Install qmail (OPTIONAL)

Qmail is a Mail Transfer Agent. It handles incoming and outgoing mail. Install qmail if you want your OpenACS server to send and receive mail, and you don't want to use an alternate MTA.

  1. Install ucspi. This program handles incoming tcp connections. Download ucspi and install it.

    Red Hat 9.0: put

    #include <errno.h>

    as the first line of error.h. More information)

    [root@yourserver root]# cd /usr/local/src
    [root@yourserver src]# tar xzf /tmp/ucspi-tcp-0.88.tar.gz
    [root@yourserver src]# cd ucspi-tcp-0.88
    [root@yourserver ucspi-tcp-0.88]# make
    ( cat warn-auto.sh; \
    echo 'main="$1"; shift'; \
    (many lines omitted)
    ./compile instcheck.c
    ./load instcheck hier.o auto_home.o unix.a byte.a
    [root@yourserver ucspi-tcp-0.88]# make setup check
    ./install
    ./instcheck
    [root@yourserver ucspi-tcp-0.88]#
    
    cd /usr/local/src 
    tar xzf /tmp/ucspi-tcp-0.88.tar.gz 
    cd ucspi-tcp-0.88 
    make 
    make setup check

    Verify that ucspi-tcp was installed successfully by running the tcpserver program which is part of ucspi-tcp:

    [root@yourserver ucspi-tcp-0.88]# tcpserver
    tcpserver: usage: tcpserver [ -1UXpPhHrRoOdDqQv ] [ -c limit ] [ -x rules.cdb ] [ -B banner ] [ -g gid ] [ -u uid
    ] [ -b backlog ] [ -l localname ] [ -t timeout ] host port program
    [root@yourserver ucspi-tcp-0.88]#
    

    (I'm not sure if this next step is 100% necessary, but when I skip it I get problems. If you get the error 553 sorry, that domain isn't in my list of allowed rcpthosts (#5.7.1) then you need to do this.) AOLServer sends outgoing mail via the ns_sendmail command, which pipes a command to the sendmail executable. Or, in our case, the qmail replacement wrapper for the sendmail executable. In some cases, though, the outgoing mail requset is apparently sent through tcp/ip, so that it comes to qmail from 127.0.0.1 (a special IP address that means the local machine - the "loopback" interface). Unless this mail is addressed to the same machine, qmail thinks that it's an attempt to relay mail, and rejects it. So these two commands set up an exception so that any mail sent from 127.0.0.1 is allowed to send outgoing mail.

    [root@yourserver ucspi-tcp-0.88]# cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/tcp.smtp.txt /etc/tcp.smtp
    [root@yourserver ucspi-tcp-0.88]# tcprules /etc/tcp.smtp.cdb /etc/tcp.smtp.tmp < /etc/tcp.smtp
    
    cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/tcp.smtp.txt /etc/tcp.smtp 
    tcprules /etc/tcp.smtp.cdb /etc/tcp.smtp.tmp < /etc/tcp.smtp 
  2. Install Qmail. 

    Download qmail, set up the standard supporting users and build the binaries:

    Red Hat 9.0: Put

    #include <errno.h>

    as the first line of /usr/local/src/qmail-1.03/error.h. More information

    [root@yourserver root]# cd /usr/local/src
    [root@yourserver src]# tar xzf /tmp/qmail-1.03.tar.gz
    [root@yourserver src]# mkdir /var/qmail
    [root@yourserver src]# groupadd nofiles
    [root@yourserver src]# useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail/alias alias
    [root@yourserver src]# useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail qmaild
    [root@yourserver src]# useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail qmaill
    [root@yourserver src]# useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail qmailp
    [root@yourserver src]# groupadd qmail
    [root@yourserver src]# useradd -g qmail -d /var/qmail qmailq
    [root@yourserver src]# useradd -g qmail -d /var/qmail qmailr
    [root@yourserver src]# useradd -g qmail -d /var/qmail qmails
    [root@yourserver src]# cd qmail-1.03
    [root@yourserver qmail-1.03]# make setup check
    ( cat warn-auto.sh; \
    echo CC=\'`head -1 conf-cc`\'; \
    (many lines omitted)
    ./install
    ./instcheck
    [root@yourserver qmail-1.03]#
    
    cd /usr/local/src 
    tar xzf /tmp/qmail-1.03.tar.gz 
    mkdir /var/qmail 
    groupadd nofiles 
    useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail/alias alias 
    useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail qmaild 
    useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail qmaill 
    useradd -g nofiles -d /var/qmail qmailp 
    groupadd qmail 
    useradd -g qmail -d /var/qmail qmailq 
    useradd -g qmail -d /var/qmail qmailr 
    useradd -g qmail -d /var/qmail qmails
    cd qmail-1.03 
    make setup check

    Replace sendmail with qmail's wrapper.

    [root@yourserver qmail-1.03]# rm -f /usr/bin/sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail
    [root@yourserver qmail-1.03]# ln -s /var/qmail/bin/sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail
    [root@yourserver qmail-1.03]#
    
    rm -f /usr/bin/sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail
    ln -s /var/qmail/bin/sendmail /usr/sbin/sendmail

    Configure qmail - specifically, run the config script to set up files in /var/qmail/control specifying the computer's identity and which addresses it should accept mail for. This command will automatically set up qmail correctly if you have correctly set a valid host nome. If not, you'll want to read /var/qmail/doc/INSTALL.ctl to find out how to configure qmail.

    [root@yourserver qmail-1.03]# ./config-fast yourserver.test
    Your fully qualified host name is yourserver.test.
    Putting yourserver.test into control/me...
    Putting yourserver.test into control/defaultdomain...
    Putting yourserver.test into control/plusdomain...
    Putting yourserver.test into control/locals...
    Putting yourserver.test into control/rcpthosts...
    Now qmail will refuse to accept SMTP messages except to yourserver.test.
    Make sure to change rcpthosts if you add hosts to locals or virtualdomains!
    [root@yourserver qmail-1.03]#
    
    ./config-fast yourserver.test

    All incoming mail that isn't for a specific user is handled by the alias user. This includes all root mail. These commands prepare the alias user to receive mail.

    [root@yourserver qmail-1.03]# cd ~alias; touch .qmail-postmaster .qmail-mailer-daemon .qmail-root
    [root@yourserver alias]# chmod 644 ~alias/.qmail*
    [root@yourserver alias]# /var/qmail/bin/maildirmake ~alias/Maildir/
    [root@yourserver alias]# chown -R alias.nofiles /var/qmail/alias/Maildir
    [root@yourserver alias]#
    
    cd ~alias; touch .qmail-postmaster .qmail-mailer-daemon .qmail-root 
    chmod 644 ~alias/.qmail* 
    /var/qmail/bin/maildirmake ~alias/Maildir/ 
    chown -R alias.nofiles /var/qmail/alias/Maildir

    Configure qmail to use the Maildir delivery format (instead of mbox), and install a version of the qmail startup script modified to use Maildir.

    [root@yourserver alias]# echo "./Maildir" > /var/qmail/bin/.qmail
    [root@yourserver alias]# cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail.rc.txt /var/qmail/rc
    [root@yourserver alias]# chmod 755 /var/qmail/rc
    [root@yourserver alias]# 
    
    echo "./Maildir" > /var/qmail/bin/.qmail 
    cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail.rc.txt /var/qmail/rc 
    chmod 755 /var/qmail/rc 
    

    Set up the skeleton directory so that new users will be configured for qmail.

    [root@yourserver root]# /var/qmail/bin/maildirmake /etc/skel/Maildir
    [root@yourserver root]# echo "./Maildir/" > /etc/skel/.qmail
    [root@yourserver root]# 
    
    /var/qmail/bin/maildirmake /etc/skel/Maildir
    echo "./Maildir/" > /etc/skel/.qmail

    As recommended, we will run qmail with daemontools control files. Create daemontools control directories, set up a daemontools control script, copy the supervise control files, and set permissions. The last line links the control directories to /service, which will cause supervise to detect them and execute the run files, causing qmail to start.

    [root@yourserver root]# mkdir -p /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/log
    [root@yourserver root]# mkdir -p /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/log
    [root@yourserver root]# mkdir /var/log/qmail
    [root@yourserver root]# chown qmaill /var/log/qmail
    [root@yourserver root]# cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmailctl.txt /var/qmail/bin/qmailctl
    [root@yourserver root]# chmod 755 /var/qmail/bin/qmailctl
    [root@yourserver root]# ln -s /var/qmail/bin/qmailctl /usr/bin
    [root@yourserver root]# cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail-send-run.txt /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/run 
    [root@yourserver root]# cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail-send-log-run.txt /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/log/run
    [root@yourserver root]# cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail-smtpd-run.txt /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/run
    [root@yourserver root]# cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail-smtpd-log-run.txt /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/log/run
    [root@yourserver root]# chmod 755 /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/run
    [root@yourserver root]# chmod 755 /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/log/run
    [root@yourserver root]# chmod 755 /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/run
    [root@yourserver root]# chmod 755 /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/log/run
    [root@yourserver root]# ln -s /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd /service
    [root@yourserver root]# ln -s /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd /service
    
    mkdir -p /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/log
    mkdir -p /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/log
    mkdir /var/log/qmail
    chown qmaill /var/log/qmail
    cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmailctl.txt /var/qmail/bin/qmailctl
    chmod 755 /var/qmail/bin/qmailctl
    ln -s /var/qmail/bin/qmailctl /usr/bin
    cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail-send-run.txt /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/run
    cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail-send-log-run.txt /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/log/run
    cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail-smtpd-run.txt /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/run
    cp /tmp/openacs-5.0.0a1/packages/acs-core-docs/www/files/qmail-smtpd-log-run.txt /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/log/run
    chmod 755 /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/run
    chmod 755 /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send/log/run
    chmod 755 /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/run
    chmod 755 /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd/log/run
    ln -s /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-send /var/qmail/supervise/qmail-smtpd /service
    

    Wait ten seconds or so, and then verify that that the four qmail processes are running. If uptimes are 1 second, this may indicate broken scripts that are continuously restarting. In that case, start debugging by checking permissions.

    [root@yourserver root]# qmailctl stat
    /service/qmail-send: up (pid 32700) 430 seconds
    /service/qmail-send/log: up (pid 32701) 430 seconds
    /service/qmail-smtpd: up (pid 32704) 430 seconds
    /service/qmail-smtpd/log: up (pid 32705) 430 seconds
    messages in queue: 0
    messages in queue but not yet preprocessed: 0
    [root@yourserver root]#

    Further verify by sending and receiving email. Incoming mail for root is stored in /var/qmail/alias/Maildir.

View comments on this page at openacs.org