can't send or receive mail with mail command

[Neoprout]

Hello, I would like to use the command line to send and receive mail, but the mail command doesn't work. I am not sure but I think this issue is related to my sendmail daemon wich doesn't start. Recently, I installed for the first time Linux on my pc, Fedora 17 (i'm a linux newbee who wants to quit windows). It came with the sendmail package. But, the sendmail daemon never started on boot and when I try to start it whith the command "service sendmail start", nothing happens. The command line just stalls for couple of minutes without any feedback.

Then I checked out the /var/log/maillog file. It says something like "Cannot qualify my unqualified name (Neoprout)...."

I'd be very thankful if someone could help me out. Thanks.

[glennzo]

Although sendmail is typically started automatically on a default Fedora install.

systemctl enable sendmail.service
systemctl start sendmail.service

You need to configure the FQDN. I'm still working on that one. Meanwhile, in the file /etc/mail/sendmail.mc there is a line that reads

dnl define(`SMART_HOST', `smtp.your_host.net')dnl

Change it so that it contains your ISP's smtp info. Follow that change with a rebuild of the file /etc/mail/sendmail.cf. You'll need to install sendmail-cf first.

yum install sendmail-cf
/etc/mail/make

Not sure if you need to restart sendmail

systemctl restart sendmail.service

Try sending from the command line now.

Although I haven't wrapped my head around FQDN (probably one of the simplest things to understand) I can send mail from the command line. I needed to get this working so that a couple of applications I installed would actually, um, send mail.

[sidebrnz]

Three things: first you will indeed need to restart sendmail. Second, that line needs to read:

define(`SMART_HOST', `smtp.your_host.net')dnl

because the "dnl" at the start means "Delete until New Line." Any line starting with dnl is a comment and is ignored. And last, the way you change sendmail.mc into sendmail.cf is:

m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc > /etc/mail/sendmail.cf

Depending on your ISP, this may or may not work. If you need to authenticate for SMTP, there's more to be done. Full instructions can be found at http://www.zeff.us/SMTPAuth.txt if needed.

[glennzo]

sidebrnz, on a virtual machine with previously unconfigured mail your method didn't work.

[sidebrnz]

Interesting. Do you actually use Port 587? Does your ISP require you to authenticate for SMTP? If not, part of those instructions aren't needed. Just what happened?

[Neoprout]

I edited the sendmail.mc file with smtp adress. But still, i have never been able to start sendmail service. The command systemctl start sendmail.service just hangs without any feedback.


here is the output of my /var/log/maillog file:

Oct 25 12:18:48 neoprout sendmail[714]: My unqualified host name (neoprout) unknown; sleeping for retry
Oct 25 12:18:49 neoprout sendmail[736]: My unqualified host name (neoprout) unknown; sleeping for retry
Oct 25 12:20:09 neoprout sendmail[736]: unable to qualify my own domain name (neoprout) -- using short name
Oct 25 12:20:09 neoprout sendmail[736]: q9PGK9jB000736: from=root, size=276, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201210251620.q9PGK9jB000736@neoprout>, relay=root@localhost
Oct 25 12:20:09 neoprout sendmail[736]: q9PGK9jB000736: to=root, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=30276, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Connection refused by [127.0.0.1]
Oct 25 19:48:57 neoprout sendmail[720]: My unqualified host name (neoprout) unknown; sleeping for retry
Oct 25 19:48:57 neoprout sendmail[731]: My unqualified host name (neoprout) unknown; sleeping for retry
Oct 25 19:49:57 neoprout sendmail[731]: unable to qualify my own domain name (neoprout) -- using short name
Oct 25 19:49:57 neoprout sendmail[731]: q9PNnvrW000731: from=root, size=276, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201210252349.q9PNnvrW000731@neoprout>, relay=root@localhost
Oct 25 19:49:57 neoprout sendmail[731]: q9PNnvrW000731: to=root, ctladdr=root (0/0), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=30276, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Connection refused by [127.0.0.1]
Oct 25 20:48:04 neoprout sendmail[7290]: My unqualified host name (neoprout) unknown; sleeping for retry
Oct 25 20:49:24 neoprout sendmail[7290]: unable to qualify my own domain name (neoprout) -- using short name
Oct 25 20:49:24 neoprout sendmail[7290]: q9Q0nOBY007290: from=julien, size=225, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201210260049.q9Q0nOBY007290@neoprout>, relay=root@localhost
Oct 25 20:49:24 neoprout sendmail[7290]: q9Q0nOBY007290: to=villemju@iro.umontreal.ca, ctladdr=julien (1000/1000), delay=00:00:00, xdelay=00:00:00, mailer=relay, pri=30225, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=4.0.0, stat=Deferred: Connection refused by [127.0.0.1]

---------- Post added at 09:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:58 PM ----------

this is the output of the command systemctl status sendmail

sendmail.service - Sendmail Mail Transport Agent
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/sendmail.service; enabled)
Active: failed (Result: timeout) since Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:12:51 -0400; 51s ago
Process: 7924 ExecStart=/usr/sbin/sendmail -bd $SENDMAIL_OPTS $SENDMAIL_OPTARG (code=killed, signal=TERM)
Process: 7919 ExecStartPre=/etc/mail/make aliases (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
Process: 7917 ExecStartPre=/etc/mail/make (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
CGroup: name=systemd:/system/sendmail.service

[stevea]

Originally Posted by Neoprout

Hello, I would like to use the command line to send and receive mail, but the mail command doesn't work. I am not sure but I think this issue is related to my sendmail daemon wich doesn't start.

I suspect you are right, so good deductive reasoning, but ...
WHY are you trying to use command line email ?

Normally if you wanted a tool similar to Outlook on Linux you'd choose thunderbird or evolution or one of another half a dozen. Then you'd configure it to send mail via SMTP protocol to your ISPs MTA(mail transfer agent, note that many MTAs include an MSA(mail submission agent)) or Googlemail, and you'd use POP3 or IMAP protocol to read your email from your ISP's 'MDA(mail delivery agent) and you'd store the email locally. So those tools work in a similar way.

Now the Linux command line tool 'mail' or 'mailx' *CAN* be used to read/write emails from a remote server like your ISP, but it's about like trying to build a Lamborghini from tin cans and rubber bands.

*ROUGHLY* like this ....
send to gmail
mailx -v -s "SUBJECT" -S smtp-use-starttls -S ssl-verify=ignore -S smtp-auth=login -S smtp=smtp.gmail.com:587 -S from=$MAILFR -S smtp-auth-user=$MAILTO -S smtp-auth-password="$SMTPPASS" $MAILTO < $STATUS 2>"$ERR"

Or to read gmail you might need a ~/.mailrc like ....
account gmail {
set
folder=pops://ops.lists-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@pop.gmail. com
set from="ops.lists-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (myname)"
set smtp="smtp.gmail.com"
set smtp-use-starttls
set pop3-use-starttls
set ssl-verify=ignore
set ssl-method=tls1
set smtp-auth-user="ops.lists-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
set smtp-auth-password="mypassword"
}


But of course mailx, by default, wants to talk to the local host system and read via (crufty old mbox) files. And to use that default YOU need to setup an MTA(MUA) and an MDA. Sendmail is an MTA, but unless you want to live with mbox file turdlets you really want to setup a POP3 or IMAP POP3 too.

Also realize that IF you setup a real MDA/MTA on your home/soho system that you should never make it directly accessible to the Inet (except through ssh or similar secure connections). Also understand that no ISP or gmail will automatically redirect your emails to your home server. There are security issues in maintaining a public mail server that require professional grade administration. Instead you will want to use a tool like getmail or fetchmail to periodically pull messages off the ISP/gmail and to insert them onto your amateur/local server.

===

So rather than try to answer your immediate question, let me ask you to consider these issues before you lunge headlong down a dead-end path.

1/ Do you really intend to read/write emails from the command line or would you prefer a more flexible tool ? [If not then startup evolution or t'bird and set it up to point to your ISPs, live happy].

2/ Do you want to configure mailx or mail to use a remote server (as outlined above) ? If that solves the problem, then this avoids the big 'setup an email server' issue. Still it's a headache to setup the command line to use an ISP or gmail IMO.

3/ If you really want to setup an email server to hold/process all your emails (and I do this btw) then you want to consider these issues:

3a/ Fedora changes rev every 6 months and sometimes the email configs change, so when the day comes to upgrade from F17 to F18 or whatever, you'd better set-aside time to reconfigure and debug all the fetchmail/MTA/POP3orIMAP server config. Otherwise your precious email service is down! Fedora is GREAT for learning & playing, but if you care about your emails then you want to use something more stable.

3b/ There are two fundamental ways to store emails on a system, the ancient 'mbox' format and the 'maildir' format. For a lot of technical reasons mbox stinks and anyone rational uses 'maildir'.

3c/ There are two common ways for your email client (mailx, thunderbird, evolution ,...) POP3 and IMAP, and each of these has an SSL/TLS secure connection variant (POP3S, IMAPS). The common way to use POP3 is to destructively copy all your emails to the client and keep them in the user account. This makes ISPs happy as they want your emails offsite and downloaded. The common IMAP method is to keep the emails on the SERVER and only view them from the client. IMAP also allows creation of a folder tree and moving emails from folder to folder. IMAP is *MUCH* more practical if you want to read emails from multiple systems or from a laptop on the road/remotely. Then you know the goods are all in one place and it centralizes the backup issue. So IMO, IMAP (IMAPS really) is preferable.

So my solutions are
a/ Put the email server into a KVM M(virtual machine) running Centos6. Centos6 or SciLinux6 are clones of RHEL6, and has a 5 year support cycle. No changes every 6 months. No unstable updates every week. KVM images are very portable across Fedora versions.

b/ Use 'postfix' MTA that supports 'maildir' format storage. I like postfix' MTA, but 'qmail' is another choice, and sendmail doesn't directly support maildir, but you can install procmail with sendmail to do it.

c/ I like dovecot as an MDA, but Cygnus and others reportedly work nicely also. If you really want webmail you can setup squirrelmail (but it requires an IMAP* MDA).


Nothing fundamentally wrong with sendmail, it's used in big enterprise, but if you have less than say 1000 accounts I think postfix is easier to configure, more modern, secure too.

In any case you'll find the journey educational.

[sidebrnz]

Part of the problem, Neoprout, is that you're trying to sent mail to another system using only your local username as the address. You need to tell mail to use the fully qualified email address that your service expects: e.g., neoprout@doman.com if you expect it to work. I've never tried to use sendmail the way you are, but need it to send special messages to places such as the Linux Counter, as they expect to receive automated updates by email.

[stevea]

Sidebrns - I doubt that he has a domain name setup on his system or maybe in the email config, so it doesn't know how to rewrite the address (or if to deliver locally).

First question - why ? Its pretty odd to want to use the command line for email.

[sidebrnz]

Agreed, for local delivery. Checking the man page, I see that you can set your from address with this:

-r from-address

if you're sending the mail away from your own machine. I also agree that it's a tad odd to be using the command line for this, but maybe he's just doing it to see how it works.

BTW, what happened when you tried this on your virtual machine?

[Neoprout]

First, thanks for all your advice. Everyone seems to find it odd to use the command line for mail. Actually, I have configured thunderbird for my mail accouts, using the command line is some kind of challenge. I am also interested to the reasons why I cannot start sendmail or postfix (and probably any MTA).

@stevea: your right, I don't have a domain name (or i don't know I'm having one). I presume that I need to setup a server on my machine to get one. So, how do I do this?

[stevea]

No - it's simpler. Unless you buy a real domainname (not necessary) then your domain will never be recognised or resolved by an external dns server.. So just make one up that will NOT collide with a real domain name. .local or .localdomain are reasonable choices. and put it into your /etc/sysconfig/network file as part of the HOSTNAME like;

[stevea@crucibulum ~]$ cat /etc/sysconfig/network
NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=crucibulum.localdomain
NTPSERVERARGS=iburst

Then you have to reboot to have it take effect (not literally true, but it's the easiest).

Then you should get results like ...

[stevea@crucibulum ~]$ hostname
crucibulum.localdomain
[stevea@crucibulum ~]$ hostname -s
crucibulum
[stevea@crucibulum ~]$ dnsdomainname
localdomain

You probably need to edit /etc/hosts, modifying the line something like ....

127.0.0.1 crucibulum.localdomain crucibulum localhost.localdomain localhost

I don't use /etc/hosts for name resolution, but that should work.

*THEN* follow the advice you got from Glennzo on configuring sendmail.

If you search you'll find that I (and probably others) have posted detailed directions for postfix setup on this forum.

[Neoprout]

Thanks so much! my sendmail MTA just started!!

---------- Post added at 09:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:56 PM ----------

Sendmail seems to work but I still can't send mail with mail command. I followed the steps described by sidebrnz.
here is my /var/log/
Oct 26 21:25:42 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km6G000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:37:24, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:25:50 neoprout sendmail[1882]: q9R1OUF2001882: from=<julien@neoprout.localdomain>, size=529, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201210270124.q9R1OUGa001852@neoprout.locald omain>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=localhost6.localdomain6 [127.0.0.1]
Oct 26 21:25:50 neoprout sendmail[1852]: q9R1OUGa001852: to=julien.villemure-frechette@umontreal.ca, ctladdr=julien (1000/1000), delay=00:01:20, xdelay=00:01:20, mailer=relay, pri=30237, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (q9R1OUF2001882 Message accepted for delivery)
Oct 26 21:26:02 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km5E000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:37:50, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:26:10 neoprout sendmail[1894]: STARTTLS=client, relay=smtps.iro.umontreal.ca, version=TLSv1/SSLv3, verify=FAIL, cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, bits=256/256
Oct 26 21:26:10 neoprout sendmail[1894]: q9R1OUF2001882: to=<julien.villemure-frechette@umontreal.ca>, ctladdr=<julien@neoprout.localdomain> (1000/1000), delay=00:00:20, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=relay, pri=120529, relay=smtps.iro.umontreal.ca [132.204.27.50], dsn=5.0.0, stat=Service unavailable
Oct 26 21:26:10 neoprout sendmail[1894]: q9R1OUF2001882: q9R1QAF2001894: DSN: Service unavailable
Oct 26 21:26:22 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km5G000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:38:10, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:26:30 neoprout sendmail[1894]: q9R1QAF2001894: to=<julien@neoprout.localdomain>, delay=00:00:20, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=31811, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:26:42 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km52000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:38:32, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:27:02 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km5c000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:38:48, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:27:23 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km5W000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:39:10, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:27:43 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km5S000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:39:30, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:28:03 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km5O000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:39:50, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:28:23 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km5A000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:40:12, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:28:43 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km56000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:40:32, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:29:03 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km62000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:40:47, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent
Oct 26 21:29:23 neoprout sendmail[1792]: q9R0km5k000836: to=<root@neoprout.localdomain>, ctladdr=<root@neoprout.localdomain> (0/0), delay=00:41:08, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=120513, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent

[sidebrnz]

The question is, are you trying to send mail to the Internet, or from one local user to another? In the former case, you should set your From address to your regular email address, such as My.Address@gmail.com or whatever. In the latter, you don't need sendmail at all.

[Neoprout]

@sidebrnz: i tried to send an email to myself and it worked, but I still can't send over the internet.
I added this line to my /etc/mail/authinfo:
AuthInfo:smtps.iro.umontreal.ca "U:villemju@umontreal.ca" "I:villemju@iro.umontreal.ca" "mypassword" "M:PLAIN"

I also added those two lines to my /etc/mail/sendmail.mc:
define(`RELAY_MAILER_ARGS', `TCP $h 587')dnl
FEATURE(authinfo)dnl

then i executed the following commands as root:
m4 /etc/mail/sendmail.mc > /etc/mail/sendmail.cf
makemap hash /etc/mail/authinfo < /etc/mail/authinfo
/sbin/service sendmail restart


I think that my smtp server uses STARTTLS authentification
here is the output of my /var/log/maillog file from the time i restarted sendmail and after i send an email with mail command:

Oct 27 15:46:40 neoprout sendmail[2804]: starting daemon (8.14.5): SMTP+queueing@01:00:00
Oct 27 15:48:00 neoprout sm-msp-queue[3792]: starting daemon (8.14.5): queueing@01:00:00
Oct 27 15:52:26 neoprout sendmail[3800]: q9RJqQGf003800: from=julien, size=224, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201210271952.q9RJqQGf003800@neoprout.locald omain>, relay=julien@localhost
Oct 27 15:53:47 neoprout sendmail[3852]: q9RJqQjN003852: from=<julien@neoprout.localdomain>, size=508, class=0, nrcpts=1, msgid=<201210271952.q9RJqQGf003800@neoprout.locald omain>, proto=ESMTP, daemon=MTA, relay=localhost6.localdomain6 [127.0.0.1]
Oct 27 15:53:47 neoprout sendmail[3800]: q9RJqQGf003800: to=maverick_hunter17@hotmail.com, ctladdr=julien (1000/1000), delay=00:01:21, xdelay=00:01:21, mailer=relay, pri=30224, relay=[127.0.0.1] [127.0.0.1], dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent (q9RJqQjN003852 Message accepted for delivery)
Oct 27 15:54:07 neoprout sendmail[3854]: STARTTLS=client, relay=smtps.iro.umontreal.ca, version=TLSv1/SSLv3, verify=FAIL, cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA, bits=256/256
Oct 27 15:54:07 neoprout sendmail[3854]: q9RJqQjN003852: to=<maverick_hunter17@hotmail.com>, ctladdr=<julien@neoprout.localdomain> (1000/1000), delay=00:00:21, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=relay, pri=120508, relay=smtps.iro.umontreal.ca [132.204.27.50], dsn=5.0.0, stat=Service unavailable
Oct 27 15:54:07 neoprout sendmail[3854]: q9RJqQjN003852: q9RJs7jN003854: DSN: Service unavailable
Oct 27 15:54:27 neoprout sendmail[3854]: q9RJs7jN003854: to=<julien@neoprout.localdomain>, delay=00:00:20, xdelay=00:00:20, mailer=local, pri=31780, dsn=2.0.0, stat=Sent

also, i received a delivery failure message in my /var/spool/mail/julien (julien is my username) here it is:

Message 22:
From MAILER-DAEMON@neoprout.localdomain Sat Oct 27 15:54:27 2012
Return-Path: <MAILER-DAEMON@neoprout.localdomain>
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:54:07 -0400
From: Mail Delivery Subsystem <MAILER-DAEMON@neoprout.localdomain>
To: <julien@localhost.localdomain>
Content-Type: multipart/report; report-type=delivery-status;
boundary="q9RJs7jN003854.1351367647/neoprout.localdomain"
Subject: Returned mail: see transcript for details
Auto-Submitted: auto-generated (failure)
Status: RO

Part 1:

The original message was received at Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:53:46 -0400
from localhost6.localdomain6 [127.0.0.1]

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<maverick_hunter17@hotmail.com>
(reason: 554 <bas1-montreal37-845534873.dsl.bell.ca[50.101.214.153]>: Client host rejected: Access denied)

----- Transcript of session follows -----
... while talking to smtps.iro.umontreal.ca:
>>> AUTH dialogue
<<< 535 Error: authentication failed
>>> DATA
<<< 554 <bas1-montreal37-845534873.dsl.bell.ca[50.101.214.153]>: Client host rejected: Access denied
554 5.0.0 Service unavailable
<<< 554 Error: no valid recipients

Part 2:
Content-Type: message/delivery-status


Part 3:
Content-Type: message/rfc822

From julien@localhost.localdomain Sat Oct 27 15:53:46 2012
Return-Path: <julien@localhost.localdomain>
From: Julien Villemure <julien@localhost.localdomain>
Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:51:06 -0400
To: maverick_hunter17@hotmail.com
Subject: llss
User-Agent: Heirloom mailx 12.5 7/5/10
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

llss

---------- Post added at 04:04 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:02 PM ----------

From the maillog file and the delivery failure email, I think this issue is related to an authentification error. But i don't know how to fix this.