[imp] imp, sendmail and swap space?

[Liam Hoekenga]

We're getting messages from people complaining that our IMP installation
is occasionally eating their mail.  It doesn't appear to the be the
sendmail error 64 / 67 problem that I'd hoped it was (and have added code
to track).

Do you guys think this could be an issue w/ swap?  If it can't spawn a
new process when it tries to invoke sendmail?

I don't know.  I'm stumped.   Has anyone else seen this kind of behavior?
We're running on 5 440mhz Sun Ultrasparc IIis w/1gb ram and 1gb of swap
each.

Liam
------- Forwarded Message

To:      webmaster@umich.edu
From:
Date:    Tue, 21 May 2002 21:39:27 -0400
Subject: Disappearing E-mail
-------  -------------

Dear Folks,

The "mail.umich" system has a dastardly quirk.

I type an e-mail.  I send it.

But:	1. the e-mail is not actually sent.
		2. the e-mail is not copied to "sent-mail."
		3. there is no notice that the e-mail has been destroyed and
			has not been sent.

Thus, one faces situations such as:

A.  A student with a serious illness asks for an extension to avoid
failing the class.  I reply - I think - and yet the student does not
receive the e-mail.  Then he thinks I will not grant the extension, does
not do the work, and fails the class.

B.  A research collaborator in another country needs some info before
a crucial meeting.  I send it - I think - but she does not get the info
because mail.umich does not send my e-mail.  The meeting takes place,
she looks bad, and we may not get the money for the grant.

No Kidding.  That's why I've gone back to using PINE, clunky as it
is.  It's reliable.

PLEASE do NOT say, "Oh, a notification that the e-mail has been
sent, that would fix it."

No, it wouldn't.

The work done in the e-mail is destroyed, gone.  So a notification
that the e-mail has been sent (or NOT sent) would be of little use.

(This is the response I have received from several people working in
the campus computing sites).

This problem seems to happen for a while, then stop happening.  For
example, 3 friends and I all noticed it during the last 10 days of the
Winter semester.......

Thanks for your attention.

Please let me know when it's fixed, okay?

peace,

CKB