Index for Section 7

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mail_intro(7)
NAME
  mail_intro - Introductory information on the Tru64 UNIX mail system

DESCRIPTION
  The Tru64 UNIX mail system enables you to exchange mail with other users on
  your system, as well as with other systems connected to your local network
  and with users on other networks (provided your system and network are
  connected to other networks).

  Mail System Concepts

  Mail systems consist of the following components:

    ·  User agent - The user agent provides the interface through which you
       interact with the mail system.  Generally, the user interface enables
       you to create, send, receive, read, save, and manage your mail
       messages.

       Tru64 UNIX provides the following user agents:

	 -- CDE's Mailer - For further information, see the Common Desktop
	    Environment: User's Guide .

	 -- Mail or mailx - For further information, see the Command and
	    Shell User's Guide.

	 -- The Rand Message Handling program (MH) - For further information,
	    see the mh(1) and xmh(1X) reference pages.

    ·  Transport agent - The transport agent provides an interface between
       the user agents and the delivery agents.	 The sendmail command is a
       transfer agent.

    ·  Delivery agent - The delivery agent provides the mechanism for
       delivering the mail messages to end users, systems, and networks.  The
       binmail and deliver commands are delivery agents for standard mail and
       IMAP mail, respectively.

  In Tru64 UNIX, the sendmail program acts as both the transport and delivery
  agent. It does so by implementing the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP),
  which is the specification for the Internet's delivery agent.

  Initially standards did not exist for mail addresses and computer networks.
  Many different address formats and network protocols exist.  Mail programs
  must interact with different network protocols, as well as recognize and
  reformat different mail address formats.  Fortunately, these difficulties
  were recognized and standards, such as the Standard for the Format of ARPA
  Internet Text Messages (RFC 822) and The Domain Naming Convention for
  Internet User Applications (RFC 819), emerged.  A mail program still must
  recognize addresses in various formats and communicate with different
  network protocols. The sendmail program addresses these issues through the
  use of the sendmail.cf configuration file.

  The Sendmail Configuration File

  The sendmail.cf configuration file provides the sendmail program with the
  information to perform the following tasks:

    ·  Choose delivery agents

    ·  Use address rewriting rules

    ·  Define mail header information

    ·  Perform some routing

  When it starts, the sendmail program reads the sendmail.cf configuration
  file.	 The information in the sendmail.cf configuration file enables
  sendmail to rewrite the addresses of mail it receives into the address form
  expected by the mail delivery agent. It also enables sendmail to set
  parameters and arguments to the mail delivery program.

  The configuration file contains information that is used for the following
  functions:

    ·  Define message precedence for mail delivery

    ·  Define administrative IDs to override the sender's address

    ·  Define message headings

    ·  Define the mail program to use

    ·  Set options used by the sendmail command

  The default Tru64 UNIX configuration file (located in
  /var/adm/sendmail/sendmail.cf) is adequate for most standalone systems.
  However, if you plan to connect your system to a network, you will have to
  modify the sendmail.cf file.

  Tru64 UNIX provides the mailconfig and mailsetup utilities, which you can
  use to create mail configuration files. If you prefer to manipulate the
  configuration file manually, you should use the m4 macros provided for this
  purpose. (See the sendmail.m4(8) reference page.)

  For more information on configuring mail, see the Network Administration:
  Services manual.

SEE ALSO
  Commands: binmail(1), mailconfig(8), mailsetup(8), mailx(1), sendmail(8),
  sendmail.m4(8)

  Files: sendmail.cf(4)

  Network Administration: Services

  Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text Messages (RFC 822) The Domain
  Naming Convention for Internet User Applications (RFC 819) UNIX System
  Administration Handbook, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1989.

Index for Section 7

Alphabetical listing for M

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