[ILUG] Exim locking question

[Dale Dunlea]

Hi All,

Here's the scenario:

- A large email is sent and can be seen in /var/mail/username
- The user connects to download their mail (on a low quality 
connection). /var/mail/username is now a zero byte file, and 
/var/spool/.username.pop contains the mail
- The connection breaks, or is broken manually.
- The presence of /var/spool/.username.pop prevents reconnects
- After a while, .username.pop times out and is removed
- A short while later, the email re-appears in /var/mail/username
- Rinse and repeat

I have advised users to close their mail client, wait for the timeout 
and then use a webmail interface to delete the offending mails if needs 
be. Occasionally however, in urgent cases, manual intervention is 
required on my part.

My question is this: If I delete /var/spool/.username.pop, where is the 
mail stored between that moment and when the email re-appears in 
/var/spool/username, and how can I kill it?

Thanks in advance,
Dale.