Using procmail as MDA

I am trying to move from 10.3 Client to Snow Leopard Server on a Mac Mini. My problem is configuring my mail system.
In my previous setup, mail was delivered to postfix. The mailbox_command configuration line caused it to be sent to procmail for local delivery. There's a variety of reasons I do it that, way, but the biggest is that my setup is "old school unix" with shell users who log in and keep their inboxes in /var/mail and their other mbox's in $HOME/mail. The easiest way to keep all the directory permissions safe and correct is to have the MDA run as the recipient. After receiving the mail, Procmail filters it through SpamAssassin and then delivers it based on some global rules and (optionally) rules the users may have in $HOME/.procmailrc. This all works great.
The problem I have is that on Snow Leopard Server, Server Admin insists on writing mailbox_transport into the main.cf. I can get it to write whatever I want as the transport, but what I can't do is get it to not write anything for mailbox_transport. This is required to make postfix pay attention to mailbox_command.
Is there any way to get Server Admin to either not rewrite that line or just not touch the whole file? I can always set up a separate set of config files that Server Admin doesn't know about and then start all the daemons myself with SystemStarter, but that's kind of a pain. Also, I then have to start IMAP, POP, and the antivirus filter manually (well, not really manual, but outside the grip of whatever starts them now) as well.

There are some things you can write to service configuration files that Server Admin will leave alone, but there are others that it will happily trounce all over, undoing your hard work.
In this case it sounds like mailbox_transport is one of those settings.
In these circumstances your option is pretty much to configure the service by hand (editing the config files as needed) and then never using Server Admin to administer that service on this machine (you can configure Server Admin to show/hide specific services). As long as Server Admin doesn't try to configure the mail service (because you never select it in Server Admin) your manual changes should remain..
This is a long-standing issue not just with Server Admin, but with any GUI crafted on top of text configuration files - there are limits as to what can be done via the GUI, and the GUI is rarely sentient enough to leave unexpected values in place.

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Hi board,
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Thomas Zloch wrote:
Please also check the F1 help for the package field e.g. in SE80, SAP standard is in range A-S and U-X, namespaces start with "/", so you should be save. I am using the T namespace for temporary stuff since a long time and did not have a problem so far.
> Thomas
>
> P.S. this applies to the package name only, of course
Thank you very much for this remark, I checked F1 help for the package field and in fact as you mentioned these ranges are for local objects.
Once again, thank you very much for your help.
Kind Regards,
Dariyoosh

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I've succedded as my phone and my pc connected behind the phone suceed authentication and authorization and a "show authentication sessions" show me that authentication is right in domain DATA and VOICE.
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..usually a session behind a phone remains forever when using MAB. So you need to configure "autentication violation replace" to allow another device to connect behind the phone and starts the authentication process.
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Hi everyone
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OK so I have found from various sources, and through trial and error that I am able to do the following in a shell script:
--- start script ---
user=<ISP USERNAME>
isp=<ISP NAME>
server=<SERVER NAME AT ISP eg mail>
TMPFILE=`mktemp /tmp/fm.XXXXXX` || exit 1
password=$(security find-internet-password -s $server.$isp -a $user -g 2>&1 | perl -ne '/password: "(\S*)"/ and print $$
cat <<EoF > $TMPFILE
set postmaster '<LOCAL POSTMASTER ACCOUNT>'
set bouncemail
poll $server.$isp with proto POP3 and options no dns
user "$user" there with password '$password'
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EoF
fetchmail -v -f $TMPFILE
rm -f $TMPFILE
--- end of script ---
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and for the autostart fetchmail on boot from http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2218143&tstart=225
making this executable and putting in the /etc folder as run-fetchmail is the first step
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the fetchall is to grab all the messages even read ones whilst I test...
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I will add daemon to the file once I have the fetching working correctly
so - how on earth do I get the mail to be delivered to the Mail.app accessible mail delivery agent?

Accessing EP 6 in PDA

Hi,
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Any help in this regard is highly appreciated.
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Below Might help you:
https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/thread?threadID=56656
<a href="https://media.sdn.sap.com/public/eclasses/teched04/MCA151_files/Default.htm#nopreload=1">MCA151 - Enabling Mobile Access to Blackberry and Pocket PC Devices</a>
Don't forget points, if it helped.
Regards,
P.

Migrating from Maildir to OSX server mail

Hi,
I have a Linux machine running Qmail (smtp, pop), Courier (imap) and Squirrelmail.
About 20 users on the machine.
Most users use webmail only.
The users are all 'virtual' users, under vpopmail.
This machine uses Maildir for mail storage.
I want to move all mail to the new OSX server.
The new server will be working the same way - webmail.
I'm not sure where to start.
Thanks in advance for any pointers.
-Jeff
Message was edited by: agostini
Message was edited by: agostini
Message was edited by: agostini

agostini,
I've successfully moved users off a similar setup (Debian Linux, Courier IMAP, SquirrelMail) to my new Xserve. I used imapsync-1.239
http://www.linux-france.org/prj/imapsync/dist/
(it's about halfway down the page - Dec 2007 release)
I initially tried using the MacPorts install of the same version, but it constantly failed to authenticate with the Xserve. I have my Xserve setup for always using CRAM-MD5 auth. (Make sure you have all of the Perl MD5 modules install, including the optional ones, if you use MD5 auth). So, I downloaded it and compiled it directly. This eventually worked and with only a couple of bad emails, out of thousands, that did not transfer. It also will retain flags set on the previous server (seen, replied, etc.). I ran it from the Xserve and connected to the Linux box remotely.
I have no experience with Qmail.
If you use procmail on the Linux machine though, you will need to recreate those scripts as sieve scripts on the Mac. I found the SquirrelMail plugin for sieve scripts most helpful.
Larry

Best wau to rewrite subject line based on FROM address...

Has anyone had experience with re-writing the subject line of a message based on the FROM address? I am trying to accomplish the following:
1) if the FROM address of a message is "[email protected]" and SUBJECT of message is "some special subject" then:
2) rewrite from address to be "[email protected]" and rewrite subject to be "A new subject here".
I've done alot of reading in the docs and on the forums and have come to the following conclusions:
1) I can use sieve filters to filter on the above criteria, but the best i can for processing would be to forward them to some special mailbox, where I would need a program that would actualy read them and perform the mangling, and then resend them to the original recipient
2)Maybe use a conversion channel, passign in the subject via environment variables. I would need to write a shell script that would copy the message, mangle it, and then pass it back to the MTA for delivery?
3) maybe install spam assasin - it seems like it adds extensions to the seive filters that allow mangling of the subject line, but the examples I have seen seem limited to adding a special "tag" to the subject, not replacing it in its entirety.
Can anyone advise me of the right approach to follow? Or let me know that I am smoking crack and there is some other better way to accomplish what I want? For example, is it possible to use procmail to do this?
thanks in advance!
-mike cirioli

Has anyone had experience with re-writing the subject
line of a message based on the FROM address? I am
trying to accomplish the following:
1) if the FROM address of a message is
"[email protected]" and SUBJECT of message is
"some special subject" then:
2) rewrite from address to be "[email protected]" and
rewrite subject to be "A new subject here".
I've done alot of reading in the docs and on the
forums and have come to the following conclusions:
1) I can use sieve filters to filter on the above
criteria, but the best i can for processing would be
to forward them to some special mailbox, where I
would need a program that would actualy read them and
perform the mangling, and then resend them to the
original recipientUntrue. Sieve can replace a header line, if you want.
>
2)Maybe use a conversion channel, passign in the
subject via environment variables. I would need to
write a shell script that would copy the message,
mangle it, and then pass it back to the MTA for
delivery?Sounds like a much harder way to go. Also more costly in terms of performance.
>
3) maybe install spam assasin - it seems like it adds
extensions to the seive filters that allow mangling
of the subject line, but the examples I have seen
seem limited to adding a special "tag" to the
subject, not replacing it in its entirety.While I personally use SpamAssassin, it adds no sieve functions at all. It just gives a "spam score" back to the MTA. Header rewriting is handled by Sieve.
>
Can anyone advise me of the right approach to follow?
Or let me know that I am smoking crack and there is
some other better way to accomplish what I want? For
example, is it possible to use procmail to do this?I've never touched procmail. I suspect sieve is the way to go.
jay
>
thanks in advance!
-mike cirioli

IMAP mail sorting on server?

I am running OS X 10.5 Server as a mail server. I access my mail also with Squirrelmail when on the road without my laptop. As I get quite a lot of mail, I use Mail.app to sort my mail on a client. The client, btw, has portable home directories.
So here is my problem. To keep my mail sorted when I am away (so I get sorted mail when I use Squirrelmail) I have to keep a client running, logged in as myself and with Mail.app running. I cannot keep an account of myself logged in on the server, because that would block the syncing of my portable home directory.
I would like to conserve energy. If I can sort the mail on the server without being logged in on that server, I would not need to keep a client up and running all the time. Is there a way I can do that? Specifically, is there a mail sorter that works with my (secure) IMAP mailbox on the server, can run on the server without me being logged in? I have used procmail years ago, but I would need some way to access my IMAP account securely. I'd rather have something that directly bolts on to IMAP and that reads a configuration file somewhere.
Does something like that exist?
Thanks,

This is about sorting into different mailboxes, not sort order in a view on a mailbox. But I think I have found some tools already. It seems sieve is the way to go.

GetOrdinal of AseDataReader Class is not doing case-insensitive search

hi,
I am working on 12.5.4 version of sybase ASE.I am using 'Sybase.AdoNet2.AseClient.dll' to connect with database. I am using GetOrdinal method of ASEDatareader class (that as per documentation performs a case-sensitive lookup first. If it fails , a second search that is case-insensitive occurs) but in my case it is not performing case-insensitive search. I am attaching the document for your reference.
http://infocenter.sybase.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.infocenter.dc20066.1570100/doc/html/san1364409576274.html
Thanks,
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Hi Monica,
Another thing you want to make sure is on your ASE that the oledb/adonet MDA scripts are up to snuff. Some of our fixes in the driver are in this.
If you login into the ASE and get the output of sp_version.
You should get something like this:
OLEDB MDA Scripts
         15.7.0.1250.1013/Wed Feb 19 UTC 00:28:47 2014
The ado.net driver and the older oledb driver use some specific MDA scripts on the ASE.
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So where you downloaded the SDK you want to click Info then look for the README.
This is all the SDKs:
* Updating the metadata stored procedures required by ODBC, OLE DB and
jConnect Drivers on Adaptive Server Enterprise
Certain new features and bug fixes in ODBC, OLE DB and jConnect drivers
require you to modify the metadata stored procedures in Adaptive Server.
These stored procedures may not be up-to-date on your host ASE server due
to various reasons.
If the metadata stored procedures are outdated, you may not be able to use
some of the fixes that are implemented in this SP/ESD, so you will need to
manually install the updated metadata stored procedures.
To update the metadata stored procedures in Adaptive Server, first determine
the version of the meta-data scripts installed on the ASE. To do so, execute
the following command:
sp_version
go
The version number of the ODBC, OLE DB and jConnect meta-data scripts will
be displayed.
Review the version number column and compare it against the version of the
driver being used.
If the metadata scripts are outdated, the version installed will be older
than the driver build number or you will encounter one of the following:
- stored procedure sp_version is not found
- the stored procedure output does not print a row for the driver
The updated scripts are included with the drivers and can be installed as
follows:
For ODBC & OLE DB:
- Go the "sp" directory under the ODBC/OLE DB installation directory
- Execute the install_odbc_sprocs script for the ODBC Driver and
install_oledb_sprocs script for OLE DB Provider.
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         where <ServerName> is the name of the Adaptive Server
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             [<password>] is the password the username
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For jConnect:
- Go to the "sp" directory under the jConnect installation directory. Based
on your host ASE server version, choose the appropriate SQL script.
- Use isql or another tool of your choice to execute the selected script.
This will install the current meta-data stored procedures.
Thanks,
Dawn

Bluetooth in Windows Mobile

Ok
so I am writing a MIDlet that requires access to Bluetooth. The 2 test phones I am using (T-Mobile MDA Vario and MDA III) are both runing Windows Mobile 5.0 OS 5.1.195.
The problem is: when I emulate the program in the computer, everything works fine. But when I install it on the phones, it seems it does not have access to the bluetooth as it does not show the BT address and friendly name. I already tried another phone (Sony Ericson k 750i) and it worked fine.
Does anyone know what the problem might be?
The code I wrote follows:
import javax.microedition.midlet.*;
import javax.microedition.lcdui.*;
import javax.bluetooth.*;
public class BluetoothMidlet extends MIDlet implements CommandListener {
private Command exit, next, back;
LocalDevice local;
Alert a;
Form startScreen;
public BluetoothMidlet() {
exit = new Command("Exit",Command.EXIT, 0);
next = new Command("Next", Command.SCREEN, 1);
back = new Command("Back", Command.BACK, 1);
a = new Alert("Local Device");
a.addCommand(back);
a.setTimeout(Alert.FOREVER);
a.setCommandListener(this);
startScreen = new Form("Start");
startScreen.append("Press 'Next' to proceed or 'Exit' to make like a tree");
startScreen.addCommand(next);
startScreen.addCommand(exit);
startScreen.setCommandListener(this);
public void startApp() {
     show();
public void pauseApp() {}
public void destroyApp(boolean unconditional) {}
public void commandAction(Command c,Displayable d) {
     if(c == next) {
          start();
     if(c == back) {
          show();
if(c == exit) {
notifyDestroyed();
destroyApp(true);
void show() {
     Display.getDisplay(this).setCurrent(startScreen);
void start() {
try {
// Retrieve the local Bluetooth device object
local = LocalDevice.getLocalDevice();
// Retrieve the Bluetooth address of the local device
String address = local.getBluetoothAddress();
// Retrieve the name of the local Bluetooth device
String name = local.getFriendlyName();
System.out.println(address + name);
a.setString("Address is "+address+", Name is "+name);
Display.getDisplay(this).setCurrent(a);
} catch(Exception e) {
a.setString(e.getMessage());
Display.getDisplay(this).setCurrent(a);
Waiting for answers...

The problem is that they are not phones (like SE K750i or my K800i) but smartphones, that run Windows Mobile 5. In order to be able to use bluetooth from within Java (on WM5) you need to get [most likely: purchase...] a bluetooth stack implementation which is compatible to WM5 and your Java-Version on your smartphone.
You could also get trial licences (e.g. from here: http://www.avetana-gmbh.de/avetana-gmbh/produkte/jsr82.eng.xml ). Avetana (for example) you can use in combination with IBM's J9 or NSICOM's Cre-Me and WM2003 or WM5. I am currently writing my thesis about bluetooth & j2me and need to write a client/server-app using those technologies. I'd like to try to run the midlet on my PDA (WM5 + J9), too, but as I couldn't find working/good and free bluetooth stack implementations for this platform... I kinda gave up :-P
More focusing on development with my k800i right now. When my thesis is done I still have time to investigate the PDA-thing.
Wish you good luck & motivation for your work with your smartphones ;)

Migrating Samba/LDAP from Linux to OSX Server

Hi all. I've inherited a fairly "pure" implementation of OpenLDAP and Samba 3.x, running on a Debian server. While it's stable enough, making user changes is not terribly easy, and involves using LDAP and then smbpasswd, for example. I can manage this well enough myself, but for political reasons (mainly having to do with the "beer truck" theory of information loss), I'd like to standardize on something somewhat more intuitive. Additionally, I want to set up some groupware, etc, and haven't found much joy with most of the offerings out there. As far as resources, I've got one fairly nice PowerEdge that stores roaming profiles for windows users, as well as the LDAP server. I've got a second server for DHCP (no DNS), and did I mention no DNS? My third server is for mail. And then I've got an XServe that I can install Tiger Server on. Here's what I'd like to be able to do:
* Make the XServe the PDC, and demote the existing linux PDC to a BDC role.
* Use the existing LDAP server if at all possible, or setup mirroring between the two.
* Keep the user profiles and other assorted directories on the linux machines where they are currently.
* Move the entire domain, all user and machine accounts, etc. onto OpenDirectory.
* Do this without causing noticeable disruption to my userbase - I will have the opportunity to do the migration during a holiday week where not many people are around, but I don't want to rebind every stinking computer to the domain.
* Earn the respect and adulation of my peers, and have them buy me free coffee forever.
I've paged through the "Migrating to Mac OS X Server from Windows NT" PDF over on the Documentation page, and some of it looks useful, although a lot of it looks pretty specific to defenestration, whereas my project is more like a penguin demotion. The stuff I'm most concerned about in this respect is keeping the file shares where they are, dcpromo, and using the extant LDAP server.
Also, I'm wondering how beefy an Xserve I'd want to have to do the user auth piece. I'm currently supporting about 140 users and about 250 machines, although the user count will jump to around 800 when I create accounts for the secondary students.
Thanks!

agostini,
I've successfully moved users off a similar setup (Debian Linux, Courier IMAP, SquirrelMail) to my new Xserve. I used imapsync-1.239
http://www.linux-france.org/prj/imapsync/dist/
(it's about halfway down the page - Dec 2007 release)
I initially tried using the MacPorts install of the same version, but it constantly failed to authenticate with the Xserve. I have my Xserve setup for always using CRAM-MD5 auth. (Make sure you have all of the Perl MD5 modules install, including the optional ones, if you use MD5 auth). So, I downloaded it and compiled it directly. This eventually worked and with only a couple of bad emails, out of thousands, that did not transfer. It also will retain flags set on the previous server (seen, replied, etc.). I ran it from the Xserve and connected to the Linux box remotely.
I have no experience with Qmail.
If you use procmail on the Linux machine though, you will need to recreate those scripts as sieve scripts on the Mac. I found the SquirrelMail plugin for sieve scripts most helpful.
Larry

Best way for SLS to forward certain mail

I am using virtual domains, the server style. I do NOT need the ability for users to set up their own auto reply, vacation, etc. scripts.
I DO need the ability to forward a certain email from SLS, not via an email client.
So, when an email arrives that meets certain criteria, I want to forward it to another user on another server. I don't care if the email is to any specific user or not, I only care if it matches a set of rules I can specify. So, a system wide rule would be fine, don't care about individual user rules at all.
In Linux, this was simple using procmail since procmail had a system wide script file. I believe SLS uses Sieve, which doesn't work with virtual domains and server style users. I do not want to convert to postfix style.
So, given all this, is there a way to accomplish this? It appears procmail is not used on SLS. I don't think Sieve really supports system wide rules. I can't use a user specific rule.
So, what other options might I have?

Curiously, despite what the SLS manual says server aliases DO work with Sieve. So, I simply enabled Sieve, installed avelsieve, and, the rules simply worked. I figured, based on the SLS mail guide, that it would not work, but it does.

Outlook e-mail password

I have been using outlook on a number of computers to gather my e-mails , since last Monday the 25th July, unless I have the password saved box ticked I cannot send e-mails. As I want to be secure I would prefer that my password was not saved. I normally get a request by the program for my password prior to sending e-mails which covers all the bases but now I get, a cannot connect to server error, so have to tick and save my password in the account setup routine for the thing to work any one else come across this problem?

McTiss wrote:
Hi mda,
I have the same problem with Outlook with the same error message, although mine is the other way round: for years I had my password saved and then all of a sudden the account seemed to lose it, both on my computer and my smartphone.
I spent quite a while on the phone with the helpdesk and used the online help. All to no avail, still have to manually type in my password every time as it keeps losing it. Also at the moment can't send from Outlook - don't know why.
Would be grateful for any suggestions - error message is Ox800CCCOF
Hi. Welcome to the forums.
Can you say what security/anri-virus package you are using (applies to mda as well) ? e.g. Norton, McAfee, AVG etc.
This problem can be typically caused by any of these and other products, perhaps because something called "Email scanning" is on for outgoing (and perhaps incoming) emails. This feature is not really needed and can be unticked from the relevant settings.
http://www.andyweb.co.uk/shortcuts
http://www.andyweb.co.uk/pictures

Using procmail as MDA

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