I deleted all my emails by accident

[james_davis_nicoll]

All I need to do to restore them is to "cd into ~/.maildir" to pick a snapshot. In this context, what does that mean? Online search is not helpful.

OK, further explanation followed:

"You may well have deleted the *contents* of your inbox, but the inbox
itself is still there, as is that link in your home directory. So
(from your home directory):

cd .maildir
snapshot

look at the timestamps and pick the most recent one pre-deletion.

Inbox messages will be in the directory 'cur' once you are in a
snapshot. You can copy the files into ~/.maildir/cur (or
/users/jdnicoll/.maildir/cur"

Ok, so the literal command is
cd .maildir
snapshot

NOT
cd .maildir
and then
snapshot

This gets me a list of snapshots.

if I pick one, I get

Changing directory to /net/mail/spool/panix/7/.zfs/snapshot/2025-05-28-2000.hourly/3/jdnicoll@panix.com

What do I do next?

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

With a pinch of salt:

~/.maildir probably is a file folder on whatever computer you're using.

~ may mean, and may resolve as something like /usr/jdnicoll in your case.

"cd" implies using a command shell program - you type strange words, and the computer does things.
Like: cd ~/.maildir

I have no idea if you've got any snapshots, there or anywhere, or how to do anything about them. But it sounds like "an occasional automatic backup".

Robert Carnegie

[kithrup]

Ok, 1) I'm a zfs expert and you can always call me you know. Or zoom. 2) Once you've changed into that directory there, you can do cp -Rv * ~/.maildir/cur

ZFS snapshots are read-only, so you aren't in risk of deleting any of the snapshotted files.

[james_davis_nicoll]

When you say "do" what verb is implied?

[kithrup]

That cp command: "cp -Rv * ~/.maildir/cur"

I assume you're at a shell prompt, anyway.

[james_davis_nicoll]

I got as far as


Changing directory to /net/mail/spool/panix/7/.zfs/snapshot/2025-05-28-2000.hourly/3/jdnicoll@panix.com

[kithrup]

Right. Then you run the cp command. You can also run ls -CF and paste in the output. I just emailed you my phone numbers but that won't work will it. :blush:

[james_davis_nicoll]

So I type the following?

cp -Rv * ~/.maildir/cur

[kithrup]

Yes. If you want to run ls -CF first, and send me the output (say, in bsky dm) that'll confirm that it's doing wha I'd expect.

[james_davis_nicoll]

When you say "run" you mean type in ls -CF and then hit return? There's no implication to run I am overlooking or do not know?

[kithrup]

Correct: at the shell prompt, tpe ls -CF and hit return.

[voidampersand]

The following may be obvious but spelling it out because it's an emergency.

It is a command line. "cp" is copy. "-Rv" means recursive (copies subdirectories) and verbose (logs everything it is doing to the terminal). "*" means copy everything in the current directory (the snapshot). "~/.maildir/cur" means copy to a "cur" directory in "~/.maildir".

To invoke the command, make sure you're in the right directory (the snapshot you want to copy from), type it in, hit enter, and cross your fingers.

To get the documentation for the cp command, type in "man cp" (without the quotes).