Ubuntu - sendmail problem

Andrei Caraman adc at dc-uoit.net
Tue Apr 29 21:34:10 IST 2008


On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 06:18:03PM +0100, Julian Field wrote:
> Your best method for getting MailScanner working on Ubuntu is probably 
> to use the Debian package, which should just drop in and run. Doing this 
> will save you an awful lot of grief.

that just might be easier said than done.  yes, ubuntu uses the debian
package management, but that doesn't necessarily mean the same packages. 
using a debian .deb on ubuntu or viceversa may work, but i don't think
anyone can guarantee it.  mailscanner might work - perl is perl is perl, to
quote someone, but on the other hand, it may not, as it will pull in a lot
of other debs on which it depends.  one may end up with a messy mix of
ubuntul and debian packages.

that being said,...

> I'm new to Ubuntu as well, so I don't know how to install the Debian 
> package, hopefully someone else here can enlighten both of us on this 
> subject?
> 
> Someone?

i run mailscanner and sendmail on debian.  while i'm not a guru on the
subject, i do know a few things about this combo.

> Rick Bragg wrote:
> [...]
> >I followed this page for direction:
> >http://www.mailscanner.info/sendmail.html

for debian (and probably ubuntu too), you want to make your local
customization in config files that won't get automatically overwritten on
upgrades.  hence you'll want to translate the instructions above in
debian-speak:

1.  the privacy options can go in sendmail.mc, like this (wrapped for
    readability):

	define(`confPRIVACY_FLAGS',`noetrn,needmailhelo,noexpn,novrfy,
	restrictqrun,restrictexpand,nobodyreturn,authwarnings')dnl

2.  in sendmail.conf you'll need (again, wrapped):

	DAEMON_PARMS="-bd -ODeliveryMode=queueonly 
	-OQueueDirectory=/var/spool/mqueue.in";

    if i remember correctly, the debian default is 

	DAEMON_PARMS="-bd";

that should take care of your sendmail configuration, without touching the
init.d start/stop script.  your sendmail should start upon boot, accept
messages and queue them under /var/spool/mqueue.in.  it's the job of
mailscanner to examine the messages from mqueue.in and move them to
/var/spool/mqueue (if it decides to let them pass).

one thing to keep in mind is sendmail and mailscanner are supposed to be
started and/or stopped independently with this setup.  

the other thing about being unable to remove the mailscanner package prior
to an upgrade has to do with the init.d script returning 1 (instead of 0) on
stop (and on start too, actually).  i suppose that's a bug that went away in
debian/lenny, mailscanner 4.68.8.  the workaround i've used for that was to 
first stop mailscanner, then to comment out the run_mailscanner line in
/etc/default/mailscanner (then the init script woulr return 0).

i will be happy to share my experience with this setup.  if this so specific
to make it off topic for the list, ask privately, and i shall answer
privately.

one last thing here:  my impression is that debian keeps better pace with
new software versions than ubuntu does.  would a switch to debian be
concevable for that particular box?





adc


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