Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rice!uupsi!vmp!sonyd1.Broadcast.Sony.COM!blilly.UUCP!balilly.UUCP!bruce
From: bruce@balilly.UUCP (Bruce Lilly)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Re: Sendmail Mlocal delivery agent
Message-ID: <1991Feb7.024629.4177@blilly.UUCP>
Date: 7 Feb 91 02:46:29 GMT
References: <1991Feb5.060707.24400@syacus.acus.oz.au> <121467@uunet.UU.NET>
Sender: news@blilly.UUCP (News Administrator)
Organization: Bruce Lilly, Flushing, NY
Lines: 37

In article <121467@uunet.UU.NET> kyle@uunet.UU.NET (Kyle Jones) writes:
>In article <1991Feb5.060707.24400@syacus.acus.oz.au> grants@syacus.UUCP (Grant Sayer) writes:
> > Can anyone recommend a suitable delivery agent to be used for the 'Mlocal'
> > specification in sendmail that will handle the From lines.  Presently,
> > I'm using the following specification in sendmail.cf -
> > 
> > 	Mlocal, P=/bin/mail, F=lsDFMmn, S=10, R=20, A=mail $u
>
>On every system I've used, /bin/mail needs to be passed a -d flag
>when it is used as a final delviery agent in this way.  I.e.
>
> 	Mlocal, P=/bin/mail, F=lsDFMmn, S=10, R=20, A=mail -d $u

Hmm? Not my /bin/mail (based on AT&T SVR2). For good measure, I also
checked the man pages for SVR3.2, SVR4, and Version 10 -- no -d flags in
any of those man pages.

Now, back to the original poster's question. First, two observations:
1)	sendmail usually runs suid root, which explains why one may get mail
	"From root..." (refer to original posting).
2)	Many mail reading programs (e.g. Elm) will choke and die if the first
	characters in a mailbox are not "From ".

#2 means that you probably need a "From " line at the head of the message.
#1 means you should NOT include the 'S' mailer flag to avoid "root". e.g.:
	Mlocal,	P=/bin/mail,	F=CDFMhlmsu,	S=10/50,	R=20/60,	A=rmail $u
Also make sure that /bin/mail isn't run suid root (it should be sgid
mail). The "From " line will the contain the sender's logname (if sent
from the same machine) or the uucp login (if from a remote uucp site).

In any event, the RFC822 From: header should contain the sender's address.
If your mail reading program ignores this header and only looks at the
"From " line, it's time to switch to a new reader (or live with the
deficiencies of your current one).
	Bruce Lilly		blilly!balilly!bruce@sonyd1.Broadcast.Sony.COM
--
	Bruce Lilly		blilly!balilly!bruce@sonyd1.Broadcast.Sony.COM