[comp.mail.sendmail] Question on sendmail ...

rc@mit-caf.MIT.EDU (Ran-Chi Huang) (05/11/91)

Does any netters have a solution to the following problem ?

If I send mail to a mail alias (as defined in /usr/lib/aliases) how
can I set it up so that the recipient sees that it is addressed to
him, instead of seeing the mail alias that it was sent to.

For instance, if "root@foobar" sends mail to "staff@foobars" and
"rc@foobars" is a member of this mailing list, how can I set it up 
so that the message that "rc@foobars" receives has the

"To:" field as "rc@foobars" instead of "staff@foobars" ?

Please let me know by mail because I do not read this group often.
I will summarize all replies.

Thanks

rc@caf.mit.edu

rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert) (05/11/91)

In article <6115@mit-caf.MIT.EDU> rc@mit-caf.UUCP (Ran-Chi Huang) writes:
>Does any netters have a solution to the following problem ?
>
>If I send mail to a mail alias (as defined in /usr/lib/aliases) how
>can I set it up so that the recipient sees that it is addressed to
>him, instead of seeing the mail alias that it was sent to.

  You can't.  Actually if you moved all the aliasing to rulesets in
sendmail.cf, you might be able to, but that would cause more problems
than it solved.

  The real answer is that what you are wanting to do is basically
wrong.  The 'To:' header is supposed to reflect the message as
sent, not as received.  What, after all, would be the purpose of the
'To:' header if on your incoming mail it always said:

	To: /usr/spool/mail/rc

>For instance, if "root@foobar" sends mail to "staff@foobars" and
>"rc@foobars" is a member of this mailing list, how can I set it up 
>so that the message that "rc@foobars" receives has the
>
>"To:" field as "rc@foobars" instead of "staff@foobars" ?

  But it is more useful to see 'staff@foobars'.  That way when you see the
message you realize you were not the sole recipient.  You know that it was
addressed to the group instead of to you individually.

>Please let me know by mail because I do not read this group often.

  If you want an email reply, make sure the 'Reply-To:' address on your
original message is valid.  Or, if it was valid, find out what is wrong
that causes mail to that address to bounce.


-- 
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  Neil W. Rickert, Computer Science               <rickert@cs.niu.edu>
  Northern Illinois Univ.
  DeKalb, IL 60115                                   +1-815-753-6940