Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!airs!ian
From: ian@airs.com (Ian Lance Taylor)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Getting full name from sendmail (help!)
Message-ID: <1679@airs.com>
Date: 14 May 91 04:24:59 GMT
Sender: news@airs.com
Lines: 53

I apologize if this is an FAQ, but we don't get this newsgroup here.

This is about sendmail on Ultrix 4.0 on a DECstation 3100.  The
sendmail version seems to be 2.2 Ultrix.  I have no source code.

I've configured sendmail so that all mail that isn't explicitly
addressed locally gets forwarded to our main mail machine.  For
example, my user name is ian and I'm on comton.airs.com.  Mail sent to
``ian@comton.airs.com'' will get delivered locally, but mail sent to
``ian'' will get forwarded to another machine which knows where my
actual mailbox is.

My problem is that sendmail is not inserting my full name in the From:
field, because the $x macro is being set to blank.  The final rule in
ruleset 0 looks like this:

R$+			$#tcp$@$R$:$1

I've discovered that if I change this wildcard entry to deliver to
#local, the $x macro does get set correctly.  However, a line like

R$-			$#tcp$@$R:$1

is enough to clobber the $x macro.  Even

R$-			$1<@$D>

clobbers it.

It seems that sendmail checks whether unqualified user names are
delivered locally and uses this to decide whether to set the $x macro
out of /etc/passwd.

So, my questions:

Am I right as to what is going wrong?

Is there any way to get this approach to work correctly?

Should I be doing something else entirely to forward unqualified user
names?

As I said above, I apologize, but we don't get this newsgroup here.
If you don't e-mail me a response, I won't see it.  Feel free to post
also, if you think it is of general interest.  I am willing to post a
summary of responses if desired.

Many thanks in advance.
-- 
Ian Taylor                   ian@airs.com                  uunet!airs!ian
First person to identify this quote wins a free e-mail message:
``Nobody believed him, so out of politeness to his listeners he pretended
  to be joking.''