[ale] odd email issue

[Lightner, Jeff]

In my earlier email I suggested checking environment differences and
specifically mentioned PATH.  In subsequent emails I've mentioned the
environment each time and so far I don't see that the suggested
comparison of environments for the root and normal user or cron and CLI
has been done.
  
-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of JD
Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 1:46 PM
To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] odd email issue

I don't know how much help I can be, but ...

'date|mail user at domain'

is trusting the $PATH. This is never a good idea in scripts.

/bin/date |/usr/bin/mail user\@domain

would be better and limit the environment a little more.
Also, in bash, you may need to escape the '@' with a \@.
On servers, /bin/sh for root may point to /bin/dash, not bash, leading
to other, unexpected behaviors.

Probably nothing you don't already know and understand. If I were
troubleshooting this, I'd put everything into a script file, turn up
messages and look for the differences between each uid.  Cron definitely
doesn't bring the expected environment with it. It never has.


On 06/15/2011 12:24 PM, Geoffrey Myers wrote:
> Lightner, Jeff wrote:
>> Since you have the issue running it as root from CLI then it makes
sense
>> it has same issue from root cron.   Try running it in your user cron
>> instead.  (i.e. as your normal user run "crontab -e" and add the job
>> there.)
>>
>> If that works then it may still have to do with environment
differences
>> between root and your normal user.   If you're becoming root by doing
>> "su -" try doing "su" without the dash instead - that way your root
>> session inherits the original user's environment instead of invoking
>> root's environment.  If the command then works from CLI as root then
you
>> know it is an environmental difference.
> 
> How is it possible that root could be using a different outgoing mail 
> server?  Sendmail is configured for localhost only.  This is the part 
> that is confusing to me.
> 
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
>> Geoffrey Myers
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 9:51 AM
>> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
>> Subject: Re: [ale] odd email issue
>>
>> Lightner, Jeff wrote:
>>> Is the cron job you're running the user's cron or root's cron?
>>
>> root cron.
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
>>> Geoffrey Myers
>>> Sent: Wednesday, June 15, 2011 9:20 AM
>>> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
>>> Subject: Re: [ale] odd email issue
>>>
>>> Geoffrey Myers wrote:
>>>> David Tomaschik wrote:
>>>>> On Wed, Jun 15, 2011 at 8:52 AM, Geoffrey Myers
>>>>> <lists at serioustechnology.com> wrote:
>>>>>> Robert Coggins wrote:
>>>>>>> On 6/15/2011 8:11 AM, Geoffrey Myers wrote:
>>>>>>>> So, I've got sendmail configured so it uses localhost for
sending
>>> email.
>>>>>>>>    As a normal user I can send email like this:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> date|mail email at domain
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Yet, I've recently configured /etc/aliases to send root email
to
>>> my
>>>>>>>> personal email address:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> root:           email at domain
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> But I get delayed email messages from 1and1, my domain host for
>>> these
>>>>>>>> emails because my machine name (centsovm.serioustechnology.com)
>> is
>>> not
>>>>>>>> valid.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So, how is this possible?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Maybe it has something to do with not being able to contact that
>>>>>>> server.  I cannot resolve that address.
>>>>>> The issue is, when I send it from the command line, it is
>> apparently
>>>>>> using my localhost.  When the cron job runs and redirects email
via
>>>>>> /etc/aliases, it appears to be using the mail server for my
hosting
>>> company.
>>>>>> Why the inconsistency?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Really, how is this even possible?
>>>>> Do you have sendmail configured to use a relayhost?  Would you
mind
>>>>> putting headers from the two different emails on a pastebin
>> somewhere
>>>>> for comparison?
>>>> No relayhost.  I'll see if I can get some useful header info.  What

>>>> baffles me is it appears that this one machine uses localhost from
>> the
>>>> command line and my hosting company mail server for cron output.
>>>>
>>>> How is that even possible?
>>> Here's more to this oddity.  I run this on the command line as my
>> normal
>>> user:
>>>
>>> date|mail user at domain
>>>
>>> where I'm sending email to my email address.  Comes through fine.
>>>
>>> If I do the same thing as root, the email does not come through.
>>>
>>> ????
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