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<sect1 id="mail-setup">
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<title>Setting Up Your System To Use E-Mail</title>
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<para>
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Today, email is an important part of many people's life. As there are
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many options as to how to set it up, and as having it set up correctly is
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important for some Debian utilities, we will try to cover the basics in
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this section.
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</para><para>
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There are three main functions that make up an e-mail system. First there is
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the <firstterm>Mail User Agent</firstterm> (MUA) which is the program a user
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actually uses to compose and read mails. Then there is the <firstterm>Mail
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Transfer Agent</firstterm> (MTA) that takes care of transferring messages
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from one computer to another. And last there is the <firstterm>Mail
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Delivery Agent</firstterm> (MDA) that takes care of delivering incoming mail
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to the user's inbox.
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</para><para>
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These three functions can be performed by separate programs, but they can
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also be combined in one or two programs. It is also possible to have
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different programs handle these functions for different types of mail.
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</para><para>
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On Linux and Unix systems <command>mutt</command> is historically a very
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popular MUA. Like most traditional Linux programs it is text based. It is
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often used in combination with <command>exim</command> or
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<command>sendmail</command> as MTA and <command>procmail</command> as MDA.
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</para><para>
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With the increasing popularity of graphical desktop systems, the use of
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graphical e-mail programs like GNOME's <command>evolution</command>,
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KDE's <command>kmail</command> or Mozilla's <command>thunderbird</command>
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(in Debian available as <command>icedove</command><footnote>
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<para>
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The reason that <command>thunderbird</command> has been renamed to
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<command>icedove</command> in Debian has to do with licensing issues.
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Details are outside the scope of this manual.
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</para>
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</footnote>) is becoming more popular. These programs combine the function
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of a MUA, MTA and MDA, but can — and often are — also be used
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in combination with the traditional Linux tools.
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</para>
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<sect2 id="mail-default">
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<title>Default E-Mail Configuration</title>
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<para>
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Even if you are planning to use a graphical mail program, it is important
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that a traditional MTA/MDA is also installed and correctly set up on your
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&debian; system. Reason is that various utilities running on the
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system<footnote>
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<para>
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Examples are: <command>cron</command>, <command>quota</command>,
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<command>logcheck</command>, <command>aide</command>, …
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</para>
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</footnote> can send important notices by e-mail to inform the system
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administrator of (potential) problems or changes.
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</para><para>
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For this reason the packages <classname>exim4</classname> and
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<classname>mutt</classname> will be installed by default (provided you
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did not unselect the <quote>standard</quote> task during the installation).
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<classname>exim4</classname> is a combination MTA/MDA that is relatively
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small but very flexible. By default it will be configured to only handle
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e-mail local to the system itself and e-mails addressed to the system
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administrator (root account) will be delivered to the regular user account
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created during the installation<footnote>
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<para>
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The forwarding of mail for root to the regular user account is configured
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in <filename>/etc/aliases</filename>. If no regular user account was created,
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the mail will of course be delivered to the root account itself.
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</para>
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</footnote>.
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</para><para>
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When system e-mails are delivered they are added to a file in
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<filename>/var/mail/<replaceable>account_name</replaceable></filename>.
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The e-mails can be read using <command>mutt</command>.
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</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2 id="mail-outgoing">
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<title>Sending E-Mails Outside The System</title>
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<para>
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As mentioned earlier, the installed Debian system is only set up to handle
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e-mail local to the system, not for sending mail to others nor for
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receiving mail from others.
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</para><para>
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If you would like <classname>exim4</classname> to handle external e-mail,
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please refer to the next subsection for the basic available configuration
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options. Make sure to test that mail can be sent and received correctly.
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</para><para>
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If you intend to use a graphical mail program and use a mail server of
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your Internet Service Provider (ISP) or your company, there is not really
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any need to configure <classname>exim4</classname> for handling external
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e-mail. Just configure your favorite graphical mail program to use the
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correct servers to send and receive e-mail (how is outside the scope of
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this manual).
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</para><para>
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However, in that case you may need to configure individual utilities to
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correctly send e-mails. One such utility is <command>reportbug</command>,
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a program that facilitates submitting bug reports against Debian packages.
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By default it expects to be able to use <classname>exim4</classname> to
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submit bug reports.
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</para><para>
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To correctly set up <command>reportbug</command> to use an external mail
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server, please run the command <command>reportbug --configure</command>
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and answer <quote>no</quote> to the question if an MTA is available. You
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will then be asked for the SMTP server to be used for submitting bug reports.
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</para>
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</sect2>
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<sect2 id="config-mta">
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<title>Configuring the Exim4 Mail Transport Agent</title>
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<para>
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If you would like your system to also handle external e-mail, you will
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need to reconfigure the <classname>exim4</classname> package<footnote>
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<para>
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You can of course also remove <classname>exim4</classname> and replace
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it with an alternative MTA/MDA.
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</para>
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</footnote>:
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<informalexample><screen>
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# dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config
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</screen></informalexample>
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</para><para>
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After entering that command (as root), you will be asked if you want split
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the configuration into small files. If you are unsure, select the default
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option.
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</para><para>
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Next you will be presented with several common mail scenarios. Choose the
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one that most closely resembles your needs.
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</para>
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<variablelist>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>internet site</term>
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<listitem><para>
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Your system is connected to a network and your mail is sent and
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received directly using SMTP. On the following screens you will be
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asked a few basic questions, like your machine's mail name, or a list of
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domains for which you accept or relay mail.
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>mail sent by smarthost</term>
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<listitem><para>
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In this scenario your outgoing mail is forwarded to another machine,
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called a <quote>smarthost</quote>, which takes care of sending the message
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on to its destination.
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The smarthost also usually stores incoming mail addressed to your
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computer, so you don't need to be permanently online. That also means
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you have to download your mail from the smarthost via programs like
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fetchmail.
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</para><para>
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In a lot of cases the smarthost will be your ISP's mail server, which
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makes this option very suitable for dial-up users. It can also be a
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company mail server, or even another system on your own network.
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>mail sent by smarthost; no local mail</term>
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<listitem><para>
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This option is basically the same as the previous one except that the
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system will not be set up to handle mail for a local e-mail domain. Mail
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on the system itself (e.g. for the system administrator) will still be
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handled.
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>local delivery only</term>
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<listitem><para>
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This is the option your system is configured for by default.
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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<varlistentry>
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<term>no configuration at this time</term>
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<listitem><para>
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Choose this if you are absolutely convinced you know what you are
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doing. This will leave you with an unconfigured mail system —
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until you configure it, you won't be able to send or receive any mail
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and you may miss some important messages from your system utilities.
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</para></listitem>
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</varlistentry>
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</variablelist>
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<para>
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If none of these scenarios suits your needs, or if you need a finer
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grained setup, you will need to edit configuration files under the
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<filename>/etc/exim4</filename> directory after the installation is
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complete. More information about <classname>exim4</classname> may be
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found under <filename>/usr/share/doc/exim4</filename>; the file
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<filename>README.Debian.gz</filename> has further details about
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configuring <classname>exim4</classname> and explains where to find
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additional documentation.
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</para><para>
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Note that sending mail directly to the Internet when you don't have an
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official domain name, can result in your mail being rejected because of
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anti-spam measures on receiving servers. Using your ISP's mail server is
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preferred. If you still do want to send out mail directly, you may want to
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use a different e-mail address than is generated by default. If you use
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<classname>exim4</classname> as your MTA, this is possible by adding an
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entry in <filename>/etc/email-addresses</filename>.
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</para>
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</sect2>
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</sect1>
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