mail log error

[Lee Abell]

I am getting this error message in the mail.log file. I have not upgraded the mail file - nor have I applied any patches to sendmail. Thanks!

Jan 17 16:13:12 nsms2 sendmail[16806]: Warning: .cf file is out of date: sendmail 8.9.3 (PHNE_18546) supports versi
on 8, .cf file is version 6
Jan 17 16:13:12 nsms2 sendmail[16806]: alias database /etc/mail/aliases rebuilt by root
Jan 17 16:13:12 nsms2 sendmail[16806]: /etc/mail/aliases: 11 aliases, longest 27 bytes, 191 bytes total

[Paul Sperry]

copy /usr/newconfig/etc/mail/sendmail.cf /etc/mail.

Then run your newaliases again.

[Christopher Caldwell]

After you copy the new sendmail.cf, don't forget to merge customizations.

[Scott Corzine]

The last two lines are fairly normal. They're from the command 'newalias' (a link to sendmail), which needs to be run after modifying /etc/mail/aliases to rebuild the alias database. Sendmail has the AutoRebuildAliases (D) options that does this automatically.

A version 6 .cf file is significantly older than 8.9.3, which is fairly old itself. Since the .cf file controls everything you usually want it to correspond to the version of sendmail you're running. Just watch out for local customizations.

Also, it will be easier to keep your customizations current if you edit 'sendmail.mc' and use the m4 processor to generate sendmail.cf. Then, when you upgrade sendmail, all you have to do is rerun m4 to get a new sendmail.cf with the newest logic and you customizations. I'm not sure exactly where HP installs the m4 stuff (I hope they do), just use find to locate 'sendmail.mc' (maybe in /etc/mail) and 'cf.m4'(maybe under /usr/share or /usr/lib).

Lastly, if your system can be mailed to from the Internet you should give serious thought to upgrading sendmail, either from a HP patch or by getting the current sendmail.org version. 8.9.3 is old enough that it probably has security bugs, and it is not protected against being used as an Open Mail Relay (a situation which is a real pain once the wrong people figure it out).

-Scott-