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Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!hao!oddjob!gargoyle!ihnp4!homxb!mtuxo!mtune!codas!usfvax2!ateng!chip
From: chip@ateng.UUCP (Chip Salzenberg)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.xenix,comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: smail "front end" query
Message-ID: <55@ateng.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 21-Oct-87 17:43:44 EST
Article-I.D.: ateng.55
Posted: Wed Oct 21 17:43:44 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Oct-87 02:33:49 EST
References: <838@seradg.Dayton.NCR.COM> <477@devon.UUCP>
Reply-To: chip@ateng.UUCP (Chip Salzenberg)
Followup-To: comp.unix.xenix
Organization: A.T. Engineering, Tampa, FL
Lines: 39
Keywords: smail mailx Subject etc
Xref: mnetor comp.unix.xenix:1016 comp.mail.uucp:893

Followups have been directed to comp.unix.xenix.  [Again. *sigh*]

In article <477@devon.UUCP> paul@devon.UUCP (Paul Sutcliffe Jr.) writes:
>In the referenced article, pat@seradg.Dayton.NCR.COM (Patrick Pesch) writes:
>
>[/usr/lib/mail/execmail] is roughly the equivalent ... of sendmail.
>It decides if the message is for UUCP, MICNET or  local  delivery  and
>invokes  /bin/rmail, /usr/lib/mail/mail.mn or /usr/lib/mail/mail.local
>respectively.

This is all true.  But then Mr. Pesch writes:

>The solution, then, is to inform SMAIL that the local  delivery  agent
>is  /usr/lib/mail/mail.local instead of /bin/mail.  Do this in SMAIL's
>defs.h file.

This is false!  The mail.local program is _not_ a suitable delivery agent:

	1.  Mail.local doesn't understand Micnet addresses ("machine:user")
	    so when you set up Xenix-net your mailer will break.

	2.  Mail.local doesn't do aliasing.  If you therefore let smail do
            your aliasing since execmail is out of the picture, you lose
	    pipe aliases (e.g. rnews: "|rnews").

Compile smail with SENDMAIL undefined, but use execmail as the local
delivery agent.  Just because you _can_ give UUCP mail to execmail doesn't
mean that you _have_ to.  Smail will siphon off all messages to other
machines and invoke "uux" directly, and execmail will only see local mail.

And it's a good idea to change the aliases file from "/usr/lib/aliases" to
something like "/usr/lib/mail/raliases".  There's no reason to start
putting mail files in /usr/lib.

-- 
Chip Salzenberg         "chip@ateng.UUCP"  or  "{uunet,usfvax2}!ateng!chip"
A.T. Engineering        My employer's opinions are not mine, but these are.
   "Gentlemen, your work today has been outstanding.  I intend to recommend
   you all for promotion -- in whatever fleet we end up serving."   - JTK