postfix aliases file (in light of setup, sendmail, and exim)

[Tom Diehl]

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004, Matthew Miller wrote:

> Since January or so, /etc/aliases has belonged to the 'setup' package
> instead of to sendmail, and it's nicely shared between sendmail and exim.
> This seems good.

OK, I guess.

> Theoretically, the postfix file format is the same, too. However, the
> contents of the current Fedora version are quite different. Perhaps most
> importantly, it maps root's mail to user 'postfix', to keep it from
> completely getting dropped on the floor (postfix doesn't like to deliver
> mail to root directly, for security). But the postfix file also seems to be
> missing a whole host of "standard" aliases that are defined in the
> /etc/aliases version.

Whose standard?

Postfic CANNOT deliver mail to root. As is stated in the installation
instructions you should point it to a real person. As far as what is in it
that is totally up to you. Personally I make 1 change and 1 change only to
that file. That change is to point the root mail to a real person. Any other
aliases I need are put in a local.aliases file. Simply add that entry to
your main.cf and all will be well. By default /etc/aliases does not exist
with postfix. Unless you configure it otherwise it will look for 
/etc/postfix/aliases.

> Should the postfix aliases file be merged with the main one (and removed
> from the postfix package)? I'm inclined to think so.

Why would you do that? Just because someone that packaged sendmail thinks
they are useful does not mean everyone needs them. Add the ones you need and
forget about the rest.

> Perhaps the issue of "what to do with root's mail" could be solved with an
> :include: for the MTA-specific entries? 

What is the issue? Send it to a real person of your choice. Postfix has never
had the ability to run suid root. As a result it has never been able to
deliver mail to root. It appears to me you have worked with sendmail for way
too long. :-)

Regards,

Tom