sendmail - Send mail over the internet
sendmail
Sendmail sends a message to one or more people, routing the message over whichever networks are necessary to deliver the message to the correct place. Other programs provide user-friendly front ends; sendmail is used only to deliver preformatted message files placed in the $/spool/mail subdirectory.
Local user addresses are determined by matching user directories in $/usr.
Remote site addresses are determined by matching directories in $/mdss.
If a local user address is unrecognized, an alias file ($/etc/aliases) is searched and the route is aliased appropriately if a match is found. If a remote site address is unrecognized, it is searched for in a path alias database ($/etc/paths) and the bogus route is substituted if an alias is found. If a route still fails, its appended domain, if included, is searched for in the path alias file. If a domain match is found, the path is aliased appropriately, otherwise the letter is forwarded to the authority site (governed by the system’s domain).
If a local address in an alias list begins with ‘~’ (tilde), it forces sendmail to write into the named mailbox without verifying that the address is an actual user on the system. See aliases(F) for details.
If sendmail is unable to find a valid route at this point, the message is forwarded to a “smart host” (see below). If no smart host is designated, the message is returned to the sender with an error message.
Sendmail also resolves local letters for users who have a forward
file in their home directory. The forward file contains e-mail
addresses that replace the local user’s address, thus forwarding letters
to addresses other than (or including) the local user. See forward(F)
for more details.
It is also the responsibility of sendmail to deliver local messages with attached binary segments, as formatted by the rcp program. Text portions of such messages are delivered in the usual fashion while the binary portion is written into the addressee’s user area. If a file collision occurs, the file is saved with a unique name.
The resource file for sendmail contains entries that regulate its
operation. Each entry is on a line by itself in the following order:
Smart host. This line contains the complete path to a “smart host”, that is, one that can handle unresolved addressing. For example, this line might contain “pro-neighbor”. Any messages that can’t be resolved locally are eventually passed on to “pro-neighbor”, a smart host that attempts to deliver the message.
Busy flag. This line contains a number (0 for FALSE, and 1 to TRUE) to determine if the modem should be placed off hook (busy) while sendmail delivers mail.
Progress level. This line contains a number (0 to 9) setting the level
of progress reporting while sendmail runs. Level 0 is minimal
reporting, while 9 is maximum reporting.
Sendmail displays a code for each letter delivered. These codes are:
(.) = local letter
(!) = offsite letter
(>) = local rcp letter
(F) = forwarded letter
(N) = news batch
(X) = bounced letter
Aliases location. This line holds the pathname to the aliases database file. See aliases(F) for details. Default is $/etc/aliases.
Paths location. This line holds the pathname to the paths database
file. See map(F) for details. Default is $/etc/paths.
By setting the pathnames of the aliases and paths files to a RAM disk
location, sendmail’s performance can be increased. Be sure to place
copy commands in $/etc/rc to copy the files to the RAM disk after
starting up. See rc(ADM) for details.
Favor smart host flag. This line contains a number (0 for FALSE, and 1
to TRUE) to determine if sendmail should attempt to locate addresses
containing aliases in the paths database.
If set to 1, sendmail consults the paths database to lookup addresses
with domains that are not the same as the host’s. This is useful when
the host communicates with more than one domain authority.
If set to 0, any addresses with domain specifiers other than the host’s
are passed immediately to the smart host. This avoids extra passes through
the paths database which speeds up processing.
If a fatal operating system error occurs, sendmail displays error information, followed by an alert sound at the console. This will last for approximately a minute before the system is restarted. Press Control-C to cancel the error and enter BASIC.