Bug#314327: exim4-config: passwd.client requires cannonical hostname

[Andrew Pimlott]

Package: exim4-config
Version: 4.50-8
Severity: wishlist

I just upgraded from exim to exim4 in the process of upgrading from
Woody to Sarge.  My ISP requires authentication, and in exim (3), I
uncommented and modified the login: directive.  In exim4, I found
passwd.client and tried to use that instead.  Unfortunatly, when I
used my ISP's smarthost (smtp.sbcglobal.yahoo.com, as it is entered in
Debconf) as the host part, it didn't work.  I discovered the reason is
that smtp.sbcglobal.yahoo.com is an alias for
smtp-sbc-v1.mail.vip.sc5.yahoo.com, and when I put that in
passwd.client, it works.  Since I don't trust that to remain stable, I
put * in passwd.client, which also works.  However, obviously this is
not a solution for everyone.

If it would be feasible to allow using the non-cannonical hostname in
passwd.client, I think it would save users some grief.  If this is too
difficult, at least it could be documented in README.SMTP-AUTH, and
perhaps also in the passwd.client comments.  Something like:

    Note: The hostname of the mail server must be the cannonical
    hostname.  The hostname your ISP gives you (eg, mail.isp.com) may be
    an alias for the cannonical hostname, which you can find by running
    "host mail.isp.com".  However, if you always connect to the same
    smarthost, you might choose to enter the wildcard "*" to sidestep
    the issue.

Andrew

-- Package-specific info:
Exim version 4.50 #1 built 27-May-2005 08:08:19
Copyright (c) University of Cambridge 2004
Berkeley DB: Sleepycat Software: Berkeley DB 4.2.52: (December  3, 2003)
Support for: iconv() IPv6 GnuTLS
Lookups: lsearch wildlsearch nwildlsearch iplsearch cdb dbm dbmnz dsearch nis nis0 passwd
Authenticators: cram_md5 plaintext
Routers: accept dnslookup ipliteral manualroute queryprogram redirect
Transports: appendfile/maildir/mailstore autoreply lmtp pipe smtp
Fixed never_users: 0
Configuration file is /var/lib/exim4/config.autogenerated
# /etc/exim4/update-exim4.conf.conf
#
# Edit this file and /etc/mailname by hand and execute update-exim4.conf
# yourself or use 'dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config'
#
# Please note that this is _not_ a dpkg-conffile and that automatic changes
# to this file might happen. The code handling this will honor your local
# changes, so this is usually fine, but will break local schemes that mess
# around with multiple versions of the file.
#
# update-exim4.conf uses this file to determine variable values to replace
# the DEBCONFsomethingDEBCONF strings in the configuration template files.
#
# Most settings found in here do have corresponding questions in the
# Debconf configuration, but not all of them.
#
# This is a Debian specific file

dc_eximconfig_configtype='smarthost'
dc_other_hostnames='*.pimlott.net:rassiga.com:pimlott.net'
dc_local_interfaces=''
dc_readhost=''
dc_relay_domains=''
dc_minimaldns='false'
dc_relay_nets=''
dc_smarthost='smtp.sbcglobal.yahoo.com'
CFILEMODE='644'
dc_use_split_config='false'
dc_hide_mailname='false'
dc_mailname_in_oh='true'
mailname:pimlott.net

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 3.1
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (600, 'unstable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)
Shell:  /bin/sh linked to /bin/bash
Kernel: Linux 2.6.9-1-686-smp
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)

Versions of packages exim4-config depends on:
ii  adduser                 3.63             Add and remove users and groups
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]   1.4.51           Debian configuration management sy
ii  passwd                  1:4.0.3-31sarge5 change and administer password and

-- debconf information:
  exim4/dc_noalias_regenerate: false
* exim4/dc_smarthost: smtp.sbcglobal.yahoo.com
  exim4/dc_relay_domains:
* exim4/dc_relay_nets:
* exim4/mailname: pimlott.net
* exim4/dc_local_interfaces:
* exim4/dc_minimaldns: false
  exim4/exim3_upgrade: true
* exim4/dc_other_hostnames: *.pimlott.net:rassiga.com:pimlott.net
* exim4/dc_eximconfig_configtype: mail sent by smarthost; received via SMTP or fetchmail
  exim4/no_config: true
* exim4/hide_mailname: false
  exim4/dc_postmaster:
  exim4/dc_readhost:
* exim4/use_split_config: false
  exim4/internal/exim4-config.reconfigure: false
  exim4/exim4-config-title: