Re: where does 'root' mail go ?

[Dave Sherohman <esper@sherohman.org>]

On Fri, Mar 07, 2003 at 02:33:16PM -0500, Jeff Elkins wrote:
> What you can do (as root or with sudo) is edit the file /etc/aliases and add 
> an entry 'root: username', after which you issue the command 'newaliases.'

This is a sendmailism.  exim will recognize changes to alias files
immediately and does not require the use of newaliases.  Doesn't
hurt, but it doesn't do any good either.


$ cat `which newaliases`
#!/bin/sh
/usr/lib/sendmail -bi
$ ls -l /usr/lib/sendmail
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           12 Nov 11 11:02 /usr/lib/sendmail -> ../sbin/exim
$ man exim
...
       -bi    Sendmail  interprets the -bi option as a request to
              rebuild its alias file. Exim does not have the con­
              cept of a single alias file, and so it cannot mimic
              this behaviour. However, calls to /usr/lib/sendmail
              -bi  tend  to appear in various scripts such as NIS
              make files, so the option must be recognized.

              If -bi is encountered, the command specified by the
              bi_command  configuration  option is run, under the
              uid and gid of the  caller  of  Exim.  If  the  -oA
              option  is used, its value is passed to the command
              as an argument. The command set by  bi_command  may
              not  contain  arguments.  The  command  can use the
              exim_dbmbuild utility,  or  some  other  means,  to
              rebuild  alias  files  if  this is required. If the
              bi_command option is not  set,  then  calling  Exim
              with -bi is a no-op.
...
$ exim -bP | grep bi_command
bi_command = 

-- 
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White Hats over the past several millennia, and it is vitally important that
we don't give them up now, only because we are frightened.
  - Eolake Stobblehouse (http://stobblehouse.com/text/battle.html)