[olug] just curious

[Mark A. Martin]

I can't comment on whether you should bring your machine to the meeting
but I can help clarify the difficulty you're having with logcheck. 
logcheck is simply using the local mail facility that you have on your
machine.  There is probably nothing wrong with logcheck or how you have
it configured.  The problem is that Netscape 4.x can only retrieve mail
from one server (unless they're IMAP servers).  This can be a remote
machine, say at your ISP, school, or work, or it can be your local
machine.  (According to what I've read, Mozilla doesn't suffer from this
limitation.  However, Mozilla currently lacks certain things you might
need and is slower and more unstable.)  This means that if you're going
to use Netscape to read and send mail, you probably need to make sure
that all of your mail is going to the same place.

It looks like you're currently retrieving your mail from your ISP
(@home).  (Of course, the reply-to field in your mail headers is a very
weak indication of this.)  I'm assuming that this means that your
machine is connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.  If what I've said
is true, you have three choices.

1. You could have the output from logcheck sent to your ISP and then
continue to have Netscape retrieve your mail there.  This would involve
making sure that the mail transfer agent (MTA) on your local machine is
properly configured to send mail to remote addresses.  You would also
probably have to forward the mail from your local account or configure
logcheck to mail your remote account.

2. You could have all mail forwarded from your ISP to your local
machine.  You would need to make sure that your local mail facilities
are configured properly to deliver mail and you might even want to make
sure that they're configured properly to send mail from your local
machine.  You would also need to configure Netscape to retrieve your
mail (and possibly send it) locally and use a movemail program to move
mail from your local mailbox to where Netscape expects to find it.

3. Run an IMAP server on your local machine and configure Netscape to
retrieve local and remote mail.  This will not work if the remote server
is not an IMAP server.

I do not recommend choice #1 because it means sending sensitive local
mail to the @home network, where it could easily be hijacked.  I don't
know the details of #3 and can't even be sure that it's feasible because
I haven't investigated that possibility.  I strongly recommend choice
#2.  Unfortunately, implementing choice #2 is a little complicated. 
But, since your machine is connected to the Internet 24 hours a day, you
should make sure that your local mail facilities are properly configured
anyway.  Otherwise, you might be leaving yourself open to attack.

I can't provide a step-by-step procedure for implementing choice #2
because what you need to do depends on the various pieces of mail
software that you are running.  However, I can point you to some
documentation.  I remember you saying that you're running Mandrake.  If
so, then you're probably using Postfix as your local MTA.

Documentation to help you understand Postfix is available from a nearby
mirror of the Postfix web site:

http://postfix.capital-internet.net/start.html

You might also have a local copy of this documentation under /usr/doc. 
I recommend reading all of the Postfix documentation so you get a better
understanding of how mail and Postfix work.  Once you've read through
the Postfix docs, take a look at the Red Hat Postfix HOWTO

http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/howto/RH-postfix-HOWTO/book1.html

I recommend reading Section 8 on Postfix configuration and the beginning
of Section 9 on the stand-alone configuration for the home user or
possibly Section 9.2 on the home network.  If you have difficulty,
consult the Postfix FAQ

http://postfix.capital-internet.net/faq.html

or the Red Hat Postfix FAQ

http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/faqs/RH-postfix-FAQ/book1.html

The other links on the documentation page on the Postfix site might also
be worthwhile.

If you aren't running Postfix, try looking at the Email section of the
Linux Adminstrator's Security Guide from the Linux Documentation
Project, which is located at

http://www.linuxdoc.org/LDP/lasg/servers/email/index.html

This will give you an overview and point you to the primary web site for
whatever mail software you're running.

To help you understand how to configure Netscape properly, see
"CONFIGURING NETSCAPE MAIL ON UNIX"

http://home.netscape.com/eng/mozilla/2.0/relnotes/demo/movemail.html

This is an old document but is still pertinent.  I suggest reading the
entire document but pay particular attention to the section on using
movemail.  You shouldn't need an external movemail program.  The
movemail built into Netscape works just fine under Linux.

The key to getting everything working is to get a clear conception of
what you're trying to accomplish.  I suggest writing down your
mail-related goals and keeping notes as you go.  Start from the goal of
receiving and sending mail locally.  There are some details that I
haven't discussed, such as establishing the correct email aliases so
that responses are sent to the right place and your headers make sense
locally and remotely, but you should start getting a clearer picture of
these issues once you read through some of the documentation.

Good luck,

Mark
-- 
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Mark A. Martin					Dept of Applied Mathematics
http://www.amath.washington.edu/~mmartin	University of Washington
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