Re: biff(1)

["Eloy A. Paris" <eparis@ven.ra.rockwell.com>]

Hi,

> Has anyone successfully managed to get biff to work in debian? i know
> there's some interaction with comsat, but i never worked out where comsat
> got messages from (something to do with procmail? <shudder>). FYI, using
> latest unstable sendmail as MTA.

I love biff. I do not like to press <Enter> in bash to get a new mail
notification. I like biff because it is asynchronous.

I also have sendmail as my MTA. By default, sendmail uses deliver as its
local delivery program. deliver does not notify comsat so biff does not
work if you use deliver.

You can use procmail (that's what I am using) and it'll work pretty well.
You have to make a minor change to the sendmail.cf file, or better
to the sendmail.mc file. Here is mine:

--------------------------------------------------
#
# This file is used to configure sendmail for use with Debian systems.
#

divert(0)
VERSIONID(`@(#)sendmail.mc      8.7 (Linux) 3/5/96')
OSTYPE(debian)dnl
FEATURE(masquerade_envelope)dnl
FEATURE(always_add_domain)dnl
FEATURE(use_cw_file)dnl
FEATURE(use_ct_file)dnl
FEATURE(nouucp)dnl
FEATURE(nodns)dnl
FEATURE(local_procmail, /usr/bin/procmail)
define(`LOCAL_MAILER_ARGS', `procmail -Y -d $u')
MAILER(local)dnl
MAILER(smtp)dnl
Cwzeus.ven.ra.rockwell.com
MASQUERADE_AS(ven.ra.rockwell.com)dnl

## Custom configurations below (will be preserved)

define(`confMAX_MESSAGE_SIZE', `1000000')
define(`confTRY_NULL_MX_LIST', `True')
define(`confCOPY_ERRORS_TO', `postmaster')
define(`SMART_HOST', smtp:mailrelay.mke.ab.com)
LOCAL_NET_CONFIG
R$* < @ $* .$m. > $*    $#smtp $@ $2.$m. $: $1 < @ $2.$m. > $3
--------------------------------------------------

Don't pay attention to the custom configuration stuff. It's just for my
site. The key lines are:

FEATURE(local_procmail, /usr/bin/procmail)
define(`LOCAL_MAILER_ARGS', `procmail -Y -d $u')

If I remember right, the first line is needed because the default definition
has procmail in /usr/local/bin/ and Debian puts it in /usr/bin/.

After changing your /etc/mail/sendmail.mc file run sendmailconfig and
tell it to use the existing sendmail.mc file, do not generate
a new one.

After this, you should be able to use biff as in other *unixes. Let
me know if you have problems. Good luck.

E.-

--- 

Eloy A. Paris
Information Technology Department
Rockwell Automation de Venezuela
Telephone: +58-2-9432311 Fax: +58-2-9430323