Contents

Procmail: Description

What is Procmail?

Procmail is a powerful UNIX mail processing program that can help you accomplish the following tasks, among others:

• filter your mail (for example, separate mailing list messages from other messages)
• sort your incoming mail according to criteria such as sender or a keyword in the Subject: line
• implement an auto-reply mechanism (for example, send a vacation message to correspondents who send you e-mail while you are away from school or work)

Procmail works with any of the commonly used UNIX mail programs by reading a file you create in your home directory, called .procmailrc. This file includes instructions (recipes) for processing your incoming mail. If a message matches the conditions you specified, procmail intercepts normal delivery according to your specifications. For example, the message may be appended to a file, or forwarded to another recipient, or it may generate an auto-reply. If none of the conditions are matched, procmail delivers the message to your default inbox.

Recipes with different functionality are usually placed in separate files, conventionally called "rc" files, which are called by an INCLUDERC command in the .procmailrc file. This makes it easy to change conditions (turn recipes on or off) as the need arises.

Procmail: Contents

Where to find Procmail

Procmail: Contents

Procmail: Instructions

        ### Begin -- personal commands following this line:
        #   Use NEWPATH instead of PATH in this section:

        if -d /opt/procmail then
            setenv NEWPATH /opt/procmail/bin:$NEWPATH
            setenv MANPATH /opt/procmail/man:$MANPATH
        endif

Follow the directions in the Web document Procmail: Instructions for using procmail at the University of Delaware. These directions have been adapted for local use from the procmail section of the Usenet Filtering Mail FAQ available at Infinite Ink's FAQ Launcher or its mirror site .

Procmail: Contents

Common Problems and Questions

This section contains answers to some of the questions more commonly asked about procmail.

Q: Help!  Something in my procmail files has gone into an infinite loop - I can't stop my test message from being delivered over and over again..
A:  Rename your .procmailrc file to anything that procmail does not recognize, for example:

            % mv .procmailrc bad.procmailrc

Once you have corrected the errors in bad.procmailrc or in the inluded rc files, rename it .procmailrc and test again.

Q: I have set up a .procmailrc file, a .procmail directory, and recipe files as described in the instructions, but mail is going to my inbox instead of where I specified. How can I find out what is wrong?

A: Here are some general strategies you can use:

 

1. Look at your procmail log file (.procmail/log) and see whether you can determine what the problem is.

 
2. Check these files for typographic errors:

      .procmailrc
      .procmail/rc.xxxx

where rc.xxxx represents each rc file that is not working correctly.
 
3. If these steps do not help you clear up the problem, edit the .procmailrc file so that verbose logging is turned on:

       VERBOSE=on

Test procmail again as described in the Web document Procmail: Instructions and look at your log file, which will now contain more detailed information, to see if you can determine the cause of the problem.
 

Once you have solved the problem, set        VERBOSE=off     in your .procmailrc file.

Q: I am using a .forward file to forward my UNIX mail to another account. Can I use procmail to filter my mail before it is forwarded?

A: On the University's central UNIX systems, the .forward file takes precedence over procmail. If you want to filter your mail and forward some or all of it, the simplest solution is to remove your .forward file and write the appropriate procmail recipes.

Other possible solutions are available at the Filtering Mail FAQ Launcher site, under Set Up Your .forward File .

 

Q: I would like to use procmail as my mail filter, and occasionally use the UNIX vacation program to notify correspondents when I am away from the University. Is that possible?

A: The vacation program uses a .forward file which takes precedence over procmail on the University's central UNIX systems. Try the sample vacation program in the Web document Procmail: Instructions or follow instructions for setting up a custom .forward file as explained at the Filtering Mail FAQ Launcher site, under Set Up Your .forward File .

Q: I am using procmail to notify correspondents when I am away from the University and they are receiving repeated messages telling them that I am gone.  Can I do anything to prevent this from happening?
A:  Unlike the UNIX vacation program, the current implementation of procmail at the University of Delaware sends an auto-reply to your correspondents each time they send you mail.  If you use procmail for any other purpose and wish to set up a vacation auto-reply, you must use procmail's vacation recipe.  Otherwise, use the UNIX vacation program.
 

Q: Will procmail interfere with my mail notification program (biff, xbiff, etc.) or vice versa?

A: No, each of these programs functions independently.

 

Q: I would like to turn procmail off temporarily without losing my .procmailrc and recipe files. What should I do?

A: Rename your .procmailrc file so that procmail doesn't recognize it (e.g., was.procmailrc) or move it to a temporary subdirectory.

Other Resources

For more information about procmail, consult the following resources:

• Era Eriksson's Procmail Mini-FAQ (Finland) which includes references to other sources of information about procmail on the World Wide Web
• The procmail man pages on the central UNIX systems, especially man procmailrc and man procmailex 

If you still need help...