Debian – Postfix: /usr/sbin/sendmail: No such file or directory – why

debianpostfix

I am trying to get postfix working, and when I test it using mail user I enter the subject, message, ect and get the following error:

mail: /usr/sbin/sendmail: No such file or directory
Can't send mail: sendmail process failed

Why is it talking about sendmail? I deleted that a long time ago and am using postfix. Is it still hanging around somewhere and the mail command thinks it should be using sendmail?

Best Answer

The postfix package on Debian actually includes an /usr/sbin/sendmail executable that functions as a compatibility interface (see man sendmail when postfix is installed).

Check ls -l /usr/sbin/sendmail* in case it was renamed or reinstall the postfix package so you get the wrapper in place.

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How to configure sendmail (or postfix) to send confirmation emails using webmin

You can go to Servers > Sendmail Mail Server. (If you don't see it, click Refresh Modules toward the bottom.)

In most cases you shouldn't need much configuration. PHP's mail() function should work once sendmail is installed and running.

If it still doesn't work, could you:

describe how your application sends mail (and/or post the code)
describe what you see on Webmin's sendmail page esp. errors if there are any
send a message to yourself from the command line using the mail command and describe the result

Centos – Dovecot creates folder, Postfix expects file

The answer is extremely simple. The path in /etc/postfix/vmail_mailbox is missing a trailing slash. When there is no trailing slash, postfix will treat it as a file and thereby assume the mailbox is in Mailbox (and not Maildir) format.

By appending the trailing slash, postfix will correctly consider the directory to be of maildir format and treat it accordingly.

Example:

user@domain.tld   domain.tld/user/
user2@domain.tld   domain.tld/user2/

Best Answer

Related Solutions

How to configure sendmail (or postfix) to send confirmation emails using webmin

Centos – Dovecot creates folder, Postfix expects file

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