Subject: Re: smpt error -- Can't send long apology
To: None <oinkfreebiker@att.net>
From: Berndt Josef Wulf <wulf@dingo.ping.net.au>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 09/20/2001 08:42:48
G'day,

just a few thoughts...

I'm running KDE-2.1 for quite some times and never had problems with
KMail and friends. Sending messages that have attachments of greater
than 2K isn't an issue here (just tested it with 110k to really make sure).
However, KMail, like any other mail client will not work unless it is
configure correctly. KMail provides reasonable online help on this
topic. Since it appears that you are able to send messages that are
smaller than 2k, did you investigate the possibility that your ISP may
be the reason of your problem? I've never heard of any ISP to restrict
email size down to 2k but you never know.

As a test to see whether it is your system that is causing you grieve,
one could try starting up a local smtp service by setting sendmail=YES in
the /etc/defaults/rc.conf file and rebooting the system or issuing
sendmail -bd -q30m and then sending a message to a local user on that
system with the following command:

mail -s"test message" root < /etc/defaults/rc.conf

Then logging in as root, e.g. 'su -', and run 'mail'.
BTW, I choose /etc/defaults/rc.conf as it is a text file of about 6kb which
should fit the bill for this test but any other text should do the
trick.

It would be helpfull to get more specific information on your
problems e.g. current configuration status and error messages.

cheerio Berndt

oinkfreebiker@att.net wrote
> Thomas,
> 
> > So: are you using Kmails SMTP (that sometimes is buggy)
> > or another (like sendmail)? Can you send longer 
> > messages with other programs?
> 
> I will have to investigate. Know however that I did not
> adjust or configure anything to do with mail. Being a 
> newbie, I figured it best to go with the package install 
> defaults. 
> 
> I know that on prior times I have tried to send long 
> messages composed on Communicator, then clicked "send" 
> and gotten a long wait (about as long as the 
> "trasmitting" window stays up with KMail -- come to 
> think of it) followed by a "Request timed out" message 
> from Communicator.
> 
> But I have not yet attempted to iteratively define 
> whether there be a 2k char barrier on Netscape like the 
> one on KMail.
> 
> As for my system: on both the laptop and the tower all I 
> have are fresh installs of NetBSD 1.5.1, binary pkg 
> installs of Communicator 4.6 and pkgsrc installs of KDE2.
> 
> One or the other may also have GPG, OpenSSH and OpenSSL 
> installed. But I have yet made no move to configure or 
> use them yet.
> 
> I have done Chapter 9 of the NetBSD Guide on Networking. 
> My ISP is AT&T Worldnet.
> 
> I had just wanted the basic everyday stuff up and running 
> before I should delve further into fun things like SSH 
> and all of that. 
> 
> A month ago I'd had KDE 1.1.2 up on NetBSD 1.5 on the 
> ThinkPad. Netscape too. Same story, fresh install of 
> NetBSD and just a minimum of extras -- ssh-ip-tunnel. But 
> the KMail thing did the same lockup-thing there. Except 
> that I had no clue about the 2K char barrier. So I 
> didn't test for that, and can't say for sure that was 
> it. 
> 
> But I had come running to KDE2 mostly to get away from 
> that glitch in KMail, and to avoid the redundancy of 
> Netscape/Konqueror, KMail/Communicator. 
> 
> Alas and alak... If only there were a clean list of 
> overlap-free packages that are known to work 
> perfectly well together, provided that most of them were 
> GUI types, I would gladly adhere to that list.
> 
> I liken it to when I bought my motorcycle. Sure I was 
> going to change this and that...later. But first all of 
> it had to just work: the lights, horn, blinkers, speedo, 
> etc. At first, I just wanted to get on in and ride. 
> Only after the basic thrill began to pale did I trouble 
> myself to re-do the carbs, pipes and airbox, etc.
> 
> What I (and maybe others) would seem to need is a 
> newbie-1.tgz package which would install a very basic set 
> of standardized utils. Just pick a set from out of one of 
> the less expensive Unix books, like "Jump Start" by 
> Peachtree. Have that newbie-package sets up stuff like 
> in the book, with the same defaults and all. For whatever 
> might be customized, have the newbie answer queries like 
> in the xf86config process.
> 
> If I should ever get past all this crap, that is what I 
> am going to do (assuming I don't switch to FreeBSD or 
> back to Linux first). Even now I'm writing newbie howtos 
> as I go along...for damn near anything I take up. I 
> know that they ain't much, yet. But that's how annoyed I 
> am with this business. I don't ever just complain. Always 
> I do something about it: either I help others along, or 
> else I warn all others away. Which is what I was meaning 
> to say in that first, poorly phrased post of mine. 
> 
> Right now I'm in a helping mode, for so long as my 
> patience (and funds) may endure. 
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Gan
> 
> 
> --
> Mysterious Starling -- Rarest Extinct Bird
>      _         
>    <(+)__        Gan Uesli Starling 
>      ((__/)=-    Kalamazoo, MI, USA
>       `||`      
>        ++        http://starling.ws 
> 
> Newbie-2-Newbie NetBSD Unix How-To Pages at... 
> http://om-ah-hum.com/share/gus_netbsd_index.html
>                     
> 


-- 
Name    : Berndt Josef Wulf            | +++ With BSD on Packet Radio +++
E-Mail  : wulf@ping.net.au             |    tfkiss, tnt, dpbox, wampes
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