Sena-da-mail and the autopunt option (

[David Collier-Brown]

In SunOS 4.1 and  later, sendmail looks to see what machine
/usr/spool/mail is mounted from, and if it is not the local machine, sends
the mail to that machine even if it is for ``local'' delivery.  This, once
known, can be a real timsaver.

Alas, its done in a somewhat eccentric manner: the $m variable is used to
generate a banner for smtp, but nothing else I can find in the sendmail.cf
file has any effect whatsoever...

Yes, the mail arrives with a proper ``Received from machine.some.domain'',
line but it does has only the userid in the From: line (eg, From:
<davecb>).  This can render the mail unreplyable unless the reciever (!)
munges the address to list the sending machine.

Can someone with either source or insight comment on this feature?  It
appears to fall short even in the common case, much less the general one!
I like autopunt, but I'd like to be able to know where I'm punting from.
And yes, I do mean the /usr/spool/mail server!

David Collier-Brown,  | davecb at Nexus.YorkU.CA | lethe!dave
72 Abitibi Ave.,      | 
Willowdale, Ontario,  | Even cannibals don't usually eat their
CANADA. 416-223-8968  | friends.