This document describes the sendmail configuration files being used at Berkeley. These use features in the new (R8) sendmail; they will not work on other versions.

These configuration files are probably not as general as previous versions, and don't handle as many of the weird cases automagically. I was able to simplify them for two reasons. First, the network has become more consistent -- for example, at this point, everyone on the internet is supposed to be running a name server, so hacks to handle NIC-registered hosts can go away. Second, I assumed that a subdomain would be running SMTP internally -- UUCP is presumed to be a long-haul protocol. I realize that this is not universal, but it does describe the vast majority of sites with which I am familiar, including those outside the US.

Of course, the downside of this is that if you do live in a weird world, things are going to get weirder for you. I'm sorry about that, but at the time we at Berkeley had a problem, and it seemed like the right thing to do.

This package requires a post-V7 version of m4; if you are running the 4.2bsd, SysV.2, or 7th Edition version, I suggest finding a friend with a newer version. You can m4-expand on their system, then run locally. SunOS's /usr/5bin/m4 or BSD-Net/2's m4 both work. GNU m4 version 1.1 or later also works. Unfortunately, I'm told that the M4 on BSDI 1.0 doesn't work -- you'll have to use a Net/2 or GNU version. GNU m4 is available from ftp://prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/m4-1.4.tar.gz (check for the latest version). EXCEPTIONS: DEC's m4 on Digital UNIX 4.x is broken (3.x is fine). Use GNU m4 on this platform.

IF YOU DON'T HAVE A BERKELEY MAKE, don't despair! Just run "m4 ../m4/cf.m4 foo.mc > foo.cf" -- that should be all you need. There is also a fairly crude (but functional) Makefile.dist that works on the old version of make.

To get started, you may want to look at tcpproto.mc (for TCP-only sites), uucpproto.mc (for UUCP-only sites), and clientproto.mc (for clusters of clients using a single mail host). Others are versions that we use at Berkeley, although not all are in current use. For example, ucbarpa has gone away, but I've left ucbarpa.mc in because it demonstrates some interesting techniques.

I'm not pretending that this README describes everything that these configuration files can do; clever people can probably tweak them to great effect. But it should get you started.

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***  BE SURE YOU CUSTOMIZE THESE FILES!  They have some		***
***  Berkeley-specific assumptions built in, such as the name	***
***  of our UUCP-relay.  You'll want to create your own domain	***
***  description, and use that in place of domain/Berkeley.m4.	***
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