how does mailx work

how does mailx work

[Carlo Florendo]

Hello,

I've searched the net for mailing lists regarding mailx but there seems 
to be none.   Then why ask about it in cygwin-talk?  Well, since it is 
off-topic on the cygwin list and I might as well try my luck here, where 
all of you are intelligent.

Here's the question:  How does mailx know which MX to use?  I've got a 
linux box with the hostname test.mybox.org.  Now, whenever I invoke 
"mail <user>@mybox.org", it delivers the mail to <user>'s mailbox in the 
local machine.  How come it thinks that mybox.com is the local machine?  
The local machine is test.mybox.org but *not* mybox.org.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Best Regards,

Carlo

-- 
Carlo Florendo
Astra Philippines Inc.
www.astra.ph

RE: how does mailx work

[Dave Korn]

----Original Message----
>From: Carlo Florendo
>Sent: 28 April 2005 06:45

> Hello,
> 
> I've searched the net for mailing lists regarding mailx but there seems
> to be none.   Then why ask about it in cygwin-talk?  Well, since it is
> off-topic on the cygwin list and I might as well try my luck here, where
> all of you are intelligent.
> 
> Here's the question:  How does mailx know which MX to use?  I've got a
> linux box with the hostname test.mybox.org.  Now, whenever I invoke
> "mail <user>@mybox.org", it delivers the mail to <user>'s mailbox in the
> local machine.  How come it thinks that mybox.com is the local machine?
> The local machine is test.mybox.org but *not* mybox.org.
> 
> Any ideas?
>

  MX records tend to be per-domain rather than per-host anyway.  Your local
dns server will presumably be returning a suitable record.  Show us the
output from 


dig @localhost mybox.org in mx


    cheers,
      DaveK
-- 
Can't think of a witty .sigline today....

Re: how does mailx work

[Christopher Faylor]

On Thu, Apr 28, 2005 at 01:45:29PM +0800, Carlo Florendo wrote:
>I've searched the net for mailing lists regarding mailx but there seems 
>to be none.   Then why ask about it in cygwin-talk?  Well, since it is 
>off-topic on the cygwin list and I might as well try my luck here, where 
>all of you are intelligent.
>
>Here's the question:  How does mailx know which MX to use?  I've got a 
>linux box with the hostname test.mybox.org.  Now, whenever I invoke 
>"mail <user>@mybox.org", it delivers the mail to <user>'s mailbox in the 
>local machine.  How come it thinks that mybox.com is the local machine?  
>The local machine is test.mybox.org but *not* mybox.org.
>
>Any ideas?

Why do you think that mailx is making any assumptions about MX?  It is
most likely trying to run some sendmail equivalent to send email, which
may or may not work too well on cygwin.  Of course the source code would
tell you for sure.

cgf

Re: how does mailx work

[Carlo Florendo]

Dave Korn wrote:

>----Original Message----
>
>
>>Hello,
>>
>>I've searched the net for mailing lists regarding mailx but there seems
>>to be none.   Then why ask about it in cygwin-talk?  Well, since it is
>>off-topic on the cygwin list and I might as well try my luck here, where
>>all of you are intelligent.
>>
>>Here's the question:  How does mailx know which MX to use?  I've got a
>>linux box with the hostname test.mybox.org.  Now, whenever I invoke
>>"mail <user>@mybox.org", it delivers the mail to <user>'s mailbox in the
>>local machine.  How come it thinks that mybox.com is the local machine?
>>The local machine is test.mybox.org but *not* mybox.org.
>>
>>Any ideas?
>>
>>    
>>
>
>  MX records tend to be per-domain rather than per-host anyway.  Your local
>dns server will presumably be returning a suitable record.  Show us the
>output from 
>
>
>dig @localhost mybox.org in mx
>
>
>    cheers,
>      DaveK
>  
>

Btw, my boxes that end with [m y b o x] <dot> [o r g] are machines that 
are not connected to the net.  I set up the domains for testing.   After 
some googling, I realized that here is a real m y b o x.o r g domain.  
So, to prevent search engines from web-spidering this posting and 
relating it to  the real m y bo x <dot> org,  I type the name with 
spaces.  I and the institution I work for are not in anyway related to 
the owners nor managers of that domain.  All the setup was plain 
coincidence.

I must probably change my test domain names now since I might be 
infringing copyrights or trademarks. 

Here's the result of dig.  I did a vim search and relpace on the output 
so please read M Y B O X as what it should be, w/out the spaces.

dig @192.168.10.10 m y b o X <dot> org in mx
; <<>> DiG 9.3.0 <<>> @192.168.10.10 M Y B O X.org in mx
;; global options:  printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 51995
;; flags: qr aa rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 1, ADDITIONAL: 3

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;M Y B O X.org.         IN  MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
M Y B O X.org.      259200  IN  MX  10 mail.M Y B O X.org.
M Y B O X.org.      259200  IN  MX  20 mail2.M Y B O X.org.

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
M Y B O X.org.      259200  IN  NS  ns1.M Y B O X.org.

;; ADDITIONAL SECTION:
mail.M Y B O X.org. 259200  IN  A   192.168.10.6
mail2.M Y B O X.org.    259200  IN  A    192.168.10.7
ns1.M Y B O X.org.  259200  IN  A   192.168.10.10

;; Query time: 1 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.10.10#53(192.168.10.10)
;; WHEN: Fri Apr 29 10:20:20 2005
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 138

HTH.

btw, [m y b o x] <dot> [o r g] is a local machine which is not connected 
to the net.  I set up the domains for testing.   After some googling, I 
realized that here is a real  m y b o x.or g domain.  However, I and the 
institution I work for are not in anyway related to the owners nor 
managers of that domain.  All the setup was plain coincidence.

I must probably change my domain names now since I might be infringing 
copyrights or trademarks. 

Thanks!

Gee, you cygwin gurus are my favorite, really :)

Best Regards,

Carlo                


-- 
Carlo Florendo
Astra Philippines Inc.
www.astra.ph

Re: how does mailx work

[Carlo Florendo]

Christopher Faylor wrote:

>On Thu, Apr 28, 2005 at 01:45:29PM +0800, Carlo Florendo wrote:
>  
>
>>I've searched the net for mailing lists regarding mailx but there seems 
>>to be none.   Then why ask about it in cygwin-talk?  Well, since it is 
>>off-topic on the cygwin list and I might as well try my luck here, where 
>>all of you are intelligent.
>>
>>Here's the question:  How does mailx know which MX to use?  I've got a 
>>linux box with the hostname test.mybox.org.  Now, whenever I invoke 
>>"mail <user>@mybox.org", it delivers the mail to <user>'s mailbox in the 
>>local machine.  How come it thinks that mybox.com is the local machine?  
>>The local machine is test.mybox.org but *not* mybox.org.
>>
>>Any ideas?
>>    
>>
>
>Why do you think that mailx is making any assumptions about MX?  It is
>most likely trying to run some sendmail equivalent to send email, which
>may or may not work too well on cygwin.  Of course the source code would
>tell you for sure.
>
>cgf
>
>  
>
Oh, honourable Christopher G. Faylor, you really are just the man!!!!!! 
:)  "Never make assumptions, check the code,"  I always tell myself.  I 
checked the code and bingo, yes, it was invoking sendmail--the sendmail 
included with postfix.   So, that solves the problem.    Postfix, in the 
last analysis, gives the answer to the MX problem.

What makes you guys so great at guessing?    You know what, honestly, I 
've learned to debug open source tools because of my exposure to cygwin 
mailing lists.   I started out tinkering with the less than 100k cygapps 
source codes so it would be easier to read  them.  I'm thinking that one 
day, I'd contribute one small package to cygwin or maintain some small 
package, or whatever.

In any case, you cygwin guys are the funniest, the coolest, and the 
best.  The best, the best, the best!  :)

Cywin-talk, the best! :)

Best Regards,

Carlo

-- 
Carlo Florendo
Astra Philippines Inc.
www.astra.ph

Re: how does mailx work

[Christopher Faylor]

On Fri, Apr 29, 2005 at 09:52:33AM +0800, Carlo Florendo wrote:
>What makes you guys so great at guessing?

It wasn't really a guess.  I was sure that mailx worked that way but I've
learned that it is best to not speak authoritatively about this kind of
thing unless I've carefully checked source code myself.

>I'm thinking that one day, I'd contribute one small package to cygwin
>or maintain some small package, or whatever.

Please jump in!  We need maintainers.  Are you interested in maintaining
doxygen?  We just had a maintainer meltdown in cygwin-apps and are looking
for a new maintainer.

cgf

Re: how does mailx work

[Carlo Florendo]

Christopher Faylor wrote:

>On Fri, Apr 29, 2005 at 09:52:33AM +0800, Carlo Florendo wrote:
>  
>
>>What makes you guys so great at guessing?
>>    
>>
>
>It wasn't really a guess.  I was sure that mailx worked that way but I've
>learned that it is best to not speak authoritatively about this kind of
>thing unless I've carefully checked source code myself.
>
>  
>
>>I'm thinking that one day, I'd contribute one small package to cygwin
>>or maintain some small package, or whatever.
>>    
>>
>
>Please jump in!  We need maintainers.  Are you interested in maintaining
>doxygen?  We just had a maintainer meltdown in cygwin-apps and are looking
>for a new maintainer.
>
>
>  
>

Whew!  What a privilege you have to offer.  :) Let me first read what it 
takes to be a maintainer and what doxygen does.  I hope to be able to help.

Thanks!

Best Regards,

Carlo

-- 
Carlo Florendo
Astra Philippines Inc.
www.astra.ph