procmail setup

From: Kevin Maguire <K.Maguire_at_dl.ac.uk>
Date: Fri, 05 Feb 1999 21:29:54 +0000 (GMT)

Hi

I am trying to configure procmail on my DUnix 4.0E system. I
understand this has newer version of sendmail than earlier releases of
the OS to overcome some security/spam problems.

I compiled and installed procmail. I then followed the procedure
given in:

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/mail/filtering-faq

for setting up .forward, .procmailrc, etc.

When I placed the .forward file in place I sent myself a test message.
The following appeared in the
/var/adm/syslog.dated/05-Feb-13:51/mail.log

Feb 5 20:44:03 tca1 sendmail[1593]: UAA0000002131: to="|IFS=' ' && exec /usr/local/bin/procmail -f- || exit 75 #kcm", delay=00:00:01, xdelay=00:00:01, mailer=smtpr, relay=mail.dl.ac.uk. [148.79.160.65], stat=Data format error
Feb 5 20:44:03 tca1 sendmail[1593]: UAA0000002131: UAA0000001593: postmaster notify: Data format error

root received a mail regarding this failure, which included:

"Cannot mail directly to programs."

Looking at the FAQ which comes with procmail.

---
14. When sending mail to someone with procmail in his/her .forward I sometimes
    get back an error saying: "Cannot mail directly to programs."
        This is a known bug in some older sendmails that mistakenly drop
        their root privileges when they are given the -t flag.  Either
        make sure that your sendmail always forwards to a mailserver first or
        upgrade to sendmail 6.x or later.
---
Since I am way past sendmail 6.x and don't want my incoming mail to be
held on the server, I am looking for suggestions.  Note I am only
really interested in setting things up so *I* can use procmail, not a
general system-wide solution.
I setup e-mail with mailsetup, I can send anyone my sendmail.cf file
if they really want it.  The setup is that incoming and outgoing mail
must go via a mailserver.  At the server outgoing mail strips the user
id (kcm in my case) and replaces it with a canonical address.
Incoming mail is either held there, the usual story, or in other cases
forwarded to the appropriate workstation.  Mostly it works well.
I will summarise.
Cheers
Kevin
-- 
             ___________________________________________________
   /\___/\   | Kevin Maguire                    DisCo Support  |
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 (__/   \__) | Tel: 01925 603221            Fax: 01925 603634  |
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Received on Fri Feb 05 1999 - 21:28:54 NZDT