Very Computer

I know this might appear to be a real newbee question, but it
is coming from one. ;)

Why do I have a /var/spool/mail and a /usr/spool/mail?

The /var/spool/mail doesn't seem to do anything, does it:

I ran a test.
    I chown'd a partickular user's /var/spool/mail file to
    root and chown'd the same user's /usr/spool/mail file
    to root.

   The result was that the user couldn't check mail--that makes sense!.

   I then chown'd that user's /usr/spool/mail  to make that user the
   owner and that user could then check mail.

   If /var/spool/mail was still owned by root ad the user was able to
   check mail, what is the function of /var/spool/mail?

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Quote:> Why do I have a /var/spool/mail and a /usr/spool/mail?
> [...]

On the other hand nowadays a lot people prefer to mount /usr as read-only
for sake of system security and stability.
Unfortunately it's a bit difficult to spool your mail on a read only
system, therefore /usr/spool/mail is a link to /var/spool/mail.

The same idea lies behind several other links, e.g.
/usr/X11/..../XF86CONFIG which is a link to /etc (or /var) as well.

jue

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The opinions expressed in this message are my own personal views
and do not reflect the official views of Microsoft Corporation

[...]

Quote:>Why do I have a /var/spool/mail and a /usr/spool/mail?

You shouldn't have two separate directories. Usually, /usr/spool/mail
is just a link to /var/spool/mail, because some programs trust on the
existance of /usr/spool/mail.

Michael
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