qmail-upgrade(7)  Device and Network Interfaces  qmail-upgrade(7)



NAME
     qmail-upgrade  -  user-visible differences between qmail and
     sendmail

INTRODUCTION
     You will notice some differences when  the  system  switches
     from sendmail to qmail.

     1.   qmail-alias  sends  incoming  mail  to  ~you/Mailbox by
          default, not /usr/spool/mail/you.  Your system adminis-
          trator  has  changed  your MAIL environment variable so
          that  your  mail   reader   looks   for   ~you/Mailbox.
          (/usr/spool/mail is a massive security problem.)

     2.   qmail-alias  pays  no  attention to .forward.  It has a
          much better mechanism, .qmail, so that you  can  handle
          not  only  forwarding  but even your own mailing lists.
          See below for more details.

     3.   qmail-alias pays no attention  to  /etc/aliases.   Your
          system  administrator  can  use  the  .qmail  mechanism
          instead.  See below.

     4.   qmail does not support the \you mechanism for  ignoring
          aliases.   The  .qmail mechanism is much more flexible;
          see below.

     5.   qmail-inject has a completely different philosophy from
          sendmail   on   interpreting  non-fully-qualified  host
          names.  It uses fixed rules, not DNS.  Some examples at
          UIC:

               russet -> russet.math.uic.edu
               newton -> newton.math.uic.edu
               ut.ee  -> ut.ee  (a host in Estonia)
               ut.ee+ -> ut.ee.uic.edu
               uicvm+ -> uicvm.uic.edu

          Here  the  default domain name (for hosts without dots)
          is math.uic.edu, and the plus domain name is uic.edu.

     6.   Unlike  sendmail,  qmail-inject  doesn't  replace  host
          names  with  canonical  names.   Example:  qmail-inject
          won't  change  postmaster@ftp.cs.berkeley.edu  in  your
          header to postmaster@kohler.cs.berkeley.edu.  The send-
          mail documentation claims that qmail-inject's  behavior
          is  illegal  under  RFC 822 and RFC 1123; that claim is
          based on a questionable interpretation of an  ambiguous
          phrase  in  RFC 822.  Anyway, do you want to have host-
          names changed behind your back?

     7.   qmail-alias adds  a  new  field,  Delivered-To,  before



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qmail-upgrade(7)  Device and Network Interfaces  qmail-upgrade(7)



          every  delivery.   It uses the contents of Delivered-To
          to prevent mail forwarding loops.

     8.   If you send a message with only Bcc recipients,  qmail-
          inject  will add Cc: recipient list not shown:;, rather
          than sendmail's privacy-invading  Apparently-To  header
          field.

QMAIL MAILING LISTS
     sendmail  deals  with aliases, forwarding, and mailing lists
     at the very heart of the mail system.

     qmail takes a radically different approach.   It  gives  you
     the power to set up your own mailing lists without pestering
     your system administrator.

     Under qmail, you are in charge of all addresses of the  form
     you-anything.  The delivery of you-anything is controlled by
     ~you/.qmail-anything, a file in your home directory.

     For example, if you want to set up  a  bug-of-the-month-club
     mailing   list,  you  can  put  a  list  of  addresses  into
     ~you/.qmail-botmc.  Any mail to you-botmc will be  forwarded
     to  all  of  those  addresses.  Mail directly to you is con-
     trolled by ~you/.qmail.  You can even set  up  a  catch-all,
     ~you/.qmail-default, to handle unknown you- addresses.

     Your  .qmail  files, like your old .forward, may list files,
     forwarding addresses, or other programs to run.  (But beware
     that  the  syntax  is  a bit different; see dot-qmail(5) for
     more details.)  qmail-alias automatically detects forwarding
     loops the instant they occur, even if they happen indirectly
     through other hosts.

     As a helpful special case, if a .qmail  file  is  empty,  it
     refers   to   ~you/Mailbox.    For  example,  if  you  touch
     ~you/.qmail-direct, mail for you-direct will act  like  \you
     did under sendmail.

     Addresses  that  don't contain a username are handled by the
     alias user.  For example, your system administrator has  set
     up  ~alias/.qmail-postmaster  to handle mail for Postmaster.
     (Note to administrators: ~alias doesn't apply  to  addresses
     that start with a user name, with certain exceptions.)

SEE ALSO
     addresses(5),  dot-qmail(5),  envelopes(5), qmail-header(8),
     qmail-inject(8)







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