I have read loads of info over the past 2 weeks on this but just can not seem to get my head around it, lol

to the point...
i can not get smtp auth to work!

the output from this command " sendmail -d0.1 -bv root | grep SASL "
is..
PIPELINING SASL SCANF STARTTLS TCPWRAPPERS USERDB USE_LDAP_INIT
and shows sasl is talking to us. but when i used this command ehlo...

ehlo linuxserver
250-linuxserver Hello [192.168.2.115], pleased to meet you
250-ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES
250-PIPELINING
250-8BITMIME
250-SIZE
250-DSN
250-ETRN
250-DELIVERBY
250 HELP
no auth shows.

this is my sendmail conf setting as is now which i have change so many times in the last 2 weeks.
divert(-1)
dnl This is the macro config file used to generate the /etc/sendmail.cf
dnl file. If you modify the file you will have to regenerate the
dnl /etc/sendmail.cf by running this macro config through the m4
dnl preprocessor:
dnl
dnl m4 /etc/sendmail.mc > /etc/sendmail.cf
dnl
dnl You will need to have the sendmail-cf package installed for this to
dnl work.
include(`../m4/cf.m4')dnl
define(`confDEF_USER_ID',``mail:mail'')dnl
OSTYPE(`linux')dnl
undefine(`UUCP_RELAY')dnl
undefine(`BITNET_RELAY')dnl
define(`confALIAS_WAIT', `30')dnl
define(`confTO_CONNECT', `1m')dnl
define(`confTRY_NULL_MX_LIST',true)dnl
define(`confDONT_PROBE_INTERFACES',true)dnl
define(`PROCMAIL_MAILER_PATH',`/usr/bin/procmail')dnl
dnl define delivery mode: interactive, background, or queued
dnl define(`confDELIVERY_MODE', `i')
MASQUERADE_AS(`localhost.localdomain')dnl
FEATURE(`limited_masquerade')dnl
FEATURE(`masquerade_envelope')dnl
FEATURE(`smrsh',`/usr/sbin/smrsh')dnl
FEATURE(mailertable)dnl
dnl virtusertable: redirect incoming mail to virtual domain to particular user or domain
FEATURE(`virtusertable',`hash -o /etc/mail/virtusertable')dnl
dnl genericstable: rewrite sender address for outgoing mail
FEATURE(genericstable)dnl
FEATURE(always_add_domain)dnl
FEATURE(redirect)dnl
FEATURE(use_cw_file)dnl
FEATURE(local_procmail)dnl
FEATURE(`access_db')dnl
FEATURE(`blacklist_recipients')dnl
FEATURE(`relay_based_on_MX')dnl
dnl FEATURE(dnsbl, `blackholes.mail-abuse.org', `Rejected - see')dnl
dnl FEATURE(dnsbl, `dialups.mail-abuse.org', `Dialup - see ')dnl
dnl FEATURE(dnsbl, `', `Open spam relay - see)dnl
FEATURE(`delay_checks')dnl
FEATURE(`stickyhost')dnl
dnl SASL Configuration
dnl extract from
dnl
dnl Next two lines are for SMTP Authentication
dnl TRUST_AUTH_MECH(`LOGIN PLAIN')dnl
dnl define(`confAUTH_MECHANISMS', `LOGIN PLAIN')dnl
dnl
dnl Next line stops sendmail from allowing auth without encryption
dnl define(`confAUTH_OPTIONS', `Ap')dnl
dnl # <added>
TRUST_AUTH_MECH(`DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN PLAIN')dnl
define(`confAUTH_MECHANISMS', `DIGEST-MD5 CRAM-MD5 LOGIN PLAIN')dnl
dnl # </added>
dnl STARTTLS configuration
dnl extract from
dnl
dnl define(`CERT_DIR', `MAIL_SETTINGS_DIR`'certs')dnl
dnl define(`confCACERT_PATH', `CERT_DIR')dnl
dnl define(`confCACERT', `CERT_DIR/CAcert.pem')dnl
dnl define(`confSERVER_CERT', `CERT_DIR/MYcert.pem')dnl
dnl define(`confSERVER_KEY', `CERT_DIR/MYkey.pem')dnl
dnl define(`confCLIENT_CERT', `CERT_DIR/MYcert.pem')dnl
dnl define(`confCLIENT_KEY', `CERT_DIR/MYkey.pem')dnl
dnl
dnl Uncomment next lines to hide identity of mail serve
define(`confPRIVACY_FLAGS',`goaway,restrictqrun,restrictmailq')dnl
dnl define(`confSMTP_LOGIN_MSG', `$j server ready at $b')dnl
MAILER(smtp)dnl
MAILER(procmail)dnl


If someone can just point me in the right direction i'll have another go,

Apart from auth not working the rest of sendmail works just fine.

thanks,

(kinda think linux is like having a wife) u know what i mean, lol.