sendmail Scripts

sendmail Scripts

There are two scripts provided with your system that perform common functions in sendmail. Use these scripts whenever possible, as they have been tested and are known to perform the task correctly.

/etc/init.d/mail

Under rare circumstances, a user may need to stop or start the sendmail daemon manually. For example, to implement changes to the configuration file, you must stop all running sendmail processes, "refreeze" the configuration file, and restart the sendmail daemon before the new configuration will take effect. To simplify the task of starting and stopping sendmail, IRIX provides a shell script called /etc/init.d/mail.

This script takes a single argument, either start or stop, which starts or stops the sendmail daemon respectively. You must be superuser (root) to use this script. For example, to stop sendmail, use the following command:

/etc/init.d/mail stop

When /etc/init.d/mail is called with the start argument, it verifies the existence and permissions of various sendmail related files and directories (see "sendmail Related Files and Directories"). If a required component such as the /var/spool/mqueue directory is missing, the script creates it. For more complex components, such as /etc/aliases, the script exits with a message.

When the /etc/init.d/mail script is called with the stop argument, it kills all running sendmail processes with a SIGTERM signal.

Note: Station start-up includes an automatic call to the /etc/init.d/mail script with the start argument. If station start-up runs in verbose mode (that is, /etc/chkconfig verbose on), the following message appears, verifying that sendmail has been started:

Mailer daemons: sendmail

For more information, examine the /etc/init.d/mail script.

/usr/etc/configmail

The /usr/etc/configmail script provides an interface between command line input and the sendmail.cf file. For more information, see "sendmail Related Files and Directories". It pipes the macro and class definitions into the sendmail.params file. This script simplifies the sendmail configuration process.

The configmail script allows the user to interact with several sendmail parameters. These parameters are equivalent to sendmail.cf macros and classes. You can verify the current parameter settings, set specific parameters, issue a quick setup command, and get some basic online help. configmail stores your changes in the sendmail.params file, which is read by sendmail at startup time.