MAILX on AIX vs Solaris

[k***@gmail.com]

Warning: first off, this is my first post, and I am a complete newbie
to Unix and all the various flavors but learning fast. Besides that - I
am working in a project where we use a mailx script that uses variables
to e-mail to distribution lists. We are just now moving over to AIX.
On the Solaris, there is a "-t sendmail flag" that one can use when
assembling an e-mail through cat and variables, which causes sendmail
to scan the message body for such things as addresses and the subject
and acts accordingly when there is a To: field... see here
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=691105

Now that we have moved over to AIX, this script no longer runs, and we
get the error message that of course, the -t flag is invalid. I have
read through the MAN MAIL and can see no similar type of flag. Has
anyone run into something like this before? I am a little lost. Help!

thx
ks

[Frank Fegert]

Post by k***@gmail.com
Warning: first off, this is my first post, and I am a complete newbie
to Unix and all the various flavors but learning fast. Besides that - I
am working in a project where we use a mailx script that uses variables
to e-mail to distribution lists. We are just now moving over to AIX.
On the Solaris, there is a "-t sendmail flag" that one can use when
assembling an e-mail through cat and variables, which causes sendmail
to scan the message body for such things as addresses and the subject
and acts accordingly when there is a To: field... see here
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=691105
Now that we have moved over to AIX, this script no longer runs, and we
get the error message that of course, the -t flag is invalid. I have
read through the MAN MAIL and can see no similar type of flag. Has
anyone run into something like this before? I am a little lost. Help!

...

First of all: what AIX Version? Secondly: sure there is!
Just make sure to use the full path /usr/lib/sendmail
(wouldn't hurt for Solaris either). Take a look at this:
http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/pseries/topic/com.ibm.aix.doc/cmds/aixcmds5/sendmail.htm

Regards,

Frank

[base60]

Post by k***@gmail.com
Warning: first off, this is my first post, and I am a complete newbie
to Unix and all the various flavors but learning fast. Besides that - I
am working in a project where we use a mailx script that uses variables
to e-mail to distribution lists. We are just now moving over to AIX.
On the Solaris, there is a "-t sendmail flag" that one can use when
assembling an e-mail through cat and variables, which causes sendmail
to scan the message body for such things as addresses and the subject
and acts accordingly when there is a To: field... see here
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=691105
Now that we have moved over to AIX, this script no longer runs, and we
get the error message that of course, the -t flag is invalid.

...

Lots of binaries are different AIX vs. Solaris... this is a minor one :)

The AIX mail(x) doesn't have a "-t" option.

Try doing a "man sendmail"... if you don't want to go that way, it
should be pretty easy to make very short script do the same.

[k***@gmail.com]

thx!

Lat night I stayed up and tried to understand sendmail and how it works
- I did use the sendmail command but then got an error message, "cannot
chdir(/var/spool/mqueue): Permission denied" which I am going to send
over to the Unix admins to figure out, I think it may be a trusted
group issue from what I have read - I am not sure I understand how
mailx works opposed to sendmail. Is mailx a program that uses sendmail
and is there a way to configure mailx so that I can use the -t flag or
better yet, is there a website I can go to help me understand this
whole sendmail vs mailx vs mail besides the MAN, which is not very
clear?

Or we will probably just do the sendmail suggestion you so *very*
helpfully gave!

thx in advance!

ks

Post by base60

Post by k***@gmail.com
Warning: first off, this is my first post, and I am a complete newbie
to Unix and all the various flavors but learning fast. Besides that - I
am working in a project where we use a mailx script that uses variables
to e-mail to distribution lists. We are just now moving over to AIX.
On the Solaris, there is a "-t sendmail flag" that one can use when
assembling an e-mail through cat and variables, which causes sendmail
to scan the message body for such things as addresses and the subject
and acts accordingly when there is a To: field... see here
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=691105
Now that we have moved over to AIX, this script no longer runs, and we
get the error message that of course, the -t flag is invalid.

Lots of binaries are different AIX vs. Solaris... this is a minor one :)
The AIX mail(x) doesn't have a "-t" option.
Try doing a "man sendmail"... if you don't want to go that way, it
should be pretty easy to make very short script do the same.

...

[base60]

Post by k***@gmail.com
thx!
Lat night I stayed up and tried to understand sendmail and how it works

Ah, well, that might take more than one night :)

Post by k***@gmail.com
- I did use the sendmail command but then got an error message, "cannot

That's sendmail's outbound queue directory and whatever you're
doing is trying to write to it and being denied.

The sendmail binary should be SUID/SGID and it has permission
to write to /var/spool/mqueue.

Permission denied" which I am going to send

Post by k***@gmail.com
over to the Unix admins to figure out, I think it may be a trusted
group issue from what I have read - I am not sure I understand how
mailx works opposed to sendmail.

mailx is used to read/write email and sendmail is normally used to
transport mail from one system to an other.

Post by k***@gmail.com
Is mailx a program that uses sendmail
and is there a way to configure mailx so that I can use the -t flag or
better yet, is there a website I can go to help me understand this
whole sendmail vs mailx vs mail besides the MAN, which is not very
clear?

Normally on AIX, mailx is just a link to mail.

Sendmail is a separate program which is somethimes replaced with
a more current version from http://www.sendmail.org

I think your best bet would be to write a short script to mimic
the "-t" option from solaris.

Post by k***@gmail.com
Or we will probably just do the sendmail suggestion you so *very*
helpfully gave!
thx in advance!
ks

Post by base60

Post by k***@gmail.com
Warning: first off, this is my first post, and I am a complete newbie
to Unix and all the various flavors but learning fast. Besides that - I
am working in a project where we use a mailx script that uses variables
to e-mail to distribution lists. We are just now moving over to AIX.
On the Solaris, there is a "-t sendmail flag" that one can use when
assembling an e-mail through cat and variables, which causes sendmail
to scan the message body for such things as addresses and the subject
and acts accordingly when there is a To: field... see here
http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/questionanswer.do?threadId=691105
Now that we have moved over to AIX, this script no longer runs, and we
get the error message that of course, the -t flag is invalid.

Lots of binaries are different AIX vs. Solaris... this is a minor one :)
The AIX mail(x) doesn't have a "-t" option.
Try doing a "man sendmail"... if you don't want to go that way, it
should be pretty easy to make very short script do the same.

...