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