Re: -ERR [SYS/TEMP] Unable to copy mail spool file, quota exceeded

On Sat, 7 Feb 2004, Wietse Venema wrote:

> > This is not true. With proper locking the mailbox can be rewritten in
> > place.
>
> Note: this requires that the POP daemon keeps a complete copy of
> all the user's mail in memory, and that it does not terminate before
> it is finished rewriting the mailbox file. If the system or POP
> daemon crashes during an update then the user loses her mail.
>

Indeed, which is why when I contributed new locking code for Berkeley
popper 1.7 (which is the basis of qpopper) it was changed to make a
complete copy of the mailbox. No other strategy is robust. This is
inherent to the mbox format.

--
Viktor.