Re: mail.local

[Giles Lean <giles.lean%pobox.com@localhost>]

David Holland <dholland-tech%netbsd.org@localhost> wrote:

> Does libexec/mail.local serve any purpose in base now that we've
> banished sendmail? Postfix has its own local delivery.

Yes, in theory: other MTAs may use it for local delivery.

Example: qmail's installation instructions suggest mail.local
for *BSD systems wanting to maintain mail boxes under
/var/mail; see point #3 in the following:

   http://cr.yp.to/qmail/vsm.txt

which is linked to from "Moving large sendmail sites to qmail":

  http://cr.yp.to/qmail/sendmail.html

I think mail.local might as well be kept; having something in
the base system that can safely write mail messages to mail
boxes under /var/mail is useful, and while it is under
/usr/libexec it is a documented interface with mail.local(8).

In the absence of a mbox(5) manual page the mail.local source
also serves as documentation of the locking protocol for mail
box files on NetBSD.

Regards,

Giles