Postfix and UUCP
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Using UUCP over TCP
Despite a serious lack of sex-appeal, email via UUCP over TCP is a practical
option for sites without permanent Internet connections, and for sites without
a fixed IP address. For first-hand information, see the following guides:
* Jim Seymour's guide for using UUCP over TCP at http://jimsun.LinxNet.com/
jdp/uucp_over_tcp/index.html,
* Craig Sanders's guide for SSL-encrypted UUCP over TCP using stunnel at
http://taz.net.au/postfix/uucp/.
Here's a graphical description of what this document is about:
LAN to Internet
Local network <---> UUCP <--- UUCP ---> to UUCP <---> Internet
Gateway Gateway
And here's the table of contents of this document:
* Setting up a Postfix Internet to UUCP gateway
* Setting up a Postfix LAN to UUCP gateway
Setting up a Postfix Internet to UUCP gateway
Here is how to set up a machine that sits on the Internet and that forwards
mail to a LAN that is connected via UUCP. See the LAN to UUCP gateway section
for the other side of the story.
* You need an rmail program that extracts the sender address from mail that
arrives via UUCP, and that feeds the mail into the Postfix sendmail
command. Most UNIX systems come with an rmail utility. If you're in a
pinch, try the one bundled with the Postfix source code in the auxiliary/
rmail directory.
* Define a pipe(8) based mail delivery transport for delivery via UUCP:
/etc/postfix/master.cf:
uucp unix - n n - - pipe
flags=F user=uucp argv=uux -r -n -z -a$sender - $nexthop!rmail
($recipient)
This runs the uux command to place outgoing mail into the UUCP queue after
replacing $nexthop by the next-hop hostname (the receiving UUCP host) and
after replacing $recipient by the recipients. The pipe(8) delivery agent
executes the uux command without assistance from the shell, so there are no
problems with shell meta characters in command-line parameters.
* Specify that mail for example.com, should be delivered via UUCP, to a host
named uucp-host:
/etc/postfix/transport:
example.com uucp:uucp-host
.example.com uucp:uucp-host
See the transport(5) manual page for more details.
* Execute the command "postmap /etc/postfix/transport" whenever you change
the transport file.
* Enable transport table lookups:
/etc/postfix/main.cf:
transport_maps = hash:/etc/postfix/transport
Specify dbm instead of hash if your system uses dbm files instead of db
files. To find out what map types Postfix supports, use the command
"postconf -m".
* Add example.com to the list of domains that your site is willing to relay
mail for.
/etc/postfix/main.cf:
relay_domains = example.com ...other relay domains...
See the relay_domains configuration parameter description for details.
* Execute the command "postfix reload" to make the changes effective.
Setting up a Postfix LAN to UUCP gateway
Here is how to relay mail from a LAN via UUCP to the Internet. See the Internet
to UUCP gateway section for the other side of the story.
* You need an rmail program that extracts the sender address from mail that
arrives via UUCP, and that feeds the mail into the Postfix sendmail
command. Most UNIX systems come with an rmail utility. If you're in a
pinch, try the one bundled with the Postfix source code in the auxiliary/
rmail directory.
* Specify that all remote mail must be sent via the uucp mail transport to
your UUCP gateway host, say, uucp-gateway:
/etc/postfix/main.cf:
relayhost = uucp-gateway
default_transport = uucp
Postfix 2.0 and later also allows the following more succinct form:
/etc/postfix/main.cf:
default_transport = uucp:uucp-gateway
* Define a pipe(8) based message delivery transport for mail delivery via
UUCP:
/etc/postfix/master.cf:
uucp unix - n n - - pipe
flags=F user=uucp argv=uux -r -n -z -a$sender - $nexthop!rmail
($recipient)
This runs the uux command to place outgoing mail into the UUCP queue. It
substitutes the next-hop hostname (uucp-gateway, or whatever you specified)
and the recipients before executing the command. The uux command is
executed without assistance from the shell, so there are no problems with
shell meta characters.
* Execute the command "postfix reload" to make the changes effective.
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