Re: [Exim] logwatch trying to deliver to root

On 2003-01-24 at 14:04 +0200, Thomas Kinghorn wrote:
> my logs are trying to be delivered to root.
> Root is on the never_users list.
>
> Any ideas how to change this?

never_users merely means that Exim won't try delivering directly to a
mailbox for a user listed on there. It doesn't mean that the usercode
can't appear as the left-hand-side of an email address. Mail deliveries
normally happen setuid to the recipient, so you probably want to avoid
having certain important system users receive mail directly, unless it's
critical that they do.

You shouldn't be reading email as root anyway. Security holes have been
found in even the simplest of Unix mail-readers (unless you count
"more"?), which can be remotely exploited.

So, just make sure that mail to root is delivered to an account where
you'll read email.

Do you have a system_aliases director, or something else that reads some
aliasfile to redirect left-hand sides to an account that will read
things? If so, just stick:
root: myaccount
in there.

Extra brownie points for reading:
RFC 2142 Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions.
and ensuring that you have aliases for the appropriate addresses.

-Phil