Perhaps this is a question for the bash list, but why, when I have MAILCHECK=$((0 - 1)) export MAILCHECK MAILDIR="~/Maildir/" MAIL=$MAILDIR export MAILDIR MAIL does bash insist on checking for mail in my very large, nfs-mounted, maildir-format mailbox? When I comment out MAIL, the mail checking stops. However, according to the man page, setting MAILCHECK to a number less than 0 or unsetting it should also stop mail checking. Clearly, 0 minus 1 is less than 0, though I've also tried setting it to -1, "-1", and unsetting it. I've tried exporting it and not exporting it. Why won't bash behave like the man page says it will behave? Waiting nearly a minute between an xterm starting up and the prompt actually appearing is rather annoying - it's instant when MAIL is undefined (or when I run "xterm +ls -e bash -norc" - but then my environment isn't set up all pretty-like). Tips? Suggestions? I don't really need MAIL to be set, I think, but I'd rather solve this the "right" way... Thanks. --Danny