Mail Installation instructions for UNIX

Replacing procmail as default handler in sendmail configurations

  1. Copy virt_mail to /usr/bin/virt_mail
  2. Copy odbc_mail.default.ini to /etc/odbc_mail.ini
    • IMPORTANT: Make sure /etc/odbc_mail.ini is NOT GROUP/WORLD writable. virt_mail will fail to run if it is.
  3. Edit /etc/odbc_mail.ini and change the login settings to match your current database installation.
    • If you don't have or want to use procmail, comment out the "Fallback" setting in the [Deliver] section.
  4. Edit /etc/sendmail.cf. 

    -- Change
  Mlocal,	P=/usr/bin/procmail, F=lsDFMAw5:/|@qSPfhn9, S=10/30, R=20/40,
		  T=DNS/RFC822/X-Unix,
		  A=procmail -Y -a $h -d $u
-- into:
  Mlocal,	P=/usr/bin/virt_mail, F=lsDFMA5:/|@qSPhn9, S=10/30, R=20/40,
		  T=DNS/RFC822/X-Unix,
		  A=virt_mail -c /etc/odbc_mail.ini -l $u -h $h -s $g

    • NOTE: The changes to the F= setting involve removing both the 'w' and 'f' flags.
    • The removal of the 'w' flag affects lookups in /etc/passwd, which are no longer required if all mail drops go into the database.
    • The default ini file is set up to maildrop to procmail, which will perform this check correctly.

per-user database maildrops under sendmail

  1. Copy odbc_mail.default.ini to ~the user_name/.odbc_mail.ini
    • IMPORTANT: Make sure the .odbc_mail.ini is NOT GROUP/WORLD writable. virt_mail will fail to run if it is.
  2. Put at the end of ~the user_name/.procmailrc something like the below code for replacing the_user_name with the user you're setting up. 

    :0:
| /usr/bin/virt_mail -c .odbc_mail.ini -l the_user_name -h your.domain.com

    • Note: the '-l ..' parameter is used to relate the local recipient to the database user for which the maildrop is done. See the remarks in the odbc_mail.default.ini file.
  3. Adjust the parameters in .odbc_mail.ini to match your configuration
  4. Disable Fallback delivery in .odbc_mail.ini
  5. Comment out the "Fallback =" entry in the .odbc_mail.ini or set it to something that doesn't involve procmail. Otherwise, this could lead to drop loops.

per-user database maildrops under qmail

  1. Copy odbc_mail.default.ini to ~the user_name/.odbc_mail.ini
    • IMPORTANT: Make sure the .odbc_mail.ini is NOT GROUP/WORLD writable. virt_mail will fail to run if it is.
  2. If you're setting up a .qmail, simply do something like: 

    | /usr/bin/virt_mail -m qmail -c .odbc_mail.ini

    • If you're setting up .qmail-default or .qmail-<some alias_name>, make sure you adjust the RemovePrefix? accordingly in the odbc_mail.ini.
    • This also works if a single user is receiving mail for an entire (virtual) domain.
  3. If you want to configure qmail so that user 'db' gets all mail for example.com, do this:
    1. create a new user db in /etc/passwd etc.
    2. remove example.com from /var/qmail/control/locals
    3. add to /var/qmail/controls/virtualdomains: 

      example.com:db

    4. adjust /var/qmail/users/assign accordingly: 

      	=db:db:<uid>:<gid>:<home>:::
	+db-:db:<uid>:<gid>:<home>:-::

    5. Or run: 

      qmail-pw2u < /etc/passwd > /var/qmail/users/assign

    6. And finally run qmail-newu and restart qmail
  4. In ~db/.qmail-default, put: 

    | /usr/bin/virt_mail -m qmail -c .odbc_mail.ini

  5. In .odbc_mail.ini, set 

    RemovePrefix=db-

  6. As result now, mail to <none> will be delivered to the qmail alias <none> and is stored into the database for user 'info'.
  7. Adjust the parameters in .odbc_mail.ini to match your configuration

per-user database maildrops under courier

  1. Copy odbc_mail.default.ini to ~the user_name/.odbc_mail.ini
    • IMPORTANT: Make sure the .odbc_mail.ini is NOT GROUP/WORLD writable. virt_mail will fail to run if it is.
  2. If you're setting up a .courier, simply do something like 

    | /usr/bin/virt_mail -mcourier -c .odbc_mail.ini

    • If you're setting up .courier-default or .courier-<some alias_name>, make sure you adjust the RemovePrefix? accordingly in the .odbc_mail.ini.
    • Note 1: although courier is very similar to qmail in this respect, it is different from qmail in how it handles exit codes. If you use -mqmail while running under courier, you'll get the wrong exit codes, so mail is bounced instead of retried.
    • Note 2: If delivering to multiple recipients in a .courier file, make sure the virt mail is specified first. This is because if the virt_mail fails with a temporary error, the other recipients will get another drop when courier re-attempts to deliver the mail. 

      -- Right:
| /usr/bin/virt_mail -mcourier -c .odbc_mail.ini
./Maildir

-- Wrong:
./Maildir
| /usr/bin/virt_mail -mcourier -c .odbc_mail.ini

  3. Adjust the parameters in .odbc_mail.ini to match your configuration

EXIM

Here are a code snippets for Exim that perform maildrops into the odbc database.


## IN TRANSPORT SECTION

# Delivers into the database
odbc:
  driver = pipe
  command = /usr/bin/virt_mail \
	-c /etc/odbc_mail.ini \
	-s "${if def:return_path{$return_path}{MAILER-DAEMON}}" \
	-l "$local_part" -h "$domain"
  user = USERNAME
  return_path_add
  delivery_date_add
  prefix =
  suffix =
  temp_errors = 73 : 74 : 75
  return_fail_output



## IN DIRECTORS SECTION

# Attempts delivery of all mail into the database
to_db:
  driver = smartuser
  transport = odbc
  require_files = /etc/odbc_mail.ini
  #
  # uncomment line below to deliver all mail to db-XXX into the database, for any
  # value of XXX. For this to work, set "RemovePrefix = db-" in
  # the [Translate] section in /etc/odbc_mail.ini
  #prefix = db-

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