  mini-HOWTO install qmail with MH
  Christopher Richardson (rdn@tara.n.eunet.de)
  v1.4, 5 March 1998

  I am just documenting my installation experiences to offer some help
  to other users who wish to use the above combination for their email.
  v1.4 - I have finally got a new Linux box running so I decided to
  update this mini-howto
  ______________________________________________________________________

  Table of Contents


  1. Introduction

  2. My System Details

  3. Qmail Installation

     3.1 Maildir2smtp

  4. MH Installation

     4.1 mtstailor
     4.2 mh_profile

  5. Fetchmail

  6. Exmh

  7. Procmail

  8. ISDN

  9. Sources

  10. Disclaimers

  11. Postscript



  ______________________________________________________________________

  1.  Introduction



  My thanks to all netizens who have helped me, especially Tony Nugent
  (tony@trishul.sci.gu.edu.au), David Summers
  (david@summersoft.fay.ar.us) and S.u.S.E ( Linux distribution) who has
  made installing Linux so much easier, and the authors of the above
  excellent programs.

  What is qmail and why should I use it?  Here is the authorīs (Dan
  Bernstein) blurb:

  qmail is a secure, reliable, efficient, simple message transfer agent.
  It is meant as a replacement for the entire sendmail-binmail system on
  typical Internet-connected UNIX hosts.

  Secure: Security isn't just a goal, but an absolute requirement. Mail
  delivery is critical for users; it cannot be turned off, so it must be
  completely secure. (This is why I started writing qmail: I was sick of
  the security holes in sendmail and other MTAs.)

  Reliable: qmail's straight-paper-path philosophy guarantees that a
  message, once accepted into the system, will never be lost. qmail also
  supports maildir, a new, super-reliable user mailbox format. Maildirs,
  unlike mbox files and mh folders, won't be corrupted if the system
  crashes during delivery. Even better, not only can a user safely read
  his mail over NFS, but any number of NFS clients can deliver mail to
  him at the same time.

  Efficient: On a Pentium under BSD/OS, qmail can easily sustain 200000
  local messages per day---that's separate messages injected and
  delivered to mailboxes in a real test! Although remote deliveries are
  inherently limited by the slowness of DNS and SMTP, qmail overlaps 20
  simultaneous deliveries by default, so it zooms quickly through
  mailing lists. (This is why I finished qmail: I had to get a big
  mailing list set up.)

  Simple: qmail is vastly smaller than any other Internet MTA. Some
  reasons why: (1) Other MTAs have separate forwarding, aliasing, and
  mailing list mechanisms. qmail has one simple forwarding mechanism
  that lets users handle their own mailing lists. (2) Other MTAs offer a
  spectrum of delivery modes, from fast+unsafe to slow+queued. qmail-
  send is instantly triggered by new items in the queue, so the qmail
  system has just one delivery mode: fast+queued. (3) Other MTAs
  include, in effect, a specialized version of inetd that watches the
  load average.  qmail's design inherently limits the machine load, so
  qmail-smtpd can safely run from your system's inetd.

  Replacement for sendmail: qmail supports host and user masquerading,
  full host hiding, virtual domains, null clients, list-owner rewriting,
  relay control, double-bounce recording, arbitrary RFC 822 address
  lists, cross-host mailing list loop detection, per-recipient
  checkpointing, downed host backoffs, independent message retry
  schedules, etc. In short, it's up to speed on modern MTA features.
  qmail also includes a drop-in ``sendmail'' wrapper so that it will be
  used transparently by your current UAs.



  2.  My System Details


  SuSE Linux Distribution 5.1 with 2.0.33 kernal.


  PPP link to ISP



  3.  Qmail Installation


  Follow the INSTALL instructions exactly.


  Notes:



  Please take the time to read the Fine documentation  completely.  The
  numerals refer to the installation steps in the above INSTALL doc.

  ·  2  - I had to set up the groups and users manually as per
     INSTALL.ids

  ·  7  - ./qmail-makectl did not work on my system. I added my domain
     name (mickey.n.eunet.de) manually in /var/qmail/control/me
  ·  23 - Make sure qmail-smtpd is spelt correctly in the inetd-conf
     file.  (I spelt it incorrectly i.e. qmail-smptd, which took me two
     days to find:( ) smtp  stream  tcp     nowait  qmaild
     /var/qmail/bin/tcp-env tcp-env /var/qmail/bin/qmail-smtpd


  3.1.  Maildir2smtp


  Dan Bernstein has provided a package for sending queued email to an
  ISP via dial-in. This package is available as serialmailxxx from his
  site.

  Install this package as described in the man page (Thanks Rupert
  Mazzucco (maz@pap.univie.ac.at), it works out of the box!



              maildir2smtp - blast a maildir across SMTP

              maildir2smtp is designed to pass messages along a SLIP  or
              PPP  link.  To set this up on the disconnected end, create
              a new maildir in alias:

                 # maildirmake ~alias/pppdir
                 # chown -R alias ~alias/pppdir

              Put

                 :alias-ppp

              into control/virtualdomains and

                 ./pppdir/

              into ~alias/.qmail-ppp-default.  Don't  forget  the  extra
              slash in pppdir/.  Then, in the PPP startup script, do

                 maildir2smtp ~alias/pppdir alias-ppp- $IP `hostname`

              replacing  $IP with the remote IP address.



  Notes:


  ·  Please read the Fine manual page completely.

  ·  Maildir2smtp requires the dotted IP address of your mail server. If
     you do not have this then ping YourMail.host.country which will
     return the IP.

  ·  This command can be included in your login script to flush all
     queued mail after logging in to your ISP.



  4.  MH Installation

  In addition to this, I also replaced /mh-6.8.4/mts/sendmail/smail.c
  with Dan Bernsteinīs mh-qmail-smail.c
  This is what my mh-6.8.4/conf/MH looks like:



       ______________________________________________________________________


       bin     /usr/bin/mh
       etc     /usr/lib/mh
       #mail
       #mandir /usr/man
       #manuals        standard
       chown   /bin/chown
       #cp     cp
       #ln     ln
       #remove mv -f
       cc      gcc
       ccoptions -traditional -O2 -m486 -D_NFILE='getdtablesize()'
                 -DSIGEMT=SIGUSR1
       curses  -lncurses
       #ldoptions      -s
       #ldoptlibs
       lex     flex
       #oldload        off
       #ranlib on
       mts     sendmail
       #mf     off
       #bboards        off
       #bbdelivery     off
       #bbhome /usr/spool/bboards
       pop     on
       popdir  /usr/lib/mh
       sharedlib       sys5
       slflags -fPIC
       slibdir /usr/lib
       mailgroup       mail
       signal  void
       sprintf int
       #editor prompter
       #debug  off
       #regtest        off
       options ATHENA
       options BIND
       options DPOP
       options DUMB
       options FCNTL
       options MHE
       options MHRC
       options MIME
       options MORE='"/usr/bin/less"'
       options OVERHEAD
       options POP2
       options POPSERVICE='"pop3"'
       options RENAME
       options RPATHS
       options RPOP
       options SOCKETS
       options SVR4
       options SYS5
       options SYS5DIR
       options TERMINFO
       options UNISTD
       options VSPRINTF

       ______________________________________________________________________

  Notes:

  ·  I have only compiled ``mts sendmail'' - read in comp.mail.mh
     somewhere that /smtp can cause problems. Dominic Mitchell
     (hdm@demon.net) wrote in comp.mail.mh (13 June 1997):

     ``Not quite. With this option MH still talks SMTP, just over a pipe
     and not over a network. You *really* need a line in your
      /.mh_profile which says:

     postproc: /usr/local/nmh/lib/spost

     Or whever it's kept on your system. This will pass the message
     directly to sendmail in the traditional manner. You're using qmail
     of course, so sendmail will be qmail's wrapper script, but that's
     just fine.'' Thanks Dominic.


  ·  I have remmed out ``mail'' because I want to control it via
     mtstailor


  4.1.  mtstailor


  As qmail delivers mail to the home directory (~/Mailbox). I added the
  following to my mtstailor



       localname:      mickey
       localdomain:    n.eunet.de
       mmdfldir:
       mmdflfil:       Mailbox
       uucpldir:
       uucplfil:
       mmdelim1:       \001\001\001\001\n
       mmdelim2:       \001\001\001\001\n
       mmailid:        0
       umincproc:
       lockldir:
       sendmail:       /usr/lib/sendmail



  Notes:

  ·  sendmail: /usr/lib/sendmail is a link to the qmail sendmail wrapper
     in /var/qmail/bin

  ·  MH does not like the tilde notation (~/) use /home instead or leave
     blank which according to the docs defaults to $HOME.

  ·  I recently installed MH and qmail on my office machine which is
     connect via ethernet. I added the following line to mtstailor:

     servers: mailserver.company.country



  4.2.  mh_profile


  Here is my .mh_profile



       Path: Mail
       draft-folder: drafts
       unseen-sequence: unseen
       AliasFile: /home/rdn/.mh_aliases
       send: -msgid
       comp: -form /home/rdn/.mymh-components
       MailDrop: /home/rdn/Mailbox



  Notes:

  ·  I put in the MailDrop line to be ``sure to be sure''.



  5.  Fetchmail

  I decided to use fetchmail because I have a multiuser (my family :).
  Linux and fetchmail delivers mail to the smtp port where qmail takes
  over.


  Installation was no problem, multidrop works with the following
  .fetchmailrc :



       poll PersonalMail.Germany.EU.net
       protocol pop3
       username myname
       password mypassword
       # the next two lines do the trick for multidrop
       localdomains mydomain.de
       is * here
       # T2 of the fetchmail FAQ states that qmail needs this
       forcecr



  6.  Exmh

  This is my mailer by choice. I love it.

  There is one problem - most pre-compiled TCL/TK packages have the
  security option compiled in.  The following script .xserverrc.secure
  which came with SuSE solves this.



  ______________________________________________________________________

  #!/bin/sh

  #
  # move this file to ~/.xserverrc, if you don't want to allow everybody to
  # get access to your X-Server
  #
  if [ -x /usr/bin/keygen ]; then
      if [ ! -x /usr/bin/hostname -a ! -x /bin/hostname \
           -a ! -x /usr/bsd/hostname ];
      then
          echo "startx: can't get my hostname - exiting"
          exit 1
      else
          host=`hostname`
      fi

      xauth add $host:0 . `/usr/bin/keygen`
      sleep 2
      xauth add $host/"unix":0 . `/usr/bin/keygen`
      exec X :0 -auth .Xauthority $*
  else
      exec X :0 $*
  fi
  ______________________________________________________________________



  7.  Procmail


  The qmail FAQ gives this command:

  In  /.qmail add the line



       | preline procmail



  Version 3.11pre7 has changed the default mail box variable. It used to
  be in config.h. It is now in src/authenticate.c:



       #define MAILSPOOLHOME "/Mailbox"    /* watch the leading / */
                                               /* delivers to $HOME/Mailbox */



  I have culled from comp.mail.mh ans comp.mail.misc some hints on a
  .procmailrc file. Thanks to everyone!



  # A SAMPLE .PROCMAILRC FILE FOR NOVICES
  # Written by Catherine Hampton <ariel@best.com>
  # Version 1.1
  # Updated 1/25/98
  #
  # Released to the Public Domain.
  #
  #
  # SET VARIABLES

  # Internal Variables
  # the following have be modified by rdn 19980303

  # Everyone says that the SHELL environment is essential
  SHELL=/bin/sh               #Shell used to run procmail.  Be sure this points to
                              #your system's copy of sh.  DO NOT substitute a
                              #different shell unless you really know UNIX

  LINEBUF=4096                #Needed to keep Procmail from choking on long
                              #"recipes", or instructions on what to do with
                              #particular kinds of email.

  PATH=$HOME/bin:/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin/mh:/usr/lib/mh:
                              #Path for your programs -- this is probably best
                              #left alone.

  VERBOSE=off                 #Change this to "on" when you try a new recipe
                              #so that Procmail will log literally every step
                              #it takes.  DO NOT LEAVE IT ON, though, because
                              #it creates huge logfiles.

  # Default Program & file locations

  MAILDIR=$HOME/Mail          #you'd better make sure this directory exists

  DEFAULT=$HOME/Mailbox         #default incoming mailbox for shell2-5 users
                              #on Best Internet.  Substitute the correct
                              #setting for your system.


  LOGFILE=$MAILDIR/procmail.log #Logs message disposition.  Recommended -- otherwise
                              #errors are emailed to you. :/

  FORMAIL=/usr/bin/formail        #useful for autoreply recipes.  If you
                                  #are not on Best Internet, modify this to
                                  #your system's copy of formail.

  SENDMAIL=/usr/sbin/sendmail    #useful for autoreply recipes.  If you are
                                 #not on Best Internet, modify this to point
                                 #to your system's copy of sendmail.



  Procmail is an excellently documented program. Read the man pages for
  examples on how to set up your .procmailrc file.


  8.  ISDN


  I am including this although this has nothing to do with qmail or mh.
  But without a PPP line to your ISP there is no email at all. I had
  quite a bit of bother to get my ISDN working. The SusE distribution
  includes a configuration for ISDN, but I wanted something simpler. The
  stuff here was adapted from Bernhard Hailer's scripts. (Vielen, vielen
  dank!)

  The following rc.config loads the necessary modules during
  initialisation:



       #!/bin/bash
       # This is adapted Bernhard Hailer's old script

       LOCAL_NUMBER="91311234"        # tel no. 091311234
       REMOTE_NUMBER="0911123456"     # ISP tel no.
       LOCAL_IP="192.168.0.99"            # I have dynamic IP so this will do
       REMOTE_IP="195.112.123.11"     # your ISP's gateway
       DEVICE="ippp0"

       SYSPATH="/sbin"
       ISDNCTRL="$SYSPATH/isdnctrl"

       case "$1" in
       start)
               # turn on isdn
               insmod /lib/modules/2.0.33/net/slhc.o
               insmod /lib/modules/2.0.33/misc/isdn.o
               sleep 1
               # load the hisax module
               insmod /lib/modules/2.0.33/misc/hisax.o
                                          id=Tel0 type=5 protocol=2 irq=10 io=0x300
               echo "starting isdn4linux"
               # global
               $ISDNCTRL verbose 0

               $ISDNCTRL addif $DEVICE         # create new interface
               $ISDNCTRL addphone $DEVICE in $REMOTE_NUMBER
               $ISDNCTRL addphone $DEVICE out $REMOTE_NUMBER
               $ISDNCTRL eaz $DEVICE $LOCAL_NUMBER
               $ISDNCTRL l2_prot $DEVICE hdlc
               $ISDNCTRL l3_prot $DEVICE trans
               $ISDNCTRL encap $DEVICE syncppp
               $ISDNCTRL huptimeout $DEVICE 300
               $ISDNCTRL chargehup  $DEVICE off
               $ISDNCTRL secure $DEVICE on

               $SYSPATH/ifconfig $DEVICE $LOCAL_IP pointopoint $REMOTE_IP metric 1
               $SYSPATH/route add default $DEVICE
               $SYSPATH/ipppd /dev/ippp0 file /etc/ppp/options.ipppd &
               $SYSPATH/route del default

               ;;
       stop)
               #turn off isdn
               rmmod hisax.o
               sleep 1
               rmmod isdn.o
               rmmod slhc.o
               echo "Shutting down isdn4linux"
               $ISDNCTRL delif ippp0
               ;;
       *)
               echo "Usage: $0 (start|stop)"
               exit 1
               ;;
       esac



  I use the following script to dial out, it is called simply isdn
  on|off



       #!/bin/bash
       # This is based on an old script from Bernhard Hailer

       IP_ADDRESS="195.112.123.11"

       case "$1" in
       on)


               echo "Calling ippp0"
               /sbin/isdnctrl dial ippp0
       # the sleep is important as it gives the PPP time to settle down
               echo "Sleep for 8s for PPP handshake"
               sleep 8s
               /sbin/route add default ippp0
               echo "line open - checking...."

       # check whether PPP negotiation was successful:
               set `ping -qc3 -i1 $IP_ADDRESS 2>/dev/null | grep transmitted`
               if [ $4 -gt 0 ];
               then
                       echo "succeeded."
                       echo "Starting fetchmail daemon"
                       /usr/bin/fetchmail -d 600 -k -v -a -L /var/log/fetchmail
                       echo "Flushing mail queue...."
                       /usr/local/bin/serialmail/maildir2smtp
                                   ~alias/pppdir alias-ppp- mail.server.ip.no `hostname`
               else
                       echo "failed!"
                       /sbin/isdnctrl hangup ippp0
               fi

       ;;

       off)
                       echo -n "Shutting down fetchmail daemon"
                       /usr/bin/fetchmail --quit

                       /sbin/isdnctrl hangup ippp0
                       /sbin/route del default         # and delete route
                       echo "You're off line"
       ;;

       *)
               echo -e "\aUsage:"
               echo "isdn on"
               echo "isdn off"
       ;;

       esac



  The next lot is the ipppd options file /etc/ppp/options.ipppd



  # Based on:
  # Klaus Franken, kfr@suse.de
  # Version: 27.08.97 (5.1)
  #
  # This file is copy by YaST from /etc/ppp/ioptions.YaST
  #   to options.<device>

  user "myuserid"

  # my system name (only for CHAP!)
  # name my_system_name

  # accept IP addresses from peer
  # use with dynamic IP
  ipcp-accept-local
  ipcp-accept-remote
  noipdefault

  # try to get IP address from interface
  # option specific to ipppd (as opposed to pppd)
  # use only with static IP
  #useifip

  # disable all header-compression
  -vj
  -vjccomp
  -ac
  -pc
  -bsdcomp

  # sometimes you need this:
  #noccp

  # max receive unit
  mru 1524
  # max transmit unit
  mtu 1500

  # If this machine is a server, force authentication by uncommenting one
  # of the following. However, if this machine is a client, doing this will
  # prevent a succesful connection! (message "peer refused to authenticate").
  # So, only uncomment on a server.
  # "+pap" / "+chap" NUR AKTIVIEREN, WENN DIES EIN SERVER IST!!!
  #+pap
  #+chap

  # if you have problems with handshaking (no response for first
  # lcp-package) try to decrease the retry-cycle. Default is 3 sec,
  # try for example 2 sec:
  # lcp-restart 2



  9.  Sources


  Required Packages:


  The net is so dynamic that it is pretty pointless to give sources.
  but for what it's worth:


  ·  Find Qmail, setserial on http://www.qmail.org/


  ·  Find MH on http://www.ics.uci.edu/~mh/

  ·  Find glimpse on http://glimpse.cs.arizona.edu/

  ·  Find Fetchmail on http://sagan.earthspace.net/~esr/fetchmail


  ·  Find Exmh http://www.beedub.com/exmh

  ·  Find Procmail ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/packages/promail



  10.  Disclaimers

  The usual no guarantees, no money back, use at your own risk.


  11.  Postscript


  Has anyone got mh working with Maildir? I have not tried - the
  principle of not fixing a running system. If you have got it working
  please mail me your instruction for inclusion in the next revision



