Re: [cobalt-users] raq3 catch-all alias problems

[Duncan Laurie <duncan@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Chris Adams wrote:
> 
> The way Cobalt sets things up, virtual users are always setup only for
> @host.domain.com, not plain @domain.com.  If you check the "Accept email
> for domain" box, then a special entry like:
> 
> @domain.com %1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> is setup (this is the kind of entry that matches rule 4 above).  So, the
> rules get run twice: the first time turns user@xxxxxxxxxx to
> user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, and then user@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx gets checked.
> 

You are correct.  I'm not sure what I was confusing to come up with what I
did... the initial work I did with the raq1 used the plain-text
virtusertable, which sendmail converts to table format on load if no map is
specified.  And its been since then that i've looked into virtual domains on
sendmail, something like 8.8.8... This is excactly what I get for thinking I
can come up with anything substantial at 5am.

My setup that I was testing with last night was working simply because I was
adding the specific user->user aliases, not realizing (in a haze maybe?) the
effect that was having.  Thanks for pointing this out; I should have second
guessed myself and done more research...  ;)

> On a RaQ3, this is no longer true.  Users _don't_ get the alias anymore,
> so if somebody sends to user@xxxxxxxxxx, rules 1, 2, and 3, don't match,
> and then rule 4 matches the catch-all.
> 

Right again.  This is what the patch should fix, and what the current
version does.  The alias is transparent to the user: doesn't show up in ui
screens, but doesn't need to be explicitly added.  You just need to hit save
on all the email screens for all the current users to get the alias.  (which
isn't very nice... oh well)  It also requires the catch-all to have the same
domain as the virtual site.  (rather than the fully qualified domain name,
cause that was too restrictive for most people)  The version in my dir on
ftp.cobaltnet.com (raq3-catchall-2.patch.bz2) clears up the confusion.

> Now, one other thing (and this is true for all RaQ products): since
> there is not an explicit
> 
> @host.domain.com error:nouser User unknown

Yep, this one is planned for the next OS update.. At least now catch-alls
can work, giving an effective workaround.  Thanks for clarifying my sendmail
memory... I think I'll leave that whole bag-o-tricks to someone who at least
has the infamous bat book (or maybe an m4 programmer?).


-duncan

p.s. if anyone wants to install the version that does user->user aliases,
you can remove the old patch first and this will install clean:

bunzip2 -dc raq3-catchall.patch.bz2 | patch -p0 -R
bunzip2 -dc raq3-catchall-2.patch.bz2 | patch -p0