Ubuntu Manpage: mh-tailor, mts.conf - mail transport customization for nmh message handler

NAME

       mh-tailor, mts.conf - mail transport customization for nmh message handler

SYNOPSIS

       /etc/nmh/mts.conf

DESCRIPTION

The file /etc/nmh/mts.conf defines run-time options for those nmh programs which interact
(in some form) with the message transport system. At present, these (user) programs are:
ap, conflict, inc, msgchk, msh, post, rcvdist, and rcvpack.

Each option should be given on a single line. Blank lines and lines which begin with `#'
are ignored. The options available along with default values and a description of their
meanings are listed below:

mts:
The mail transport method to use. The two acceptable options are smtp (which is the
default), and sendmail.

If you use smtp, this will enable a direct SMTP (simple mail transport protocol)
interface in nmh. When sending mail, instead of passing the message to the mail
transport agent, post will open a socket connection to the mail port on the machine
specified in the servers entry.

If you use sendmail, then post will send messages by forking a local copy of
sendmail. Currently it will still speak SMTP with this local copy of sendmail.

localname:
The hostname nmh considers local. It should typically be a fully qualified hostname.
If this is not set, depending on the version of UNIX you're running, nmh will query
the system for this value (e.g. uname, gethostname, etc.), and attempt to fully
qualify this value.

If you are using POP to retrieve new messages, you may want to set this value to the
name of the POP server, so that outgoing message appear to have originated on the POP
server.

localdomain:
If this is set, a `.' followed by this string will be appended to your hostname.

This should only be needed, if for some reason nmh is not able to fully qualify the
hostname returned by the system (e.g. uname, gethostname, etc.).

clientname:
This option specifies the host name that nmh will give in the SMTP HELO (and EHLO)
command, when posting mail. If not set, the default is to use the host name that nmh
considers local (see localname above). If this option is set, but empty, no HELO
command will be given.

Although the HELO command is required by RFC-821, many SMTP servers do not require
it. Early versions of SendMail will fail if the hostname given in the HELO command
is the local host. Later versions of SendMail will complain if you omit the HELO
command. If you run SendMail, find out what your system expects and set this field
if needed.

systemname:
This option is only used for UUCP mail. It specifies the name of the local host in
the UUCP “domain”. If not set, depending on the version of UNIX you're running, nmh
will query the system for this value. This has no equivalent in the nmh
configuration file.

mmdfldir: /var/mail
The directory where maildrops are kept. If this option is set, but empty, the user's
home directory is used. This overrides the default value chosen at the time of
compilation.

mmdflfil:
The name of the maildrop file in the directory where maildrops are kept. If this is
empty, the user's login name is used. This overrides the default value (which is
empty).

mmdelim1: \001\001\001\001\n
The beginning-of-message delimiter for maildrops.

mmdelim2: \001\001\001\001\n
The end-of-message delimiter for maildrops.

maildelivery: /usr/lib/mh/maildelivery
The name of the system-wide default maildelivery file. See slocal(1) for the
details.

everyone: 200
The highest user-id which should NOT receive mail addressed to “everyone”.

noshell:
If set, then each user-id greater than “everyone” that has a login shell equivalent
to the given value (e.g., “/bin/csh”) indicates that mail for “everyone” should not
be sent to them. This is useful for handling admin, dummy, and guest logins.

SMTP support
This option is only available if you set mts to smtp.

servers: localhost
A lists of hosts and networks which to look for SMTP servers when posting local mail.
It turns out this is a major win for hosts which don't run an message transport
system. The value of servers should be one or more items. Each item is the name of
a host which is (hopefully) running a SMTP server.

SendMail
This option is only available if you set mts to sendmail.

sendmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail
The pathname to the sendmail program.

Post Office Protocol
This option is only available if you have compiled nmh with POP support enabled (i.e.,
“--enable-pop”).

pophost:
The name of the default POP service host. If this is not set, then nmh looks in the
standard maildrop areas for waiting mail, otherwise the named POP service host is
consulted.

File Locking
A few words on locking: nmh has several methods for creating locks on files. When
configuring nmh, you will need to decide on the locking style and locking directory (if
any). The first controls the method of locking, the second says where lock files should
be created.

To configure nmh for kernel locking, use the “--with-locking=flock” configure option if
you want to use the flock system call; use “--with-locking=lockf” if you want to use the
lockf system call; or use “--with-locking=fcntl” if you want to use the fcntl system call
for kernel-level locking.

Instead of kernel locking, you can configure nmh to use dot locking by using “--with-
locking=dot”. Dot locking specifies that a file should be created whose existence means
“locked” and whose non-existence means “unlocked”. The name of this file is constructed
by appending “.lock” to the name of the file being locked. If “--enable-
lockdir=directory” is not specified at build time, lock files will be created in the
directory where the file being locked resides. Otherwise, lock files will be created in
the directory specified by “--enable-lockdir”.

Prior to installing nmh, you should see how locking is done at your site, and set the
appropriate values.

FILES

       /etc/nmh/mts.conf          nmh mts configuration file

PROFILE COMPONENTS

       None

DEFAULTS