Local Mail Delivery with Postfix

futuremonkey · 2010-05-21 01:28:44

I set up postfix for system mail. I followed http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Loc … th_Postfix to the letter, and apparently I can send mail but can't receive it.

When I send mail either to root or to my regular user, it ends up in ~/user/mailbox, which is what I specified in /etc/postfix/main.cf. However, I was under the impression that I would receive (console) messages from the daemon when I have new mail, and that I would be able to read my mail by typing.... "mail". This is the way it worked on Debian, and that's the only other experience I have with postfix.

If postfix doesn't notify the user, and if the mail command doesn't read the configured mailbox, I'm confused. Why run it as a daemon if all it does is out textfiles in a subdirectory off of ~/? Obviously, you could accomplish the same thing with a shell script. Clearly I am missing a major clue. If someone could slap me with that clue I'd be appreciative.

Last edited by futuremonkey (2010-05-21 01:29:24)

falconindy · 2010-05-21 03:48:24

You don't need to run postfix as a daemon if all you're doing with it is system mail -- /sbin/sendmail just needs to be available.

fukawi2 · 2010-05-21 10:55:10

The default location for mail is /var/spool/mail which is where the 'mail' command etc look by default. If you've changed it to deliver to somewhere else in Postfix, then you have to "notify" everything else too.

If you're just doing it for local mail, probably easiest to just let Postfix deliver it to /var/spool/mail

EDIT: Spelling, as usual.

Last edited by fukawi2 (2010-05-21 10:55:30)

futuremonkey · 2010-05-21 12:26:24

falconindy wrote:

You don't need to run postfix as a daemon if all you're doing with it is system mail -- /sbin/sendmail just needs to be available.

If that's the case, someone who understands it a lot more than I do ought to correct the wiki article.

Now, I just need to figure out how to get the fancy "new mail / no mail" messages when I log in.

PirateJonno · 2010-05-21 13:42:03

futuremonkey wrote:

Now, I just need to figure out how to get the fancy "new mail / no mail" messages when I log in.

This is a bash feature rather than anything to do with postfix or debian. I had it a while back but I can't remember what it was called. Anyway, with that information you should be able to google it.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-05-21 01:28:44

Local Mail Delivery with Postfix

#2 2010-05-21 03:48:24

Re: Local Mail Delivery with Postfix

#3 2010-05-21 10:55:10

Re: Local Mail Delivery with Postfix

#4 2010-05-21 12:26:24

Re: Local Mail Delivery with Postfix

#5 2010-05-21 13:42:03

Re: Local Mail Delivery with Postfix

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