[exim] Spool file is locked (another process is handling thi…

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Author: Yan Seiner
Date:  
To: exim-users
Subject: [exim] Spool file is locked (another process is handling this message)
I just started getting this message. Seems that many emails (but not all)
are getting hung up.

2012-04-11 13:22:16 1SI3wt-0006jb-DK Spool file is locked (another process
is handling this message)

I have no idea why this started happening; I've checked all the usual
suspects and I have plenty of spool space, the cpu is showing idle time,
and the load on the server is minimal.

And yet mail is getting hung up. I've googled all over the place and
there doesn't seem to be a single reason for this. What does this mean?
And more importantly how do I fix it?

selene:/var/log/exim4# ps auxwww | grep exim
mail     25292  0.0  0.0  86128  1948 ?        S    13:13   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -q
mail     25294  0.0  0.0  86128  1696 ?        S    13:13   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -q
100      25737  0.0  0.0  85772  2100 ?        Ss   13:13   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -bd -q30m
root     25741  0.0  0.1  85760  4220 ?        S    13:13   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -q
root     25744  0.0  0.0  86128  3644 ?        S    13:13   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -q
mail     25746  0.0  0.0  86128  1948 ?        S    13:13   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -q
mail     25748  0.0  0.0  86128  1696 ?        S    13:13   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -q
root     25894  0.0  0.1  86092  5332 ?        S    13:15   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -Mc 1SI3wt-0006jb-DK
mail     25895  0.0  0.0  86092  1992 ?        S    13:15   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -Mc 1SI3wt-0006jb-DK
mail     25898  0.0  0.0  86092  1652 ?        S    13:15   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -Mc 1SI3wt-0006jb-DK
root     25990  0.0  0.1  86092  5336 ?        S    13:16   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -Mc 1SI3yA-0006l8-Ky
mail     25995  0.0  0.0  86092  1996 ?        S    13:16   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -Mc 1SI3yA-0006l8-Ky
mail     25997  0.0  0.0  86092  1656 ?        S    13:16   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -Mc 1SI3yA-0006l8-Ky
root     26232  0.0  0.1  86092  5332 ?        Ss   13:16   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -odi -Mc 1SI3yI-0006p5-GG
mail     26233  0.0  0.0  86092  1988 ?        S    13:16   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -odi -Mc 1SI3yI-0006p5-GG
mail     26235  0.0  0.0  86092  1656 ?        S    13:16   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -odi -Mc 1SI3yI-0006p5-GG
root     26334  0.0  0.1  86092  5332 ?        S    13:18   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -Mc 1SI3zI-0006qX-Pp
mail     26339  0.0  0.0  86092  1992 ?        S    13:18   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -Mc 1SI3zI-0006qX-Pp
mail     26341  0.0  0.0  86092  1652 ?        S    13:18   0:00
/usr/sbin/exim4 -Mc 1SI3zI-0006qX-Pp
root     27696  0.0  0.0   8292   880 pts/12   S+   13:24   0:00 grep exim




--
On two occasions I have been asked,—"Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into
the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?" ... I am not
able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could
provoke such a question.
—Charles Babbage, Inventor of the computer, 1864