Re: set domain name in Debian `

[Greg Wooledge <wooledg@eeg.ccf.org>]

On Tue, Nov 15, 2016 at 02:10:14PM +0000, Brian wrote:
> With 'dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config' the message
> 
>  "Starting MTA:hostname --fqdn did not return a fully qualified name,
>  dc_minimaldns will not work. Please fix your /etc/hosts setup."
> 
> should appear if "yes" is chosen for the option. 'hostname -f' is useful
> for checking there is a sane hosts configuration for exim to use.

Now you're scaring me.  I'm afraid to run this thing to test your theory,
because it might cause my perfectly working configuration to break.

Well, let's back up /etc/exim4 and try it....

wooledg@wooledg:~$ sudo tar czf /var/tmp/etc-exim4.tar.gz /etc/exim4
[sudo] password for wooledg: 
tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
wooledg@wooledg:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config
[[ now it goes into dialog ]]

First choice:
  mail sent by smarthost; received via SMTP or fetchmail

Second choice:
  System mail name:
  eeg.ccf.org

Third choice:
  IP-addresses to listen on...:
  127.0.0.1 ; ::1

Fourth choice:
  Other destinations for which mail is accepted:
  wooledg

Fifth choice:
  Machines to relay mail for:
  (blank)

Sixth choice:
  IP address or host name of the outgoing smarthost:
  gateway.eeg.ccf.org

Seventh choice:
  Hide local mail name in outgoing mail?
  No

Eighth choice:
  Keep number of DNS-queries minimal?
  No

Ninth choice:
  Delivery method for local mail:
  Maildir format in home directory

Tenth choice:
  Split configuration into small files?
  No

Voila.  No need for hostname -f to return a string with dots.  Exim
was perfectly content with what I've been doing for years.