How can I access "./.Sent Items"

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UpAllNight

Verified User
Joined
May 23, 2005
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I have a user whose disk quota for email is consumed for some reason I can't figure out. If I ssh into the server and go to their account:

/home/MAINACCOUNT/imap/DOMAIN.COM/USER/Maildir

it shows amongst other items:

drwxrwx--- 5 MAINACCOUNT mail 4096 Aug 12 16:08 .Sent Items

if I do a du -h this item is where the disk space is being eaten up.

How can I access it to try and figure out what's going on.

Also, if I access their account through web mail, there is nothing showing in their Sent Items folder.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
David
 
UpAllNight said:
I have a user whose disk quota for email is consumed for some reason I can't figure out. If I ssh into the server and go to their account:

/home/MAINACCOUNT/imap/DOMAIN.COM/USER/Maildir

it shows amongst other items:

drwxrwx--- 5 MAINACCOUNT mail 4096 Aug 12 16:08 .Sent Items

if I do a du -h this item is where the disk space is being eaten up.

How can I access it to try and figure out what's going on.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry Jeff, I must not have made that clear.

When I wrote that if I ssh into the server, I should have more clearly stated: from a root shell login....

The net is, I don't know the proper way to specify in a CD command to get inside the ".Sent Items" directory or symbolic link, or whatever it is!

Thanks,
David
 
Sorry for the misunderstanding.

First cd into the directory showing the large result.

Then run this command:
Code: 
# du -sh *
Then CD into the directory showing the large result.

Then keep looping through the above until you're in the Directory in which you need to be.

Jeff
 
Hi Jeff,
I'm sorry, but I guess I'm still not explaining well enough. In my original post, I tried to explain that I had already done as you suggested but I am not sure how to access: "./.Sent Items"


When I do a: du -sh as you suggested, it only shows me this:
6.2M .

However, if I do a : du -h
It shows me this:
8.0K ./.Deleted Items/tmp
8.0K ./.Deleted Items/new
16K ./.Deleted Items/cur
132K ./.Deleted Items
8.0K ./.INBOX.spam/tmp
8.0K ./.INBOX.spam/new
8.0K ./.INBOX.spam/cur
48K ./.INBOX.spam
8.0K ./tmp
8.0K ./.INBOX.Drafts/tmp
8.0K ./.INBOX.Drafts/new
8.0K ./.INBOX.Drafts/cur
52K ./.INBOX.Drafts
8.0K ./new
8.0K ./.Junk E-mail/tmp
8.0K ./.Junk E-mail/new
8.0K ./.Junk E-mail/cur
52K ./.Junk E-mail
8.0K ./.INBOX.Trash/tmp
8.0K ./.INBOX.Trash/new
8.0K ./.INBOX.Trash/cur
52K ./.INBOX.Trash
60K ./cur
8.0K ./.Sent Items/tmp
8.0K ./.Sent Items/new
5.5M ./.Sent Items/cur
5.6M ./.Sent Items
8.0K ./.INBOX.Sent/tmp
8.0K ./.INBOX.Sent/new
8.0K ./.INBOX.Sent/cur
52K ./.INBOX.Sent
6.2M .

As I've been trying to explain / ask:

How do I change to the directory / alias whatever it is shown as:

./.Sent Items
 
Code: 
# cd .Sent\ Items
Now an explanation...

The ./ notation simply means it's a subdirectory in the same directory. Since you're already in the directory that has the .Sent Items subdirectory in it when you're running the du -sh command, you don't need the ./ in your cd command (though using it won't hurt anything).

The subdirectory is invisible for a normal command, so it starts with the .. You need a backslash before the space so your shell knows to pass the following character (the space) on to the cd command; otherwise bash will consider it a separator and won't pass it on to the cd command; you'll get an error.

Once you're in the .Sent Items directory (once you're in it we call it the directory, and not a subdirectory) you should find any unread items in new and any read items in cur. I've never seen any emails in the tmp subdirectory; items move in and out of there too quickly, during processing.

If you make any changes to either cur, new, or tmp, you should delete any files beginning with Dovecot, dovecot or the same with the . character in front of them; these are index files which no longer match the directory contents. Dovecot will recreate them the next time the user logs in.

Important to note that the DirectAdmin forums are not really for this level of support; I don't mind helping you this one time because we've both spent so much time already on this, but you really need to either become an accomplished systems administrator, or hire one, and you need to get support for learning basic systems administration somewhere else; DirectAdmin Forums aren't for learning basic systems administration skills such as bash commands.

Jeff
 
jlasman said:
Important to note that the DirectAdmin forums are not really for this level of support; I don't mind helping you this one time because we've both spent so much time already on this, but you really need to either become an accomplished systems administrator, or hire one, and you need to get support for learning basic systems administration somewhere else; DirectAdmin Forums aren't for learning basic systems administration skills such as bash commands.

Jeff
Click to expand...

Thanks Jeff. I wasn't aware of this forum policy. Is it new?

I do most of my own sys admin but wasn't sure on this and thought it would need only a simple answer. I did try to frame my question with specifics as to what I had done and what I was asking. I'm sorry again about evidently doing such a poor job of it.

Since you mentioned accomplished systems administrators, if I do get stumped beyond hope, I have used Martynas (smtalk) here on the DA forums and gladly paid him for his services. I have found him to be helpful, not condescending, and reasonable in his rates!

Thanks again!!
 
Hey David...

Jeff showed you the command needed for accessing the .Sent Items directory... Right before he scolded you... %^)

When you are in the directory above the .Sent Items folder... simply type:

cd .Sent\ Items

and then hit enter...

I've been doing admin since 95 and I by no means consider myself accomplished... I've had too many other things on my plate as well... But, like most I get by...

Don't ever give up asking questions... the Internet opened up a wealth of knowledge to be had by all.

Thanks,
The other David...
 
UpAllNight said:
Thanks Jeff. I wasn't aware of this forum policy. Is it new?
Click to expand...
No, nor is it anything official. But if you look at a lot of posts, you'll find that most of us expect that you'll understand very basic commands, including how to change into a directory. I learned that first with TRS-DOS, back in the 70s, so I suppose I may occasionally sound condescending; it's not my intent though.
I do most of my own sys admin but wasn't sure on this and thought it would need only a simple answer. I did try to frame my question with specifics as to what I had done and what I was asking. I'm sorry again about evidently doing such a poor job of it.
Click to expand...
That's okay, but obviously took a lot of time. If you have something important enough that you can't wait for it, there's nothing better than knowing basic commands.

I bought this Magazine (linuxpromagazine.com) as soon as it came out. I recommend it highly.
Since you mentioned accomplished systems administrators, if I do get stumped beyond hope, I have used Martynas (smtalk) here on the DA forums and gladly paid him for his services. I have found him to be helpful, not condescending, and reasonable in his rates!
Click to expand...
Some people even use me (us). Our primary business is DirectAdmin third-party support. As I wrote above, I try to not be condescending. It can get hard, since I make it my intention to read every post made on these forums, and to respond to all where I can help.

Jeff
 
skruf said:
Hey David...
When you are in the directory above the .Sent Items folder... simply type:

cd .Sent\ Items

and then hit enter...

I've been doing admin since 95 and I by no means consider myself accomplished... I've had too many other things on my plate as well... But, like most I get by...

Don't ever give up asking questions... the Internet opened up a wealth of knowledge to be had by all.

Thanks,
The other David...
Click to expand...

Thanks Skruf! :D Plain and simple. I like and appreciate it and your last comment too.
 
Hi Jeff,
Thanks again for your help and the magazine suggestion. I will check it out.
Regards,
David
 
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