Configuration files
sendmail(1M)
cannot operate without a configuration file, which defines the mail
delivery mechanisms understood at this site, how to access them, how to
forward email to remote mail systems, and a number of tuning parameters.
This file is detailed in
``The configuration file''.
sendmail configuration can be daunting at first. The
distribution includes an configuration package based on
m4(1)
that hides a lot of the complexity.
Note that text-based host files have been officially eliminated,
obviating the need to hide hosts behind a registered Internet gateway.
These files also assume that most of your neighbors use domain-based
UUCP addressing; that is, instead of naming hosts as host!user
they will use host.domain!user. The configuration files can
be customized to work around this, but it is more complex.
Our configuration files are processed by m4 to facilitate
local customization; the directory cf of the sendmail
distribution directory contains the source files along with several
subdirectories, as follows:
cf-
Both site-dependent and site-independent descriptions of hosts. These
can be literal host names (for example, ucbvax.mc) when the
hosts are gateways or more general descriptions (such as
generic-solaris2.mc
as a general description of an SMTP-connected host
running Solaris 2.x.
Files ending .mc (``Master Configuration'') are the
input descriptions; the output is in the corresponding .cf file.
domain-
Site-dependent subdomain descriptions. These are tied to the way your
organization wants to do addressing. For example,
domain/CS.Berkeley.EDU.m4
is our description for hosts in the
CS.Berkeley.EDU subdomain.
These are referenced using the
DOMAIN m4 macro in the .mc file.
feature-
Definitions of specific features that some particular host in your site
might want. These are referenced using the FEATURE m4
macro. An example feature is use_cw_file (which tells sendmail
to read an /etc/sendmail.cw file on startup to find the set
of local names).
hack-
Local hacks, referenced using the HACK m4 macro.
It is recommended that these be avoided.
m4-
Site-independent
m4(1)
include files that have information common to all configuration files.
This can be thought of as a #include directory.
mailer-
Definitions of mailers, referenced using the MAILER
m4 macro. The mailer types that are known in this distribution
are ``fax'', ``local'', ``smtp'', ``uucp'', and ``usenet''. For example,
to include support for the UUCP-based mailers, use MAILER(uucp).
ostype-
Definitions describing various operating system environments (such as
the location of support files). These are referenced using the
OSTYPE m4 macro.
sh-
Shell files used by the m4 build process. You shouldn't have to
amend these.
siteconfig-
Local UUCP connectivity information. They normally contain lists of
site information, for example:
SITE(contessa)
SITE(hoptoad)
SITE(nkainc)
SITE(well)
They are referenced using the SITECONFIG macro:
SITECONFIG(site.config.file, name_of_site, X)
X is the macro/class name to use. It can be ``U'' (indicating
locally connected hosts) or one of ``W'', ``X'', or ``Y'' for up to
three remote UUCP hubs. This directory has been supplanted by the
mailertable feature; any new configurations should use that feature to
do UUCP (and other) routing.
If you are in a new domain (for example, a company), you will probably
want to create a cf/domain file for your domain. This consists
primarily of relay definitions
and features you want enabled site-wide:
for example, Berkeley's domain definition
defines relays for BitNET
and UUCP.
These are specific to Berkeley,
and should be fully-qualified Internet-style domain names.
Please check to make certain they are
reasonable for your domain.
Subdomains at Berkeley are also represented in the cf/domain
directory. For example, the domain
CS.Berkeley.EDU
is the Computer Science subdomain,
EECS.Berkeley.EDU
is the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences subdomain,
and
S2K.Berkeley.EDU
is the Sequoia 2000 subdomain.
You will probably have to add an entry to this directory
You will have to use or create .mc files in the cf/cf
subdirectory for your hosts. This is detailed in the cf/README
file.
© 2000 The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. All rights reserved.