[comp.mail.sendmail] #include equivalent for aliases file

msir@sulu.cc.rochester.edu (Mark Sirota) (07/25/90)

I would really like to see an additional feature for sendmail - the
equivalent of the C preprocessor's #include statement for the aliases file.

This would make it much easier for me to maintain my aliases file, and the
newaliases command could handle the hard work before translating to dbm
format.

Has anyone done this?  I am really not interested in my own hacked version
of sendmail, but I'd really like to see this functionality find it's way
into the official sendmail (starting at Berkeley and working it's way into
the various derivatives).  Is there any chance of that happening?  If the
appropriate person doesn't read comp.mail.sendmail, to whom should I send
this suggestion?
--
Mark Sirota - University of Rochester Computing Center, Rochester NY
 Internet: msir@cc.rochester.edu
 Bitnet:   msir@uordbv.bitnet
 UUCP:     {decvax,harvard,ames,rutgers}!rochester!ur-cc!msir

jbaltz@cunixe.cc.columbia.edu (Jerry B. Altzman) (07/25/90)

In article <8562@ur-cc.UUCP> Mark Sirota <msir@cc.rochester.edu> writes:
>I would really like to see an additional feature for sendmail - the
>equivalent of the C preprocessor's #include statement for the aliases file.

Umm...

You can do this:

alias::include:/path/to/file/name

RTFM

>Mark Sirota - University of Rochester Computing Center, Rochester NY

//jbaltz
--



jerry b. altzman  "I didn't do it, and when I did I wasn't"      212 854 8058
jbaltz@columbia.edu   "there, and you deserved it."      jauus@cuvmb (bitnet)
NEVIS::jbaltz (HEPNET)                    ...!rutgers!columbia!jbaltz (bang!)

Makey@Logicon.COM (Jeff Makey) (07/25/90)

You could install something like the following in place of
/usr/ucb/newaliases:

    #!/bin/sh
    /lib/cpp < /usr/lib/aliases > /tmp/aliases.$$
    /usr/lib/sendmail -bi -oA/tmp/aliases.$$
    rm -f /tmp/aliases.$$

Warning: this shell code is entirely untested.  Use at your own risk.
Your pathnames may differ.

                           :: Jeff Makey

Department of Tautological Pleonasms and Superfluous Redundancies Department
    Disclaimer: All opinions are strictly those of the author.
    Internet: Makey@Logicon.COM    UUCP: {nosc,ucsd}!logicon.com!Makey

gamiddle@maytag.waterloo.edu (Guy Middleton) (07/26/90)

In article <1990Jul24.201825.18754@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> jbaltz@cunixe.cc.columbia.edu (Jerry B. Altzman) writes:
> You can do this:
> 
> alias::include:/path/to/file/name

Great, but how does that help Mark, who wants to do this:

MAILER-DAEMON:postmaster
postmaster:postmaster@foo.bar.edu
root:mark,dritchie
#include "local-alias-list"
#include "department-alias-list"
#include "campus-alias-list"

???