; then
 biff y 2> /dev/null
fi
...

For bash shell add

Code:

if [ -x /usr/bin/biff ]; then
 biff n 2> /dev/null
fi

to one or more of ~/.bash_profile, ~/.bash_login, ~/.profile or ~/.bashrc. See "man bash" to check when bash execute them. For another shell see the appropriate manual.

Woodsman · 03-12-2012, 10:30 AM

/etc/profile.d:

MAIL_CHECK_ENAB no

wadsworth · 03-12-2012, 11:06 AM

If this is the notification we see when logging in as root, you could always just read the mail.
Type: mail

Linux.tar.gz · 03-12-2012, 09:08 PM

I'm sorry, but it doesn't work :/.

catkin · 03-12-2012, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Linux.tar.gz

I'm sorry, but it doesn't work :/.

What doesn't work? How doesn't it work?

dive · 03-13-2012, 03:09 AM

Or type mutt.

Woodsman · 03-13-2012, 02:19 PM

Try this in ~/.bashrc:

unset MAILCHECK

Linux.tar.gz · 03-15-2012, 03:53 PM

Didn't work either.
Still have the "No Mail." at login.

allend · 03-15-2012, 07:06 PM

A more brutal approach would be to comment out the appropriate line in /etc/inetd.conf

Code:

# The comsat daemon notifies the user of new mail when biff is set to y:
comsat        dgram   udp     wait    root    /usr/sbin/tcpd  in.comsat

Woodsman · 03-15-2012, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Didn't work either.
Still have the "No Mail." at login.

Check the startup scripts for something that is explicitly checking mail.

phi11ip · 03-16-2012, 06:11 AM

Try

Code:

biff n

in your ~/.bashrc file

mycinka · 03-16-2012, 08:02 AM

/etc/login.defs
MAIL_CHECK_ENAB no

aocab · 03-16-2012, 10:43 AM

Using Slackware current and testing this out...

This does not work for me:
in /etc/profile

Code:

if [ -x /usr/bin/biff ]; then
 biff n 2> /dev/null
fi

Once logged in:

Code:

biff
is n

This does not work for me:
in ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile

Code:

if [ -x /usr/bin/biff ]; then
 biff n 2> /dev/null
fi

Once logged in:

Code:

biff
is n

@Woodsman: I was not sure how to check this one as
/etc/profile.d is a folder here and I was not sure
exactly where to put the code.

/etc/profile.d:

Code:

MAIL_CHECK_ENAB no

This did not work for me:
in ~/.bashrc or ~/.bash_profile

Code:

unset MAILCHECK

Once logged in:

Code:

set | grep MAILCHECK

returns nothing

This did not work for me:
in /etc/inetd.conf

Code:

# The comsat daemon notifies the user of new mail when biff is set to y:
#comsat        dgram   udp     wait    root    /usr/sbin/tcpd  in.comsat

I made the change and rebooted but I still get the "No Mail." message.

This worked for me:
/etc/login.defs

Code:

MAIL_CHECK_ENAB no

but is global.

Looking through the startup scripts, I'm not seeing where mail is getting checked.

The documentation appears to indicate that this can be done.
So how does one turn off mail notification for a particular user?

Just curious.

Cheers