Procmail can't create mailbox

[Bob McClure Jr]

On Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 09:28:38AM -0500, Mark Corsi wrote:
> My guess is that the server is seeing the process as 'other'. This leaves
> two solutions. One is to start the process with sudo so it starts as root. I
> would hazard a guess that this would open up an unexpected security hole
> since this is a mail process. The other solution is to make the process
> owner part of the group that owns that folder and make the folder group
> writable. Pretty sure the second solution will maintain security while
> accomplishing your goal.

Well, I already have a sufficiently secure work-around, but that works
around a symptom.  I want to find out why an out-of-the-box
configuration quit working.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com
> [mailto:redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Bob McClure Jr
> Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 8:36 AM
> To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
> Subject: Re: Procmail can't create mailbox
> 
> On Sat, Nov 29, 2008 at 08:08:54AM -0500, Mark Corsi wrote:
> > One suggestion, rather than using permissions straight out of box. Try
> > setting the permissions to 777 (temporarily) to see if it is a permission
> > based issue.
> 
> Yep, did that.  It works, but that's not the way it's supposed to
> work.  That's my interim dodge until I find The Right Solution(tm).
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com
> > [mailto:redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Bob McClure
> Jr
> > Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 7:51 AM
> > To: Getting started with Red Hat Linux
> > Subject: Re: Procmail can't create mailbox
> > 
> > On Fri, Nov 28, 2008 at 11:03:10PM -0500, Mark Corsi wrote:
> > > Not what you will want to hear, but...
> > > 
> > > Use Sendmail. Older, more stable, runs 80% of all mail servers.
> > 
> > Well, ubiquity does not make superiority.  Note that Windows runs a
> > similar percentage of PCs.  You wouldn't suggest that I go back to
> > that, would you?
> > 
> > > Never ceases to amaze me when people always try to make a better widget
> > than
> > > one that works nearly perfectly.
> > 
> > I barely got the hang of configuring sendmail when it was a single
> > daemon.  When it went to two daemons, I never figured out which config
> > items went in which daemon's config.  Postfix is much easier to figure
> > out, and IMHO more flexible.
> > 
> > Note also that I think procmail is the problem, not postfix.
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com
> > > [mailto:redhat-install-list-bounces at redhat.com] On Behalf Of Bob McClure
> > > Sent: Friday, November 28, 2008 8:24 PM
> > > To: Red Hat Install
> > > Subject: Procmail can't create mailbox
> > > 
> > > Okay, this is driving me nuts.  Procmail can't create a mailbox for a
> > > new user.  This has come up on at least four servers I manage - FC5,
> > > FC6, CentOS 5.2, and now RedHat 5.2.  They are all using Postfix and
> > > procmail to accept and deliver mail.  All but one involve
> > > "bootlegging" in the users by copying over the normal users' passwd,
> > > shadow, group, and gshadow entries, as well as their home directories
> > > and/or the mail spool (/var/spool/mail).  In the most recent case
> > > (RHEL 5), the /var/spool/mail directory is stock except that I created
> > > an LVM device and transferred /var/spool contents to it and then
> > > mounted it on /var/spool.  The permissions are right out of the box:
> > > 
> > > drwxrwxr-x 2 root mail 4096 Nov 28 04:02 /var/spool/mail
> > > 
> > > I've done a web search and found nothing useful.  My solution in each
> > > case has been to make /var/spool/mail world writable, and, in at least
> > > one case, added the sticky bit, to wit:
> > > 
> > > drwxrwxrwt 3 root mail 20480 Nov 28 16:19 /var/spool/mail
> > > 
> > > It works, but it's not the way it's supposed to work out of the box.
> > > Selinux is disabled on all machines.  What am I missing?
> > > 
> > > Cheers,
> > > -- 
> > > Bob McClure, Jr.
> > 
> > Cheers,
> > -- 
> > Bob McClure, Jr.
> 
> Cheers,
> -- 
> Bob McClure, Jr.

Cheers,
-- 
Bob McClure, Jr.             Bobcat Open Systems, Inc.
bob at bobcatos.com             http://www.bobcatos.com
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government
will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)