[fetchmail]SMTP problem

[Rob MacGregor]

On 30/09/05, Bo Grimes <newslists@isp.com> wrote:
> Rob MacGregor wrote:
>
> >1) Post your .fetchmailrc
> >
> >
> # Configuration created Thu Sep 29 18:23:51 2005 by fetchmailconf
> set postmaster "fred"         <------ should this be root or postmaster?

That should be whatever address problems should go to.  Normally I'd
suggest a different account from the one in the poll line.

> set bouncemail
> set no spambounce
> set properties ""
> poll pop.newsguy.com with proto POP3
>        user 'fred' there with password 'deleted' is 'fred' here

Otherwise, looks ok.  That means you've got a problem with your Exim config=
.

> Trying, but it's a bit like a dyslexic trying to learn Geek, I mean
> Greek.  Looking in /var/log led me to /var/log/exim4/rejectlog.1 which
> says stuff like:
>
> 2005-09-29 14:15:06 H=3Dlocalhost [127.0.0.1] F=3D<fred@isp.com> temporar=
ily
> rejected RCPT <fred@localhost>: failed to open /etc/aliases for linear
> search: Permission denied (euid=3D112 egid=3D112)

Hmmm, try opening up /etc/aliases - set the group ownership to numeric
112.  That may fix all your problems.

> I will read up on aliases.  This seems to be getting at the root of the
> problem because in /etc/aliases it says the postmaster is root.
> However, if I run fetchmailconf and then fetchmail as root setting the
> local name to 'fred' I still get the same problem.  Root's .fetchmailrc
> gets written with set postmaster "postmaster".

Different "postmasters".

> What I'm trying to figure out, because I think it would help, is just
> how Evolution, et al send mail successfully.  When I set up a graphical
> MUA I set the smtp as smtp.isp.com; however, my machine has to use some
> MTA that has to use my smtp to get it to my isp's smtp, right?  I assume
> that's Exim, so why does it work for Evolution?

No, when you use Evolution (or some other MUA) you're connecting
directly.  I doubt your local Exim has ever been touched before you
started using fetchmail.

Currently, you've got (caution ASCII 'art', may line wrap):

ISP <=3D=3D=3D> MUA

With Fetchmail you've got:

ISP ---> Fetchmail ---> Local SMTP ---> Local POP/IMAP

And then your MUA communicates with your local servers.

> Thanks for the pointers.  This may take awile for me and is probably
> best persued down the exim route rather than fetchmail.  Appreciate it!
> Disclaimer: The rest of this is just pissiness and not meant to indicate
> ingratitude and need not be read.

If you're having problems with Exim, I can recommend Sendmail (though
frankly, you're as well simply finding what suits you).  Despite FUD,
it's a doddle to get a simple config up and running in minutes.

Keep in mind too that your SMTP server is only part of the equation.=20
You also need a local POP/IMAP server.

For the simplest setup, try the UWash POP/IMAP servers (standard with
most linux distros).  That way any local account should be ok to
receive email.

I can provide help with getting Sendmail running, though frankly
comp.mail.sendmail and the standard config files will give you 99.99%
of what you need.

> > 5) Do the same for whatever flavour of Linux you've got
>
> Which is why I tried to make it clear from the start that I was doing
> this, hoping to avoid the obligatory rtfm conversation.  On my desk sit
> "The Linux Cookbook," "The Linux Administration Handbook," "Running
> Linux," and "Fedora 3 Unleashed."  I never resort to usenet, mailing
> list or irc until I have tried everything else.  I thought I had
> narrowed the problem down very significantly and posted what I thought
> was the key infomation for diagnosing the problem.

You'd got pretty close, and frankly it's not always obvious what you
need.  I wouldn't take my comments personally - I see far too many
idiots posting little more than "it's broken" so these days I tend to
default to RTFM.

That it was, for me (who's been a unix admin for over a decade),
pretty obvious the problem lay with your MTA didn't help my response -
and for that I apologise (see, I can be nice too :>).

> Conversely, I guess I could just skip fetchmail and stick with what
> already works.

In all honesty - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

> Sorry I'm getting pissy, and I'm sure it's obvious, but over the last 6
> years of using Linux as just a regular home user coming from Windows
> with no tech background whatsoever it just seems Linux folk shoot their
> wounded.

Nah, we just wound them more :)  The trouble is, unix in general does
less hand-holding.  Whereas with Windows it'll walk you through
everything, unix assumes you know what you're doing.  What other OS
will let you nuke it while it's running :)

Posting less than half an hour after waking up probably wasn't a good
idea either.

> I was very trepidatious about posting to this list, thinking it was just
> slightly less intimidating than the mutt list which is only below the
> kernel list, so I tried to do my homework.

And being flamed doesn't help...

You need to solve your problem in the following steps:

1) Get local mail delivery working.  That means you should be able to
do "mail fred" at the command line and have that mail delivered and
readable by fred.  Until then, fetchmail will never work.  The
downside is that you really are going to have to learn about your
setup, which I can't help with.  However, the Linux Documentation
Project does have an old document describing what you need.  It's not
perfect, but it should get you pretty close.

2) Get outbound mail working through your SMTP server.  In theory, if
you've got (1) working then (2) should already be happening, but not
always.

3) Run fetchmail.  Your posted config should work fine.

--
                 Please keep list traffic on the list.
Rob MacGregor
      Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he
        doesn't become a monster.                  Friedrich Nietzsche