1 The qmail package includes a local delivery agent, qmail-local, which

     2 provides user-controlled mailing lists, cross-host alias loop detection,

     3 and many other important qmail features.

     4 

     5 There's one important difference between qmail-local and binmail:

     6 qmail-local delivers mail by default into ~user/Mailbox, rather than

     7 /var/spool/mail/user. It uses mbox format, with lockf locking on systems

     8 that don't have flock (HP/UX, Solaris), and flock locking otherwise.

     9 

    10 This file explains how to switch your system to ~user/Mailbox. You

    11 aren't required to do this; for further discussion of /var/spool/mail,

    12 and an explanation of how to continue using binmail for local

    13 deliveries, see INSTALL.vsm.

    14 

    15 The basic procedure for switching to ~user/Mailbox is simple:

    16 

    17    * Move each /var/spool/mail/user to ~user/Mailbox. For safety, do

    18      this in single-user mode.

    19 

    20    * As root, set up a symbolic link from /var/spool/mail/user to

    21      ~user/Mailbox for each user. /var/spool/mail should be mode 1777,

    22      so users will not be able to accidentally remove these links.

    23 

    24 A few mail programs are unable to handle symbolic links, so you will

    25 have to configure them to look at ~user/Mailbox directly:

    26 

    27    * procmail: Change SYSTEM_MBOX in config.h and recompile; or, with

    28      recent versions, define MAILSPOOLHOME in src/authenticate.c.

    29 

    30 An alternative to symbolic links is hlfsd. Consult the documentation for

    31 hlfsd if it is included in your operating system.

    32 

    33 If /var/spool/mail is large, you can gain extra speed by configuring

    34 all your mail software to look at ~user/Mailbox directly:

    35 

    36    * Most MUAs: Put ``setenv MAIL $HOME/Mailbox'' in your system-wide

    37      .cshrc and ``MAIL=$HOME/Mailbox; export MAIL'' in your system-wide

    38      .profile.

    39 

    40    * elm: Change "mailbox" to "Mailbox" around line 388 of newmbox.c and

    41      recompile. (elm looks at $MAIL, but without this change elm will

    42      fail if two users try to read mail simultaneously.)

    43 

    44    * pine: Put ``inbox-path=Mailbox'' in your system-wide pine.conf.

    45      (For pine versions more recent than 3.91, see also FAQ 6.2.)

    46 

    47    * qpopper 2.2: Change /.mail to /Mailbox in pop_dropcopy.c and

    48      recompile with -DHOMEDIRMAIL in CFLAGS.

    49 

    50 Some vendors, in a misguided attempt to solve the security problems of

    51 /var/spool/mail, have made all their mail software setgid mail. After

    52 you move the mailboxes, you can---and, for security, should---remove

    53 those setgid-mail bits.