Introduction
One day, for no apparent reason, my KMail refused to launch. I would try, but crashed (sig 11) each time. I attempted to remove the config files. I even copied my Mail box to a new user (created for experimentation) account --but that crashed too. I then rebuilt (renamed "Mail" to "Mail.old" and then created an empty "Mail") my Mail dir major folder by major folder, each time launching KMail until it crashed.
At this point, I discovered that it was one of the "index.xxx" files that was corrupted. And then I remembered (having spent over two hours thus far) that the index.xxx files, if removed, are automatically recreated each time KMail launches.
And so I recommend this very simple remedy: remove all the index.xxx files (usually 3 per directory and sub-directory in the /home/[username]/Mail directory.
cd /home/[username]/ [ENTER]
mv Mail Mail.backup [ENTER]
cd /home/[username]/Mail/ [ENTER]
ls -al [ENTER]
rm -rf *index* [ENTER]
cd [all sub-directories] [ENTER]
rm -rf *index* [ENTER]
(... and so on ...)
And then launch KMail :) I also discovered that Kmail is more stable than it was before and has not crashed since I did this. However, I also removed the /home/[username]/.kde/share/config/kmailrc file and rebuilt my settings (including filters). Perhaps this was also corrupted in some fashion ...
This HOWTO was written by Kai Staats, Terra Soft Solutions, Inc.
