Re: I don't know if this is an old question - is there a FAQ for this project?

[Telford Tendys <telford@eng.uts.edu.au>]

> As far as I can tell all the text mode email clients I have seen (I was
> using Mutt for a while) use external means to send email, such as
> Sendmail.  Now for a home machine such as mine this really sucks since
> many servers will reject mail now if it doesn't come from a valid
> domain.  Not many low-income home users have a domain name.

The ``official'' way to do it is to point your box a central mailer
that is maintained by your ISP. This mailer queues messages your you
while you are offline and acts as a first-step relay point for your
mail transmission when you are online. Your sendmail should be configured
to push ALL messages through your ISP mailer and to masquerade the headers
as the same domain as the ISP mailer too. A sendmail from a dialup should
NEVER try to connect directly to the mail destination (other than local
delivery which for some reason has been omitted from the standard
``nullclient'' sendmail config). If you want an example of a suitable
sendmail config file then I can send you one.

The advantages of this are:
[1] you get the domain of your ISP so from all external views your ISP
is actually sending the mail.
[2] The ISP can control who routes through his/her mailer by checking
for valid IP numbers.
[3] You have a single, consistent mail address without confusing
sub-domains or different outgoing vs incoming domains.

Basically, if you are on a dialup, and your ISP doesn't provide a
mail relaying service then find another ISP.

The other problem is that there is some variety as to what protocols
ISPs will offer on their mailing relay. Some use strange things such as
IMAP. Most use SMTP for outgoing and POP for incoming (with respect to
your box). Some still use UUCP.

	- Tel