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heynnema
Asked: 2021-12-06 12:30:21 +0800 CST

Using CLI "mail" command

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I feel a little silly asking this question... as the answer may be quite simple... but searching here on AU, or on Google, or man mail, hasn't given me the answer.

If I start mail, I see this:

"/var/mail/al": 8 messages 8 unread
>U   1 root@al-Inspiron-7 Sun Nov 28 06:01 156/5409  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   2 root@al-Inspiron-7 Mon Nov 29 06:11 173/6447  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   3 root@al-Inspiron-7 Tue Nov 30 05:23 149/5261  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   4 root@al-Inspiron-7 Wed Dec  1 01:53 215/9228  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   5 root@al-Inspiron-7 Thu Dec  2 02:27 187/7610  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   6 root@al-Inspiron-7 Fri Dec  3 05:42 204/8129  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   7 root@al-Inspiron-7 Sat Dec  4 06:37 143/5074  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   8 root@al-Inspiron-7 Sun Dec  5 07:09 170/5922  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
?

After I read the first message, I get this:

? h
>R   1 root@al-Inspiron-7 Sun Nov 28 06:01 156/5409  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   2 root@al-Inspiron-7 Mon Nov 29 06:11 173/6447  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   3 root@al-Inspiron-7 Tue Nov 30 05:23 149/5261  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   4 root@al-Inspiron-7 Wed Dec  1 01:53 215/9228  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   5 root@al-Inspiron-7 Thu Dec  2 02:27 187/7610  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   6 root@al-Inspiron-7 Fri Dec  3 05:42 204/8129  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   7 root@al-Inspiron-7 Sat Dec  4 06:37 143/5074  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   8 root@al-Inspiron-7 Sun Dec  5 07:09 170/5922  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
?

If I quit mail, and restart mail, I see this:

? q
Saved 1 message in /home/al/mbox
Held 7 messages in /var/mail/al
al@al-Inspiron-7700-AIO:~$ mail
"/var/mail/al": 7 messages 7 unread
>U   1 root@al-Inspiron-7 Mon Nov 29 06:11 174/6491  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   2 root@al-Inspiron-7 Tue Nov 30 05:23 149/5261  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   3 root@al-Inspiron-7 Wed Dec  1 01:53 215/9228  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   4 root@al-Inspiron-7 Thu Dec  2 02:27 187/7610  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   5 root@al-Inspiron-7 Fri Dec  3 05:42 204/8129  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   6 root@al-Inspiron-7 Sat Dec  4 06:37 143/5074  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
 U   7 root@al-Inspiron-7 Sun Dec  5 07:09 170/5922  Logwatch for al-Inspiron-
?

How can I list/read the previous message #1 (no longer in the list)?

command-line

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    What I just learned...

    Thunderbird 91.*.* (Ubuntu 21.10) has removed movemail support, so all access to my localhost mbox's is gone. See Ubuntu 21.10 - Thunderbird 91.x.x drops (movemail) mbox support! for some background info.

    When using CLI mail, after reading message(s), read messages are moved from /var/mail/al to /home/al/mbox.

    If I use mail -f /home/al/mbox I can now read old, previously read, mail messages.

    If I symlink /home/al/mbox to /home/al/.thunderbird/kzn2n9g5.default/Mail/Local\ Folders then I can read them using Thunderbird. Read the previous link for more details about this.

    ln -s /home/al/mbox /home/al/.thunderbird/kzn2n9g5.default/Mail/Local\ Folders/mbox-home

    Update #1:

    If I create /home/al/.hidden with the contents mbox then I won't have to look at the mbox file in Nautilus.

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