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I was wondering how to setup slackware such that I can send and receive local mail using the commandline "mail" command. I tried sending a sample mail this way:
mailx -s subject user
and it looks like the message was sent, but when I then go check:
mail
it says there is no mail.
Do I need to have sendmail running for just local mail calls? What am I doing wrong?
I was wondering how to setup slackware such that I can send and receive local mail using the commandline "mail" command. I tried sending a sample mail this way:
mailx -s subject user
and it looks like the message was sent, but when I then go check:
mail
it says there is no mail.
Do I need to have sendmail running for just local mail calls? What am I doing wrong?
You need an MTA - whether that be sendmail, postfix, exim or whatever, but one must be running because a connection must be made to smtp port to transport the message. The MTA opens this port up.
If you run mail or mailx in verbose mode, you can see what is happening with regards to the smtp conversation.
I agree, I could have installed a MTA but I would prefer not to if not necessary. Whenever I do a slackpkg update I find new mail on the root account. So it must be possible to send "local" mail without the MTA. My question is: How do you send local mail without a MTA?
It is possible for mail to already be in a mailbox, and you don't need an MTA running to read it. However, if you look at the headers for that mail that comes with Slackware you will see that it was handled by sendmail, which was running when it was sent. The aaa_base package simply adds the contents of this pre-generated mailbox to root's mailbox. Now, if you want to get technical, the doinst.sh is acting as your local MTA when you get that mail. You won't easily be able to use that to deliver other local mail, though.
Ahh, I see. Was wondering how those messages got there. I will install a regular MTA and leave the doinst.sh alone . Just seemed weird to me. Thanks Pat! I feel kind of like the guy on the "Steve Jobs late night Feud story", a recent mainstream media release about a blogger who comes across Apple's CEO in a message board on a late night of a random weekend. Hey you're just as famous as far as I'm concerned. The difference is I have no feud to pick, just praise. Thanks again!
Last edited by smoooth103; 05-18-2010 at 09:12 PM.
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. Just seemed weird to me. Thanks Pat! I feel kind of like the guy on the "Steve Jobs late night Feud story", a recent mainstream media release about a blogger who comes across Apple's CEO in a message board on a late night of a random weekend. Hey you're just as famous as far as I'm concerned. The difference is I have no feud to pick, just praise. Thanks again!
