documentation: local configuration of cabot (was: Re: cabot-20040212.tar.gz ? ...)

[Joost van Baal]

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On Thu, Feb 12, 2004 at 11:11:48PM +0100, Laurent Fousse wrote:
> Hi,
>=20
> Le Thu, Feb 12, 2004 at 05:05:52PM +0100, Peter Palfrader =C3=A9crivait:
> > On Thu, 12 Feb 2004, Laurent Fousse wrote:
> > > I've read the howto, it gives detailed instructions but it is, err...
> > > complicated. I didn't setup a dedicated cabot user on my system, is
> > > that really needed ?
> >=20
> > No it's not.  The howto shows one possible way.
>=20
> That's good because I don't do it this way. Documentation on how I do
> it is attached. Please Peter and Joost comment on this before I add
> it to the cvs.

Comments added.  (Feel free to ignore them, BTW: they're merely
suggestions.)

BTW: what happens when there's a syntax error in ca-recv?  Or when
ca-recv exits non-zero?  Is the mail queued or bounced?  I'm afraid this
is very MTA specific.  You might want to think about what would be best,
and on how to achieve this.

E.g. the maildrop(1) manpage says:

       If  in  delivery mode the user=E2=80=99s home directory has the stic=
ky
 bit set, maildrop immediately terminates with an exit code of
 EX_TEMPFAIL, with=E2=80=90 out  doing  anything.  Mail servers interpret t=
he
 EX_TEMPFAIL exit code as a request to reschedule the message  for
 another  delivery attempt later.  Setting  the  sticky  bit allows
 $HOME/.mailfilter to be edited while temporarily holding all incoming
 mail.

       The filename may communicate with the parent application by using
 the echo statement and the EXITCODE environment variable.

I don't know how procmail and .forward's generally behave here.

Tnx, Bye,

Joost


> =3Dpod
>=20
> =3Dhead1 A guide to cabot as a local user

Configuring cabot without the need for root access

> This manual explains you to set up cabot as a local user, without the
> need for a system B<cabot> user.

This manual explains you to configure cabot for your user account,
without the need for root access.  No system account B<cabot> is needed.

> =3Dhead1 Requirements
>=20
> You need to set several email addresses in your cabot configuration
> file for cabot to work properly. This manual assumes you receive your
> mail directly to john@example.com and your MTA lets you add arbitrary
> suffixes to your local part, for example "john-whatever@example.com".
> If your MTA is exim you may want to have a look at the
> B<local_part_suffix> and B<local_part_suffix_optional> variables.

Add:

Some MTA's don't use - but + as the separator.  If your MTA behaves in
such a way, read john+extension wherever john-extension is written.

> =3Dhead1 Cabot configuration
>=20
> The first step is to write your personal cabot configuration file in
> ~/.cabotrc. Most variables are self explanatory and here are some
> guidelines for a complete automation of the process:
>=20
> =3Dover 4
>=20
> =3Ditem BCCmail
>=20
> This is an address where you want to get a copy of all email sent by
> cabot. Though not strictly necessary it may be useful when your
> correspondent loses its challenge email. I suggest something of the
> line of B<john-ca-out@example.com>.
>=20
> =3Ditem bot
>=20
> This is the addresse of the bot. It is the address where the challenge
> replies are sent; you could chose something like
> B<john-cabot@example.com>.
>=20
> =3Dback
>=20
> =3Dhead1 Integration with procmail
>=20
> Challenge replies should be fed to ca-recv(1), so the following
> procmail recipe achieves this :
>=20
>  :0
>  * ^To: john-cabot\@example\.com
>  |/usr/bin/ca-recv
> =20
> If you would like to keep a copy of challenge replies, you can try the
> following instead :
>=20
>  :0c
>  * ^To: john-cabot\@example\.com
>  challenges/
>=20
>  :0A
>  |/usr/bin/ca-recv
>=20
> Outgoing challenges may be kept in a separate mailbox as well:
>=20
>  :0
>  * ^To: john-ca-out\@example\.com
>  cabot/
>=20
> =3Dhead1 Integration with .forward files
>=20
> The idea is the same as with procmail rules : put=20
>=20
>  |/usr/bin/ca-recv
>=20
> in a file named ~/.forward-john-cabot. You get the idea.

Should be:

~/.forward-cabot



Bye,

Joost



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