Bug 84621

Summary:	handbook - document the correct use of rc.conf "sendmail_enable" variable for 5.x and later
Product:	Documentation	Reporter:	Sam Lawrance <lawrance>
Component:	Books & Articles	Assignee:	jcamou
Status:	Closed FIXED
Severity:	Affects Only Me
Priority:	Normal
Version:	Latest
Hardware:	Any
OS:	Any

Description Sam Lawrance freebsd_committer

2005-08-06 17:30:16 UTC

      The mail chapter of the handbook incorrectly specifies the method of disabling sendmail.  In particular, the rc.conf variables are different for RELENG_5 and later (because sendmail_enable="NONE" is deprecated; see rc.sendmail).

Fix: 

Patch here:

http://people.tecnik93.com/~sam/patch-handbook-mail

Notes:
- I don't know my way around FDP very well.
- Needs review from somebody who knows their way around sendmail and its rc.conf vars.
- I used "FreeBSD 5.0-STABLE and Later" as title; perhaps there is a better choice.
- Since the warning (see patch) applies to all versions, I moved it to the top of the section and tweaked it a tiny bit.

Comment 1 jcamou freebsd_committer

2005-08-10 05:54:31 UTC

Responsible Changed
From-To: freebsd-doc->jcamou

I'll take a look at this.

Comment 2 Sam Lawrance freebsd_committer

2005-09-08 03:11:04 UTC

Here's the patch which was deleted from the URL I supplied.  It's lucky
that I use /tmp as such a dumping ground :-D

Index: chapter.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/ncvs/FreeBSD/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/mail/chapter.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.129
diff -u -r1.129 chapter.sgml
--- chapter.sgml	8 Jun 2005 21:10:07 -0000	1.129
+++ chapter.sgml	6 Aug 2005 16:07:36 -0000
@@ -699,13 +699,29 @@
 	chosen.</para>
     </sect2>
 
-    <sect2>
+    <sect2 id="mail-disable-sendmail">
       <title>Disable <application>sendmail</application></title>
 
       <para>The procedure used to start
 	<application>sendmail</application> changed significantly
-	between 4.5-RELEASE and 4.6-RELEASE.  Therefore, the procedure
-	used to disable it is subtly different.</para>
+	between 4.5-RELEASE, 4.6-RELEASE, and later releases.
+	Therefore, the procedure used to disable it is subtly
+	different.</para>
+
+	<warning>
+	  <para>If you disable <application>sendmail</application>'s
+	    outgoing mail service, it is important that you replace it
+	    with a fully working alternative mail delivery system.  If
+	    you choose not to, system functions such as &man.periodic.8;
+	    will be unable to deliver their results by e-mail as they
+	    would normally expect to.  Many parts of your system may
+	    expect to have a functional
+	    <application>sendmail</application>-compatible system.  If
+	    applications continue to use
+	    <application>sendmail</application>'s binaries to try to send
+	    e-mail after you have disabled them, mail could go into an
+	    inactive <application>sendmail</application> queue, and never be delivered.</para>
+	</warning>
 
       <sect3>
 	<title>FreeBSD 4.5-STABLE before 2002/4/4 and Earlier
@@ -727,26 +743,37 @@
 	  (Including 4.6-RELEASE and Later)</title>
 
 	<para>In order to completely disable
-	  <application>sendmail</application> you must use</para>
+	  <application>sendmail</application>, including the outgoing
+	  mail service, you must use</para>
 
 	  <programlisting>sendmail_enable="NONE"</programlisting>
 
 	  <para>in <filename>/etc/rc.conf.</filename></para>
 
-	<warning>
-	  <para>If you disable <application>sendmail</application>'s
-	    outgoing mail service in this way, it is important that you
-	    replace it with a fully working alternative mail delivery
-	    system.  If you choose not to, system functions such as
-	    &man.periodic.8; will be unable to deliver their results by
-	    e-mail as they would normally expect to.  Many parts of your
-	    system may expect to have a functional
-	    <application>sendmail</application>-compatible system.  If
-	    applications continue to use
-	    <application>sendmail</application>'s binaries to try to send
-	    e-mail after you have disabled them, mail could go into an
-	    inactive <application>sendmail</application> queue, and never be delivered.</para>
-	</warning>
+	<para>If you only want to disable
+	  <application>sendmail</application>'s incoming mail service,
+	  you should set</para>
+
+	  <programlisting>sendmail_enable="NO"</programlisting>
+
+	<para>in <filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename>.  More information on
+	  <application>sendmail</application>'s startup options is
+	  available from the &man.rc.sendmail.8; manual page.</para>
+      </sect3>
+
+      <sect3>
+	<title>FreeBSD 5.0-STABLE and Later</title>
+
+	<para>In order to completely disable
+	  <application>sendmail</application>, including the outgoing
+	  mail service, you must use</para>
+
+	  <programlisting>sendmail_submit="NO"</programlisting>
+	  <programlisting>sendmail_submit_enable="NO"</programlisting>
+	  <programlisting>sendmail_outbound_enable="NO"</programlisting>
+	  <programlisting>sendmail_msp_queue_enable="NO"</programlisting>
+
+	  <para>in <filename>/etc/rc.conf.</filename></para>
 
 	<para>If you only want to disable
 	  <application>sendmail</application>'s incoming mail service,
@@ -1497,9 +1524,9 @@
       this the <quote>outgoing mail server</quote> or
       <quote>SMTP server</quote>).</para>
 
-    <para>Make sure you disable <application>sendmail</application> by
-      setting <literal>sendmail_enable="NONE"</literal>
-      in <filename>/etc/rc.conf</filename>.</para>
+    <para>Make sure you disable <application>sendmail</application>,
+      including the outgoing mail service. See
+      <xref linkend="mail-disable-sendmail"> for details.</para>
 
     <para><filename role="package">mail/ssmtp</filename> has some
       other options available.  See the example configuration file in

Comment 3 jcamou freebsd_committer

2005-09-08 11:05:14 UTC

State Changed
From-To: open->closed

I applied a slightly different version of the patch.  
Thanks Sam for the submission.