Hi, > Has anyone successfully managed to get biff to work in debian? i know > there's some interaction with comsat, but i never worked out where comsat > got messages from (something to do with procmail? <shudder>). FYI, using > latest unstable sendmail as MTA.
I love biff. I do not like to press <Enter> in bash to get a new mail notification. I like biff because it is asynchronous. I also have sendmail as my MTA. By default, sendmail uses deliver as its local delivery program. deliver does not notify comsat so biff does not work if you use deliver. You can use procmail (that's what I am using) and it'll work pretty well. You have to make a minor change to the sendmail.cf file, or better to the sendmail.mc file. Here is mine: -------------------------------------------------- # # This file is used to configure sendmail for use with Debian systems. # divert(0) VERSIONID(`@(#)sendmail.mc 8.7 (Linux) 3/5/96') OSTYPE(debian)dnl FEATURE(masquerade_envelope)dnl FEATURE(always_add_domain)dnl FEATURE(use_cw_file)dnl FEATURE(use_ct_file)dnl FEATURE(nouucp)dnl FEATURE(nodns)dnl FEATURE(local_procmail, /usr/bin/procmail) define(`LOCAL_MAILER_ARGS', `procmail -Y -d $u') MAILER(local)dnl MAILER(smtp)dnl Cwzeus.ven.ra.rockwell.com MASQUERADE_AS(ven.ra.rockwell.com)dnl ## Custom configurations below (will be preserved) define(`confMAX_MESSAGE_SIZE', `1000000') define(`confTRY_NULL_MX_LIST', `True') define(`confCOPY_ERRORS_TO', `postmaster') define(`SMART_HOST', smtp:mailrelay.mke.ab.com) LOCAL_NET_CONFIG R$* < @ $* .$m. > $* $#smtp $@ $2.$m. $: $1 < @ $2.$m. > $3 -------------------------------------------------- Don't pay attention to the custom configuration stuff. It's just for my site. The key lines are: FEATURE(local_procmail, /usr/bin/procmail) define(`LOCAL_MAILER_ARGS', `procmail -Y -d $u') If I remember right, the first line is needed because the default definition has procmail in /usr/local/bin/ and Debian puts it in /usr/bin/. After changing your /etc/mail/sendmail.mc file run sendmailconfig and tell it to use the existing sendmail.mc file, do not generate a new one. After this, you should be able to use biff as in other *unixes. Let me know if you have problems. Good luck. E.- --- Eloy A. Paris Information Technology Department Rockwell Automation de Venezuela Telephone: +58-2-9432311 Fax: +58-2-9430323
