I believe that I have managed to configure my sendmail.cf file to properly counter vsnl's new system. It uses separate generics tables for the header and the envelope. I still have to tweak it a bit, but it's getting better. If this mail gets through from my real address (iname.com) then you know that it has worked.
Philip
--- Philip S Tellis philip.tellis@iname.com wrote:
I believe that I have managed to configure my sendmail.cf file to properly counter vsnl's new system. It uses separate generics tables for the header and the envelope. I still have to tweak it a bit, but it's getting better. If this mail gets through from my real address (iname.com) then you know that it has worked.
Which one have you munged - the envelope or the header?
Krishnan
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Sometime Today, S. Krishnan assembled some asciibets to say:
for the header and the envelope. I still have to tweak it a bit, but it's getting better. If this mail gets through from my real address (iname.com) then you know that it has worked.
Which one have you munged - the envelope or the header?
Both - separately. My local user is philip@tae.tellis.home. My connects to vsnl must show tellis@vsnl.net, but my email address must show philip.tellis@iname.com. Additionally, local mails sent must show my local address only.
All this works correctly.
Philip
--- Philip S Tellis philip.tellis@iname.com wrote:
Sometime Today, S. Krishnan assembled some asciibets to say:
for the header and the envelope. I still have
to
tweak it a bit, but it's getting better. If this mail gets through
from
my real address (iname.com) then you know that it has worked.
Which one have you munged - the envelope or the
header?
Both - separately. My local user is philip@tae.tellis.home. My connects to vsnl must show tellis@vsnl.net, but my email address must show philip.tellis@iname.com. Additionally, local mails sent must show my local address only.
But if you're doing the header, wouldn't your mails show up on the recipient's system as being from the vsnl domain? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I believe that the "From" display on the recipient's client is taken from the header. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Krishnan
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On Aug 20, 2001 at 18:47, S. Krishnan wrote:
But if you're doing the header, wouldn't your mails show up on the recipient's system as being from the vsnl domain? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I believe that the "From" display on the recipient's client is taken from the header. Correct me if I'm wrong.
Happily.
You're making the same mistake that anyone who doesn't dabble in mail servers makes. There is a message, with headers and a body, and there is an envelope, with its own headers. This is how spammers do it: the envelope RCP TO: (yes, the envelope is set by SMTP, and most of the headers you usually see are set as part of the SMTP body, as the envelope is discarded by the final recipient MTA) points at you, and the body headers point at "foo@fake.invalid.com".
Here's how it's done (this is a simulation of an actual telnet session. No mail servers were desecrated in the making of this simulation):
$ telnet mail.localhost 25 \d\d\d Some SMTP stuff helo myself \d\d\d Moo mail from: fake@invalid.com \d\d\d Sender accepted # would be rejected if relay control was enabled rcpt to: fake2@invalid.com data From: fake3@invalid.co.uk To: satyap@vsnl.com Subject: SPAM!!
I spam you! . \d\d\d Message accepted for delivery quit
Philip is setting the mail from: header, and leaving his From: header alone.
Sometime on Aug 21, Satya assembled some asciibets to say:
believe that the "From" display on the recipient's client is taken from the header. Correct me if I'm wrong.
You're making the same mistake that anyone who doesn't dabble in
Actually, Krishnan was correct in what he asked. He just asked the wrong question (he omitted the existence of the envelope entirely).
Here's how it's done (this is a simulation of an actual telnet session. No mail servers were desecrated in the making of this simulation):
Let me fill in the numbers you left out.
$ telnet mail.localhost 25 \d\d\d Some SMTP stuff
220 -----> connect accepted. It could be an error code if the server is overloaded
helo myself \d\d\d Moo
250 -----> command executed successfully. It could be various error codes depending on the error
mail from: fake@invalid.com \d\d\d Sender accepted # would be rejected if relay control was enabled
250
rcpt to: fake2@invalid.com
250
data
354 -----> partial command, await further data.
From: fake3@invalid.co.uk To: satyap@vsnl.com Subject: SPAM!!
I spam you! . \d\d\d Message accepted for delivery
250
quit
221 ------> Mt. Mary Steps to Khar Station West.
Philip is setting the mail from: header, and leaving his From: header alone.
No, I'm setting both for remotely destined mails, and neither for locally destined mails. I'm working on mails destined for both locations. When that's done, I will write a paper.
Philip
On Aug 22, 2001 at 01:01, Philip S Tellis wrote:
Sometime on Aug 21, Satya assembled some asciibets to say:
You're making the same mistake that anyone who doesn't dabble in
Actually, Krishnan was correct in what he asked. He just asked the wrong question (he omitted the existence of the envelope entirely).
Yes, that's right. I got the impression that the only header to which he was referring was the body header. So I attempted to show the difference:
Let me fill in the numbers you left out.
Too lazy to do an actual telnet and find out, or read the RFCs.
221 ------> Mt. Mary Steps to Khar Station West.
Umm. Okay. Never used that one, only 211.
Philip is setting the mail from: header, and leaving his From: header alone.
No, I'm setting both for remotely destined mails, and neither for
Wouldn't it be better to set mail from while talking to smtp.vsnl.com and leave it alone when talking to anyone else? (hint hint)
locally destined mails. I'm working on mails destined for both locations. When that's done, I will write a paper.
A paper on sendmail? Something else?
Sometime on Aug 21, Satya assembled some asciibets to say:
No, I'm setting both for remotely destined mails, and neither for
Wouldn't it be better to set mail from while talking to smtp.vsnl.com and leave it alone when talking to anyone else? (hint
smtp.vsnl.net is my smart host, hence all outgoing mails go through smtp.vsnl.net, hence, all outgoing mails require the rewrite. Still, it would be interesting to see if I can do that. I think it is possible, since at least one other person (a sysadmin from Nottingham, England) has stated that it should be done, but hasn't provided an example. I need a smart host because I am not always connected to the net.
locations. When that's done, I will write a paper.
A paper on sendmail? Something else?
A paper (howto rather) on rewriting envelope and header senders for different, correct smtp and sender addresses to facilitate proper delivery and reply of local and remote mails. Hey, I just thought that up on the fly.
Philip
Philip and Satya,
A correction on my part.
--- Satya satyap@satya.virtualave.net wrote:
On Aug 20, 2001 at 18:47, S. Krishnan wrote:
But if you're doing the header,
^^^^^^^ "envelope" here -a silly error, made in haste. However, this was a continuation of my earlier query on the subject, where I had asked Philip whether he was munging just the envelope or the header too.
And you're quite right, Philip - my question did look as if I'd totally forgotten the presence of the envelope.
Rgds,
Krishnan
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On Aug 23, 2001 at 09:41, S. Krishnan wrote:
--- Satya satyap@satya.virtualave.net wrote:
On Aug 20, 2001 at 18:47, S. Krishnan wrote:
But if you're doing the header,
^^^^^^^"envelope" here -a silly error, made in haste.
Oh.
However, this was a continuation of my earlier query on the subject, where I had asked Philip whether he was munging just the envelope or the header too.
That'll teach me to read the whole thread carefully.
Sometime on Aug 20, S. Krishnan assembled some asciibets to say:
But if you're doing the header, wouldn't your mails show up on the recipient's system as being from the vsnl domain? Maybe I'm missing something here, but I believe that the "From" display on the recipient's client is taken from the header. Correct me if I'm
Absolutely correct. I'm rewriting the header, so my mail header shows:
From: Philip S Tellis philip.tellis@iname.com
for external mails, and
From: Philip S Tellis philip@tae.tellis.home
for local mails.
I'm also rewriting my envelope, so that I get:
1. Return-Path tellis@vsnl.net 2. my sendmail talks to vsnl's smtp server like this: HELO tellis.vsnl.net MAIL FROM: tellis@vsnl.net
What I'm currently working on is this:
If a mail is sent to both a local user and a remote user, then the mail sent to the remote user will have the local user's alias in the header instead of the local address.
eg: I send a mail to philip@konark.ncst.ernet.in, philip@tae.tellis.home
Mail received at konark:
From: philip.tellis@iname.com <--- rewritten To: philip@konark.ncst.ernet.in, philip.tellis@iname.com ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^---rewritten
Mail received at tae.tellis.home:
From: philip@tae.tellis.home To: philip@konark.ncst.ernet.in, philip@tae.tellis.home
The hardest part is finding documentation. I believe that it is all outlined in the Bat Book, but nowhere online are such rules listed. I don't have access to the Bat Book right now, but I think I can manage without it. I've already understood about 80% of sendmail.cf just by trying different settings and seeing what happens.
It's what we learnt in science class, and I'm afraid too many of us have forgotten. Don't trust anything you read. Always experiment to verify its veracity. And when there is nothing to read, experiment to find something to write.
Philip
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Philip S Tellis -
S. Krishnan -
Satya