Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!mcvax!ukc!stc!datlog!slxsys!jpp
From: jpp@slxsys.co.uk (John Pettitt)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp,comp.unix.xenix
Subject: Re: smail "front end" query
Message-ID: <241@slxsys.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 20-Oct-87 19:46:40 EST
Article-I.D.: slxsys.241
Posted: Tue Oct 20 19:46:40 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 25-Oct-87 22:26:03 EST
References: <838@seradg.Dayton.NCR.COM>
Organization: Specialix Systems, London, UK.
Lines: 47
Keywords: smail mailx Subject etc
Summary: How to kludge smail under Xenix
Xref: mnetor comp.mail.uucp:900 comp.unix.xenix:1028

In article <838@seradg.Dayton.NCR.COM>, pat@seradg.Dayton.NCR.COM (Patrick Pesch) writes:
>	[ stuff about standard smail install deleted ] 
> 	My problem is that the smail interface seems pretty primitive,
> 	compared to the Xenix mail that was there (mailx derivative).
> 	Can smail prompt for "Subject:, CC:", etc... as mailx does?  Does
> 	anyone know how this could be done without actually adding the
> 	features to smail (maybe using the existing mailer as a front end)?
> 	Would having "sendmail" help?
> 

I just got this to work !

Xenix mail (at least sco 2.2.1) uses several programs in /usr/lib/mail
to deliver mail.   If you install smail as follows then all should be
fine.

1) Compile smail (remeber to edit defs.h so that the local mailer
is /usr/lib/mail/mail.local.old and smail now lives in /usr/bin 
not /bin

2) in /usr/lib/mail 
	mv mail.local mail.local.old
	mv execmail execmail.old
	ln /usr/bin/smail mail.local
	ln /usr/bin/smail execmail

3) in /usr/bin
	mv rmail OLDrmail
	ln smail rmail

4) set up an alias file as needed.


This seems to work just fine.  The mail command still gives all
the prompts and ~ escapes and then uses smail to deliver the mail.
The only problem to date is that xenix mail thinks that user@site
is just a user name and so complains about not finding a passwd entry.
The temporary fix is to just use ! addresses, but now with the help (?)
of smail routing.

How this will stand up in a xenix micnet system is anybodys guess !


-- 
John Pettitt G6KCQ, CIX jpettitt, Voice +44 1 398 9422
UUCP:  ...uunet!mcvax!ukc!pyrltd!slxsys!jpp  (jpp@slxsys.co.uk)
Disclaimer: I don't even own a cat to share my views !