Unmatched . error reading mail...

[Claude.P.Cantin at NRC.CA]

I opened a call with the SGI hotline on June 22 and they have yet to find
an explanation, so I thought I'd try here:

We have three servers (240, 260, 280) configured to use the BSD mail
interface (mail is aliased to Mail).  We changed to BSD mail because it
is much more flexible that System V's, and it corrected some errors we
had with System V's mail interface...

When we try to read some mail (using /usr/sbin/Mail), we sometimes
(depending who sends it to us, in what format, etc) get an
Unmatched ". error and we can't see the message at all!!!!

But we can read it using /bin/mail fine!!!

Has this happened to anyone???

What follows is a short session demonstrating the problem...

Any suggestions????

Thanks for your help,


      Claude Cantin (CANTIN at NRCVM01.BITNET)
                    (CANTIN at VM.NRC.CA)
                    (cantin at nrccsb3.di.nrc.ca)
                    (and many more...)

#####  here is the sample session  ######

50 bsa,root> batch
ls -C
warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
job 647555625.b at Mon Jul  9 16:33:45 1990
51 bsa,root> alias
ls      ls -C
mail    Mail
52 bsa,root> mail
Mail version 5.2 6/21/85.  Type ? for help.
"/usr/mail/root": 1 message 1 new
>N  1 root at nrcbsa.bio.nr  Mon Jul  9 16:33  15/540
& p
Message  1:
>From root at nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca  Mon Jul  9 16:33:51 1990

bin         etc         lost+found  tmp         unix.old
debug       kayden      mail        tt          usr
dev         lib         stand       unix        usr2


*************************************************
Cron: The previous message is the standard output
      and standard error of one of your cron commands.

& d
& q
53 bsa,root> batch
ls
warning: commands will be executed using /bin/sh
job 647555644.b at Mon Jul  9 16:34:04 1990
54 bsa,root> mail
Mail version 5.2 6/21/85.  Type ? for help.                
"/usr/mail/root": 1 message 1 new                          
>N  1 root at nrcbsa.bio.nr  Mon Jul  9 16:34  27/459         
& p
Unmatched ".             <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< LOOK HERE <<<
& q
Saved 1 message in mbox                                    
55 bsa,root> more mbox                                     
>From root at nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca  Mon Jul  9 16:34:07 1990      
Message-Id: <9007092034.AA02295@ nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca>
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 90 16:34:07 EDT
From: Super-User <root at nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca>
Apparently-To: root at nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca
Status: RO

bin
debug
dev
etc
kayden
lib
lost+found
mail
stand
tmp
tt
unix
unix.old
usr
usr2


*************************************************
Cron: The previous message is the standard output
      and standard error of one of your cron commands.

56 bsa,root> /bin/mail
No mail.
57 bsa,root> /bin/mail -f mbox
>From root at nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca  Mon Jul  9 16:34:07 1990
Message-Id: <9007092034.AA02295@ nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca>
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 90 16:34:07 EDT
From: Super-User <root at nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca>
Apparently-To: root at nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca
Status: RO

bin
debug
dev
etc
kayden
lib
lost+found
mail
stand
tmp
tt
unix
unix.old
usr
usr2


*************************************************
Cron: The previous message is the standard output
      and standard error of one of your cron commands.

? q
58 bsa,root>