diplodocus.org Git - nmh/blob - man/mh-tailor.man

   1 .TH MH-TAILOR %manext5% "April 18, 2014" "%nmhversion%"
   2 .\"
   3 .\" %nmhwarning%
   4 .\"
   5 .SH NAME
   6 mh-tailor, mts.conf \- mail transport configuration for nmh message handler
   7 .SH DESCRIPTION
   8 The file
   9 .I %etcdir%/mts.conf
  10 defines run-time options for those
  11 .B nmh
  12 programs which interact (in some form) with the message transport system.
  13 At present, these (user) programs are:
  14 .BR ap ,
  15 .BR inc ,
  16 .BR msgchk ,
  17 .BR msh ,
  18 .BR post ,
  19 .BR rcvdist ,
  20 and
  21 .BR rcvpack .
  22 .PP
  23 Each option should be given on a single line.  Blank lines and lines
  24 which begin with `#' are ignored.  The options available along with
  25 default values and a description of their meanings are listed below:
  26 .PP
  27 .BR mts :
  28 .RS 5
  29 The mail transport method to use.  The three acceptable options are
  30 .B smtp
  31 (which is the default),
  32 .BR sendmail/smtp ,
  33 and
  34 .BR sendmail/pipe .
  35 .PP
  36 If you use
  37 .BR smtp ,
  38 this will enable a direct SMTP (simple mail transport
  39 protocol) interface in
  40 .BR nmh .
  41 When sending mail, instead of passing the
  42 message to the mail transport agent,
  43 .B post
  44 will open a socket connection
  45 to the mail port on the machine specified in the
  46 .B servers
  47 entry.
  48 .PP
  49 If you use
  50 .BR sendmail/smtp ,
  51 then
  52 .B post
  53 will send messages by forking a
  54 local copy of
  55 .BR sendmail .
  56 It will still speak SMTP with this local copy of
  57 .BR sendmail .
  58 For backward compatibility,
  59 .B sendmail/smtp
  60 can be abbreviated to
  61 .BR sendmail .
  62 .PP
  63 The third alternative,
  64 .BR sendmail/pipe ,
  65 also forks a local copy of
  66 .B sendmail
  67 but feeds the message directly to it, using
  68 .B sendmail
  69 .BR -t .
  70 This replaces the old, undocumented
  71 .B spost
  72 mechanism and retains some of its limitations, such as lack of
  73 support for the
  74 .B \-whom
  75 switch and
  76 \*(lqDcc:\*(rq header field.
  77 .RE
  78 .PP
  79 .BR localname :
  80 .RS 5
  81 The hostname
  82 .B nmh
  83 considers local.  It should typically be a fully
  84 qualified hostname.  If this is not set, depending on the version of
  85 UNIX you're running,
  86 .B nmh
  87 will query the system for this value
  88 (e.g. uname, gethostname, etc.), and attempt to fully qualify this
  89 value.
  90 .PP
  91 If you are using POP to retrieve new messages, you may want to set this
  92 value to the name of the POP server, so that outgoing message appear to
  93 have originated on the POP server.
  94 .RE
  95 .PP
  96 .BR localdomain :
  97 .RS 5
  98 If this is set, a `.' followed by this string will be appended to your
  99 hostname.
 100 .PP
 101 This should only be needed, if for some reason
 102 .B nmh
 103 is not able to
 104 fully qualify the hostname returned by the system (e.g. uname,
 105 gethostname, etc.).
 106 .RE
 107 .PP
 108 .BR clientname :
 109 .RS 5
 110 This option specifies the host name that
 111 .B nmh
 112 will give in the
 113 SMTP
 114 .B HELO
 115 (and
 116 .BR EHLO )
 117 command, when posting mail.  If not
 118 set, the default is to use the host name that
 119 .B nmh
 120 considers local
 121 (see
 122 .B localname
 123 above).  If this option is set, but empty, no
 124 .B HELO
 125 command will be given.
 126 .PP
 127 Although the
 128 .B HELO
 129 command is required by RFC 821, many SMTP servers
 130 do not require it.  Early versions of
 131 .I SendMail
 132 will fail if the hostname
 133 given in the
 134 .B HELO
 135 command is the local host.  Later versions of
 136 .I SendMail
 137 will complain if you omit the
 138 .B HELO
 139 command.  If you run
 140 .IR SendMail ,
 141 find out what your system expects and set this field if needed.
 142 .RE
 143 .PP
 144 .BR systemname :
 145 .RS 5
 146 This option is only used for UUCP mail.  It specifies the name of the
 147 local host in the UUCP \*(lqdomain\*(rq.  If not set, depending
 148 on the version of UNIX you're running,
 149 .B nmh
 150 will query the system
 151 for this value.  This has no equivalent in the
 152 .B nmh
 153 configuration
 154 file.
 155 .RE
 156 .PP
 157 .BR mmdfldir :
 158 %mailspool%
 159 .RS 5
 160 The directory where maildrops are kept.  If this option is set, but empty,
 161 the user's home directory is used.  This overrides the default value
 162 chosen at the time of compilation.
 163 .RE
 164 .PP
 165 .BR mmdflfil :
 166 .RS 5
 167 The name of the maildrop file in the directory where maildrops are kept.
 168 If this is empty, the user's login name is used.  This overrides the default
 169 value (which is empty).
 170 .RE
 171 .PP
 172 .BR mmdelim1 :
 173 \&\\001\\001\\001\\001\\n
 174 .RS 5
 175 The beginning-of-message delimiter for maildrops.
 176 .RE
 177 .PP
 178 .BR mmdelim2 :
 179 \&\\001\\001\\001\\001\\n
 180 .RS 5
 181 The end-of-message delimiter for maildrops.
 182 .RE
 183 .PP
 184 .BR spoollocking :
 185 %default_locking%
 186 .RS 5
 187 The locking algorithm to use when opening the maildrop.  Can be any one of
 188 the following:
 189 .PP
 190 .RS 5
 191 .nf
 192 %supported_locks%
 193 .fi
 194 .RE
 195 .RE
 196 .PP
 197 .BR maildelivery :
 198 %libdir%/maildelivery
 199 .RS 5
 200 The name of the system-wide default
 201 .I maildelivery
 202 file.
 203 See
 204 .IR slocal (1)
 205 for the details.
 206 .RE
 207 .PP
 208 .BR everyone :
 209 200
 210 .RS 5
 211 The highest user-id which should NOT receive mail addressed to
 212 \*(lqeveryone\*(rq.
 213 .RE
 214 .PP
 215 .BR noshell :
 216 .RS 5
 217 If set, then each user-id greater than \*(lqeveryone\*(rq that has a
 218 login shell equivalent to the given value (e.g., \*(lq/bin/csh\*(rq)
 219 indicates that mail for \*(lqeveryone\*(rq should not be sent to them.
 220 This is useful for handling admin, dummy, and guest logins.
 221 .RE
 222 .SS "SMTP support"
 223 This option is only available if you set
 224 .B mts
 225 to
 226 .BR smtp .
 227 .PP
 228 .BR servers :
 229 localhost
 230 .RS 5
 231 A lists of hosts and networks which to look for SMTP servers when
 232 posting non\-local mail.  It turns out this is a major win for hosts
 233 which don't run an message transport system.  The value of
 234 .B servers
 235 should be one or more items.  Each item is the name of a host which
 236 is (hopefully) running a SMTP server.
 237 .SS "SendMail"
 238 This option is only available if you set
 239 .B mts
 240 to
 241 .BR sendmail .
 242 .PP
 243 .BR sendmail :
 244 %sendmailpath%
 245 .RS 5
 246 The pathname to the
 247 .B sendmail
 248 program.
 249 .RE
 250 .SS "Post Office Protocol"
 251 .BR pophost :
 252 .RS 5
 253 The name of the default POP service host.  If this is not set, then
 254 .B nmh
 255 looks in the standard maildrop areas for waiting mail, otherwise
 256 the named POP service host is consulted.
 257 .RE
 258 .\"  .SS "BBoards Delivery"
 259 .\"  This option is only available if you compiled \fInmh\fP with
 260 .\"  \*(lqbbdelivery:\ on\*(rq.
 261 .\"  .PP
 262 .\"  .BR bbdomain :
 263 .\"  .RS 5
 264 .\"  The local BBoards domain (a UCI hack).
 265 .\"  .RE
 266 .\"  .SS "BBoards & The POP"
 267 .\"  These options are only available if you compiled \fInmh\fP with
 268 .\"  \*(lqbboards:\ pop\*(rq and \*(lqpop:\ on\*(rq.
 269 .\"  .PP
 270 .\"  .BR popbbhost :
 271 .\"  .RS 5
 272 .\"  The POP service host which also acts as a BBoard server.  This variable
 273 .\"  should be set on the POP BBoards client host.
 274 .\"  .RE
 275 .\"  .PP
 276 .\"  .BR popbbuser :
 277 .\"  .RS 5
 278 .\"  The guest account on the POP/BB service host.  This should be a different
 279 .\"  login ID than either the POP user or the BBoards user.  (The user-id
 280 .\"  \*(lqftp\*(rq is highly recommended.)  This variable should be set on
 281 .\"  both the POP BBoards client and service hosts.
 282 .\"  .RE
 283 .\"  .PP
 284 .\"  .BR popbblist :
 285 .\"  %etcdir%/hosts.popbb
 286 .\"  .RS 5
 287 .\"  A file containing of lists of hosts that are allowed to use the POP
 288 .\"  facility to access BBoards using the guest account.  If this file is not
 289 .\"  present, then no check is made.  This variable should be set on the POP
 290 .\"  BBoards service host.
 291 .\"  .RE
 292 .SS "File Locking"
 293 A few words on locking:
 294 .B nmh
 295 has two main uses for locking: locking the mail spool during mail
 296 incorporation, and locking metadata files (sequence files, the context)
 297 during updates.  These locking methods can be configured separately
 298 from each other.
 299 .PP
 300 For locking the mail spool, the
 301 .I spoollocking
 302 entry in
 303 .IR mh\-tailor (5)
 304 will control the locking algorithm to use when
 305 .B inc
 306 incorporates mail from the spool file.  If no entry is given, a default
 307 based on the operating system type will be chosen.
 308 .PP
 309 For locking all other files, the
 310 .I datalocking
 311 entry in
 312 .IR mh-profile (5)
 313 controls the locking algorithm used for all other file access.
 314 If no entry is given, the
 315 .I fcntl
 316 lock method will be chosen.
 317 .PP
 318 If you do not wish to use kernel\-based locking,
 319 .I dot
 320 locking is an option available.
 321 If \*(lq--enable-lockdir=directory\*(rq
 322 is not specified at build time, lock files will be created
 323 in the directory where the file being locked resides.  Otherwise, lock
 324 files will be created in the directory specified by
 325 \*(lq--enable-lockdir\*(rq.
 326 .PP
 327 Prior to installing
 328 .BR nmh ,
 329 you should see how locking is done at
 330 your site, and set the appropriate values.
 331 .SH FILES
 332 .fc ^ ~
 333 .nf
 334 .ta \w'%etcdir%/ExtraBigFileName  'u
 335 ^%etcdir%/mts.conf~^nmh mts configuration file
 336 .fi
 337 .SH "PROFILE COMPONENTS"
 338 None
 339 .SH "SEE ALSO"
 340 .IR mh\-mts (8),
 341 .IR post (8)
 342 .SH DEFAULTS
 343 As listed above.  The path of the mail transport configuration
 344 file can be changed with the
 345 .B MHMTSCONF
 346 environment variable and augmented with the
 347 .B MHMTSUSERCONF
 348 environment variable, see mh\-profile(5).
 349 .SH BUGS
 350 Failure to open any mail transport configuration file is silently
 351 ignored.  Therefore, it's best to avoid dynamic creation of such
 352 a file with the intent of use via the
 353 .B MHMTSCONF
 354 or
 355 .B MHMTSUSERCONF
 356 environment variables.  If such use is necessary, the ability
 357 to successfully open the file should first be verified.