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-
-
-
-The Linux Electronic Mail Administrator HOWTO
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!!The Linux Electronic Mail Administrator HOWTO
-
-!!Guylhem Aznar <guylhem at metalab.unc.edu>v3.2, January 2000
-
-
-----
-''This document describes the setup, care and feeding of Electronic Mail (e-mail)
-under Linux.
-It is primarily intended for administrators, rather than users. (See
-the Mail-User's-HOWTO for information on user issues and user agents.)
-You need to read this if you plan to communicate locally or to remote
-sites via electronic mail.
-You probably do ''*not*'' need to read this document if don't
-exchange electronic mail with other users on your system or with other
-sites.''
-----
-
-
-
-
-!!1. Introduction, copyright and standard disclaimer
-
-
-*1.1 Email and spamming
-
-*1.2 Goals
-
-*1.3 New versions
-
-*1.4 Feedback
-
-*1.5 Copyright
-
-*1.6 Limited warranty
-
-
-
-
-
-!!2. Other sources of information
-
-
-*2.1 Mail User's HOWTO
-
-*2.2 USENET
-
-*2.3 Mailing Lists
-
-*2.4 Other documents from LDP
-
-*2.5 Books
-
-
-
-
-
-!!3. How Electronic Mail Works
-
-
-*3.1 Mail between full-time Internet machines
-
-*3.2 Notifiers
-
-*3.3 Mail to part-time Internet machines
-
-*3.4 Remote mail and remote-mail protocols
-
-*3.5 Mailbox formats
-
-
-
-
-
-!!4. Requirements
-
-
-*4.1 Hardware
-
-
-
-
-
-!!5. Choosing a Mail Transport Agent
-
-
-*5.1 sendmail
-
-*5.2 smail v3.2
-
-*5.3 qmail
-
-*5.4 exim
-
-
-
-
-
-!!6. Installing Transport Software
-
-
-*6.1 Qmail v1.03
-
-*6.2 Smail v3.1
-
-*6.3 OUTDATED SECTION: Sendmail+IDA
-
-*6.4 Sendmail 8.x
-
-*6.5 Local Delivery Agents
-
-
-
-
-
-!!7. User Agent Administration
-
-
-*7.1 Mutt
-
-*7.2 Elm
-
-*7.3 Mailx
-
-
-
-
-
-!!8. Handling remote mail
-
-
-*8.1 History
-
-*8.2 Getting mail
-
-*8.3 Sending mail
-
-*8.4 Reading mail
-
-*8.5 Testing
-
-*8.6 Using
-
-
-
-
-
-!!9. Acknowledgements
-----
-
-!!1. Introduction, copyright and standard disclaimer
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!1.1 Email and spamming
-
-
-
-
-
-
-To send mail to anyone mentioned in this document, convert "at" in
-email addresses to "@".
-
-
-This conversion is simple for humans, but not spammers' address
-harvesters; therefore it's useful to protect generous contributors
-from being spammed!
-
-
-
-
-!!1.2 Goals
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The intent of this document is to answer some of the questions and comments
-that appear to meet the definition of "frequently asked questions" about e-mail
-software under Linux in general and the version in the Linux Debian and
-!RedHat distributions in particular.
-
-
-
-
-!!1.3 New versions
-
-
-
-
-
-
-New versions of this document will be periodically posted to
-comp.os.linux.announce, comp.answers and mail.answers. They will
-also be added to the various anonymous ftp sites who archive such
-information including ''sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/docs/HOWTO''.
-
-
-In addition, you should be generally able to find this document on the
-Linux !WorldWideWeb home page at ''http://sunsite.unc.edu/mdw/linux.html''.
-
-
-
-
-!!1.4 Feedback
-
-
-
-
-
-
-I am interested in any feedback, positive or negative, regarding the content
-of this document via e-mail. Definitely contact me if you find errors or
-obvious omissions.
-
-
-I read, but do not necessarily respond to, all e-mail I receive. Requests for
-enhancements will be considered and acted upon based on that day's combination
-of available time, merit of the request and daily blood pressure :-)
-
-
-Flames will quietly go to /dev/null so don't bother.
-
-
-Feedback concerning the actual format of the document should go to the HOWTO
-coordinator : Tim Bynum (howto at wallybox.cei.net).
-
-
-
-
-!!1.5 Copyright
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The Mail-Administrator HOWTO is copyrighted (c) 1998 Guylhem Aznar.
-Distributed under LDP copyright license.
-If you have questions, please contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator,
-at howto at wallybox.cei.net.
-
-
-
-
-!!1.6 Limited warranty
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Of course, I disavow any potential liability for the contents of this
-document. Use of the concepts, examples, and/or other content of this
-document is entirely at your own risk.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!2. Other sources of information
-
-
-
-
-
-
-http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/Mail-User-HOWTO.html.
-
-!!
-
-!!2.2 USENET
-
-
-
-
-
-
-There is nothing special about configuring and running mail software under
-Linux (any more). Accordingly, you almost certainly do ''NOT'' want
-to be posting generic mail-related questions to the comp.os.linux.*
-newsgroups.
-
-
-Don't post in comp.os.linux hierarchy unless it's really linux specific, for
-example : "Which options was Debian 1.2 sendmail compiled with ?" or "!RedHat
-5.0 smail crashes when I run it".
-
-
-Let me repeat that.
-
-
-There is virtually no reason to post anything mail-related in the
-comp.os.linux hierarchy any more. There are existing newsgroups in the
-comp.mail.* hierarchy to handle *ALL* your questions.
-
-
-''IF YOU POST TO COMP.OS.LINUX.* FOR NON-LINUX-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS, YOU ARE
-LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE FOR HELP. THE MAIL EXPERTS HANG OUT IN THE PLACES
-INDICATED ABOVE AND GENERALLY DO NOT RUN LINUX.''
-
-
-''POSTING TO THE LINUX HIERARCHY FOR NON-LINUX-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS WASTES YOUR
-TIME AND EVERYONE ELSE'S AND IT FREQUENTLY DELAYS YOUR GETTING THE ANSWER
-TO YOUR QUESTION.''
-
-
-GOOD PLACES are :
-
-comp.mail.elm the ELM mail system.
-comp.mail.mh The Rand Message Handling system.
-comp.mail.mime Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions.
-comp.mail.misc General discussions about computer mail.
-comp.mail.multi-media Multimedia Mail.
-comp.mail.mush The Mail User's Shell (MUSH).
-comp.mail.sendmail the BSD sendmail agent.
-comp.mail.smail the smail mail agent.
-comp.mail.uucp Mail in the uucp environment.
-
-
-
-
-
-!!2.3 Mailing Lists
-
-
-
-
-
-
-There are many sendmail, smail and qmail mailing lists.
-
-
-You can find addresses in /usr/doc/the_one_you_have_chosen.
-
-
-
-
-!!2.4 Other documents from LDP
-
-
-
-
-
-
-There is plenty of excellent material provided in the other Linux HOWTO
-documents and from the Linux DOC project.
-
-
-In particular, you might want to take a look at the following:
-
-
-
-
-
-*on your own computer in /usr/doc/ :-)
-*
-
-*the Linux Networking Administrators' Guide
-*
-
-*the Mail Users HOWTO
-*
-
-*the Serial Communications HOWTO
-*
-
-*the Ethernet HOWTO
-*
-
-*the UUCP HOWTO if you're fed via UUCP
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-!!2.5 Books
-
-
-
-
-
-
-The following is a non-inclusive set of books that will help:
-
-
-
-
-
-*"Managing UUCP and USENET" from O'Reilly and Associates is in my
-opinion the best book out there for figuring out the programs and protocols
-involved in being a USENET site.
-
-*
-
-*"Unix Communications" from The Waite Group contains a nice
-description of all the pieces (and more) and how they fit together.
-
-*
-
-*"Sendmail" from O'Reilly and Associates looks to be the
-definitive reference on sendmail-v8 and sendmail+IDA. It's a "must have" for
-anybody hoping to make sense out of sendmail without bleeding in the process.
-
-*
-
-*"The Internet Complete Reference" from Osborne is a fine
-reference book that explains the various services available on Internet and is
-a great source for information on news, mail and various other Internet
-resources.
-
-*
-
-*"The Linux Networking Administrators' Guide" from Olaf
-Kirch of the Linux Documentation Project is available on the net and is
-also published by (at least) O'Reilly and SSC.
-It makes a fine one-stop shop to learn about everything you ever
-imagined you'd need to know about Unix networking.
-
-
-
-
-*
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!3. How Electronic Mail Works
-
-
-Now we'll explain the flow of information that typically takes place when
-two people to communicate by email. Let us suppose that
-Alice, on her machine wonderland.com, wants to send mail to
-Bob, on his machine dobbs.com. Both machines are connected
-to the Internet.
-
-
-It helps to know that an Internet mail message consists of two parts;
-mail headers and a mail body, separated by a blank
-line. The mail headers contain the source and destination of the
-mail, a user-supplied subject line, the date it was sent, and various
-other kinds of useful information. The body is the actual content
-of the message. Here's an example:
-
-
-
-
-From: "Alice" <alice@wonderland.com>
-Message-Id: <199711131704.MAA18447@wonderland.com>
-Subject: Have you seen my white rabbit?
-To: bob@dobbs.org (Bob)
-Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 12:04:05 -0500 (EST)
-Content-Type: text
-I'm most concerned. I fear he may have fallen down a hole.
---
->>alice>>
-
-
-
-The arrangement and meaning of Internet mail headers are defined by
-an Internet standard called
-RFC822.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.1 Mail between full-time Internet machines
-
-
-
-Here's a diagram of the whole process -- I'll explain all the stages
-and terminology below.
-
-
-
-----
-
-+---------+ +-------+
-+-------+ types | sending | calls |sending|
-| Alice |--------->| MUA |--------->| MTA |::::>::::
-+-------+ | | | | :: on the
-+---------+ +-------+ :: sending
-:: machine
-.......................................................................
-SMTP ::
-::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-::
-:: +---------+ +-----+ +-------+
-:: |receiving| calls | | delivers to | Bob's |
-::::>| MTA |--------->| LDA |===============>|mailbox| on the
-| | | | | | receiving
-+---------+ +-----+ +-------+ machine
-| |
-| |
-+----------------<-------------+ |
-| |
-+---------+ +-------+ |
-| Bob's | | Bob's |<----------+
-| notifier| | MUA |
-+---------+ +-------+
-| |
-| +-----+ |
-+----->| Bob |<----+
-+-----+
-
-----
-
-
-To send mail, Alice will invoke a program called a mail user agent
-(or MUA for short). The MUA is what users think of as `the
-mailer'; it helps her compose the message, usually by calling out to a
-text editor of her choice. When she hits the MUA `send' button, her
-part of the process is done. Later in this HOWTO we will survey
-popular MUAs.
-
-
-The MUA she uses immediately hands her message to a program called a
-mail transport agent (or MTA). Usually this
-program will be sendmail, though some alternative MTAs are
-gaining popularity and may appear in future Linux distributions. Later
-in this HOWTO we will also survey MTAs.
-
-
-The MTA's job is to pass the mail to an MTA on Bob's machine. It
-determines Bob's machine by analyzing the To header and seeing the
-dobbs.com on the right-hand side of Bob's address. It uses
-that address to open an Internet connection to Bob's machine. The
-mechanics of making that connection are a whole other topic; for this
-explanation, it's enough to know that that connection is a way for
-Alice's MTA to send text commands to Bob's machine and receive replies
-to those commands.
-
-
-The MTA's commands don't go to a shell. Instead they go to a service port on Alice's machine. A service port is a sort of
-rendezvous, a known place where Internet service programs listen for
-incoming requests. Service ports are numbered, and Alice's MTA knows
-that it needs to talk to port 25 on Bob's machine to pass mail.
-
-
-On port 25, Bob's machine has its own MTA listening for commands
-(probably another copy of sendmail). Alice's MTA will go through
-a dialogue with Bob's using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
-(or SMTP). Here is what an SMTP dialogue looks like.
-Lines sent by Alice's machine are shown with S:, responses from
-Bob's machine are shown with R:.
-
-
-
-
-S: MAIL FROM:<alice@wonderland.com>
-R: 250 OK
-S: RCPT TO:<bob@dobbs.com>
-R: 250 OK
-S: DATA
-R: 354 Start mail input; end with <CRLF>.<CRLF>
-S: From: "Alice" <alice@wonderland.com>
-S: Message-Id: <199711131704.MAA18447@wonderland.com>
-S: Subject: Have you seen my white rabbit?
-S: To: bob@dobbs.org (Bob)
-S: Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 12:04:05 -0500 (EST)
-S: Content-Type: text
-S:
-S: I'm most concerned. I fear he may have fallen down a hole.
-S: --
-S: >>alice>>
-S: .
-R: 250 OK
-
-
-
-Usually an SMTP command is a single text line and so is its response.
-The DATA command is an exception; after seeing that, the SMTP listener
-accepts message lines until it sees a period on a line by itself.
-(SMTP is defined by the Internet standard
-RFC821.)
-
-
-Now Bob's MTA has Alice's message. It will add a header to the
-message that looks something like this:
-
-
-
-
-Received: (from alice@wonderland.com)
-by mail.dobbs.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) id MAA18447
-for bob@dobbs.com; Thu, 13 Nov 1997 12:04:05 -0500
-
-
-
-This is for tracking purposes in case of mail errors (sometimes a
-message has to be relayed through more than one machine and will have
-several of these). Bob's MTA will pass the modified message to a
-local delivery agent or LDA. On Linux systems
-the LDA is usually a program called procmail, though others
-exist.
-
-
-The LDA's job is to append the message to Bob's mailbox. It's
-separate from the MTA so that both programs can be simpler, and
-so the MTA can concentrate on doing Internet things without
-worrying about local details like where the user mailboxes live.
-
-
-Bob's mailbox will normally be a file called /usr/spool/mail/bob
-or /var/mail/bob. When he reads mail, he runs his own MUA (mail
-user agent) to look at and edit that file.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.2 Notifiers
-
-
-
-There's yet another kind of program that is important in the mail
-chain, though it does not itself read or transmit mail. It's
-a ''mail notifier'', a program that watches your email in-box
-for activity and signals you when new mail is present.
-
-
-The original notifier was a pair of Unix programs called biff(1) and
-comsat(8). The biff program is a front end that enables you to turn on the
-comsat service. When this service is on, the header of new
-mail will be dumped to your terminal as it arrived. This facility
-was designed for people using line-oriented programs on CRTs; it's
-not really a good idea in today's environment.
-
-
-Most Unix shells have built-in mailcheck facilities that allow them to
-function as notifiers in a rather less intrusive way (by emitting a
-message just before the prompt when new mail is detected). Typically
-you can enable this by setting environment variables documented on the
-shell's manual page. For shells in the sh/ksh/bash family, see the
-MAIL and MAILPATH variables
-
-
-Systems supporting X come with one of several little desktop gadgets
-that check for new mail periodically and give you both visible and
-audible indication of new mail. The oldest and most widely used of
-these is called ''xbiff''; if your Linux has a preconfigured X desktop
-setup, xbiff is probably on it. See the xbiff(1) manual page for
-details.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.3 Mail to part-time Internet machines
-
-
-
-If you were reading carefully, you may have noticed that the
-information flow we described above depends on Alice's machine
-being able to talk to Bob's machine immediately. What happens
-if Bob's machine is down, or is up but not connected to the
-Internet?
-
-
-If Alice's MTA can't reach Bob's immediately, it will stash Alice's
-message in a mail queue on wonderland.com. It will
-then retry sending the mail at intervals until an expiration time is
-reached, at which point a bounce message notifying Alice
-of the failure will be sent back to her. In the default configuration
-of the most popular MTA (sendmail), the retry interval is 15 minutes and the
-expiration time is 4 days.
-
-
-
-
-!!3.4 Remote mail and remote-mail protocols
-
-
-
-Many Linux users nowadays are connected to the Internet via ISPs
-(Internet Service Providers) and don't have their own Internet
-domains. Instead they have accounts on an ISP machine.
-Their mail gets delivered to a mailbox on that ISP machine. But
-typically these users want to read and reply to their mail using their
-own machines, which connect to the ISP intermittently using
-SLIP or PPP. Linux supports remote mail
-protocols to support this.
-
-
-Note how this is different from the scenario we discussed in the
-last section. Mail sitting in a queue awaiting retransmission is not
-the same as mail dispatched to a server mailbox; mail in a queue is
-not considered to have been delivered and is subject to expiration,
-but mail delivered to an ISP server mailbox ''is'' considered
-`delivered' and can sit there indefinitely.
-
-
-A remote-mail protocol allows mail on a server to be pulled across a
-network link by a client program (this is the opposite of normal
-delivery in which an MTA pushes mail to a receiving MTA). There are
-two remote-mail protocols in common use; POP3 (defined by the Internet
-standard
-RFC1939)
-and IMAP (defined by the Internet
-standard
-RFC2060).
-Effectively all ISPs support POP3; a growing number support IMAP (which
-is more powerful).
-
-
-Here is what an example POP3 session looks like:
-
-
-
-
-S: <client connects to service port 110>
-R: +OK POP3 server ready <1896.697170952@mailgate.dobbs.org>
-S: USER bob
-R: +OK bob
-S: PASS redqueen
-R: +OK bob's maildrop has 2 messages (320 octets)
-S: STAT
-R: +OK 2 320
-S: LIST
-R: +OK 2 messages (320 octets)
-R: 1 120
-R: 2 200
-R: .
-S: RETR 1
-R: +OK 120 octets
-R: <the POP3 server sends message 1>
-R: .
-S: DELE 1
-R: +OK message 1 deleted
-S: RETR 2
-R: +OK 200 octets
-R: <the POP3 server sends message 2>
-R: .
-S: DELE 2
-R: +OK message 2 deleted
-S: QUIT
-R: +OK dewey POP3 server signing off (maildrop empty)
-S: <client hangs up>
-
-
-
-An IMAP session uses different commands and responses, but is
-logically very similar.
-
-
-
-
-
-To take advantage of POP3 or IMAP, you need a remote mail
-client program to pull your mail. Some mail user agents have
-client capabilities built in (which one supports which is noted
-below), and the Netscape browser's mail facility supports both POP and
-IMAP natively.
-
-
-The main drawback of POP client facilities built into MUAs is that you
-have to explicitly tell your mailer to poll the server; you don't get
-notified by xbiff(1) or equivalent, as you would for mail that is
-either local or delivered by a conventional SMTP `push' connection.
-Also, of course, not all MUAs can do POP/IMAP, so you may find
-yourself compromising on other features.
-
-
-Your Linux probably comes with a program called
-fetchmail that is designed
-specifically to talk to remote-mail servers, fetch mail, and feed it
-into your normal mail delivery path by speaking SMTP to your listener.
-
-
-Unless you need to keep your mail on the server (for example, because
-you move around between client machines a lot) fetchmail is probably a
-better solution than whatever POP/IMAP features your user agent has.
-Fetchmail can be told to run in background and poll your server
-periodically, so your xbiff(1) or other mail-notifier program will
-work as it would for SMTP mail. Also, fetchmail is rather more
-tolerant of various idiosyncracies and nonstandard server quirks than
-the clients in MUAs, and has better error recovery.
-
-
-Here's a diagram showing how both cases (with and without fetchmail) work:
-
-
-
-----
-
-+---------+ +-------+
-+-------+ types | sending | calls |sending|
-| Alice |--------->| MUA |--------->| MTA |::::>::::
-+-------+ | | | | ::
-+---------+ +-------+ :: on the
-:: sending
-SMTP :: machine
-::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-::
-.::.......................................................................
-::
-:: +---------+ +-----+ +-------+
-:: |receiving| calls | | delivers | Bob's |
-::::>| MTA |--------->| LDA |============>|server |::::>::::
-| | | | to |mailbox| :: on the
-+---------+ +-----+ +-------+ :: mail
-:: server
-POP or IMAP ::
-::::::::::::::::::::::::::::<:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-::
-.::........................................................................
-::
-:: +-----------+
-:: | |
-:::::::>::::::::::::| fetchmail |:::::::: on the
-:: | | :: receiving
-:: +-----------+ :: machine,
-:: :: with fetchmail
-:: ::::::::::::::::<:::::::::::::::::::
-:: ::
-:: :: +---------+ +-----+ +-------+
-:: :: |receiving| calls | | delivers to | Bob's |
-:: ::::>| MTA |--------->| LDA |===============>|mailbox|
-:: | | | | | |
-:: +---------+ +-----+ +-------+
-:: | |
-:: | |
-:: +----------------<-------------+ |
-:: | |
-:: +---------+ +-------+ |
-:: | Bob's | | Bob's |<----------+
-:: | notifier| | MUA |
-:: +---------+ +-------+
-:: | |
-.::........................................................................
-:: . | |
-:: without . | |
-:: fetchmail . | |
-:: . | +-----+ |
-:: +----------+ . +----->| |<----+
-:: | Bob's | . | Bob |
-:::::| POP/IMAP |----.--------->| |
-| MUA | . +-----+
-+----------+ .
-
-----
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!3.5 Mailbox formats
-
-
-
-When incoming mail gets appended to a mailbox, it's up to the MTA
-to provide some kind of delimiters that tell where one message stops
-and the next begins.
-
-
-Under Unix, the convention almost all mailers use is that each line
-beginning with ``From '' (the space is significant) begins a new
-message. If ``From '' occurs at the beginning of a line in text, a
-Unix MTA will generally prefix it with a greater-than sign, so it looks
-like ``>From ''. RFC822 headers follow this From line (which usually
-continues with the sender name and receipt date).
-
-
-This convention originated with Unix Version 7, so this kind of
-mailbox is referred to as a ``V7 mailbox''; it is also sometimes
-called ``mbox format''. Unless otherwise noted, all programs
-mentioned in this HOWTO expect this format. It is not, however, quite
-universal, and tools expecting and generating different formats can
-confuse each other badly.
-
-
-The four other formats to know about (and beware of!) are BABYL,
-MMDF, MH, and qmail maildir. Of these, MMDF is the simplest;
-it uses a delimiter line consisting four control-As (ASCII 001)
-characters followed by CR-LF. MMDF was an early and rather
-crude Internet mail transport; a descendant is still in use on
-SCO systems.
-
-
-BABYL is another survival, from an early mail system at MIT. It is
-still used by Emacs's mail-reader mode.
-
-
-MH and qmail maildir are `mailbox' formats which actually burst
-each mailbox into a directory of files, one per message. Running
-grep on such a `mailbox' will get you nowhere, since all grep will
-see are the directory bits.
-
-
-Microsoft Outlook Express .mbx mailboxes can be converted to
-RFC822 format with mbx2mbox app.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!4. Requirements
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!4.1 Hardware
-
-
-
-
-
-
-There are no specific hardware requirements for mail under Linux.
-
-
-You'll need some sort of 'transport' software to connect to remote systems,
-which means either TCP/IP or uucp.
-
-
-This could mean that you need a modem or ethernet card, depending on your setup.
-In most cases, you'll want the fastest modem you can afford, i.e. V90 57 600
-bps currently. In general, you want to have a 16550 UART on your serial board
-or built into your modem to handle speeds of above 9600 baud.
-
-
-If you don't know what that last sentence means, please consult the
-comp.dcom.modems group or the various fine modem and serial
-communications FAQs and periodic postings on USENET.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!5. Choosing a Mail Transport Agent
-
-
-Mail transport agents are the software that transfers mail from your
-local system to remote systems. It is very seldom necessary to mess
-with or replace your MTA on a modern Linux, and you're better off not
-fixing what isn't broken. Nevertheless, here's a survey to get you
-started on understanding what the tradeoffs are if you decide you need
-more security or performance than your system's default can offer.
-
-
-(There are other Unix MTAs besides these, but you are quite unlikely
-to encounter them on a Linux box.)
-
-
-Each has its own unique features, but the best compromise is qmail. It
-features high security (even if vmail is more secure), high speed
-(even if smail is faster for local uses) and ease of configuration.
-Of course, feel free to choose any mail software. The information
-provided here is intended to help you choose well.
-
-
-Sendmail can be nice for many sites with complicated options, but I think its
-configuration is too hard for beginners while it is not very secure or very
-fast, so there is only a __really__ outdated sendmail section in this HOWTO.
-
-
-If you know what you're doing, choose sendmail (and you shouldn't be
-reading this HOWTO!); otherwise I generally recommend qmail.
-
-
-Detailed descriptions of these programs follow.
-
-
-
-
-!!5.1 sendmail
-
-
-
-BSD sendmail is the grandaddy of Internet MTAs. It has outlasted a few
-would-be successors. Most Linux distributions now use it and have it
-preinstalled.
-
-
-
-
-
-Sendmail has a long-standing reputation for being an administrator's
-nightmare -- hard to understand, tricky to configure, rife with
-security holes. As Internet technology and standards have stabilized,
-however, many of the sendmail options and configurable rules that gave
-rise to this reputation have ceased to require per-site tweaking
-(the effective demise of non-TCP/IP network layers like UUCP has
-helped a lot). Also, recent sendmail versions have an improved
-configuration system that insulates you from the legendary hideousness
-of the sendmail.cf configuration file. Most importantly, sendmail now
-normally comes preconfigured, and you should never need to touch it
-unless you have unusual requirements (such as needing to route mail
-over a non-TCP/IP network).
-
-
-
-
-
-There is a sendmail home page at
-http://www.sendmail.org.
-It includes references to extensive documentation of sendmail, should
-you actually need to wrestle with custom-configuring it.
-
-
-
-
-
-Other MTAs, if called as `sendmail', may mimic the semantics of
-sendmail's command-line options. This is convenient for mail user
-agents, which often assume they are talking to sendmail.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!5.2 smail v3.2
-
-
-
-Smail was the first serious attempt to replace sendmail. It has a
-simpler and much more comprehensible configuration system than
-sendmail's, and it's fairly secure. Some Linux distributions
-preinstall it rather than sendmail.
-
-
-
-
-
-At one time smail's excellent support for mixed TCP/IP and UUCP sites
-was a major selling point for it, but as UUCP has declined, so has
-smail. Also, smail is less efficient than sendmail on high-volume
-connections.
-
-
-
-
-
-As with sendmail, it is unlikely that you will need to tweak a
-preinstalled smail configuration.
-
-
-
-
-
-(Very occasionally you might run across references to an `smail 2.5'.
-This program has been obsolete for a long time. Don't bother with it.)
-
-
-
-
-!!5.3 qmail
-
-
-
-The qmail program is a sendmail-compatible MTA designed specifically
-for high security. The author has a standing reward of $500 for
-publication of the first verifiable security hole; this reward has gone
-unclaimed since March 1997.
-
-
-The qmail home page is at
- http://pobox.com/~djb/qmail.html.
-
-
-
-
-!!5.4 exim
-
-
-
-The exim program is similar to smail3, but with more features. It
-advertises particular strengths in spam-blocking and support of several
-virtual hosts (virtual DNS domains) on the same host.
-
-
-The exim home page is at
- http://www.exim.org/.
-
-
-I tried it on my own computer, it looks like a nice merge between
-smail configuration system and qmail security, moreover it has the
-advantage of being GPL.
-
-
-A section explaining how to replace your current MTA by exim will be
-added soon.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!6. Installing Transport Software
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!6.1 Qmail v1.03
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Secured, fast and easy to use, this is my preferred MTA (mail transport agent).
-
-
-Currently, no distribution comes with qmail preinstalled. We will
-focus on compiling and installing qmail, since this is the only tricky
-part: configuration is really straightforward.
-
-
-
-
-!Getting qmail
-
-
-
-
-
-Go to www.qmail.org to download the latest version.
-
-
-
-
-!Uncompressing sources
-
-
-
-
-
-Then decompress it by running:
-
-
-mv qmail.tar.gz /usr/local/src
-cd /usr/local/src ; tar -zxvf qmail.tar.gz
-
-
-
-
-If you find a bz2 version (new and better compression format), just
-replace tar with:
-
-
-bunzip2 qmail.tar.bz2
-tar -xvf qmail.tar
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!Preparing for compilation
-
-
-
-
-
-Now enter the qmail directory to examine the configuration defaults:
-
-
-cd qmail; more conf-*
-
-
-
-
-You shouldn't need to change any defaults, but you could (for example)
-specify an alternate installation directory or better compilation
-flags.
-
-
-Now run:
-
-
-mkdir /var/qmail
-
-
-to create target dir.
-
-
-If you haven't installed a Debian distribution, you'll need to add several user
-IDs for qmail's use: qmail's high security depends on that.
-
-
-The fact that qmail is divided into modules running each under their
-own UID makes it much harder for an intruder to break your whole mail
-system or gain root access by abusing it.
-
-
-So run:
-
-
-# groupadd nofiles
-# useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail/alias alias
-# useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail qmaild
-# useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail qmaill
-# useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail qmailp
-# groupadd qmail
-# useradd -g qmail -d /var/qmail qmailq
-# useradd -g qmail -d /var/qmail qmailr
-# useradd -g qmail -d /var/qmail qmails
-
-
-
-
-or hand-edit /etc/passwd and /etc/group to add these users
-by yourself.
-
-
-Evan E. reported he had to use "-g groupid" parameter for a vanilla
-groupadd (Caldera 1.2), else groupadd reported this error :
-"A group with that name already exists."
-
-
-For example you can respectively add:
-
-
-
-
-
-qmail:*:2107:
-nofiles:*:2108:
-
-
-
-
-&
-
-
-
-
-
-alias:*:7790:2108::/var/qmail/alias:/bin/true
-qmaild:*:7791:2108::/var/qmail:/bin/true
-qmaill:*:7792:2108::/var/qmail:/bin/true
-qmailp:*:7793:2108::/var/qmail:/bin/true
-qmailq:*:7794:2107::/var/qmail:/bin/true
-qmailr:*:7795:2107::/var/qmail:/bin/true
-qmails:*:7796:2107::/var/qmail:/bin/true
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Now you can run
-
-
-make setup check
-
-
-
-
-to check your configuration, then :
-
-
-./config
-
-
-to configure qmail.
-
-
-Attention, your server has to be resolvable by DNS or ./config will get
-confused.
-
-
-If you don't have DNS access, you can give your server name
-directly via :
-
-
-./config-fast foo.bar.com
-
-
-
-
-Now you must install some aliases, since /etc/alias is not used by qmail unless
-you compile and install an optional package.
-
-
-Here's my setup :
-
-
-File : ".qmail-MAILER-DAEMON"
-&postmaster
-File : ".qmail-bin"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-daemon"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-decode"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-dumper"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-games"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-ingres"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-mailer-daemon"
-&postmaster
-File : ".qmail-manager"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-news"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-nobody"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-operator"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-postmaster"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-root"
-&guylhem
-File : ".qmail-system"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-toor"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-uucp"
-&root
-File : ".qmail-uucp-default"
-|preline -dr /usr/bin/uux - -r -gC -a"${SENDER:-MAILER-DAEMON}" lm!rmail "($DEFAULT@$HOST)"
-
-
-
-
-You need to create each of these file in ~alias, replacing
-&guylhem in .qmail-root by your own login to get root mail.
-
-
-ATTENTION UUCP USERS !
-
-
-DO NOT TRUST THE QMAIL FAQ FOR UUCP, USE MY .qmail-uucp-default INSTEAD!
-ELSE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SEND ANY MAIL BY YOUR UUCP CONNEXION!
-
-
-Now you'll need to decide in which format your users will get their mail.
-
-
-Here's my suggestion :
-
-
-* For NFS mounted home dirs, use MAILDIR format with a patch for local
-mail readers (patchs are available on www.qmail.org)
-*
-
-* If no patch is available, prefer MAILFILE format : any mail reader can
-read a file containing mail, people will only need to create an alias (for
-bash) or a setenv (for csh) for their mail reader
-*
-
-* Avoid /var/spool/mail/$USER format, too insecure
-*
-
-
-
-To fix the default format, read each file in /var/qmail/boot
-then copy the one you best like to /var/qmail/rc.
-
-
-home or proc are safe choices, but prefer home for security
-reasons.
-
-
-
-
-!Configuring qmail
-
-
-
-
-
-In /var/qmail/control, edit:
-
-
-
-
-!defaultdomain, me, plusdomain
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-* me is you local FQDN (full qualified domain name), for example on
-my machine it is barberouge.linux.lmm.com
-
-*
-
-* defaultdomain will be added to any host name without dots, including
-defaulthost, for example you can set it to localnetwork so any mail sent
-to joe@hisbox will be completed to be sent to joe@hisbox.localnetwork instead
-
-*
-
-*plusdomain is the exception: it is added to any host name that ends
-with a plus sign, including defaulthost (set in me) if it ends with a
-plus sign.
-*
-
-
-
-These 3 examples show you the power and ease of configuration of qmail!
-
-
-
-
-!locals, rcpthosts
-
-
-
-
-
-If you want to support virtual domain names, just put additional names in these
-files. Any mail you receive for these names will be handled locally.
-
-
-The difference between locals and rcpthosts is the latter isn't
-considered as a local alias, which is useful if you receive mail from some
-free email address like yahoo.com or lemel.fr while you also send mail to other
-users of these non local services, i.e. you don't want to handle locally mail
-send to someone@yahoo.com!
-
-
-
-
-!virtualdomains
-
-
-
-
-
-There can you specify default outgoing mode, for example :
-
-
-#:alias-uucp
-
-
-
-
-if you don't want to send outgoing mail by uucp but by smtp (default) or
-
-
-:alias-ucp
-
-
-
-
-if you send your outgoing mail by uucp.
-
-
-
-
-!Testing qmail
-
-
-
-
-
-Now it is configured, try:
-
-
-sh -cf '/var/qmail/rc &'
-
-
-to launch qmail (it won't interfere with your local MTA), then:
-
-
-
-
-
-echo to: mylogin | /var/qmail/bin/qmail-inject
-
-
-
-
-You should receive this mail in the format you've chosen in
-/var/qmail/boot/.
-
-
-
-
-!Removing your other MTA
-
-
-
-
-
-If this test was successful, just kill your previous MTA:
-
-
-killall -STOP daemon_name ; if any children are running, you should
-killall -CONT their_name, wait, killall -STOP again, and repeat ad nauseam.
-
-
-If there aren't any children, killall -TERM and then killall -CONT.
-
-
-Remove it (how you can do this depends on the distribution you installed, for
-example rpm -e --nodeps on !RedHat, Caldera and Suse, or dpkg -r --force-depends
-on Debian) then run:
-
-
-# ln -s /var/qmail/bin/sendmail /usr/lib/sendmail
-# ln -s /var/qmail/bin/sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail
-
-
-
-
-Now set up qmail-smtpd in /etc/inetd.conf (all on one line):
-
-
-smtp stream tcp nowait qmaild /var/qmail/bin/tcp-env tcp-env /var/qmail/bin/qmail-smtpd
-
-
-
-
-If you are using a old non-SYSV-init distribution like redhat, just add to your
-boot scripts:
-
-
-sh -cf '/var/qmail/rc &'
-
-
-
-
-Usually this should be /etc/rc.local but your mileage may vary.
-
-
-For actual SYSV-init compliant distributions (!RedHat, Caldera, Suse, Debian),
-add this script to /etc/init.d/ or /etc/rc.d/init.d/ :
-
-
-DEBIAN version:
-
-
-
-
-
-#!/bin/sh
-test -x /var/qmail/rc || exit
-case "$1" in
-start)
-echo -n "Starting mta: "
-sh -cf '/var/qmail/rc &'
-echo "qmail."
-;;
-stop)
-echo -n "Stopping mta: "
-killall qmail-lspawn
-echo "qmail."
-;;
-restart)
-echo -n "Restarting mta: "
-killall -HUP qmail-lspawn
-killall -ALRM qmail-lspawn
-echo "qmail."
-;;
-*)
-echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/qmail {start|stop|restart}"
-exit 1
-esac
-exit
-
-
-
-
-REDHAT version:
-
-
-
-
-
-#!/bin/sh
-#
-# qmail This shell script takes care of starting and stopping qmail.
-#
-# description: qmail is a Mail Transport Agent, which is the program \
-# that moves mail from one machine to another.
-# processname: qmail
-# config: /var/qmail/control/
-# Source function library.
-. /etc/rc.d/init.d/functions
-# Source networking configuration.
-. /etc/sysconfig/network
-export PATH=$PATH:/var/qmail/bin
-# Check that networking is up.
-[ ${NETWORKING} = "no"
] && exit
-[[ -f /usr/sbin/sendmail ] || exit
-# See how we were called.
-case "$1" in
-start)
-# Start daemons.
-echo -n "Starting qmail: "
-qmail-start '|preline procmail' splogger qmail &
-touch /var/lock/subsys/qmail
-echo
-;;
-stop)
-# Stop daemons.
-echo -n "Shutting down qmail: "
-killproc qmail-lspawn
-echo
-rm -f /var/lock/subsys/qmail
-;;
-restart)
-$0 stop
-$0 start
-;;
-status)
-status qmail
-;;
-*)
-echo "Usage: qmail {start|stop|restart|status}"
-exit 1
-esac
-exit
-
-
-
-
-And make symlinks to each /etc/rc.d/rcN.d/, for example:
-
-
-ln -sf /etc/init.d/qmail /etc/rc1.d/K19qmail
-
-
-
-
-If the first letter is K, you will kill qmail on this runlevel (1 for single
-mode or 6 for boot), but if the first letter is S, you will start qmail on this
-runlevel (each others runlevel).
-
-
-
-
-
-*How to decide whether you should put a K or a S?
-Do what the majority of daeligmons in this runlevel do!
-
-*
-
-*What number should you put after K or S?
-The number next to your network daemon.
-That means the MTA will be started and stopped respectively
-after and before the network daemon.
-Without this, your network will be unreachable while the MTA would
-expect it to work.
-*
-
-
-
-!RedHat, Caldera and Suse will use /etc/rc.d/ instead of plain /etc/ for Debian
-distribution, i.e. /etc/rc.d/rc1.d or /etc/rc.d/init.d for example.
-
-
-
-
-!That's all, folks!
-
-
-
-
-
-No need to reboot (remember, you're using linux, not some other cheap OS!) for
-the modifications to take effect, just run:
-
-
-
-
-
-killall inetd
-init 1
-
-
-
-
-To go to single user mode, then:
-
-
-init 2
-
-
-
-
-to go back to your default runlevel (indicated in /etc/inittab with initdefault
-label).
-
-
-You could also hand-start qmail script but "init" method will show you if
-qmail script is well positioned, i.e. launched after network scripts but
-before any program which depends on email to warn you (like inn).
-
-
-
-
-!!6.2 Smail v3.1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Smail3.1 seems to be a de-facto standard transport agent for uucp-only
-sites and for some smtp sites. It's easy to configure, it compiles
-without patching from the sources and it's fairly secure.
-
-
-
-
-!Configuring smail
-
-
-
-
-
-Install the smail binary from your distribution (I recommend you choose
-this) or get the smail sources and build smail. If you're building smail
-from sources, you need to have the following in your os/linux file so
-that 'sed' gives you shell scripts that work properly.
-
-
-
-
-CASE_NO_NEWLINES=true
-
-
-
-Once it's installed, config. files will certainly go in /etc/smail (but your
-mileage may vary if you use old distributions); let's start editing them!
-
-
-
-
-!"config" file
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-# From
-smart_path=polux
-smart_transport=uux
-# To
-hostname=barberouge
-domains=linux.lmm.com
-visible_name=barberouge.linux.lmm.com
-uucp_name=barberouge.linux.lmm.com
-# max_message_size=512k
-# auth_domains=foo.bar
-# more_hostnames=barberouge.polux.freenix.fr
-
-
-
-
-Well, first, who is feeding you? I'm fed by "polux" via uucp (i.e.
-uux transport); naturally you need to change this file according to
-your own situation. For example, you could by fed by
-"bargw.bar.foobar.com" via "smtp", in that case you don't need a
-transport file and can define "-transport_file " to indicate you don't
-need one.
-
-
-You can also use "postmaster_address = yourname", hide the network
-topology in outgoing addresses (if you're a gateway) using
-"visible_name", set which aliases address can also be used for the
-email you receive, using "more_hostnames".
-
-
-See smail documentation for more details or the examples in
-/usr/doc/smail/examples to see if any match your situation.
-
-
-
-
-!"directors" file
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-# aliasinclude - expand ":include:filename" addresses produced by alias files
-# This entry and the next one are pretty much boiler-plate. Reasons
-# for making significant changes are few. The sole purpose of these
-# is to match and expand addresses of the form:
-# :include:pathname
-# which may occur in alias files or mailing-list/forward files
-# (produced by any director with a driver of forwardfile).
-aliasinclude:
-driver = aliasinclude, # use this special-case driver
-nobody; # associate nobody user with addresses
-# when mild permission violations
-# are encountered
-copysecure, # get permissions from alias director
-copyowners, # get owners from alias director
-# forwardinclude - expand ":include:filename" addrs produced by forward files
-forwardinclude:
-driver = forwardinclude, # use this special-case driver
-nobody;
-copysecure, # get perms from forwarding director
-copyowners, # get owners from forwarding director
-# aliases - search for alias expansions stored in a database
-# This is the standard aliases file. It is used for generic things,
-# like mapping root, postmaster, MAILER-DAEMON and uucp to site
-# admins, creating some small system alias expansions, and such. In
-# this site configuration, the aliases file is used mostly for
-# machine-specific aliasing/forwarding information. Global forwarding
-# information should be put in the "forward" database.
-aliases:
-driver=aliasfile, # general-purpose aliasing director
--nobody, # all addresses are associated
-# with nobody by default, so setting
-# this is not useful.
-sender_okay, # don't remove sender from expansions
-owner=owner-$user; # problems go to an owner address
-file=/etc/aliases,
-modemask=002, # should not be globally writable
-optional, # ignore if file does not exist
-proto=lsearch, # unsorted ASCII file
-# forward - search for expansions stored in a forwarding database
-# This is the subdomain-wide user forwarding database. Entries are
-# maintained
here for current or past users, to forward their mail to
-# their preferred mail-reading machine. The forward database is
-# shipped around the TCP/IP network as changes are made, to keep the
-# network consistent.
-#forward:
-# driver = aliasfile, # general-purpose aliasing director
-# -nobody, # all addresses are associated
-# # with nobody by default, so setting
-# # this is not useful.
-# owner = real-$user; # problems go to an owner address
-#
-# file = /etc/forward,
-# modemask = 002,
-# proto = dbm, # use dbm(3X) library for access
-# dotforward - expand .forward files in user home directories
-# For users that have an entry in the "forward" database, a ".forward"
-# file is only used if it is on the "home" machine, as identified in
-# the forward database. If used, it is treated as a list of addresses
-# to which mail should be delivered, rather than (or in addition to)
-# the user identified in the local address.
-dotforward:
-driver = forwardfile, # general-purpose forwarding director
-owner = postmaster, nobody, sender_okay;
-file = ~/.forward, # .forward file in home directories
-checkowner, # the user can own this file
-owners = root, # or root can own the file
-modemask = 002, # it should not be globally writable
-caution = daemon:root, # don't run things as root or daemon
-# be extra careful of remotely accessible home directories
-unsecure = "~uucp:/tmp:/usr/tmp:/var/tmp"
-# forwardto - expand a "Forward to " in user mailbox files
-# This emulates the V6/V7/System-V forwarding mechanism which uses a
-# line of forward addresses stored at the beginning of user mailbox files
-# prefixed with the string "Forward to "
-forwardto:
-driver = forwardfile,
-owner = postmaster, nobody, sender_okay;
-file = /var/spool/mail/${lc:user}, # point at user mailbox files
-forwardto, # enable "Forward to " function
-checkowner, # the user can own this file
-owners = root, # or root can own the file
-modemask = 0002, # under System V, group mail can write
-caution = daemon:root # don't run things as root or daemon
-# user - match users on the local host with delivery to their mailboxes
-user: driver = user; # driver to match usernames
-transport = local # local transport goes to mailboxes
-# real_user - match usernames when prefixed with the string "real-"
-# This is useful for allowing an address which explicitly delivers to a
-# user's mailbox file. For example, errors in a .forward file expansion
-# could be delivered here, or forwarding loops between multiple machines
-# can be resolved by using a real-username address. Also, users that
-# wish to use mail as a means of transferring data to a machine that
-# is not their "home" machine can mail to real-login-name@remote.host.
-real_user:
-driver = user;
-transport = local,
-prefix = "real-" # for example, match real-root
-# lists - expand mailing lists stored in a list directory
-# mailing lists can be created simply by creating a file in the
-# /etc/smail/lists directory.
-lists: driver = forwardfile,
-caution, # flag all addresses with caution
-nobody, # and then associate the nobody user
-owner = owner-$user; # system V sites may wish to use
-# o-$user, as owner-$user may be
-# too long for a 14-char filename.
-file = lists/${lc:user} # lists is under $smail_lib_dir
-# owners - expand mailing lists stored in a list owner directory
-# mailing lists owner lists can be created simply by creating a file
-# in the /etc/smail/lists/owner directory. Mailing list owners
-# are sent locally generated errors dealing with a mailing list of the
-# same name. To create an owner list for a mailing list, create a
-# file with the name of the list in /etc/smail/lists/owner. This
-# will create a list address of owner-listname, as is used by the
-# "lists" director above.
-owners: driver = forwardfile,
-caution, # flag all addresses with caution
-nobody, # and then associate the nobody user
-owner = postmaster; # system V sites may wish to use
-# o-$user, as owner-$user may be
-# too long for a 14-char filename.
-prefix = "owner-",
-file = lists/owner/${lc:user} # lists is under $smail_lib_dir
-# request - expand mailing lists stored in a list request directory
-# mailing lists request lists can be created simply by creating a file
-# in the /etc/smail/lists/request directory. Request addresses
-# are typically used as a standard address for queries about a mailing
-# list. For example, requests for additions or deletions to a list
-# will generally be sent to "list-request", which should be set up to
-# forward to the appropriate person or persons.
-request: driver = forwardfile,
-caution, # flag all addresses with caution
-nobody, # and then associate the nobody user
-owner = postmaster; # system V sites may wish to use
-# o-$user, as owner-$user may be
-# too long for a 14-char filename.
-suffix = "-request",
-file = lists/request/${lc:user} # lists is under $smail_lib_dir
-
-
-
-
-You shouldn't need to change anything here, only mailing list options if you
-intend to run some using smail, or forwards options if, for example, you want
-to disable forwarding.
-
-
-
-
-!"fidopaths" file
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-.f105.n324.z2.fidonet.org f105.n324.z2.fidonet.org!%s
-.n324.z2.fidonet.org f105.n324.z2.fidonet.org!%s
-.z2.fidonet.org f105.n324.z2.fidonet.org!%s
-.fidonet.org f105.n324.z2.fidonet.org!%s
-
-
-
-
-Create such a file only if you're using ifmail and FIDO.
-
-
-
-
-!"routers" file
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-# forces - force certain paths
-# This database exists as a means of hardcoding the paths to various
-# machines or domains. It is for use in creating temporary tweaks to
-# the other routing databases. To change the database, edit the file
-# maps/force.path and type "make" in the maps/ subdirectory.
-forces:
-driver = pathalias, # router to search paths file
-method = /etc/smail/maps/table; # transports are in this file
-file = forcepaths, # file containing force path info
-proto = lsearch, # use the sorted path file
-optional,
-reopen # close when not being used
-uucp_neighbors:
-driver=uuname, # use a program which returns neighbors
-transport=uux;
-cmd="/usr/bin/uuname -a", # specifically, use the uuname program
-# domain=uucp # strip ending ".uucp"
-# smart_host - a partially specified smarthost director
-# If the config file attribute smart_path is defined as a path from the
-# local host to a remote host, then hostnames not matched otherwise will
-# be sent off to the stated remote host. The config file attribute
-# smart_transport can be used to specify a different transport.
-# If the smart_path attribute is not defined, this router is ignored.
-smart_host:
-driver = smarthost, # special-case driver
-transport = uux # by default deliver over UUCP
-# path=phreak
-# ifmail - to send mails to fidonet and vice versa
-ifmail:
-driver=pathalias,
-transport=ifmail;
-file=fidopaths,
-proto=lsearch
-
-
-
-
-You should only include ifmail chapter if you use ifmail for FIDO
-mails. Note you can also change transport mode from "uux" (ie UUCP)
-to, for example, "smtp" or even 'hardcode the paths to various
-machines or domains' in "/etc/smail/maps/table".
-
-
-This is useful if you want outgoing mail for your local network to be
-delivered immediately, since there's no need for it to be routed to your uucp
-connexion of your internet access.
-
-
-
-
-!"transports" file
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-# local - deliver mail to local users
-# Tell smail to append directly to user mailbox files in the /var/spool/mail
-# directory.
-#local: driver = appendfile, # append message to a file
-# -return_path, # include a Return-Path: field
-# local, # use local forms for delivery
-# from, # supply a From_ envelope line
-# unix_from_hack; # insert > before From in body
-#
-# file = /var/spool/mail/${lc:user}, # use this location for Linux
-# # Note, mail spool must be 1777
-# file = ~/mailfile, # use this location for better security
-# group = mail, # group to own file for System V
-# mode = 0660, # under System V, group mail can access
-# suffix = "\n", # append an extra newline
-# append_as_user,
-# This allows each user to have a ~/.procmailrc file to control filtering
-# of mail and saving mail from mail lists in separate mailboxes if they wish.
-local: +inet,
--uucp,
-driver = pipe, # append message to a file
-return_path, # include a Return-Path: field
-local, # use local forms for delivery
-from, # supply a From_ envelope line
-unix_from_hack; # insert > before From in body
-cmd = "/usr/bin/procmail", # use procmail for local delivery
-parent_env, # environment info from parent addr
-pipe_as_user, # use user-id associated with address
-umask = 0022, # umask for child process
-# -ignore_status, # exit status should be believed
-# -ignore_write_errors, # retry on broken pipes
-# pipe - deliver mail to shell commands
-# This is used implicitly when smail encounters addresses which begin with
-# a vertical bar character, such as "|/usr/lib/news/recnews talk.bizarre".
-# The vertical bar is removed from the address before being given to the
-# transport.
-#pipe: driver = pipe, # pipe message to another program
-# return_path, local, from, unix_from_hack;
-#
-# cmd = "/bin/sh -c $user", # send address to the Bourne Shell
-# parent_env, # environment info from parent addr
-# pipe_as_user, # use user-id associated with address
-# umask = 0022, # umask for child process
-# -log_output, # do not log stdout/stderr
-# ignore_status, # exit status may be bogus, ignore it
-# ignore_write_errors, # ignore broken pipes
-# file - deliver mail to files
-# This is used implicitly when smail encounters addresses which begin with
-# a slash or squiggle character, such as "/usr/info/list_messages" or
-# perhaps "~/Mail/inbox".
-#file: driver = appendfile,
-# return_path, local, from, unix_from_hack;
-#
-# file = $user, # file is taken from address
-# append_as_user, # use user-id associated with address
-# expand_user, # expand ~ and $ within address
-# check_path,
-# suffix = "\n",
-# mode = 0644
-# uux - deliver to the rmail program on a remote UUCP site
-#
-# As many as five recipient addresses will be delivered to the remote
-# host in one UUCP transaction.
-uux: driver = pipe,
--uucp,
-inet,
-# uucp, # use UUCP-style addressing forms
-from, # supply a From_ envelope line
-max_addrs = 5, # at most 5 addresses per invocation
-max_chars = 200; # at most 200 chars of addresses
-# the -r flag prevents immediate delivery, parentheses around the
-# $user variable prevent special interpretation by uux.
-cmd = "/usr/bin/uux - -r -g$grade $host!rmail $((${strip:user})$)",
-# cmd="/usr/bin/uux - $host!rmail $(($user)$)",
-ignore_write_errors, # ignore broken pipes
-umask = 0022,
-# pipe_as_sender,
-# uux_one_addr - deliver mail over UUCP to a remote host that can take
-# one address at a time.
-# This is often necessary when delivering to a site running an unmodified
-# version of 4.1BSD.
-uux_one_addr:
-driver = pipe,
-uucp, # use UUCP-style addressing forms
-from; # supply a From_ envelope line
-# the -r flag prevents immediate delivery
-cmd = "/usr/bin/uux - -r -g$grade $host!rmail (${strip:user})",
-umask = 0022,
-pipe_as_sender
-queueonly:
-driver = pipe; # send the message to a pipe
-cmd = "/usr/lib/sendmail -Q -f $sender -bm $user",
-# use getmail for local delivery
-user=root, # execute getmail as "root"
-group=mail, # execute getmail as "mail"
-parent_env, # environment info from parent addr
--pipe_as_user, # use user-id associated with address
-umask = 0007, # umask for child process
-# to deliver the message. The smtp transport is included only if BSD
-# networking exists.
-# The uucp attribute can be specified for transfers within the UUCP
-# zone. The inet attribute must be specified for transfers within the
-# Internet.
-# NOTE: This is hardly optimal, a backend should exist which can handle
-# multiple messages per connection.
-# ALSO: It may be necessary to restrict max_addrs to 100, as this is the
-# lower limit SMTP requires an implementation to handle for one
-# message.
-smtp: driver=tcpsmtp,
-inet, # if UUCP_ZONE is not defined
-# uucp, # if UUCP_ZONE is defined
--max_addrs, -max_chars; # no limit on number of addresses
-short_timeout=5m, # timeout for short operations
-long_timeout=2h, # timeout for longer SMTP operations
-service=smtp, # connect to this service port
-# For internet use: uncomment the below 4 lines
-use_bind, # resolve MX and multiple A records
-defnames, # use standard domain searching
-defer_no_connect, # try again if the nameserver is down
-local_mx_okay, # fail an MX to the local host
-ifmail:
-from,received,max_addrs=5,max_chars=200,
-driver=pipe;
-pipe_as_sender,
-cmd="/usr/local/bin/ifmail -x9 -r$host $((${strip:user})$)"
-
-
-
-
-You should include an ifmail chapter only if you use ifmail for FIDO
-mail. Apart from that, you shouldn't need to edit anything in this
-file which defines transport agents (like uux, smtp ...) you can use
-as parameters in other config. files.
-
-
-Note I commented out some parts, like "pipes" or "file", to enhance security.
-
-
-
-
-!"maps/" directory
-
-
-
-
-
-It contains map and table files:
-
-
-First, map file
-
-
-
-
-
-#N foo.bar foo2.bar2
-#S AT 486/!RedHat Linux 1.2.13
-#O organization
-#C contact
-#E administration (email)
-#T phone
-#P address
-#R
-#U hosts connected via uucp
-#W created/edited by
-#
-hname polux
-hname linux.eu.org
-hname = polux
-hname = polux.linux.eu.org
-
-
-
-
-Once again, edit this file to match you situation (I'm fed by
-polux.linux.eu.org).
-
-
-Now table file
-
-
-
-
-
-* uux
-
-
-
-
-You can define different transports to different paths, for example
-"smtp" for the machines in your local network, "uux" (i.e. uucp) for
-the rest of the world or vice-versa (I'm using uucp for any outgoing
-mail, therefore I use "*"!).
-
-
-
-
-!Other good examples
-
-
-
-
-
-The previous files are the one I currently use for my site, you
-shouldn't encounter any problem using them as samples/basis for your
-own files.
-
-
-The following files are provided only as good examples to configure
-smail a different way.
-
-
-
-
-
-#ident "@(#) transports,v 1.2 1990/10/24 05:20:46 tron Exp"
-# See smail(5) for a complete description of the contents of this file.
-# local - deliver mail to local users
-#
-# Tell smail to append directly to user mailbox files in the /usr/mail
-# directory.
-local: driver = appendfile, # append message to a file
-return_path, # include a Return-Path: field
-local, # use local forms for delivery
-from, # supply a From_ envelope line
-unix_from_hack; # insert > before From in body
-file = /usr/mail/${lc:user}, # use this location for System V
-group = mail, # group to own file for System V
-mode = 0660, # under System V, group mail can access
-suffix = "\n", # append an extra newline
-append_as_user,
-# pipe - deliver mail to shell commands
-#
-# This is used implicitly when smail encounters addresses which begin with
-# a vertical bar character, such as "|/usr/lib/news/recnews talk.bizarre".
-# The vertical bar is removed from the address before being given to the
-# transport.
-pipe: driver = pipe, # pipe message to another program
-return_path, local, from, unix_from_hack;
-cmd = "/bin/sh -c $user", # send address to the Bourne Shell
-parent_env, # environment info from parent addr
-pipe_as_user, # use user-id associated with address
-umask = 0022, # umask for child process
--log_output, # do not log stdout/stderr
-ignore_status, # exit status may be bogus, ignore it
-ignore_write_errors, # ignore broken pipes
-# file - deliver mail to files
-#
-# This is used implicitly when smail encounters addresses which begin with a
-# slash or squiggle character, such as "/usr/info/list_messages" or perhaps
-# "~/Mail/inbox".
-file: driver = appendfile,
-return_path, local, from, unix_from_hack;
-file = $user, # file is taken from address
-append_as_user, # use user-id associated with address
-expand_user, # expand ~ and $ within address
-suffix = "\n",
-mode = 0644
-# uux - deliver to the rmail program on a remote UUCP site
-#
-# As many as five recipient addresses will be delivered to the remote host in
-# one UUCP transaction.
-uux: driver = pipe,
-uucp, # use UUCP-style addressing forms
-from, # supply a From_ envelope line
-max_addrs = 5, # at most 5 addresses per invocation
-max_chars = 200; # at most 200 chars of addresses
-# the -r flag prevents immediate delivery, parentheses around the
-# $user variable prevent special interpretation by uux.
-cmd = "/usr/bin/uux - -r -g$grade $host!rmail $((${strip:user})$)",
-umask = 0022,
-pipe_as_sender
-# uux_one_addr - deliver mail over UUCP to a remote host that can take one
-# address at a time.
-#
-# This is often necessary when delivering to a site running an unmodified
-# version of 4.1BSD.
-uux_one_addr:
-driver = pipe,
-uucp, # use UUCP-style addressing forms
-from; # supply a From_ envelope line
-# the -r flag prevents immediate delivery
-cmd = "/usr/bin/uux - -r -g$grade $host!rmail (${strip:user})",
-umask = 0022, pipe_as_sender
-# demand - deliver to a remote rmail program, polling on demand
-demand: driver = pipe,
-uucp, from, max_addrs = 5, max_chars = 200;
-# with no -r flag, try to contact remote site immediately
-cmd = "/usr/bin/uux - -g$grade $host!rmail $(($user)$)",
-umask = 0022, pipe_as_sender
-# uusmtp - deliver to the rsmtp program on a remote UUCP site
-#
-# Deliver using a simple Batched SMTP protocol to the remote machine.
-# This allows much more arbitrary addresses to be used. It also
-# removes the limit on recipient addresses per invocation of uux.
-uusmtp: driver = pipe,
-bsmtp, # send batched SMTP commands
--max_addrs, # there is no limit on the number or
--max_chars; # total size of recipient addresses.
-# supply -r to prevent immediate delivery, the recipient addresses
-# are stored in the data sent to the standard input of rsmtp.
-cmd = "/usr/bin/uux - -r -g$grade $host!rsmtp",
-umask = 0022, pipe_as_sender
-# demand_uusmtp - deliver to a remote rsmtp program, polling on demand
-demand_uusmtp:
-driver = pipe,
-bsmtp, -max_addrs, -max_chars;
-# with no -r flag, try to contact remote site immediately
-cmd = "/usr/bin/uux - -g$grade $host!rsmtp",
-umask = 0022, pipe_as_sender
-# smtp - deliver using SMTP over TCP/IP
-#
-# Connect to a remote host using TCP/IP and initiate an SMTP conversation to
-# deliver the message. The smtp transport is included only if BSD networking
-# exists.
-# NOTE: It may be necessary to restrict max_addrs to 100, as this is the
-# lower limit SMTP requires an implementation to handle for one
-# message.
-smtp: driver = smtp,
--max_addrs,
--max_chars
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-#ident "@(#) table,v 1.2 1990/10/24 05:20:31 tron Exp"
-# This file names the transports that are to be used in delivering
-# to specific hosts from bargw.
-#host transport
-#-------- ---------
-curdsgw demand_uusmtp # deliver using batched SMTP
-oldbsd uux_one_addr # 4.1BSD sites cannot take more than one addr
-sun demand # call sun when their is mail to send
-* uux # for all others, poll at intervals
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!Restarting inetd
-
-
-
-
-
-To run smail as a smtp daemon, add one of the following to /etc/inetd.conf:
-
-smtp stream tcp nowait root /usr/bin/smtpd smtpd
-or:
-smtp stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/in.smtpd
-
-
-
-Outgoing mail gets sent automatically, when using elm.
-
-
-
-
-!Smail with smtp
-
-
-
-
-
-Generally, ISPs use smtp, therefore you shouldn't have any problems
-sending your mail. If your internet link is down when you send mail,
-then the mail sits in "/var/spool/smail/input". When the link
-next comes up, "runq" is run which causes the mail to be
-sent. However, receiving mail is __the__ problem since your
-provider has many clients to look after, not only you!
-
-
-Usually, you can retrieve your mail via the POP protocol, see POP
-section below.
-
-
-
-
-!!6.3 OUTDATED SECTION: Sendmail+IDA
-
-
-
-
-
-
-For big sites, sendmail is worth choosing, due to the "incredible ease of use",
-(very relative feeling when you know qmail) but you must decide which you want
-between sendmail+IDA and sendmail 8.x:
-
-
-
-
-
-* If you use an old kernel (1.): sendmail+IDA
-*
-
-* If you use a not so old kernel (1.2): sendmail+IDA and source code editing
-*
-
-* Recent kernel (2.) will choose sendmail 8.x
-*
-
-
-
-Remember, linux newbies or people concerned by security / ease of
-configuration should rather try using smail or qmail, which are easier
-to use and safer.
-
-
-
-
-!Source installation
-
-
-
-
-
-If your distribution doesn't provide you with a ready-to-install sendmail
-package (.rpm for !RedHat, Caldera and Suse, .deb for Debian) just download the
-sources and run:
-
-
-
-
-
-*cd / ; tar -zxvf sendmail5.67b+IDA1.5.tgz
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*cd to /usr/local/lib/mail/CF and copy the sample.m4 local.m4 file to
-"yourhostname.m4".
-*
-
-
-
-Edit out the distributed hostname, aliases, smarthost and put in the
-correct one for your site. The default file is for a uucp-only site (no
-longer in 8.x) who has domainized headers and who talks to a smart host.
-Then "make yourhostname.cf" and move the resulting file to
-/etc/sendmail.cf
-
-
-
-
-
-*if you are uucp-only, you do *NOT* need to create any of the tables
-mentioned in the README.linux file.
-*
-
-
-
-You'll just have to touch the files so that the Makefile works. Just
-edit the .m4 file, make sendmail.cf and start testing it.
-
-
-
-
-
-*if you're uucp-only and you talk to sites in addition to your
-"smart-host", you'll need to add uucpxtable entries for each (or mail to them
-will also go through the smart host) and run dbm against the revised
-uucpxtable.
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-
-*If you run Rich Braun's original binary distribution of 5.67a, you'll
-need to freeze the configuration if you change your .cf file with
-"/usr/lib/sendmail -bz" to make the changes take effect.
-*
-
-
-
-You should also update your version to at least 5.67b since there is a
-nasty security hole in 5.67a and earlier. Another nice thing is that
-if you have mail.debug set and you run syslogd, your incoming and
-outgoing mail messages will get logged. See the "/etc/syslog.conf"
-file for details.
-
-
-The sources for sendmail+IDA can be found at vixen.cso.uiuc.edu ; they require
-no patching to run under Linux if you're running something like a kernel of
-1.00.
-
-
-If you're running a kernel > 1.1.50, you get the fun of reversing most of the
-Linux-specific patches that are now in the vanilla sources.
-(I *did* told you this sendmail was only for old kernels:-)
-
-
-It's extremely obvious where this needs to be done: just type "make"
-and when it blows up, go to that line in the sources and comment out the
-Linux-specific code that's in there.
-
-
-If you're going to run sendmail+IDA, I strongly recommend you go to the
-sendmail5.67b+IDA1.5 version since all required Linux-specific patches are now
-in the vanilla sources and several security holes have been plugged that WERE
-(!!!) in the older version you may have grabbed or built before about
-December 1st, 1993.
-
-
-Now linux kernel is 2., you should use sendmail 8.x instead of sendmail+IDA,
-but I already told you'd better choose sendmail 8.x:-)
-
-
-
-
-!The sendmail.m4 file
-
-
-
-
-
-Sendmail+IDA requires you to set up a sendmail.m4 file rather than
-editing the sendmail.cffile directly. The nice thing about this is
-that it is simple to set up mail configurations that are extremely difficult
-(if not totally impossible for most people to set up correctly) in smail or
-traditional sendmail.
-
-
-The sendmail.m4 file that corresponds to the above smail example looks like
-the following:
-
-
-
-
-dnl #------------------ SAMPLE SENDMAIL.M4 FILE ------------------
-dnl #
-dnl # (the string 'dnl' is the m4 equivalent of commenting out a line)
-dnl # (well, not exactly, but use it for this purpose if you must :-)
-dnl # you generally don't want to override LIBDIR from the compiled in paths
-dnl #define(LIBDIR,/usr/local/lib/mail)dnl # where all support files go
-define(LOCAL_MAILER_DEF, mailers.linux)dnl # mailer for local delivery
-define(POSTMASTERBOUNCE)dnl # postmaster gets bounces
-define(PSEUDODOMAINS, BITNET UUCP)dnl # don't try DNS on these
-dnl #
-dnl #-------------------------------------------------------------
-dnl #
-dnl # names we're known by
-define(PSEUDONYMS, myhostname.subdomain.domain myhostname.UUCP)
-dnl #
-dnl # our primary name
-define(HOSTNAME, myhostname.subdomain.domain)
-dnl #
-dnl # our uucp name
-define(UUCPNAME, myhostname)dnl
-dnl #
-dnl #-------------------------------------------------------------
-dnl #
-define(UUCPNODES, |uuname|sort|uniq)dnl # our uucp neighbors
-define(BANGIMPLIESUUCP)dnl # make certain that uucp
-define(BANGONLYUUCP)dnl # mail is treated correctly
-define(RELAY_HOST, my_uucp_neighbor)dnl # our smart relay host
-define(RELAY_MAILER, UUCP-A)dnl # we reach moria via uucp
-dnl #
-dnl #--------------------------------------------------------------------
-dnl #
-dnl # the various dbm lookup tables
-dnl #
-define(ALIASES, LIBDIR/aliases)dnl # system aliases
-define(DOMAINTABLE, LIBDIR/domaintable)dnl # domainize hosts
-define(PATHTABLE, LIBDIR/pathtable)dnl # paths database
-define(GENERICFROM, LIBDIR/generics)dnl # generic from addresses
-define(MAILERTABLE, LIBDIR/mailertable)dnl # mailers per host or domain
-define(UUCPXTABLE, LIBDIR/uucpxtable)dnl # paths to hosts we feed
-define(UUCPRELAYS, LIBDIR/uucprelays)dnl # short-circuit paths
-dnl #
-dnl #--------------------------------------------------------------------
-dnl #
-dnl # include the 'real' code that makes it all work
-dnl # (provided with the source code)
-dnl #
-include(Sendmail.mc)dnl # REQUIRED ENTRY!!!
-dnl #
-dnl #------------ END OF SAMPLE SENDMAIL.M4 FILE -------
-
-
-
-
-
-!Defining a local mailer
-
-
-Unlike most Unix distributions, Linux did not come with a local
-mail delivery agent by default.
-
-
-Slackware did! Well at least it is offered by the
-easy-to-use-but-longwinded installation script. It uses procmail.
-
-
-Now, deliver or procmail is generally installed, with a default sendmail
-setup to handle local mail, so no complexity will be added to this
-already very complex setup. I recommend using the commonly available
-deliver or procmail programs, which can be optional
-packages in a some Linux distributions.
-
-
-In order to do so, you need to define a LOCAL_MAILER_DEF in the
-sendmail.m4 file that points to a file that looks like:
-
-
-
-
-# -- /usr/local/lib/mail/mailers.linux --
-# (local mailers for use on Linux )
-Mlocal, P=/usr/bin/deliver, F=SlsmFDMP, S=10, R=25/10, A=deliver $u
-Mprog, P=/bin/sh, F=lsDFMeuP, S=10, R=10, A=sh -c $u
-
-
-
-There is a also built-in default for deliver in the
-Sendmail.mc file that gets included into the
-sendmail.cf file. To specify it, you would not use the
-mailers.linux file but would instead define the following in
-your sendmail.m4 file:
-
-
-
-
-dnl --- (in sendmail.m4) ---
-define(LOCAL_MAILER_DEF, DELIVER)dnl # mailer for local delivery
-
-
-
-Unfortunately, Sendmail.mc assumes deliver is installed in /bin, which
-is not the case with Slackware1.1.1 (which installs it in /usr/bin).
-In that case you'd need to either fake it with a link or rebuild
-deliver from sources so that it resides in /bin. Please note procmail
-is generally better than deliver, for example for mail filtering.
-
-
-
-
-!The sendmail+IDA dbm tables
-
-
-
-
-
-Setting up special behavior for sites or domains is done through a number of
-optional dbm tables rather than editing the sendmail.cf file
-directly.
-
-
-Refer to the July-1994 issue of Linux Journal (if you can still find
-it:-), to the docs in the sources, or to the sendmail chapter in the newest
-version of the Linux Documentation Project Networking Administration Guide which
-will be available real-soon-now for more details.
-
-
-
-
-
-*mailertable - defines special behavior for remote hosts or domains.
-*
-
-*uucpxtable - forces UUCP delivery of mail to hosts that are in DNS format.
-*
-
-*pathtable - defines UUCP bang-paths to remote hosts or domains.
-*
-
-*uucprelays - short-circuits the pathalias path to well-known remote hosts.
-*
-
-*genericfrom - converts internal addresses into generic ones visible to the outside world.
-*
-
-*xaliases - converts generic addresses to/from valid internal ones.
-*
-
-*decnetxtable - converts RFC-822 addresses to DECnet-style addresses.
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-!So which entries are really required?
-
-
- When not using any of the optional dbm tables, sendmail delivers
-mail via the RELAY_HOST and RELAY_MAILER)
-defined in the sendmail.m4 file used to generate sendmail.cf. It
-is easily possible to override this behavior through entries in
-the domaintable or uucpxtable.
-
-
-A generic site that is on Internet and speaks Domain Name Service, or one that
-is UUCP-only and forwards all mail via UUCP through a smart
-RELAY_HOST, probably does not need any specific table entries at all.
-
-
-Virtually all systems should set the DEFAULT_HOST and
-PSEUDONYMS macros, which define the canonical site name and aliases
-it is known by.
-
-
-If all you have is a relay host and relay mailer, you don't need to
-set these defaults since it works automagically. UUCP hosts will
-probably also need to set UUCPNAME to their official UUCP
-name.
-
-
-They will also probably set RELAY_MAILER and RELAY_HOST
-which enable smart-host routing through a mail relay.
-
-
-The mail transport to be used is defined in RELAY_MAILER and
-should usually be UUCP-A for UUCP sites. If your site is SMTP-only and
-talks `Domain Name Service', you would change the
-RELAY_MAILER.
-
-
-If you're a SLIP site, you might want to take the easy way out and just
-forward all outgoing mail to your service provider to do the right thing with.
-To do so, you'd want to define ISOLATED_DOMAINS and VALIDATION_DOMAINS to be
-your domain, you'd also want to define RELAY_HOST to be your service provider
-and RELAY_MAILER to be TCP. Of course, you want to ask permission before you
-set any system up as your general purpose relay.
-
-
-
-
-!!6.4 Sendmail 8.x
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Sendmail 8.7.x from Berkeley was the latest major revision after
-sendmail5. It had wonderful built-in support for building under Linux
-: just "make linux" and all was set.
-
-
-You'll probably be best served by grabbing one of the various binary
-distributions off of the usual Linux archive sites rather than fighting things
-like Berkeley dbm yourself.
-
-
-There's a nice distribution of sendmail 8.6.12 from Jason Haar - j.haar at lazerjem.demon.co.uk on sunsite.unc.edu in
-/pub/Linux/system/Mail/delivery/sendmail-8.6.12-bin.tgz that has the source
-documentation and a very nice quickie description of how to run sendmail v8 for
-common configurations.
-
-
-The bottom line with sendmail v8 is that you want to configure the
-bare minimum necessary to get the job done ; the following is an
-example that should get you close at least.
-
-
-
-
-!A sample 8.7.x mc file
-
-
-
-
-
-Much like sendmail+IDA, sendmail v8 uses m4 to process a config file into
-a full sendmail.cf that sendmail uses. The following is my current mc file
-for my site (ppp to Internet for outgoing mail, uucp for incoming mail).
-
-
-
-
-dnl divert(-1)
-#---------------------------------------------------------------------
-#
-# this is the .mc file for a linux host that's set up as follows:
-#
-# - connected to Internet for outbound mail (ppp here)
-# - connected via UUCP for incoming mail
-# - domainized headers
-# - no local mailer (use 'deliver' instead)
-# - no DNS running so don't canonicalize outgoing via DNS
-# - all non-local outbound mail goes to the RELAY_HOST over smtp
-# (we run ppp and let our service provider do the work)
-#
-# vds 3/31/95
-#
-#---------------------------------------------------------------------
-include(`../m4/cf.m4')
-VERSIONID(`linux nodns relays to slip service provider smarthost')dnl
-Cwmyhostname.myprimary.domain myhostname.UUCP localhost
-OSTYPE(linux)
-FEATURE(nodns)dnl
-FEATURE(always_add_domain)dnl
-FEATURE(redirect)
-FEATURE(nocanonify)
-dnl MAILER(local)dnl
-MAILER(smtp)dnl
-MAILER(uucp)dnl
-define(`RELAY_HOST', smtp:my.relay.host.domain)
-define(`SMART_HOST', smtp:my.relay.host.domain)
-define(`UUCP_RELAY', smtp:my.relay.host.domain)
-define(`LOCAL_MAILER_PATH', `/bin/deliver')
-define(`LOCAL_MAILER_ARGS', `deliver $u')
-
-
-
-
-
-!Sendmail v8 tidbits
-
-
-
-
-
-There are a few differences I suppose to the 'IDA bigots' among us.
-So far, I've found the following:
-
-
-
-
-
- Instead of 'runq', you type 'sendmail -q' to run the queue!
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!6.5 Local Delivery Agents
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Unlike most operating systems, Linux did not have mail "built-in": you needed
-a program to deliver the local mail, like "lmail", "procmail" or "deliver".
-
-
-However, every recent distribution includes a local mailer now!
-
-
-Documentation for how to use either for local delivery is in the
-sendmail5.67b+IDA1.5 binary release (on sunsite) mentioned above.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!7. User Agent Administration
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-!!7.1 Mutt
-
-
-
-
-
-
-You should have no problem compiling, installing, or running mutt.
-Users of qmail can either get the patch or run it with -f flag to read
-their local mail folder.
-
-
-If mutt bothers you with an "unknown terminal error" after a distribution
-upgrading, just recompile it.
-
-
-
-
-!!7.2 Elm
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Elm compiles, installs and runs flawlessly under Linux. For more
-information, see the elm sources and installation instructions. Elm
-and filter need to be mode 2755 (group mail) with /var/spool/mail mode
-775 and group mail.
-
-
-Qmail users can get a patch to use nifty qmail features, or will run elm with
-the -f flag to point to their local mail folder.
-
-
-One thing you want to be aware of is that if you have Elm compiled to
-be MIME-able, you need metamail installed and in the standard path or
-Elm will not be able to read MIME mail you've received. Metamail is
-available on thumper.bellcore.com and of course via "archie".
-
-
-If you use a binary distribution, you'll need to create a
-"/usr/local/lib/elm/elm.rc" file to override the compiled-in hostname and
-domain information:
-
-
-
-
-
-*replace "subdomain.domain" with your domain name replace
-
-*
-
-*"myhostname" with you un-domainized hostname replace
-
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-#---------- /usr/local/lib/elm/elm.rc ------------------
-#
-# this is the unqualified hostname
-hostname = myhostname
-#
-# this is the local domain
-hostdomain = subdomain.domain
-#
-# this is the fully qualified hostname
-hostfullname = myhostname.subdomain.domain
-#
-#--------------------------------------------------------
-
-
-
-One thing you want to be aware of is that if you have Elm compiled to
-be MIME enabled, you need metamail installed and in your path or Elm
-will not be able to read MIME mail you've received. Metamail is
-available on thumper.bellcore.com and of course via "archie".
-
-
-In the "too cool to be true" category, there is a distribution of
-Elm-2.4.24 that is "PGP-aware". To try it, grab the file
-ftp://ftp.viewlogic.com/pub/elm-2.4pl24pgp3.tar.gz, which is
-elm2.4.24 with PGP hooks added. You configure and build it the same
-way you do normal Elm, which means you probably need to add the
-patches mentioned above. For what it's worth, I run it here and like
-it a lot. Of course, there must be more recent versions available,
-including elm-ME+.
-
-
-While this item is not Linux-specific, it's perceived (wrongly) to be
-a nagging Elm bug nevertheless. We've heard that Elm sometimes fails with a
-message that it's unable to malloc() some massive number of bytes.
-The identified workaround is to remove the post-processed global mail aliases
-(aliases.dir and aliases.pag).
-
-
-THIS IS NOT A BUG IN ELM, it's an error in configuration of Elm by
-whomever you got your binary distribution of Elm from.
-
-
-Elm has an enhanced and non-compatible, format for aliases ; you need
-to ensure that the path Elm uses for aliases is different from the
-path sendmail/smail uses. From the volume of reports of this problem,
-it's apparent that at least one major distribution 'on the street' has
-in the past been misconfigured. (from scot at catzen.gun.de (Scot
-W. Stevenson) )
-
-
-The current metamail package requires csh for some of its scripts.
-Failure to have csh (or tcsh) will cause most interesting errors...
-
-
-
-
-!!7.3 Mailx
-
-
-
-
-
-
-If you don't have a local mailx program, save yourself the pain -- just go
-and grab the mailx kit from Slackware 2.1.0 or later, which has a nice
-implementation of mailx5.5. If you're into building from sources, mailx v5.5
-compiles without patching under Linux if you have "pmake" installed.
-
-
-If anybody is still using it, I strongly recommend removing the old "edmail"
-stuff from SLS1.00 and replacing it with mailx.
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!8. Handling remote mail
-
-
-
-
-
-This section describes using POP or IMAP to handle remote mail.
-
-
-Other options include nfs-mounting the spool partition on client
-machines (Danger Will Robinson! Is everyone using the same lock
-method?) or using a mail-to-web gateway (quite popular now).
-
-
-
-
-!!8.1 History
-
-
-
-
-
-
-On a workstation network, mail has always been a problem:
-
-
-
-
-
-*Either you use "user@computer.foo.com" with problems when "computer" is
-down, making your network known to the people outside, having different
-addresses for a same person switching to another computer, ...
-
-*
-
-*Or you take a mail hub, "mailhost.foo.com" with rules for rewriting,
-so every user seems to post from the same address, even if they are on
-different computers.
-*
-
-
-
-But in that case, how can users read their mail?
-
-
-Using a rsh with elm? :-)
-
-
-It would overload our mail hub!
-One method was forwarding or UUCP, smtp, etc. but it's too complicated.
-
-
-Then came POP/IMAP, both with security problems at the beginning, (now
-fixed using ssh on new versions): a mail program has sometimes to be set
-locally (like qmail, smail or vmail if, for example, you use elm, but
-mozilla will avoid that!) however, getting and sending Email is simpler.
-
-
-
-
-!!8.2 Getting mail
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Here come POP's main drawbacks:
-
-
-
-
-
-*the password is sent as a clear text on the network,
-*
-
-*you must choose a POP-aware mailer; many do now (like Pine,
-Emacs, Mozilla, Netscape, Mutt, IE, Pegasus, Eudora, Claris...),
-*
-
-*when a user may roam (read mail from different machines) having
-e-mail popped on the computer used yesterday can be a nuisance,
-*
-
-*some POP servers (e.g. qpopper, ipop3d) on high-use servers can
-load the machine significantly. Consider controlling options (such as
-not leaving mail on the server) and/or changing the pop server
-(e.g. cucipop), as well as avoiding running it from inetd.
-*
-
-
-
-The password problem can be solved creating a crypted "channel" to have
-POP on it or using APOP or RPOP extensions. The mail reader problem can
-be solved either by changing mail reader (don't underestimate the effort
-required to re-educate users!) or by using a POP "mail sucker" with a
-local mail program.
-
-
-IMAP can be preferable to POP in various situations like remote (and
-especially roaming) access, while you restrict POP to a LAN where
-snooping of passwords isn't so much of a concern. Mark Aitchison
-reported a solution here is to use hosts.deny and hosts.allow files
-(please see Net-3 HOWTO ; this assumes you are starting pop from
-inet).
-
-
-The policy of leaving mail on the server or not has implications for
-server disk space and easier backup/security of the mail, as well as
-allowing roaming, so the best solution depends on the type of
-organization. Of course, this will not ensure your mail can't be read,
-but nobody will be able to delete it ; if all your mail is pgp
-encrypted this is a better solution.
-
-
-Here are some pop programs worth trying:
-
-
-
-
-
-* gwpop (a Good Way to POP) is very protected since it creates a crypted
-"channel" and puts mail directly in the "spool" ; however, it depends on Perl.
-*
-
-* popclient, simple to use:
-For example if your login is john and your password
-!PrettySecret, you will run:
-
-
-$ popclient -3 -v mail.acme.net -u john -p "!PrettySecret" -k -o JOHN-INET-MAIL
-
-
-It is strongly discouraged in case of multi-user machine;
-other user can see your password by, for example with "ps auxw"
-
-*
-
-* fetchmail, which is actively supported and incredibly simple to use:
-it is configured in ~/.fetchmailrc, so you only need to run
-fetchmail when you want to retrive your mail.
-Here's my .fetchmailrc:
-
-
-poll mail.server protocol pop3:
-forcecr
-password !PrettySecret;
-
-
-Don't forget to "chmod 600 /.fetchmailrc" or fetchmail will ask for it.
-Please note that the forcecr option is needed to use fetchmail with
-qmail, which strictly respects RFCs.
-*
-
-
-
-
-
-!!8.3 Sending mail
-
-
-
-
-
-
-For this, you must use smtp-aware mail software, like qmail, smail, vmail
-or mozilla (this one does everything: mail reader, POP receive, smtp send!)
-
-
-Go to one of the previous sections to install and configure the one
-you like best. Then, when you will reach "Testing", try to send some
-mail to a local account on the mail hub.
-
-
-
-
-!!8.4 Reading mail
-
-
-
-
-
-
-If your program doesn't do everything itself, you can install elm, pgp, mush,
-pine ... many good programs are freely available for linux platforms!
-
-
-
-
-!!8.5 Testing
-
-
-
-
-
-
-To check whether your mail server has pop, try:
-
-
-
-
-
-$ telnet mailhost 110
-
-
-
-
-If it works, you will get something like "OK Pop server (...) starting": type
-"quit"!
-
-
-To install a ssh crypted "channel", first test your mail server typing:
-
-
-
-
-
-$ ssh mailhost date
-
-
-
-
-If you get the date, you should be OK. Please note ssh will not ask
-for a password, therefore you must create a ".shosts" file on the mail
-server, containing client's name. To test ssh port redirection (which
-gwpop uses), type:
-
-
-
-
-
-$ ssh -n -f -L 12314:localhost:110 mailhost sleep 30
-then
-$ telnet localhost 12314
-
-
-
-
-Then will you hopefully see mail hub's pop banner. If you don't use
-ssh, don't forget to comment out $ssh on gwpop script. To check
-whether procmail is running, try "procmail -v"
-
-
-
-
-!!8.6 Using
-
-
-
-
-
-
-Now you can edit gwpop Perl script to check everything is ok, then run gwpop:
-
-
-
-
-
-$ gwpop -v your-username
-POP password on mailhost: yoursecretpasword
-
-
-
-
-If gwpop "error messages" are normal, the mail from mail hub will be downloaded
-to your local machine wherever you told gwpop to put it.
-(please test with some mail!).
-
-
-You can also use gwpop as a daemon:
-
-
-
-
-
-$ gwpop -d $HOME/tmp your-username
-
-
-
-
-gwpop messages are then sent to syslog and gwpop will run endlessly ; a "HUP"
-signal will force gwpop to get your mail.
-
-
-You can get POP software here used on:
-
-
-ftp://ftp.unina.it/pub/Unix/pkgs/network/mail/gwpop
-ftp://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/packages/procmail
-http://www.cs.hut.fi/ssh/
-
-
-
-
-
-----
-
-!!9. Acknowledgements
-
-
-
-
-
-The following people have helped in the assembly of the information and
-experience that helped make this document possible:
-
-
-Steve Robbins, Ian Kluft, Rich Braun, Ian Jackson, Syd Weinstein, Ralf
-Sauther, Martin White, Matt Welsh, Ralph Sims, Phil Hughes, Scot
-Stevenson, Neil Parker, Stephane Bortzmayer and especially many thanks
-to Vince Skahan for his huge contribution.
-
-
-Eric S. Raymond edited this document, correcting some mistakes and
-transplanting the section on ``How Electronic Mail Works'' from his Mail
-User's HOWTO
.
-
-
-Hitoshi Hayakawa checked qmail section, Jun Morimoto added various notes
-about popclient & fetchmail and Takeo Nakano ispell'ed the document :-)
-
-
-
-
-
-If I forgot anybody, my apologies: just email me!
-
-
-
-----
+Describe
[HowToMailAdministratorHOWTO
] here.
