Appendix E. A sendmail Reference

E.1. Compiling sendmail

The source code for sendmail is available via anonymous FTP from ftp.sendmail.org, where it is stored in the pub/sendmail directory. sendmail is updated constantly. The following examples are based on sendmail 8.11.3. Remember that things will change for future releases. Always read the README files and installation documents that come with new software before beginning an installation.

To compile the sendmail program, download the compressed tar file as a binary file, and then uncompress and extract it with the tar command, shown below:

$ ftp ftp.sendmail.org
Connected to ftp.sendmail.org.
220 pub2.pa.vix.com FTP server ready.
Name (ftp.sendmail.org:craig): anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send your e-mail address as password.
Password:
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.   
ftp> cd pub/sendmail
ftp> get sendmail.8.11.3.tar.gz
local: sendmail.8.11.3.tar.gz remote: sendmail.8.11.3.tar.gz
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for sendmail.8.11.3.tar.gz
   (1347756 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
1347756 bytes received in 18.68 Seconds (72.42 Kbytes/sec)
ftp> quit
221-You have transferred 1347756 bytes in 1 files.
221-Thank you for using the FTP service on pub2.pa.vix.com.
221 Goodbye.
$ cd /usr/local/src  
$ tar -zxvf /home/craig/sendmail.8.11.3.tar.gz

Next, change to the sendmail-8.11.3 directory created by the tar file, and use the Build script to compile the new sendmail program, as shown below:

$ cd sendmail-8.11.3
$ ./Build
aking all in:
/usr/local/src/sendmail-8.11.3/libsmutil
Configuration: pfx=, os=Linux, rel=2.2.10, rbase=2, rroot=2.2, arch=i586, sfx=, variant=optimized
Using M4=/usr/bin/m4
Creating ../obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/libsmutil using ../devtools/OS/Linux
aking dependencies in ../obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/libsmutil
make[1]: Entering directory
     `/usr/local/src/sendmail-8.11.3/obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/libsmutil'
cc -M -I. -I../../sendmail -I../../include -DNEWDB
      -DNOT_SENDMAIL debug.c
errstring.c lockfile.c safefile.c snprintf.c strl.c    >> Makefile
make[1]: Leaving directory
      `/usr/local/src/sendmail-8.11.3/obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/libsmutil'
aking in ../obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/libsmutil
make[1]: Entering directory
      `/usr/local/src/sendmail-8.11.3/obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/libsmutil'
cc -O -I. -I../../sendmail -I../../include -DNEWDB
      -DNOT_SENDMAIL -c debug.c -o debug.o
cc -O -I. -I../../sendmail -I../../include -DNEWDB
      -DNOT_SENDMAIL -c errstring.c -o errstring.o

... Many, many, many lines deleted...

cc -O -I. -I../../sendmail -I../../include -DNEWDB
      -DNOT_SENDMAIL -c vacation.c -o vacation.o
cc -o vacation   vacation.o ../libsmdb/libsmdb.a 
      ../libsmutil/libsmutil.a -ldb -lresolv -lcrypt -lnsl -ldl
groff -Tascii -man vacation.1 > vacation.0 ||
      cp vacation.0.dist vacation.0
make[1]: Leaving directory
      `/usr/local/src/sendmail-8.11.3/obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/vacation'

Build detects the architecture of the system and builds the correct Makefile for your system. It then compiles sendmail using the newly created Makefile.

According to the documentation, running Build is all you need to do on most systems to compile sendmail. It works on Red Hat Linux and Solaris 8 systems. However, there are no guarantees. Your system may use nonstandard directories or lack certain libraries. You may need to provide compiler flags that are customized for your system.

If you have experience with compiling sendmail, you may be tempted to look for the compiler options in the Makefile in the sendmail distribution's source code directory. You may even remember setting compiler options in the Makefile at some time in the past, but that has changed. Now, compiler options are set in the files located in the devtools directory of the sendmail source code distribution.

The default compiler options are normally set in an operating system-specific file in the devtools/OS directory and changed in files you create specially for your server in the devtools/Site directory. The files in the devtools/OS directory are identified by operating system name; for example, the configuration file for Solaris 8 is named SunOS5.8. If your Solaris 8 system varies from the norm, create your own file in devtools/Site named site.SunOS5.8.m4 that contains the corrected setting. Additionally, you can create a file named site.config.m4 in the devtools/Site directory if the compiler options you wish to set relate more to the peculiarities of your site than they do to corrections of operating system settings. Build looks for and uses files with either of these names.

As the .m4 file extension in these filenames implies, the commands that are used to define compiler options are m4 macros, not simple compiler options. Table E-1 lists the m4 commands that are used with sendmail 8.11.3 to control the compile process.

Table E-1. m4 compiler options

Command	Purpose
confBEFORE	Identifies files that must be created before the compile.
confBLDVARIANT	Requests OPTIMIZED, DEBUG, or PURIFY build variants.
confBUILDBIN	The path of the build support binaries.
confCC	The name of the C compiler.
confCCOPTS	Options to pass to the compiler.
confCOPY	The name of a program that copies files.
confDEPEND_TYPE	Name of a file in devtools/M4/depend that defines how to build dependencies.
confDEPLIBS	Dependent libraries for shared objects.
confEBINDIR	The path of the program executed by other programs.
confENVDEF	The -D flags passed to the compiler.
confFORCE_RMAIL	Forces installation of rmail.
confHFDIR	Path of the sendmail helpfile.
confHFFILE	Name of the helpfile.
confINCDIRS	The -I flags passed to the compiler.
confINCGRP	The group ID used for include files.
confINCMODE	The file permissions used for include files.
confINCOWN	The user ID used for include files.
confINCLUDEDIR	The path where include files are installed.
confINSTALL	The install program.
confINSTALL_RAWMAN	Install the unformatted manual pages.
confLDOPTS	Options for the linker.
confLIBDIR	Path to the install library files.
confLIBDIRS	The -L flags for the linker.
confLIBGRP	The group ID used for libraries.
confLIBMODE	The file permissions used for libraries.
confLIBOWN	The user ID used for libraries.
confLIBS	The -l flags passed to linker.
confLIBSEARCH	Names of the libraries searched during linking.
confLIBSEARCHPATH	Path of the libraries searched during linking.
confLINKS	Names of logical links to sendmail, e.g., newaliases.
confLN	The command used to create logical links.
confMAN1	The path of man1 files.
confMAN1EXT	The filename extension used for man1 files.
confMAN1SRC	The source for man1 pages.
confMAN3	The path of man3 files.
confMAN3EXT	The filename extension used for man3 files.
confMAN3SRC	The source for man3 pages.
confMAN4	The path of man4 files.
confMAN4EXT	The filename extension for man4 files.
confMAN4SRC	The source for man4 pages.
confMAN5	The path of man5 files.
confMAN5EXT	The filename extension used for man5 files.
confMAN5SRC	The source for man5 pages.
confMAN8	The path of man8 files.
confMAN8EXT	The filename extension used for man8 files.
confMAN8SRC	The source for man8 pages.
confMANDOC	The macros used to format manpages.
confMANGRP	The group ID used for manpage files.
confMANMODE	The file permission for manpages.
confMANOWN	The user ID used for manpage files.
confMANROOT	The root path of the various directories that contain formatted manpages.
confMANROOTMAN	The root path of the various directories that contain unformatted manpages.
confMAPDEF	Identifies the types of database support that should be compiled into sendmail.
confMBINDIR	The path in which the sendmail program is installed.
confNO_HELPFILE_INSTALL	If defined, no helpfile is installed.
confNO_MAN_BUILD	If defined, manpages are not created.
confNO_MAN_INSTALL	If defined, manpages are not installed.
confNO_STATISTICS_INSTALL	If defined, no statistics file is installed.
confNROFF	Identifies the command used to format manpages.
confOBJADD	Identifies objects that should be linked in to sendmail.
confOPTIMIZE	Flags passed to the compiler as ${O}.
confRANLIB	The path to the ranlib program.
confRANLIBOPTS	Options passed to ranlib.
confSBINDIR	The path of the directory in which commands such as makemap are stored.
confSBINGRP	The group ID used for setuid binaries.
confSBINMODE	The file permissions for setuid binaries.
confSBINOWN	The user ID used for setuid binaries.
confSHAREDLIB_EXT	The filename extension for shared libraries.
confSHAREDLIB_SUFFIX	The suffix used for shared objects.
confSHAREDLIBDIR	The path of the directory in which shared libraries are installed.
confSHELL	The pathname of the shell used inside make.
confSMOBJADD	Objects that should be linked in to sendmail.
confSMSRCADD	The C source files for the objects identified by confSMOBJADD.
confSMSRCDIR	The directory that contains the sendmail source code.
confSRCADD	The C source files for the objects identified by confOBJADD.
confSRCDIR	The root path of the source directories.
confSONAME	Linker flag for recording the shared object name.
confSTDIO_TYPE	Identifies the buffered file implementation used, i.e., portable or torek.
confSTDIR	The path where the statistics file is stored.
confSTFILE	The name of the statistics file.
confSTRIP	Identifies the program used to strip executables.
confSTRIPOPTS	Options passed to the strip program.
confUBINDIR	The path for user-executable programs.
confUBINGRP	The group ID used for user-executable binaries.
confUBINMODE	The file permissions used for user-executable binaries.
confUBINOWN	The user ID used for user-executable binaries.

Once sendmail compiles, it is installed by using the Build command with the install option, as shown here:

# ./Build install
aking all in:
/usr/local/src/sendmail-8.11.3/libsmutil
Configuration: pfx=, os=Linux, rel=2.2.10, rbase=2, rroot=2.2,
      arch=i586, sfx=, variant=optimized
aking in ../obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/libsmutil
make[1]: Entering directory
      `/usr/local/src/sendmail-8.11.3/obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/libsmutil'

... Many, many, many lines deleted...

aking in ../obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/vacation
make[1]: Entering directory
      `/usr/local/src/sendmail-8.11.3/obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/vacation'
install -c -o bin -g bin -m 555 vacation /usr/bin
install -c -o bin -g bin -m 444 vacation.0 /usr/man/man1/vacation.1
make[1]: Leaving directory
      `/usr/local/src/sendmail-8.11.3/obj.Linux.2.2.10.i586/vacation' 

The Build command installs the manpages, the executables, the help file, and the status file in the correct directories for your system.

sendmail is now ready to run. The next section describes the syntax of the sendmail command.