Xref: utzoo comp.mail.misc:3042 comp.mail.sendmail:1425
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!pdn!tscs!tct!chip
From: chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Re: How can I change the default system mailbox
Keywords: mailbox
Message-ID: <25F513BD.5D94@tct.uucp>
Date: 7 Mar 90 13:59:25 GMT
References: <1168@telsys.aut.UUCP>
Organization: ComDev/TCT, Sarasota, FL
Lines: 38

According to huber@aut.UUCP (Daniel Huber):
>In SysV-Systems the default system-mailbox is /usr/mail/logname.
>In BSD-Systems the default system-mailbox is /usr/spool/mail/logname.
>I want to change these defaults to $HOME/mailbox.

You need to change your mail transport and your mail user interface.

First, user interfaces:

Mail user interface programs usually use the MAIL environment variable
to determine the default ("system") mailbox.  This is true of the
standard programs (mail, Mail, mailx) as well as most PD ones (mush,
Elm).  So put this line in the system shell startup files:

	/etc/profile:
		MAIL=$HOME/mailbox ; export MAIL

	/etc/cshrc:
		setenv MAIL $HOME/mailbox

If you don't have these files, or you have a non-standard shell,
you'll have to put these lines in each user's ".profile" or ".login".

Now, about transports:

If you have Smail 2.5, you can get Deliver 2.0 from uunet.uu.net;
Deliver handles local delivery while Smail 2.5 routes remote mail.
Deliver is easily configured for a configuration as you describe: just
undefine MBX_DIR and define MBX_NAME to be "mailbox".

If you have Sendmail, you can configure it to hand all local mail to
/usr/bin/deliver instead of /bin/mail; then see the previous paragraph.

Smail 3, if you want such a large program, is easy to change in the
"transports" file -- look for the "local" entry.
-- 
Chip Salzenberg at ComDev/TCT   <chip%tct@ateng.com>, <uunet!ateng!tct!chip>
          "The Usenet, in a very real sense, does not exist."