Re: [exim4] Testing and making sense of smtp output
Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> writes:
> On Mon 13 Oct 2014 at 04:12:04 +0200, lee wrote:
>
>> Jonathan Dowland <jmtd@debian.org> writes:
>>
>> > On Sun, Oct 12, 2014 at 02:45:44PM -0400, Harry Putnam wrote:
>> >> > And if so, is that not acquired from /etc/hosts?
>> > snip
>> >> Egad ... I just noticed that was from a different machine... but the
>> >> format is the same on all of mine. So still should stand as something
>> >> to critique/
>> >
>> > Debian's exim4 will take the contents of /etc/mailname over the dns name by
>> > default. I'd recommend putting the fqdn that you want exim to use there.
>>
>> You can also specify it in exims' configuration. Unless you do have
>> good reason to do so, I'd advise against it and let exim use the host
>> name (which the automatic configuration which I don't exactly recommend
>> hopefully lets exim use unless you tell it otherwise).
>
> The HELO cannot be specified using dpkg-reconfigure. It is taken from
> /etc/hosts.
>
> /etc/mailname can be specified with dpkg-reconfigure. It is not the best
> of ideas to leave it blank.
>
> There is no connection between /etc/mailname and the HELO.
"primary_hostname Use: main Type: string Default: see below
This specifies the name of the current host. It is used in the default
EHLO or HELO command for outgoing SMTP messages (changeable via the
helo_data option in the smtp transport), and as the default for
qualify_domain. The value is also used by default in some SMTP response
messages from an Exim server. This can be changed dynamically by setting
smtp_active_hostname."[1]
There is no mentioning of /etc/mailname here. Perhaps that's an
ideosyncrasy of the automatic configuration.
[1]: http://www.exim.org/exim-html-current/doc/html/spec_html/ch-main_configuration.html
--
Again we must be afraid of speaking of daemons for fear that daemons
might swallow us. Finally, this fear has become reasonable.
Reply to: