cannot find postfix/mailx email in maildir, why not?
By default mailx will search read mbox file /var/spool/mail/$username
. You can view it with below command (credit to beginlinux.com website)
$ set | grep -i mail
MAIL=/var/spool/mail/myuser
MAILCHECK=60
When you change parameter home_mailbox
in postfix, you need to adjust the mailx configuration so it will search mail in new location. With home_mailbox = Maildir/
, postfix will store the email in Maildir directory relative with user home directory.
Snippet from postfix man postconf
home_mailbox (default: empty)
Optional pathname of a mailbox file relative to a local(8) user's home directory.
Specify a pathname ending in "/" for qmail-style delivery.
So your email will stored in $HOME/Maildir/
, with $HOME is your home directory. For root, his home directory is /root/
; for other user, his home directory typically in /home/otheruser/
. See muru explanation in unix.SE: Root /home Directory vs ~ (tilde).
In your case, you need to edit ~/.mailrc
and add these two lines
set MAIL=/root/Maildir
set folder=mail
References -> Fedora Forum: ~/.mailrc changes
Related videos on Youtube
CodeMed
Updated on September 18, 2022Comments
-
CodeMed almost 2 years
In a
CentOS 7
development machine, I have configured postfix to allow emails to be traded betweenlocalhost
addresses.Mailx
is also installed. I am able to send email, and the log files indicate that the mail has been delivered. However, I am not able to find the emails to view in the terminal. What am I doing wrong? How can I view these newly sent emails in the terminal?I am able to send email by typing
mailx root@localhost
in the terminal and then following the prompts to add subject and body, thenCtrl-D
to get the command prompt. Also, when I typemail
ormailx
when logged in as root, the terminal responds with a list of a few old emails that were stored beforepostfix
was changed to store emails in/Maildir
, but there are no new emails to be found. I can view those old emails when I type innano /var/spool/mail/root
, but of course the new emails are not stored in/var/spool/mail/root
.There is no
/var/log/mail
. However,nano /var/log/maillog
contains:Jan 5 12:09:40 localhost postfix/postfix-script[6162]: starting the Postfix mail system Jan 5 12:09:40 localhost postfix/master[6164]: daemon started -- version 2.10.1, configuration /etc/postfix Jan 5 12:46:00 localhost postfix/postfix-script[3036]: starting the Postfix mail system Jan 5 12:46:00 localhost postfix/master[3047]: daemon started -- version 2.10.1, configuration /etc/postfix Jan 5 13:12:02 localhost postfix/smtpd[4642]: connect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1] Jan 5 13:12:02 localhost postfix/smtpd[4642]: DB1249A618: client=localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1] Jan 5 13:12:02 localhost postfix/cleanup[4645]: DB1249A618: message-id=<1738078707.0.1420492322780.JavaMail.username@localhost.localdomain> Jan 5 13:12:02 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: DB1249A618: from=<[email protected]>, size=632, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jan 5 13:12:02 localhost postfix/smtpd[4642]: disconnect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1] Jan 5 13:12:02 localhost postfix/local[4646]: DB1249A618: to=<[email protected]>, orig_to=<root@localhost>, relay=local, delay=0.11, delays=0.06/0.02/0/0.03, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered to maildir) Jan 5 13:12:02 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: DB1249A618: removed Jan 5 14:29:20 localhost postfix/pickup[5207]: 7F4439A616: uid=1000 from=<username> Jan 5 14:29:20 localhost postfix/cleanup[5266]: 7F4439A616: message-id=<[email protected]> Jan 5 14:29:20 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: 7F4439A616: from=<[email protected]>, size=334, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jan 5 14:29:20 localhost postfix/local[5271]: 7F4439A616: to=<[email protected]>, orig_to=<root@localhost>, relay=local, delay=0.13, delays=0.1/0.01/0/0.02, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered to maildir) Jan 5 14:29:20 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: 7F4439A616: removed Jan 5 14:57:10 localhost postfix/pickup[5207]: A21B49A618: uid=0 from=<root> Jan 5 14:57:10 localhost postfix/cleanup[5529]: A21B49A618: message-id=<[email protected]> Jan 5 14:57:10 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: A21B49A618: from=<[email protected]>, size=534, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jan 5 14:57:10 localhost postfix/local[5531]: A21B49A618: to=<[email protected]>, orig_to=<root>, relay=local, delay=0.38, delays=0.34/0.01/0/0.03, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered to maildir) Jan 5 14:57:10 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: A21B49A618: removed Jan 5 15:47:38 localhost postfix/pickup[5207]: F312D9A618: uid=0 from=<root> Jan 5 15:47:39 localhost postfix/cleanup[5975]: F312D9A618: message-id=<[email protected]> Jan 5 15:47:39 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: F312D9A618: from=<[email protected]>, size=458, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jan 5 15:47:39 localhost postfix/local[5977]: F312D9A618: to=<[email protected]>, orig_to=<username@localhost>, relay=local, delay=0.12, delays=0.09/0.01/0/0.03, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered to maildir) Jan 5 15:47:39 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: F312D9A618: removed Jan 5 15:48:20 localhost postfix/pickup[5207]: A826C9A618: uid=1000 from=<username> Jan 5 15:48:20 localhost postfix/cleanup[5975]: A826C9A618: message-id=<[email protected]> Jan 5 15:48:20 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: A826C9A618: from=<[email protected]>, size=461, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jan 5 15:48:20 localhost postfix/local[5977]: A826C9A618: to=<[email protected]>, orig_to=<username@localhost>, relay=local, delay=0.11, delays=0.08/0/0/0.03, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered to maildir) Jan 5 15:48:20 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: A826C9A618: removed Jan 5 15:48:29 localhost postfix/pickup[5207]: 54AA19A618: uid=1000 from=<username> Jan 5 15:48:29 localhost postfix/cleanup[5975]: 54AA19A618: message-id=<[email protected]> Jan 5 15:48:29 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: 54AA19A618: from=<[email protected]>, size=461, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jan 5 15:48:29 localhost postfix/local[5977]: 54AA19A618: to=<[email protected]>, orig_to=<root@localhost>, relay=local, delay=0.11, delays=0.09/0/0/0.02, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered to maildir) Jan 5 15:48:29 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: 54AA19A618: removed Jan 5 15:52:03 localhost postfix/pickup[5207]: C756E9A618: uid=0 from=<root> Jan 5 15:52:03 localhost postfix/cleanup[6074]: C756E9A618: message-id=<[email protected]> Jan 5 15:52:03 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: C756E9A618: from=<[email protected]>, size=491, nrcpt=1 (queue active) Jan 5 15:52:03 localhost postfix/local[6076]: C756E9A618: to=<[email protected]>, orig_to=<root@localhost>, relay=local, delay=0.13, delays=0.09/0.01/0/0.03, dsn=2.0.0, status=sent (delivered to maildir) Jan 5 15:52:03 localhost postfix/qmgr[3058]: C756E9A618: removed Jan 5 16:02:36 localhost postfix/smtpd[6213]: connect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1] Jan 5 16:04:26 localhost postfix/smtpd[6213]: disconnect from localhost.localdomain[127.0.0.1]
The logs say
delivered to maildir
. Am I using the wrong syntax to accessmaildir
contents?Also,
main.cf
is as follows (note it needs to allow localhost accounts to email each other):queue_directory = /var/spool/postfix command_directory = /usr/sbin daemon_directory = /usr/libexec/postfix data_directory = /var/lib/postfix mail_owner = postfix myorigin = localhost inet_interfaces = localhost inet_protocols = all unknown_local_recipient_reject_code = 550 mynetworks = 127.0.0.0/8 [::ffff:127.0.0.0]/104 [::1]/128 relayhost = alias_maps = hash:/etc/aliases alias_database = hash:/etc/aliases home_mailbox = Maildir/ mailbox_command = debug_peer_level = 2 debugger_command = PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/X11R6/bin ddd $daemon_directory/$process_name $process_id & sleep 5 sendmail_path = /usr/sbin/sendmail.postfix newaliases_path = /usr/bin/newaliases.postfix mailq_path = /usr/bin/mailq.postfix setgid_group = postdrop html_directory = no manpage_directory = /usr/share/man sample_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix-2.10.1/samples readme_directory = /usr/share/doc/postfix-2.10.1/README_FILES
What am I doing wrong?
EDIT:
As per
masegaloeh
's advice, I typednano ~/.mailrc
and added the following before saving:set MAIL=/home/root/Maildir set folder=mail
Next, I typed
mailx
, but the terminal responded withNo mail for root
. So I created a new email with the following:[root@localhost ~]# mailx No mail for root [root@localhost ~]# mailx root@localhost Subject: another 905pm test. gonna try again now. EOT [root@localhost ~]# mailx No mail for root
As you can see, there is no way to read the email I just sent. What am I doing wrong?
-
masegaloeh over 9 yearsSee edited answer (again). Comment wasn't proper place to hold this piece of information.
-
CodeMed over 9 yearsYour answer works for the one
root
user, but not for other users. I posted another question about configuring this for multiple users. Are you willing to help me with this? Here is the link: serverfault.com/questions/656726/…