Re: Please help - configuring e-mail

I have Cc'd and redirected followups to [email protected].  This
question is not i386 specific.

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:39:00 +0100
"netbsd unix" <[email protected]> wrote:
> I am trying to configure NetBSD to send and receive e-mails. I read the chapter 26 e-mail of the NetBSD guide, but this does not really bring me forward. I am using NetBSD 4.0 as a desktop without X. All distribution sets are installed except X. All I want is to be able to be a home user in a text-only NetBSD system. I would also like to mention, I once tried NetBSD with X and Sylpheed on the same machine with the same connection, and it worked flawlessly.

It is possible for an MUA (Mail User Agent or "client") to work even if
you don't have a local MTA (Mail Transfer Agent or "server") if you are
set up to send outgoing email through a server that trusts you.  Have
you tried elm or mutt on your text only system?

> I tried to follow the steps in the guide, but when I had to do
> 
> postmap /etc/postfix/generic
> 
> as described in Chapter 26, it just complained that the hostname is empty. How do I set the hostname? I have no idea, I tried various things (which I don't remember, sorry - I tried to set it in rc.conf, in /etc/hosts, and with the command hostname).

Are you sure that you have "hostname=mybox" or whatever you call your
machine?

> I tried the example
> 
> sendmail myusername
> 
> but I get nowhere anything (I am quite sure I did it correctly, I tried many times):

I guess sendmail is looking for an SMTP server and you don't have one
yet.  Try this command:

date | mail -s TEST myusername

I believe that this does not use the local MTA.

> OK, so what do I have to do in order to set up e-mail? I want to know the STEPS!

Try going through /etc/postfix/main.cf and let me know what changes you
do to get it going.  Did you perhaps add a myhostname or mydomain
value?  The default (not defined) should work in most cases.

> So far, I understand it as follows; however, when I tried it yesterday, it failed:
> 
> in /etc/hosts add:
> 10.0.0.217 mynet
> (I am in an internal network of my dormitory, I always get the same IP when I connect, which is 10.0.0.217.)
> 
> in /etc/rc.conf add:
> mynet=10.0.0.217

I think the guide assumes that you have already set up hostname if you
have a running system.  Let me know if the above suggestion works for
you.  Perhaps I can add a note to that area of the guide.

-- 
D'Arcy J.M. Cain <[email protected]>
http://www.NetBSD.org/