fedora-list-admin@redhat.com wrote:
sendmail.cf is very critical, a space instead of a tabstop in it at the wrong place and things go mad. That is one of the big advantages using sendmail.mc and m4, either it fails and gives you error messages or it will create a valid .cf file. So I doubt it was a wrong sign inside sendmail.mc (space or wrong ticks `'), but I am sure it was your sendmail.cf file copied with error(s) in it.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. I use sendmail.mc and m4, and it creates a sendmail.cf file without any error. However, I am unable to start sendmail with this .cf file. The m4 process seems to add 22 additional blank lines in the middle of the cf file (all at the same place, from lines 68 to 90). Manually deleting those lines permits sendmail to start correctly.
So yes, sendmail.cf and its contents are absolutely critical, but m4 can complete without error and yet still produce an invalid sendmail.cf file.
-Don