Here's a reply to my own post, but I did find the answer. Now, I wish to be able to advertise it...
The permissions for /var/spool/postfix/maildrop should be drwx-wx--T (1734), not drwxr-xr-x, which is how RH set it in 7.3. (I wonder whether that was fixed in 8.0). On Tue, 2002-10-15 at 09:43, Alan H. Lake wrote: > I changed "mydestination" in /etc/postfix/main.cf to mail.addr.com. I > thought it interesting that an Anaconda message normally sent to the > local mailbox has now been sent to mail.addr.com, which is just fine. > That provided a good test. > > However, I now have the old problem back again: > > Oct 15 09:24:50 ontario postfix/postdrop[3158]: warning: > mail_queue_enter: create file maildrop/998978.3158: Permission denied > > Permissions now in effect are > drwxr-xr-x 17 root root 4096 Oct 15 08:43 postfix > and > drwxr-xr-T 2 postfix postdrop 4096 Oct 15 09:19 maildrop > > On Mon, 2002-10-14 at 17:07, Samuel Merritt wrote: > > On Mon, Oct 14, 2002 at 11:43:37AM -0700, Alan H. Lake wrote: > > > I'm using RH 7.3. My file directory structure and permissions are the > > > same as Samuel's, except that I don't have the "T" option set. Before I > > > set it, though, I'd like to confirm that this is the "sticky bit". In > > > my book, Linux in a Nutshell, the sticky bit is represented by a "t". > > > > This is the sticky bit. 'T' means that the sticky bit is set, but that > > the world-executable bit is not set. 't' means that both the sticky bit > > and the world-executable bit are set. (from the ls info page) > > > > > Also, my var/spool/postfix directory is owned by root/root. Its > > > permissions are drwxr_xr_x. I wonder whether the owner is OK. > > > > That's the same as on my system. > > > > I'm not sure about Redhat, but under Debian, postfix is configured so > > its various parts run as different users and groups, with the goal being > > to minimize the privileges necessary for different tasks. > > > > On my machine, postfix has several processes currently running: > > master: user=root, group=root > > qmgr: user=postfix, group=postfix > > pickup: user=postfix, group=postfix > > > > Looking at the postdrop executable, I have > > -r-xr-sr-x 1 root postdrop 7564 Jul 14 13:22 /usr/sbin/postdrop > > meaning anyone can run it, and the postdrop command runs as group > > postdrop no matter who runs it. > > > > What's the ownership of /var/spool/postfix/maildrop? If it's root/root, > > then a postdrop process running as randomuser/postdrop can't write to > > it, and that'll produce the error you've been seeing. > > > > > I made some other changes and the nature of the problem has changed. > > > > > > I'm now sending mail, but not as I want to. For testing purposes, I > > > want to send the email to myself. When I sent mail to > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED], I got a "user unknown" error. When I sent > > > mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED], the attempt was technically successful. > > > However, my intent was to send via the internet to my web host and > > > receive the mail with my Evolution client. Instead, I was only able to > > > get the email by opening a terminal window and typing "mail" at the > > > command line while logged in as user "alan". > > > > > > In /etc/postfix/main.cf, I've got a good relayhost... > > > > If "mydestination" contains lakeinfoworks.com, then postfix will > > (attempt to) perform local delivery of the message. Unless you have a > > user "alan.lake", this will fail. > > > > > On Mon, 2002-10-14 at 00:19, Samuel Merritt wrote: > > > > On Sat, Oct 12, 2002 at 05:17:56PM -0700, Alan H. Lake wrote: > > > > > I'm trying to send mail from PHP and am getting the message (in > > > > > /var/log/maillog) > > > > > > > > > > Oct 12 17:15:35 ontario postfix/postdrop[3588]: warning: > > > > > mail_queue_enter: create file maildrop/262682.3588: Permission denied > > > > > > > > > > Do you have any idea what to do about that? > > > > > > > > It sounds to me like the permissions or the ownership on > > > > /var/spool/postfix/maildrop (or wherever it is on your distribution) are > > > > wrong. > > > > > > > > On my mail server (Debian 3.0), we have: > > > > > > > > drwx-wx--T 2 postfix postdrop 35 Oct 13 06:47 >/var/spool/postfix/maildrop > > > > > > > > The directory has to be writable by group postdrop, since the postdrop > > > > process runs as gid postdrop (or the user chosen at compile time). > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Samuel Merritt > > > > OpenPGP key is at http://meat.andcheese.org/~spam/spam_at_andcheese_dot_org.asc > > > > Information about PGP can be found at http://www.mindspring.com/~aegreene/pgp/ > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > vox-tech mailing list > > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech > > > > -- > > Samuel Merritt > > OpenPGP key is at http://meat.andcheese.org/~spam/spam_at_andcheese_dot_org.asc > > Information about PGP can be found at http://www.mindspring.com/~aegreene/pgp/ > > > _______________________________________________ > vox-tech mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech > _______________________________________________ vox-tech mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.lugod.org/mailman/listinfo/vox-tech
