mail_intro - Introductory information on the Tru64 UNIX
mail system
The Tru64 UNIX mail system enables you to exchange mail
with other users on your system, as well as with other
systems connected to your local network and with users on
other networks (provided your system and network are connected
to other networks).
Mail System Concepts [Toc] [Back]
Mail systems consist of the following components: User
agent - The user agent provides the interface through
which you interact with the mail system. Generally, the
user interface enables you to create, send, receive, read,
save, and manage your mail messages.
Tru64 UNIX provides the following user agents:
CDE's Mailer - For further information, see the
Common Desktop Environment: User's Guide . Mail or
mailx - For further information, see the Command
and Shell User's Guide. The Rand Message Handling
program (MH) - For further information, see the
mh(1) and xmh(1X) reference pages. Transport agent
- The transport agent provides an interface between
the user agents and the delivery agents. The sendmail
command is a transfer agent. Delivery agent -
The delivery agent provides the mechanism for
delivering the mail messages to end users, systems,
and networks. The binmail and deliver commands are
delivery agents for standard mail and IMAP mail,
respectively.
In Tru64 UNIX, the sendmail program acts as both the
transport and delivery agent. It does so by implementing
the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), which is the
specification for the Internet's delivery agent.
Initially standards did not exist for mail addresses and
computer networks. Many different address formats and
network protocols exist. Mail programs must interact with
different network protocols, as well as recognize and
reformat different mail address formats. Fortunately,
these difficulties were recognized and standards, such as
the Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages
(RFC 822) and The Domain Naming Convention for Internet
User Applications (RFC 819), emerged. A mail program
still must recognize addresses in various formats and communicate
with different network protocols. The sendmail
program addresses these issues through the use of the
sendmail.cf configuration file.
The Sendmail Configuration File [Toc] [Back]
The sendmail.cf configuration file provides the sendmail
program with the information to perform the following
tasks: Choose delivery agents Use address rewriting rules
Define mail header information Perform some routing
When it starts, the sendmail program reads the sendmail.cf
configuration file. The information in the sendmail.cf
configuration file enables sendmail to rewrite the
addresses of mail it receives into the address form
expected by the mail delivery agent. It also enables sendmail
to set parameters and arguments to the mail delivery
program.
The configuration file contains information that is used
for the following functions: Define message precedence for
mail delivery Define administrative IDs to override the
sender's address Define message headings Define the mail
program to use Set options used by the sendmail command
The default Tru64 UNIX configuration file (located in
/var/adm/sendmail/sendmail.cf) is adequate for most standalone
systems. However, if you plan to connect your system
to a network, you will have to modify the sendmail.cf
file.
Tru64 UNIX provides the mailconfig and mailsetup utilities,
which you can use to create mail configuration
files. If you prefer to manipulate the configuration file
manually, you should use the m4 macros provided for this
purpose. (See the sendmail.m4(8) reference page.)
For more information on configuring mail, see the Network
Administration: Services manual.
Commands: binmail(1), mailconfig(8), mailsetup(8),
mailx(1), sendmail(8), sendmail.m4(8)
Files: sendmail.cf(4)
Network Administration: Services
Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages
(RFC 822) The Domain Naming Convention for Internet User
Applications (RFC 819) UNIX System Administration Handbook,
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1989.
mail_intro(7)
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