{
    "mode": "man",
    "parameter": "mh-tailor",
    "section": "5",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mh-tailor/5/json",
    "generated": "2026-09-18T23:03:33Z",
    "sections": {
        "NAME": {
            "content": "mh-tailor, mts.conf - mail transport configuration for nmh message handler\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DESCRIPTION": {
            "content": "The file /etc/nmh/mts.conf defines run-time options for those nmh programs which interact (in\nsome  form)  with  the  message transport system.  At present, these (user) programs are: ap,\ninc, msgchk, post, rcvdist, and rcvpack.\n\nEach option should be given on a single line.  Blank lines and lines which begin with `#' are\nignored.  The options available along with default values and a description of their meanings\nare listed below:\n\nmts:\nThe mail transport method to use.  The three acceptable options are smtp (which  is  the\ndefault), sendmail/smtp, and sendmail/pipe.\n\nIf  you  use  smtp, this will enable a direct SMTP interface in nmh.  When sending mail,\ninstead of passing the message to the mail transport agent, post will open a socket con‐\nnection to the mail port on the machine specified in the servers entry.\n\nIf you use sendmail/smtp, then post will send messages by forking a local copy of  send‐\nmail.  It will still speak SMTP with this local copy of sendmail.  For backward compati‐\nbility, sendmail/smtp can be abbreviated to sendmail.\n\nThe  third alternative, sendmail/pipe, also forks a local copy of sendmail but feeds the\nmessage directly to it, using sendmail -t.  This replaces the  old,  undocumented  spost\nmechanism  and  retains  some of its limitations, such as lack of support for the “Dcc:”\nheader field, as described in the send and post manual pages.\n\nlocalname:\nThe hostname nmh considers local.  It should typically be a  fully  qualified  hostname.\nIf  this is not set, depending on the version of Unix you're running, nmh will query the\nsystem for this value (e.g. uname, gethostname, etc.), and attempt to fully qualify this\nvalue.\n\nIf you are using POP to retrieve new messages, you may want to set  this  value  to  the\nname  of  the POP server, so that outgoing messages appear to have originated on the POP\nserver.\n\nlocaldomain:\nIf this is set, a `.' followed by this string will be appended to your hostname.\n\nThis should only be needed, if for some reason nmh is not  able  to  fully  qualify  the\nhostname returned by the system (e.g. uname, gethostname, etc.).\n\nclientname:\nThis  option specifies the host name that nmh will give in the SMTP HELO (and EHLO) com‐\nmand, when posting mail.  If not set, the default is to use the host name that nmh  con‐\nsiders  local  (see localname above).  If this option is set, but empty, no HELO command\nwill be given.\n\nAlthough the HELO command is required by RFC 821, many SMTP servers do not  require  it.\nEarly  versions  of  SendMail will fail if the hostname given in the HELO command is the\nlocal host.  Later versions of SendMail will complain if you omit the HELO command.   If\nyou run SendMail, find out what your system expects and set this field if needed.\n\nsystemname:\nThis  option is only used for UUCP mail.  It specifies the name of the local host in the\nUUCP “domain”.  If not set, depending on the version of Unix you're  running,  nmh  will\nquery the system for this value.  This has no equivalent in the nmh configuration file.\n\nmmdfldir: /var/mail\nThe  directory  where mail drops are kept.  If this option is set, but empty, the user's\nhome directory is used.  This overrides the default value chosen at the time of compila‐\ntion.\n\nmmdflfil:\nThe name of the mail drop file in the directory where mail drops are kept.  If  this  is\nempty,  the  user's  login  name  is  used.   This overrides the default value (which is\nempty).\n\nspoollocking: fcntl\nThe locking algorithm to use when opening the mail drop.  Can be any one of the  follow‐\ning:\n\nfcntl dot flock lockf\n\nmaildelivery: /usr/lib/mh/maildelivery\nThe name of the system-wide default maildelivery file.  See slocal(1) for the details.\n",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "SMTP support",
                    "content": "This option is only available if you set mts to smtp.\n\nservers: localhost\nA  single  hostname  to be used when performing mail submission via SMTP.  Previous ver‐\nsions of nmh supported multiple hostnames for servers, but the current  version  of  nmh\nonly  supports  a  single  entry (the name is kept for backwards compatibility reasons).\nThis can be overridden via the -server switch to send(1).  It is not possible to  change\nthe  mail  submission  port number in the servers entry; see the -port switch to send(1)\nfor this functionality.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "SendMail",
                    "content": "This option is only available if you set mts to sendmail/smtp or sendmail/pipe.\n\nsendmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail\nThe pathname to the sendmail program.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "Post Office Protocol",
                    "content": "pophost:\nThe name of the default POP service host.  If this is not set, then  nmh  looks  in  the\nstandard  mail drop areas for waiting mail, otherwise the named POP service host is con‐\nsulted.\n"
                },
                {
                    "name": "File Locking",
                    "content": "A few words on locking: nmh has two main uses for locking: locking the mail spool during mail\nincorporation, and locking metadata files  (sequence  files,  the  context)  during  updates.\nThese locking methods can be configured separately from each other.\n\nFor  locking  the mail spool, the spoollocking entry in mh-tailor(5) will control the locking\nalgorithm to use when inc incorporates mail from the spool file.  If no entry is given, a de‐\nfault based on the operating system type will be chosen.\n\nFor locking all other files, the datalocking entry in mh-profile(5) controls the locking  al‐\ngorithm  used for all other file access.  If no entry is given, the fcntl lock method will be\nchosen.\n\nIf you do not wish to use kernel-based locking, dot  locking  is  an  option  available.   If\n“--enable-lockdir=directory”  is  not  specified at build time, lock files will be created in\nthe directory where the file being locked resides.  Otherwise, lock files will be created  in\nthe directory specified by “--enable-lockdir”.\n\nPrior  to installing nmh, you should see how locking is done at your site, and set the appro‐\npriate values.\n"
                }
            ]
        },
        "FILES": {
            "content": "/etc/nmh/mts.conf   nmh mts configuration file\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "PROFILE COMPONENTS": {
            "content": "None\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "SEE ALSO": {
            "content": "mh-mts(8), post(8) send(8)\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "DEFAULTS": {
            "content": "As listed above.  The path of the mail transport configuration file can be changed  with  the\nMHMTSCONF environment variable and augmented with the MHMTSUSERCONF environment variable, see\nmh-profile(5).\n",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "BUGS": {
            "content": "Failure  to  open any mail transport configuration file is silently ignored.  Therefore, it's\nbest to avoid dynamic creation of such a file with the intent of use  via  the  MHMTSCONF  or\nMHMTSUSERCONF  environment  variables.  If such use is necessary, the ability to successfully\nopen the file should first be verified.\n\nnmh-1.8                                      2017-02-19                               MH-TAILOR(5mh)",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "summary": "mh-tailor, mts.conf - mail transport configuration for nmh message handler",
    "flags": [],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": [
        {
            "name": "mh-mts",
            "section": "8",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mh-mts/8/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "post",
            "section": "8",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/post/8/json"
        },
        {
            "name": "send",
            "section": "8",
            "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/send/8/json"
        }
    ]
}