On Tue 15 Nov 2016 at 09:18:33 -0500, Greg Wooledge wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 15, 2016 at 02:10:14PM +0000, Brian wrote:
> > With 'dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config' the message
> >
> > "Starting MTA:hostname --fqdn did not return a fully qualified name,
> > dc_minimaldns will not work. Please fix your /etc/hosts setup."
> >
> > should appear if "yes" is chosen for the option. 'hostname -f' is useful
> > for checking there is a sane hosts configuration for exim to use.
>
> Now you're scaring me. I'm afraid to run this thing to test your theory,
> because it might cause my perfectly working configuration to break.
>
> Well, let's back up /etc/exim4 and try it....
Backing up update-exim4.conf.conf would have been sufficient.
> wooledg@wooledg:~$ sudo tar czf /var/tmp/etc-exim4.tar.gz /etc/exim4
> [sudo] password for wooledg:
> tar: Removing leading `/' from member names
> wooledg@wooledg:~$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config
> [[ now it goes into dialog ]]
>
> First choice:
> mail sent by smarthost; received via SMTP or fetchmail
>
> Second choice:
> System mail name:
> eeg.ccf.org
>
> Third choice:
> IP-addresses to listen on...:
> 127.0.0.1 ; ::1
>
> Fourth choice:
> Other destinations for which mail is accepted:
> wooledg
>
> Fifth choice:
> Machines to relay mail for:
> (blank)
>
> Sixth choice:
> IP address or host name of the outgoing smarthost:
> gateway.eeg.ccf.org
>
> Seventh choice:
> Hide local mail name in outgoing mail?
> No
>
> Eighth choice:
> Keep number of DNS-queries minimal?
> No
You didn't use "yes"?
> Ninth choice:
> Delivery method for local mail:
> Maildir format in home directory
>
> Tenth choice:
> Split configuration into small files?
> No
>
> Voila. No need for hostname -f to return a string with dots. Exim
> was perfectly content with what I've been doing for years.
It would be if "Keep number of DNS-queries minimal?" was "No".
It would also happily send a string without dots as the HELO.
Whether the remote server is happy is another matter.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This reply is the second one I've sent to your mail. The first was sent
after removing canonical_hostname from /etc/hostame. 'hostname -f' said
"desktop". The first mail was rejected by ldo:
debian-user@lists.debian.org
SMTP error from remote mail server after RCPT
TO:<debian-user@lists.debian.org>:
host bendel.debian.org [82.195.75.100]: 504 5.5.2 <desktop>:
Helo command rejected: need fully-qualified hostname
A quick check with the useful command 'hostname -f' revealed the problem.
--
Brian.
