Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
2117e02e MW |
1 | The qmail package includes a local delivery agent, qmail-local, which |
2 | provides user-controlled mailing lists, cross-host alias loop detection, | |
3 | and many other important qmail features. | |
4 | ||
212b6f5d MW |
5 | There's one important difference between qmail-local and binmail: |
6 | qmail-local delivers mail by default into ~user/Mailbox, rather than | |
7 | /var/spool/mail/user. It uses mbox format, with lockf locking on systems | |
8 | that don't have flock (HP/UX, Solaris), and flock locking otherwise. | |
2117e02e | 9 | |
212b6f5d MW |
10 | This file explains how to switch your system to ~user/Mailbox. You |
11 | aren't required to do this; for further discussion of /var/spool/mail, | |
12 | and an explanation of how to continue using binmail for local | |
13 | deliveries, see INSTALL.vsm. | |
2117e02e | 14 | |
212b6f5d | 15 | The basic procedure for switching to ~user/Mailbox is simple: |
2117e02e | 16 | |
212b6f5d MW |
17 | * Move each /var/spool/mail/user to ~user/Mailbox. For safety, do |
18 | this in single-user mode. | |
2117e02e | 19 | |
212b6f5d MW |
20 | * As root, set up a symbolic link from /var/spool/mail/user to |
21 | ~user/Mailbox for each user. /var/spool/mail should be mode 1777, | |
22 | so users will not be able to accidentally remove these links. | |
2117e02e | 23 | |
212b6f5d MW |
24 | A few mail programs are unable to handle symbolic links, so you will |
25 | have to configure them to look at ~user/Mailbox directly: | |
2117e02e | 26 | |
212b6f5d MW |
27 | * procmail: Change SYSTEM_MBOX in config.h and recompile; or, with |
28 | recent versions, define MAILSPOOLHOME in src/authenticate.c. | |
2117e02e | 29 | |
212b6f5d MW |
30 | An alternative to symbolic links is hlfsd. Consult the documentation for |
31 | hlfsd if it is included in your operating system. | |
2117e02e | 32 | |
212b6f5d MW |
33 | If /var/spool/mail is large, you can gain extra speed by configuring |
34 | all your mail software to look at ~user/Mailbox directly: | |
2117e02e | 35 | |
212b6f5d MW |
36 | * Most MUAs: Put ``setenv MAIL $HOME/Mailbox'' in your system-wide |
37 | .cshrc and ``MAIL=$HOME/Mailbox; export MAIL'' in your system-wide | |
38 | .profile. | |
2117e02e | 39 | |
212b6f5d MW |
40 | * elm: Change "mailbox" to "Mailbox" around line 388 of newmbox.c and |
41 | recompile. (elm looks at $MAIL, but without this change elm will | |
42 | fail if two users try to read mail simultaneously.) | |
2117e02e | 43 | |
212b6f5d MW |
44 | * pine: Put ``inbox-path=Mailbox'' in your system-wide pine.conf. |
45 | (For pine versions more recent than 3.91, see also FAQ 6.2.) | |
2117e02e | 46 | |
212b6f5d MW |
47 | * qpopper 2.2: Change /.mail to /Mailbox in pop_dropcopy.c and |
48 | recompile with -DHOMEDIRMAIL in CFLAGS. | |
2117e02e | 49 | |
212b6f5d MW |
50 | Some vendors, in a misguided attempt to solve the security problems of |
51 | /var/spool/mail, have made all their mail software setgid mail. After | |
52 | you move the mailboxes, you can---and, for security, should---remove | |
53 | those setgid-mail bits. |