Topic: mail for root & the "postmaster"

[Dunc]

Questions from a newbie!

First of all I should say that I am quite impressed with how simple E-SMITH was to install and get users & bays fully functional. I'm now trying to fine tune & automate a few things and have run into a few deadends!

Should I be able to send mail to myself logged in as root? In trying to get fetchmail working properly noticed that I can send mail to all my users but cannot get anything sent to myself (root)! Also, ideally I'd like to be able to poll any pending mail within the root mailbox but any attempt at doing that from a Win98/Outlook client has returned an invalid mailbox or the like error. I noticed that there is no Maildir directory for root as there is for the other e-smith users.

Also, how do I get a hold of problem messages? Do they get directed to "postmaster" or is that just a default name attached to returned messages?

Finally, I have an /etc/fetchmail file that appears to be set up correctly in that if I call it (logged in as root) with /etc/fetchmail it pulls the mail off the ISP for the test accounts. However, the CRON job that has the same call (/etc/fetchmail) doesnt do a thing! Do I need to change the user from PUBLIC to ROOT or is there something else I need to do? Or how can I tell what the heck is wrong?

Thanks!

[Carl Enset]

Regarding messages for the postmaster if you are using E-smith 4.0bx then there is an option on the "Other email settings" page of the web manger;

  Root and Admin in E-Smith are different names for the same
  person (who wears two different hats  Root is for logging
  in at the console, where admin is used to access the
  Web Manager or retrieve mail via pop.

> Change other email settings
>
> Administrative notices generated by the e-smith server are
> normally emailed to the admin account. If you would like them
> to be emailed elsewhere, please enter the email address below.
> Otherwise, leave this field blank.
>
>  Forwarding address for   __________________
>  administrative notices: |__________________|
>
> Whenever the e-smith server receives a message to an unknown
> user, it can be returned to the sender with an error message
> (recommended > practice) or sent to your system administrator
> (as an administrative notice).
>                         =======================
> Email to unknown users: | Return to sender  |^|
>                         |  or Send to Admin  v|
>                         ----------------------