Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!rochester!ritcv!cci632!ccicpg!felix!chuck From: chuck@felix.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.unix.ultrix Subject: Re: Problems with 'mail' Message-ID: <15177@felix.UUCP> Date: Wed, 2-Dec-87 20:04:16 EST Article-I.D.: felix.15177 Posted: Wed Dec 2 20:04:16 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 6-Dec-87 20:36:41 EST References: <12684@felix.UUCP> Sender: chuck@felix.UUCP Reply-To: barry@adelie.adelie.com (Barry A. Burke) Organization: Adelie Corporation, Cambridge MA Lines: 27 Approved: zemon@felix.UUCP Reply-Path: In article <12684@felix.UUCP> jeff@uhccux.UUCP (Jeffrey Blomberg) writes: >We often encounter a situation where a user on our system manages to get >the mail program into a CPU run state, and although the user drops their >modem line the process remains on the system. In cases like this, the >sys admin must kill the process. When the user gets their billing report, >they are often surprised to see the cost.... I too have observed this, ever since the initial release of Ultrix. I think I have tracked this down to the "mail" command's improper handling of EOF! That is, if you are at the mail command prompt (?), and then type a Control-D (or something else generates a EOF), then mail will loop forever, burning up CPU. [Note that dropping the modem line results in EOF on the input device]. I suspect EOF because we run Untamo, which attempts to kill idle processies by closing stdin and stdout for the process. I _beleive_ that mail handles properly a SIGHUP. Anybody else? barry -- LIVE: Barry A. Burke, (617) 499-6370 USPS: Adelie Corporation, 125 CambridgePark Drive Cambridge, MA 02140 UUCP: barry@adelie.Adelie.COM / ..!{harvard,ll-xn,necntc,mirror}!adelie!barry ARPA: barry@adelie.Adelie.COM (via MX) / barry%adelie@harvard.Harvard.EDU