From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Sep 25 06:37:29 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8363F1065699 for ; Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:37:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (agora.rdrop.com [199.26.172.34]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 290D28FC08 for ; Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:37:29 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: from agora.rdrop.com (66@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.12.7) with ESMTP id m8P6bR60067380 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NOT); Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:37:27 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from perryh@pluto.rain.com) Received: (from uucp@localhost) by agora.rdrop.com (8.13.1/8.12.9/Submit) with UUCP id m8P6bQWj067379; Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:37:26 -0700 (PDT) Received: from fbsd61 by pluto.rain.com (4.1/SMI-4.1-pluto-M2060407) id AA25109; Wed, 24 Sep 08 23:01:35 PDT Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:03:01 -0700 From: perryh@pluto.rain.com To: roberthuff@rcn.com Message-Id: <48db2995.BviIO9/dPuPT8Lza%perryh@pluto.rain.com> References: <119697.2728.qm@web30808.mail.mud.yahoo.com> <2A271C1D-8157-41B3-A2B1-EF57ECFD81FE@mac.com> <48d9ca8c.RZOeanRudui/84j4%perryh@pluto.rain.com> <18650.20577.490303.567389@jerusalem.litteratus.org> In-Reply-To: <18650.20577.490303.567389@jerusalem.litteratus.org> User-Agent: nail 11.25 7/29/05 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: My unqualified host name X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:37:29 -0000 > > > > "nyana sm-mta[803]: My unqualified host name (nyana) unknown; > > > > sleeping for retry" > > > > > > ... sendmail expects your machine to have working DNS and for > > > the machine to have a valid FQDN. Either set that up, or add > > > sendmail_enable="NONE" to /etc/rc.conf to disable sendmail ... > > > > There is another approach, which is to ignore the message. After > > something like 3 repetitions, at something like a minute apart, > > it will give up on qualifying its name. Everything seems to work > > just fine thereafter until the next boot, when the entire > > sequence repeats. > > Respectfully, my gut reaction is this is, if not /bad/ practice, > at least not /good/ practice. The requirements for geting sendmail > to behave (at least in this regard) are not particularly onerous; If sendmail *will not work properly* without a valid FQDN, that alone is onerous. See below. > why not just diagnose and fix the root problem? because I have no clue how to do it, without adopting settings that I don't want! Dunno about the OP, but my FreeBSD machines do not have nor need valid FQDNs because they sit behind a NAT firewall (and therefore do not have externally-identifiable IP addresses). I want hostname to simply return the unqualified host name (say, foo), not foo.com nor foo.uucp nor even foo.bogus. I don't need sendmail to handle anything but purely local traffic, such as the periodic reports to root, and it's just fine for it to identify itself simply as foo. We were able to do things like this back in the days of SunOS 4, so why should it be difficult to accomplish today? Indeed, why should it not be the default mode of operation when hostname returns an unqualified name?