Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!spdcc!dyer
From: dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.aux
Subject: Re: 2 problems with aliases in sendmail
Message-ID: <572@ursa-major.SPDCC.COM>
Date: 12 Nov 89 03:56:52 GMT
References: <15828@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU>
Reply-To: dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer)
Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA
Lines: 24

In article <15828@bloom-beacon.MIT.EDU> crowston@athena.mit.edu (Kevin Crowston) writes:
>2.  According to the sendmail man page, you can have sendmail include
>    files in the aliases by using ":include:file".  When I did this,
>    the database had ":include:file" as the translation for name, rather
>    than the contents of the file.  When I tried to test this with
>    /usr/lib/sendmail -bt name, I got an error message.  So, why can't
>    I do this?  Or is the test mode of sendmail wrong?  Or is the
>    documentation wrong?

The test mode of sendmail works on addresses, not on entries in the
aliases file.  That is, you can't type an alias entry to sendmail.

You may have done this already, but just in case I misinterpreted you
or you misinterpreted the man page, the line in /usr/lib/aliases should be:

name::include:/file/name

Note the two colons after the name, not a single colon.
I'd try this directly, but my A/UX system isn't up right now.

-- 
Steve Dyer
dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com aka {ima,harvard,rayssd,linus,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
dyer@arktouros.mit.edu, dyer@hstbme.mit.edu