rpk@lmi-angel.UUCP (02/06/87)
The rmail used for UUCP mail seems to want the same arguments as the
standard mail program, which most importantly means a list of addresses to
send to and not just one. Our 4.2 sendmail thinks that rmail can take just
one address at a time (in the mailer definition uucpm). Is this an
oversight or are there other rmails out there which only take one address ?
--
Robert P. Krajewski
Internet/MIT: RPK@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU
UUCP: ...{cca,harvard,mit-eddie}!lmi-angel!rpkgnu@hoptoad.UUCP (02/10/87)
In article <136@lmi-angel.UUCP>, rpk@lmi-angel.UUCP (Bob Krajewski) writes: > The rmail used for UUCP mail seems to want the same arguments as the > standard mail program, which most importantly means a list of addresses to > send to and not just one. Our 4.2 sendmail thinks that rmail can take just > one address at a time (in the mailer definition uucpm). Is this an > oversight or are there other rmails out there which only take one address ? The definitive answer to this is: the 4.1BSD rmail program would only take one address. Mark Horton wrote it and he's the one who told me. In older Unix systems, rmail was just a link to mail, so multiple addresses worked. In newer systems there is a newer rmail that handles multiple addresses. I know of no other systems with the one-recipient problem. The real problem with turning on the "multiple recipients" bit in the sendmail uucp mailer description is that there is no limit to the number of recipients it will put on a line. If somebody ever sets up a mailing list on your system, it will try to send to dozens or hundreds of addresses, and probably drop mail by overflowing a command buffer inside uux. Because of this, I implemented an "L=nnn" flag on the mailer description which specified a maximum command length. This change is in the 4.3BSD and Sun sendmails. I use L=250 and have had no trouble so far. This change is worth making because you'll only send one copy of a message rather than N copies. This is especially useful on long-distance links. -- John Gilmore {sun,ptsfa,lll-crg,ihnp4}!hoptoad!gnu gnu@ingres.berkeley.edu Love your country but never trust its government. -- from a hand-painted road sign in central Pennsylvania (terrorist, cryptography, DES, drugs, cipher, secret, decode, NSA, CIA, NRO.)
mark@cbosgd.UUCP (02/10/87)
In article <136@lmi-angel.UUCP> rpk@lmi-angel.UUCP (Bob Krajewski) writes: >The rmail used for UUCP mail seems to want the same arguments as the >standard mail program, which most importantly means a list of addresses to >send to and not just one. Our 4.2 sendmail thinks that rmail can take just >one address at a time (in the mailer definition uucpm). Is this an >oversight or are there other rmails out there which only take one address ? The 4.1BSD rmail took only one argument, and it's my fault. When I originally wrote rmail.c, I was being a defensive programmer, and I put in a usage check to make sure there was exactly one argument. I didn't realize that multiple arguments were possible. This was fixed in 4.2BSD, and there aren't many places out there running 4.1 anymore. As far as I know, 4.1 is the only major distribution with this bug. When 4.2 was released, there were lots of 4.1 sites to worry about. There aren't many any more. Mark
jc@cdx39.UUCP (02/11/87)
In article <136@lmi-angel.UUCP>, rpk@lmi-angel.UUCP (Bob Krajewski) writes: > ... Our 4.2 sendmail thinks that rmail can take just > one address at a time (in the mailer definition uucpm). Is this an > oversight or are there other rmails out there which only take one address ? Yeah, we had one here that was broken like that, but I fixed it! -- John M Chambers Phone: 617/364-2000x7304 Email: ...{adelie,bu-cs,harvax,inmet,mcsbos,mit-eddie,mot[bos]}!cdx39!{jc,news,root,usenet,uucp} Smail: Codex Corporation; Mailstop C1-30; 20 Cabot Blvd; Mansfield MA 02048-1193 Clever-Saying: Uucp me out of here, Scotty; there's no AI on this node!