On mail principles

[a at zeos.net]

On Thu, Jun 08, 2006 at 02:08:53AM +0300, Giorgos Keramidas wrote:
> On 2006-06-07 20:20, a at zeos.net wrote:
> > A brief:
> >
> > How to use "envelope from" provided that I have a mailbox on ISP.
> >
> > A full explanation:
> >
> > My computer has no static IP-address, nor DNS-name in Internet.
> > Internally, it has static name "localhost" and static IP-address 127.0.0.1.
> >
> > So, I have a mail address "elisej at localhost".
> > But I cannot send a mail to the world using this address in "envelope from"
> > because of
> > 1) Internet MTAs cancel mail whith such an address in "envelope from";
> > 2) such an address is useless to recipient.
> >
> > My address in the world is "a at zeos.net".  So, I make my MUA to send a
> > letter using a command setting "envelope from" to "a at zeos.net".  (like
> > sendmail -f a at zeos.net for sendmail, see "X-Authentication-Warning" in
> > the header of this mail) But this way is bad for local purposes: my
> > MTA's diagnostic messages are sent trough internet or lost at all,
> > e. g. when my ADSL is in down.  (Moreover, my letters sent to other
> > local users have non-local "envelope from" address. Then local mail
> > begin to go through external MTA.)
> >
> > What to do in such a situation?
> 
> I use mutt, which has an option to set the envelope-from address:
> 
>     set envelope_from=yes    # set the envelope-from address from From:
> 
> For the rest of the programs, like mail(1), my Sendmail setup sets
> envelope-from to one of my valid outside-world addresses.  This is
> accomplished with the following in my `sendmail.mc' file:
> 
>     dnl Trusted users, who are allowed to change their envelope-from address
>     dnl without generating a warning in the message header, are listed, one per
>     dnl line, in `sendmail.ct'.
>     define(`confCT_FILE', `-o /etc/mail/sendmail.ct')
>     FEATURE(`use_cw_file')dnl
> 
>     dnl Allow mail routing exceptions through a mailer table.
>     FEATURE(`mailertable', `hash /etc/mail/mailertable')
> 
>     dnl Address masquerading.
>     dnl
>     dnl Making sure that all email that passes through my desktop's Sendmail
>     dnl installation is masqueraded as coming from `gothmog.pc', even if its original
>     dnl address is something slightly different (i.e. `ftp.pc' or `mail.pc'), is
>     dnl ok here.  It ensures that address rewriting and translation through
>     dnl `genericstable' will also work for all `*.pc' host names.
>     dnl
>     dnl To make sure that remote hosts don't get a MAIL FROM address from a
>     dnl hostname that doesn't resolve, envelope addresses are masqueraded too, and
>     dnl then get rewritten by `genericstable' to real-world addresses,
>     dnl i.e. `keramida at ceid.upatras.gr'.
>     MASQUERADE_AS(`gothmog.pc')
>     FEATURE(`masquerade_entire_domain')
>     FEATURE(`masquerade_envelope')
> 
>     dnl Rewriting the envelope-from address of all outgoing messages through a
>     dnl `genericstable' lookup, ensures that envelope-from addresses seen by relay
>     dnl hosts are real, i.e. `keramida at ceid.upatras.gr' instead of the default
>     dnl envelope-from of `keramida at flame.pc' that Sendmail would use.  This is
>     dnl required some times, to avoid getting bounces for messages from ISP mail
>     dnl relays that are misconfigured or are too strict about what can appear in a
>     dnl MAIL FROM command.
>     FEATURE(`genericstable', `hash -o /etc/mail/genericstable')
>     GENERICS_DOMAIN(`gothmog.pc')
>     FEATURE(`generics_entire_domain')
> 
> This looks like quite a mouthful of options, but it's not really that
> difficult to read.  It's only big because of all the comments.
> 
> The file `/etc/mail/sendmail.ct' contains my username, because I trust
> myself to use valid envelope-from addresses.  This turns off the
> "X-Authentication-Warning" header which is so annoying for you too.
> 
> Then, in `/etc/mail/mailertable' I have an exception for my internal,
> work-related email, and send it directly to the company's mail gateway:
> 
>     # Custom mail routing rules.  This is currently useful only
>     # for routing work-related email through the VPN connection
>     # to my company's mail relay.
>     #
>     foo.com			smtp:mailgate.foo.com
>     .foo.com			smtp:mailgate.foo.com
> 
> Finally, in my `/etc/mail/genericstable' map, I rewrite the
> envelope-from of all the rest of email messages, like this:
> 
>     # Outgoing email address rewriting.
>     giorgos at localhost		keramida at ceid.upatras.gr
>     giorgos at gothmog		keramida at ceid.upatras.gr
>     giorgos at gothmog.pc		keramida at ceid.upatras.gr
> 
> These options are, of course, just a suggestion.  You don't *HAVE* to
> use a setup similar to mine.
> 
> - Giorgos
 
This is exactly what I want.
Thank you.

Elisej Babenko