[PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Eric Wong]

This should make local mailing possible for machines without
a connection to an SMTP server.

It'll default to using /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/lib/sendmail
if no SMTP server is specified (the default).  If it can't find
either of those paths, it'll fall back to connecting to an SMTP
server on localhost.

Signed-off-by: Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>

---

 git-send-email.perl |   55 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
 1 files changed, 42 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

1c9bacc5a2bfe382f68046aeba62302d28e4c976
diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index d8c4b1f..d27a7a5 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ # Variables we fill in automatically, or
 my (@to,@cc,@initial_cc,$initial_reply_to,$initial_subject,@files,$from,$compose,$time);
 
 # Behavior modification variables
-my ($chain_reply_to, $smtp_server, $quiet, $suppress_from, $no_signed_off_cc) = (1, "localhost", 0, 0, 0);
+my ($chain_reply_to, $quiet, $suppress_from, $no_signed_off_cc) = (1, 0, 0, 0);
+my $smtp_server;
 
 # Example reply to:
 #$initial_reply_to = ''; #<20050203173208.GA23964@foobar.com>';
@@ -179,8 +180,14 @@ if (!defined $initial_reply_to && $promp
 	$initial_reply_to =~ s/(^\s+|\s+$)//g;
 }
 
-if (!defined $smtp_server) {
-	$smtp_server = "localhost";
+if (!$smtp_server) {
+	foreach (qw( /usr/sbin/sendmail /usr/lib/sendmail )) {
+		if (-x $_) {
+			$smtp_server = $_;
+			last;
+		}
+	}
+	$smtp_server ||= 'localhost'; # could be 127.0.0.1, too... *shrug*
 }
 
 if ($compose) {
@@ -358,18 +365,39 @@ X-Mailer: git-send-email $gitversion
 ";
 	$header .= "In-Reply-To: $reply_to\n" if $reply_to;
 
-	$smtp ||= Net::SMTP->new( $smtp_server );
-	$smtp->mail( $from ) or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->to( @recipients ) or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->data or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->datasend("$header\n$message") or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->dataend() or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->ok or die "Failed to send $subject\n".$smtp->message;
+	if ($smtp_server =~ m#^/#) {
+		my $pid = open my $sm, '|-';
+		defined $pid or die $!;
+		if (!$pid) {
+			exec($smtp_server,'-i',@recipients) or die $!;
+		}
+		print $sm "$header\n$message";
+		close $sm or die $?;
+		if ($quiet) {
+			printf "Sent %s\n", $subject;
+		} else {
+			print "OK. Log says:
+Date: $date
+Sendmail: $smtp_server
+From: $from
+Subject: $subject
+Cc: $cc
+To: $to
 
-	if ($quiet) {
-		printf "Sent %s\n", $subject;
+Result: OK\n";
+		}
 	} else {
-		print "OK. Log says:
+		$smtp ||= Net::SMTP->new( $smtp_server );
+		$smtp->mail( $from ) or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->to( @recipients ) or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->data or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->datasend("$header\n$message") or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->dataend() or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->ok or die "Failed to send $subject\n".$smtp->message;
+		if ($quiet) {
+			printf "Sent %s\n", $subject;
+		} else {
+			print "OK. Log says:
 Date: $date
 Server: $smtp_server Port: 25
 From: $from
@@ -378,6 +406,7 @@ Cc: $cc
 To: $to
 
 Result: ", $smtp->code, ' ', ($smtp->message =~ /\n([^\n]+\n)$/s), "\n";
+		}
 	}
 }
 
-- 
1.3.2.g1c9b

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Eric Wong]

Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> wrote:
> This should make local mailing possible for machines without
> a connection to an SMTP server.
> 
> It'll default to using /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/lib/sendmail
> if no SMTP server is specified (the default).  If it can't find
> either of those paths, it'll fall back to connecting to an SMTP
> server on localhost.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>

Also, Thanks to Martin Langhoff for bringing this up.

-- 
Eric Wong

[PATCH] send-email: quiet some warnings

[Eric Wong]

Signed-off-by: Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>

---

 git-send-email.perl |   12 ++++++++++--
 1 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

0e5a33f56f62e527b74b2afbd93a1cca812f97af
diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index d27a7a5..379e0c4 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -507,8 +507,16 @@ sub unique_email_list(@) {
 	my @emails;
 
 	foreach my $entry (@_) {
-		my $clean = extract_valid_address($entry);
-		next if $seen{$clean}++;
+		if (my $clean = extract_valid_address($entry)) {
+			$seen{$clean} ||= 0;
+			next if $seen{$clean}++;
+		} else {
+			# it could still be a local email address without '@',
+			# which neither Email::Valid or our own small regex says
+			# is valid...
+			$seen{$entry} ||= 0;
+			next if $seen{$entry}++;
+		}
 		push @emails, $entry;
 	}
 	return @emails;
-- 
1.3.2.g0e5a

Re: [PATCH] send-email: quiet some warnings

[Junio C Hamano]

Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> writes:

> @@ -507,8 +507,16 @@ sub unique_email_list(@) {
>  	my @emails;
>  
>  	foreach my $entry (@_) {
> -		my $clean = extract_valid_address($entry);
> -		next if $seen{$clean}++;
> +		if (my $clean = extract_valid_address($entry)) {
> +			$seen{$clean} ||= 0;
> +			next if $seen{$clean}++;
> +		} else {
> +			# it could still be a local email address without '@',
> +			# which neither Email::Valid or our own small regex says
> +			# is valid...
> +			$seen{$entry} ||= 0;
> +			next if $seen{$entry}++;
> +		}

Wouldn't you want three kinds of return values from
sub extract_valid_address() if you want to do this?  That is, 

 (1) address is valid and this is the cleaned up value;
 (2) address is known to be bogus; do not use it.
 (3) address might be local.

And (1) and (3) are probably the same thing in practice.  In a
localsite setting, it is often convenient to be able to use
addr-spec that is local-part only, so something like the
attached change, with your error squelching for 'undef' return
in the second case, might be more appropriate.

-- >8 --

diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index d8c4b1f..7a89e26 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -300,6 +300,9 @@ our ($message_id, $cc, %mail, $subject, 
 
 sub extract_valid_address {
 	my $address = shift;
+
+	return $address if ($address =~ /^(\w+)$/);
+
 	if ($have_email_valid) {
 		return Email::Valid->address($address);
 	} else {

[PATCH] send-email: quiet some warnings, reject invalid addresses

[Eric Wong]

I'm not sure why we never actually rejected invalid addresses in
the first place.  We just seemed to be using our email validity
checkers to kill duplicates.

Now we just drop invalid email addresses completely and warn
the user about it.

Since we support local sendmail, we'll also accept username-only
addresses.

Signed-off-by: Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>

---

 git-send-email.perl |   15 ++++++++++++---
 1 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

f069e9a9cee726d82dfeee1d477152a0fe0651c1
diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index 0540e93..312a4ea 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -307,6 +307,10 @@ our ($message_id, $cc, %mail, $subject, 
 
 sub extract_valid_address {
 	my $address = shift;
+
+	# check for a local address:
+	return $address if ($address =~ /^([\w\-]+)$/);
+
 	if ($have_email_valid) {
 		return Email::Valid->address($address);
 	} else {
@@ -498,9 +502,14 @@ sub unique_email_list(@) {
 	my @emails;
 
 	foreach my $entry (@_) {
-		my $clean = extract_valid_address($entry);
-		next if $seen{$clean}++;
-		push @emails, $entry;
+		if (my $clean = extract_valid_address($entry)) {
+			$seen{$clean} ||= 0;
+			next if $seen{$clean}++;
+			push @emails, $entry;
+		} else {
+			print STDERR "W: unable to extract a valid address",
+					" from: $entry\n";
+		}
 	}
 	return @emails;
 }
-- 
1.3.2.g7d11

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Junio C Hamano]

Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> writes:

> This should make local mailing possible for machines without
> a connection to an SMTP server.

Which is a good thing, but

> It'll default to using /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/lib/sendmail
> if no SMTP server is specified (the default).  If it can't find
> either of those paths, it'll fall back to connecting to an SMTP
> server on localhost.

I do not know if it is OK to change the default to first prefer
local MDA executable and then "localhost".  That is, ...

> @@ -179,8 +180,14 @@ if (!defined $initial_reply_to && $promp
>  	$initial_reply_to =~ s/(^\s+|\s+$)//g;
>  }
>  
> -if (!defined $smtp_server) {
> -	$smtp_server = "localhost";
> +if (!$smtp_server) {
> +	foreach (qw( /usr/sbin/sendmail /usr/lib/sendmail )) {
> +		if (-x $_) {
> +			$smtp_server = $_;
> +			last;
> +		}
> +	}
> +	$smtp_server ||= 'localhost'; # could be 127.0.0.1, too... *shrug*
>  }
>  
>  if ($compose) {

Without this hunk, people who did not specify --smtp-server=host
could get away with having anything that listens to 25/tcp on
the localhost that is not either of the above two paths; now
they have to explicitly say --smtp-server=localhost to defeat
what this hunk does.  I do not know if it is a big deal, though.

> +	if ($smtp_server =~ m#^/#) {

I like this if(){}else{} here, but have a feeling that the
logging part should be placed outside it to be shared.

While we are at it, we might want to enhance $smtp_server parsing
to take host:port notation so that people can use message
submission port 587/tcp (RFC 4409) instead.

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Eric Wong]

Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
> Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> writes:
> 
> > This should make local mailing possible for machines without
> > a connection to an SMTP server.
> 
> Which is a good thing, but
> 
> > It'll default to using /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/lib/sendmail
> > if no SMTP server is specified (the default).  If it can't find
> > either of those paths, it'll fall back to connecting to an SMTP
> > server on localhost.
> 
> I do not know if it is OK to change the default to first prefer
> local MDA executable and then "localhost".  That is, ...
> 
> > @@ -179,8 +180,14 @@ if (!defined $initial_reply_to && $promp
> >  	$initial_reply_to =~ s/(^\s+|\s+$)//g;
> >  }
> >  
> > -if (!defined $smtp_server) {
> > -	$smtp_server = "localhost";
> > +if (!$smtp_server) {
> > +	foreach (qw( /usr/sbin/sendmail /usr/lib/sendmail )) {
> > +		if (-x $_) {
> > +			$smtp_server = $_;
> > +			last;
> > +		}
> > +	}
> > +	$smtp_server ||= 'localhost'; # could be 127.0.0.1, too... *shrug*
> >  }
> >  
> >  if ($compose) {
> 
> Without this hunk, people who did not specify --smtp-server=host
> could get away with having anything that listens to 25/tcp on
> the localhost that is not either of the above two paths; now
> they have to explicitly say --smtp-server=localhost to defeat
> what this hunk does.  I do not know if it is a big deal, though.

I believe this is what Martin wanted.  I think it's a good idea since
sendmail binaries tend to be more flexible, but I'm ok with it either
way.

Of course, Greg and Ryan were the original authors of this, so I'd
like their take on it, too.

> > +	if ($smtp_server =~ m#^/#) {
> 
> I like this if(){}else{} here, but have a feeling that the
> logging part should be placed outside it to be shared.

Cleaned that up a bit, patch coming.  Also removed the Port: printout
completely, as it's rather redundant (see below).

> While we are at it, we might want to enhance $smtp_server parsing
> to take host:port notation so that people can use message
> submission port 587/tcp (RFC 4409) instead.

This already works, IO::Socket::INET (behind Net::SMTP) takes care of
it :)

-- 
Eric Wong

[PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Eric Wong]

This should make local mailing possible for machines without
a connection to an SMTP server.

It'll default to using /usr/sbin/sendmail or /usr/lib/sendmail
if no SMTP server is specified (the default).  If it can't find
either of those paths, it'll fall back to connecting to an SMTP
server on localhost.

Signed-off-by: Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net>

---

 git-send-email.perl |   60 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------------
 1 files changed, 40 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)

d4248a8ab7c883ab0f4dc080374bf60dc582f0f4
diff --git a/git-send-email.perl b/git-send-email.perl
index d8c4b1f..0540e93 100755
--- a/git-send-email.perl
+++ b/git-send-email.perl
@@ -40,7 +40,8 @@ # Variables we fill in automatically, or
 my (@to,@cc,@initial_cc,$initial_reply_to,$initial_subject,@files,$from,$compose,$time);
 
 # Behavior modification variables
-my ($chain_reply_to, $smtp_server, $quiet, $suppress_from, $no_signed_off_cc) = (1, "localhost", 0, 0, 0);
+my ($chain_reply_to, $quiet, $suppress_from, $no_signed_off_cc) = (1, 0, 0, 0);
+my $smtp_server;
 
 # Example reply to:
 #$initial_reply_to = ''; #<20050203173208.GA23964@foobar.com>';
@@ -179,8 +180,14 @@ if (!defined $initial_reply_to && $promp
 	$initial_reply_to =~ s/(^\s+|\s+$)//g;
 }
 
-if (!defined $smtp_server) {
-	$smtp_server = "localhost";
+if (!$smtp_server) {
+	foreach (qw( /usr/sbin/sendmail /usr/lib/sendmail )) {
+		if (-x $_) {
+			$smtp_server = $_;
+			last;
+		}
+	}
+	$smtp_server ||= 'localhost'; # could be 127.0.0.1, too... *shrug*
 }
 
 if ($compose) {
@@ -358,26 +365,39 @@ X-Mailer: git-send-email $gitversion
 ";
 	$header .= "In-Reply-To: $reply_to\n" if $reply_to;
 
-	$smtp ||= Net::SMTP->new( $smtp_server );
-	$smtp->mail( $from ) or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->to( @recipients ) or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->data or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->datasend("$header\n$message") or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->dataend() or die $smtp->message;
-	$smtp->ok or die "Failed to send $subject\n".$smtp->message;
-
+	if ($smtp_server =~ m#^/#) {
+		my $pid = open my $sm, '|-';
+		defined $pid or die $!;
+		if (!$pid) {
+			exec($smtp_server,'-i',@recipients) or die $!;
+		}
+		print $sm "$header\n$message";
+		close $sm or die $?;
+	} else {
+		$smtp ||= Net::SMTP->new( $smtp_server );
+		$smtp->mail( $from ) or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->to( @recipients ) or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->data or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->datasend("$header\n$message") or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->dataend() or die $smtp->message;
+		$smtp->ok or die "Failed to send $subject\n".$smtp->message;
+	}
 	if ($quiet) {
 		printf "Sent %s\n", $subject;
 	} else {
-		print "OK. Log says:
-Date: $date
-Server: $smtp_server Port: 25
-From: $from
-Subject: $subject
-Cc: $cc
-To: $to
-
-Result: ", $smtp->code, ' ', ($smtp->message =~ /\n([^\n]+\n)$/s), "\n";
+		print "OK. Log says:\nDate: $date\n";
+		if ($smtp) {
+			print "Server: $smtp_server\n";
+		} else {
+			print "Sendmail: $smtp_server\n";
+		}
+		print "From: $from\nSubject: $subject\nCc: $cc\nTo: $to\n\n";
+		if ($smtp) {
+			print "Result: ", $smtp->code, ' ',
+				($smtp->message =~ /\n([^\n]+\n)$/s), "\n";
+		} else {
+			print "Result: OK\n";
+		}
 	}
 }
 
-- 
1.3.2.g7d11

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Junio C Hamano]

Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> writes:

> I believe this is what Martin wanted.  I think it's a good idea since
> sendmail binaries tend to be more flexible, but I'm ok with it either
> way.

I am not opposed to have an option to run a local submission
agent binary (I said I like that if(){}else{} there, didn't I?).
The ability to do so is a good thing.  I am not however sure
about changing the default when no option is specified on the
command line.

>> > +	if ($smtp_server =~ m#^/#) {
>> 
>> I like this if(){}else{} here, but have a feeling that the
>> logging part should be placed outside it to be shared.
>
> Cleaned that up a bit, patch coming.  Also removed the Port: printout
> completely, as it's rather redundant (see below).
>
>> While we are at it, we might want to enhance $smtp_server parsing
>> to take host:port notation so that people can use message
>> submission port 587/tcp (RFC 4409) instead.
>
> This already works, IO::Socket::INET (behind Net::SMTP) takes care of
> it :)

Thanks.  Maybe the next option would be delivery to a file (or
even SMTP batch)? ;-)

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Eric Wong]

Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
> Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> writes:
> 
> > I believe this is what Martin wanted.  I think it's a good idea since
> > sendmail binaries tend to be more flexible, but I'm ok with it either
> > way.
> 
> I am not opposed to have an option to run a local submission
> agent binary (I said I like that if(){}else{} there, didn't I?).
> The ability to do so is a good thing.  I am not however sure
> about changing the default when no option is specified on the
> command line.

By "I believe this is what Martin wanted", I meant changing the default to
sendmail: <46a038f90604271804j195d62f3x93ae816e809f4ffd@mail.gmail.com>

	> Oh, it should just work with sendmail if it's there and we don't
	> provide --smtp-server ;-)

> >> > +	if ($smtp_server =~ m#^/#) {
> >> 
> >> I like this if(){}else{} here, but have a feeling that the
> >> logging part should be placed outside it to be shared.
> >
> > Cleaned that up a bit, patch coming.  Also removed the Port: printout
> > completely, as it's rather redundant (see below).
> >
> >> While we are at it, we might want to enhance $smtp_server parsing
> >> to take host:port notation so that people can use message
> >> submission port 587/tcp (RFC 4409) instead.
> >
> > This already works, IO::Socket::INET (behind Net::SMTP) takes care of
> > it :)
> 
> Thanks.  Maybe the next option would be delivery to a file (or
> even SMTP batch)? ;-)

Sure :)  Authentication and SSL may be worth looking into, though.  I'm
pretty content these days with my autossh tunnel to my mail server,
though.

-- 
Eric Wong

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Martin Langhoff]

On 5/15/06, Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> wrote:
> Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
> > I am not opposed to have an option to run a local submission
> > agent binary (I said I like that if(){}else{} there, didn't I?).
> > The ability to do so is a good thing.  I am not however sure
> > about changing the default when no option is specified on the
> > command line.
>
> By "I believe this is what Martin wanted", I meant changing the default to
> sendmail: <46a038f90604271804j195d62f3x93ae816e809f4ffd@mail.gmail.com>
>
>         > Oh, it should just work with sendmail if it's there and we don't

Thanks Eric! git-send-email used to default to using local binaries.
It was only with the switch to Net::SMTP that the default changed to
localhost:25.
IMHO the developer's machine is more likely to have a working
/usr/sbin/sendmail than an SMTP server (specially looking at current
linux desktop configurations).

OTOH, as long as I can override it to use sendmail, it's all good.


martin

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Junio C Hamano]

"Martin Langhoff" <martin.langhoff@gmail.com> writes:

> On 5/15/06, Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> wrote:
>> Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
>> > I am not opposed to have an option to run a local submission
>> > agent binary (I said I like that if(){}else{} there, didn't I?).
>> > The ability to do so is a good thing.  I am not however sure
>> > about changing the default when no option is specified on the
>> > command line.
>>
>> By "I believe this is what Martin wanted", I meant changing the default to
>> sendmail: <46a038f90604271804j195d62f3x93ae816e809f4ffd@mail.gmail.com>
>>
>>         > Oh, it should just work with sendmail if it's there and we don't
>
> Thanks Eric! git-send-email used to default to using local binaries.
> It was only with the switch to Net::SMTP that the default changed to
> localhost:25.

Thanks, and I think it makes sense.

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Eric Wong]

Martin Langhoff <martin.langhoff@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks Eric! git-send-email used to default to using local binaries.
> It was only with the switch to Net::SMTP that the default changed to
> localhost:25.

You're welcome.

That's odd, though, looking at Mail::Sendmail, I don't think it actually
uses the sendmail binary, either.  The FAQ
<http://alma.ch/perl/Mail-Sendmail-FAQ.html> confirms this, too.

Of course documentation may be lying and the code I'm looking at may be
*very* well obfuscated :D

-- 
Eric Wong

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Ryan Anderson]

On Mon, May 15, 2006 at 02:47:31AM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Eric Wong <normalperson@yhbt.net> writes:
> 
> > I believe this is what Martin wanted.  I think it's a good idea since
> > sendmail binaries tend to be more flexible, but I'm ok with it either
> > way.
> 
> I am not opposed to have an option to run a local submission
> agent binary (I said I like that if(){}else{} there, didn't I?).
> The ability to do so is a good thing.  I am not however sure
> about changing the default when no option is specified on the
> command line.

I think, in practice, that /usr/lib/sendmail will exist anywhere you hve
something running on port 25, at least on unixy machines.  In my
searches at an old job, that appeared to be the canonical place to call
sendmail from, and every MTA appears to provide an appropriate binary
there.

So, I'm not overly worried about it.

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Junio C Hamano]

Ryan Anderson <ryan@michonline.com> writes:

> I think, in practice, that /usr/lib/sendmail will exist anywhere you hve
> something running on port 25, at least on unixy machines.  In my
> searches at an old job, that appeared to be the canonical place to call
> sendmail from, and every MTA appears to provide an appropriate binary
> there.
>
> So, I'm not overly worried about it.

exim, postfix and friends?

I used to know somebody who port-forwarded 25/tcp to central
smtp server from smaller machines in her intranet installation,
but I would say that is rare.  I am not worried about it either;
I just wanted to make sure _somebody_ thought the potential
issues through and agreed with the change the patch makes.

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Ryan Anderson]

On Mon, May 15, 2006 at 02:13:25PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:
> Ryan Anderson <ryan@michonline.com> writes:
> 
> > I think, in practice, that /usr/lib/sendmail will exist anywhere you hve
> > something running on port 25, at least on unixy machines.  In my
> > searches at an old job, that appeared to be the canonical place to call
> > sendmail from, and every MTA appears to provide an appropriate binary
> > there.
> >
> > So, I'm not overly worried about it.
> 
> exim, postfix and friends?

At least as packaged by Debian and Ubuntu, exim and postfix both fit
that rule.

It's just that there is no other canonical name for the binary that
provides the functionality, so everyone steals the name.

> I used to know somebody who port-forwarded 25/tcp to central
> smtp server from smaller machines in her intranet installation,
> but I would say that is rare.  I am not worried about it either;
> I just wanted to make sure _somebody_ thought the potential
> issues through and agreed with the change the patch makes.

Fair enough.

Re: [PATCH] send-email: allow sendmail binary to be used instead of SMTP

[Martin Langhoff]

On 5/16/06, Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net> wrote:
> Ryan Anderson <ryan@michonline.com> writes:
>
> > I think, in practice, that /usr/lib/sendmail will exist anywhere you hve
> > something running on port 25, at least on unixy machines.
...
> exim, postfix and friends?

/usr/sbin/sendmail is there for any current MTA, so if qmail, exim,
postfix, sendmail and all MTAs I can think of install a working
sendmail binary.

Newish desktop-targetted distros (and MacOSX) are leaning towards not
running an MTA on port 25 any more unless you ask them for it. They'll
do crontab-driven queue flushes, so the messages you feed to
/usr/sbin/sendmail will be sent a few minutes later.

That is why IMHO /usr/sbin/sendmail is a better default than
localhost:25, but I can live with either ;-)

> I used to know somebody who port-forwarded 25/tcp to central
> smtp server from smaller machines in her intranet installation,

I can understand that, but I think the changes in unixy distros
mentioned above make it unnecessary today.

cheers,


martin