# Problems viewing message in Mutt and /tmp gets full.



## bsdsys_x86 (Sep 25, 2009)

I have been having trouble with Mutt and what seems like should be an easy fix... isn't. A little run down of my setup and my previous setups because I have tried 7.1 and 7.2... basically with the same software and the same issue. I am currently running FreeBSD 7.2-RELEASE. I have Mutt 1.4.2.3i, with procmail, fetchmail, and nbsmtp. Everything works like it should for the most part. Mutt loads with correct settings in .muttrc, fetchmail fetches my mail from my POP3 account just fine, procmail filters the mail just fine and I have no problems sending. I am using a Dell Inspiron E1505 Laptop.

Here are my config files first.


```
set realname="Bryan Cassidy"
set use_from=yes
set from="myemail>


set mailcap_sanitize=yes
set ispell=yes
#set index_format="%C%D     %n%s"
set postponed="~/Mail/Postponed"
set display_filter=yes
set pager_context=1
set pager_index_lines=6
set menu_scroll
set status_on_top
set sort=threads
set signature="~/.signature"
set editor=vi
set record="$HOME/Mail/Sent"
set beep_new=yes
set use_domain=no
set user_agent=yes
set ispell=yes
set include=yes
set fast_reply=yes
set sendmail="/usr/local/bin/nbsmtp -d comcast.net -h smtp.comcast.net -f myemail"

########## PGP Settings ##########

########## Mail Box Settings ##########

mailboxes =Default
mailboxes =Postponed
mailboxes =Sent
mailboxes =Spam
mailboxes =Fluxbox-Users
mailboxes =FreeBSD-Chat
mailboxes =FreeBSD-Hardware
mailboxes =FreeBSD-Questions
mailboxes =FreeBSD-Security
mailboxes =FreeBSD-Test
mailboxes =Bryan-Cassidy
mailboxes =Mutt-Users

########## FetchMail ##########

macro index G "!fetchmail -av -m '/usr/local/bin/procmail -d %T'\r"
macro pager G "!fetchmail -av -m '/usr/local/bin/procmail -d %T'\r"

#color quoted green  default
color quoted1 magenta blue
#color quoted2 yellow default
#color quoted3 red default
#color signature cyan cyan


color normal    black   default
color hdrdefault cyan   default
color quoted    blue    default
color quoted1   green   default
color quoted2   red     default
color quoted3   magenta default
color signature red     default
color status    magenta default
color tree      magenta default
color tilde     magenta default
color message   cyan    default
color markers   magenta default
color attachment yellow default
color search    black   green
color indicator brightyellow    red
color error     brightred       default

color header    black   default ^Subject
color header    green   default ^From
color header    cyan    default ^(To|Cc):
color header    brightred default       ^(X-Diagnostic):
color body      yellow  default ^                       # normal body text
color body      magenta default "(ftp|http|https)://[^ ]+" # point out URLs
color body      cyan    default [-a-z_0-9.]+@[-a-z_0-9.]+ # e-mail addresses
color underline green   default
color index     yellow  blue    ~F

# attributes when using a mono terminal
#mono header underline ^(From|Subject):
mono quoted bold
```

My .procmailrc file


```
MAILDIR=$HOME/Mail                ##you better make sure it exists
LOGFILE=$HOME/.procmaillog
LOGABSTRACT=no
#VERBOSE=on...is only used for debugging
VERBOSE=off
FORMAIL=/usr/bin/formail
NL="
"
##recipe lines begin with :0
##dont put comments on recipe lines
##disable a recipe with the false condition !
##condition lines begin with * and regex is your friend
##conditions are anded and everything after * is fed straight into egrep
##one action line follows the conditions, in this case it is a mailbox name

#catch duplicates using formail
#:0 Whc: .msgid.lock
#| $FORMAIL -D 16384 .msgid.cache

:0 a
$MAILDIR/duplicates



#now flush some spam out
:0
* ^Subject:.*(credit|cash|money|debt|sex|sale|loan)
$MAILDIR/Spam


##### Fluxbox Mailing Lists #####

:0
* ^(To|Cc|From):.*fluxbox-users
Fluxbox-Users


##### FreeBSD Mailing Lists #####

:0
* ^List-Id:.*freebsd-chat
FreeBSD-Chat

:0
* ^List-Id:.*freebsd-hardware
FreeBSD-Hardware

:0
* ^List-Id:.*freebsd-questions
FreeBSD-Questions

:0
* ^List-Id:.*freebsd-security
FreeBSD-Security

:0
* ^List-Id:.*freebsd-test
FreeBSD-Test

##### Mutt Mailing Lists #####
:0
* ^List-ID:.*mutt-users
Mutt-Users

:0
* .*
Default
```

Now, on to the problem. When I open Mutt, it loads just fine, no problems there. When I go to my mailboxes, same for example... ANY, and like normal I should be able to click enter on the message I want to view and it should load... it doesn't load. What happens is it freezes up on me and /tmp fills up very quickly with some kind of mutt files. I have reinstalled several times and made sure to make /tmp larger and it doesn't matter if I make it 1G, 2G, or 512M... it fills it up if I don't kill Mutt.

Now, the only way I can view the messages is if I go to any mailbox that I have setup. It doesn't matter if I want to read the messages send to FreeBSD-Questions or Default after I open the mail box I have to use the 'v' key to view attachments and then open the text/plain file that contains the actual message. I didn't get very far with people from the Mutt mailing lists or FreeBSD-Questions so maybe someone can help me out here. Thanks in advance.


----------



## bsdsys_x86 (Sep 26, 2009)

Anyone? Someone has to have an idea on how to fix this. I just can't seem to figure it out... never happened to me before!


----------



## aragon (Sep 26, 2009)

All I can tell you is that mutt is working fine for me on 7.1...


----------



## DutchDaemon (Sep 26, 2009)

Are you sure your 'set from' is ok? It should look like 
	
	



```
set from="user@host"
```
Yours looks like a redirect, which may cause weird behaviour or loops.


----------



## bsdsys_x86 (Sep 26, 2009)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> Are you sure your 'set from' is ok? It should look like
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I changed it to the format you suggested and no go. For some reason the error I was getting before doesn't show up even though I still have the same problem. The error not showing up has nothing to do with me altering my mutt config file though. It happened between reinstalls. I went back to the mailing lists to get the error I was getting before. This is the exact error I was getting before.


```
/tmp: write failed, filesystem is full
yes: stdout: No space left on device. Press any key to continue...
```

yes? What the crap is this? I went digging around and the 'man yes' says



```
YES(1)                  FreeBSD General Commands Manual                 YES(1)

NAME
     yes -- be repetitively affirmative

SYNOPSIS
     yes [expletive]

DESCRIPTION
     The yes utility outputs expletive, or, by default, ``y'', forever.

HISTORY
     The yes command appeared in Version 32V AT&T UNIX.

FreeBSD 7.2                      June 6, 1993                      FreeBSD 7.2
```

Well, makes sense but how the crap do I fix it? The screenshot shows "expletive, or, by default, ``y'', forever." and would explain why /tmp gets full and my mutt screen fills up with "y forever and freezes but why am I not able to just click enter to view emails like normal? I should have to click 'v' on them to view all attachments and then open the text file that contains the actual email. Any ideas on this?


----------



## DutchDaemon (Sep 26, 2009)

It almost sounds like something in either your muttrc or in your emails inadvertently triggers a call to the shell and executes the 'yes' command, leading to mayhem. Normally (e.g. in an ftp session) that would look like


```
!yes
```

Could you do the following:

```
cd /usr/bin
mv yes yes.bak
```
and start mutt again?

If that fixes the problem (or leads to an error saying 'yes not found' or something to that effect), can you look through your configuration and emails to see whether there's an unusual occurrence of the word 'yes' that may be construed as a shell command (e.g. the !yes I mentioned before, or possible even |yes or >yes)?


----------



## DutchDaemon (Sep 26, 2009)

And of course, as soon as I posted the reply, I saw a pattern. Examples:


```
set user_agent=yes
set ispell=yes
set include=yes
set fast_reply=yes
```

Look through all those yes's in your muttrc. At least *one* of those entries is not supposed to have a boolean value (yes|no), but a real value, like a path to an executable/program. That's where 'yes' gets called and executed.

My bet is on the ispell one, which should probably contain the path to the ispell program.


----------



## bsdsys_x86 (Sep 27, 2009)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> And of course, as soon as I posted the reply, I saw a pattern. Examples:
> 
> 
> ```
> ...



Alright, it is always something so simple as a typo or just not paying attention for some reason. The problem is now fixed... finally! Your suggestions got me looking around and I ended up keeping everything the way it was except changing the boolean for ispell to a path and removed set display_filter=yes and everything went back to how Mutt should be acting. Thank you so much.


----------



## aragon (Sep 27, 2009)

Bravo!


----------



## DutchDaemon (Sep 27, 2009)

Cheers.


----------

