Bug#332520: update-exim4.conf manpage more undocumented variables

[Marc Haber]

tags #332520 confirmed pending
thanks

On Thu, Oct 06, 2005 at 02:56:09PM -0700, Ross Boylan wrote:
> dc_mailname_in_oh='true' appears in my update-exim4.conf.conf file,
> but is not documented on the corresponding man page.

.TP
.I dc_mailname_in_oh
Internal use only Boolean option that is set by the maintainer scripts
after adding the contents of /etc/mailname to the dc_other_hostnames
list. This is a transition helper since it wouldn't otherwise be
possible to see whether that domain name has been removed from
dc_other_hostnames on purpose.

> The following DEBCONF variables are also undocumented:
>   DEBCONFheaders_rewriteDEBCONF

.TP
.I DEBCONFheaders_rewriteDEBCONF
If the system is configured to hide the system mail name, this is
replaced with a headers_rewrite directive rewriting sender addresses
from local domains to the visible mail name for use on the transport
that sends outgoing mail to the smarthost.

>   DEBCONFreturn_pathDEBCONF

.TP
.I DEBCONFreturn_pathDEBCONF
If the system is configured to hide the system mail name, this is
replaced with a return_path directive setting the return path domain
name to the visible mail name for use on the transport that sends
outgoing mail to the smarthost.

> These appear in transport/30_exim4-config_remote_smtp_smarthost

and are now documented.

> Probably because of that, I have the following uncertainties:
> 
> What is the relation between dc_hide_mailname and dc_readhost?  Having
> set dc_readhost, why is it necessary to set dc_hide_mailname as well?
> Do they cover different rewrites?

dc_readhost is passed down to the configuration file snippets as
DEBCONFreadhostDEBCONF, but ignored for the generation of
headers_rewrite and return_path unless dc_hide_mailname is set. I
don't know whether there is a combination of dc_readhost being set and
dc_hide_mailname unset that makes sense, but just at the moment it
looks like it's just like the way things are.

> Also, it looks as if dc_readhost sometimes appears to be the name of
> the system, but that /etc/mailname from DEBCONFvisiblenameDEBCONF is
> also trying to do this.  What is their relation?

/etc/mailname is used to qualify the mail addresses of unqualified
recipients, while readhost is the system name visible in outgoing
messages. Andreas might correct me here.

IMO, we desperately need to document our interpretation of
/etc/mailname since this is a recurring cause of confusion, but I
currently fail to see where this should be documented. Maybe, the
man page for update-exim4.conf is the right place to do so.

> I think there are other undocumented DEBCONF variables (sorry, don't
> remember them), and I think this raises the question how much
> "internal" stuff needs to go on a man page, vs. comments in the files
> at the point of use.  I.e., maybe you're trying to do too much on the
> man page. But some more info somewhere would be helpful.

And you're saying that now that I have crammed just even more
information into the man page? *g*

What do the other people reading this suggest doing?

Greetings
Marc

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