This page contains some examples of how to set up various email clients and mail servers to send mail through the HCoop SMTP server.

Emacs

This particular section explains only how to send email using HCoop's mail server with Emacs. Browsing email with most Emacs mail packages is not covered here, and should be less difficult. Please read the Sending email section of the MemberManual/Email page before doing what is described here.

To send mail through HCoop using Emacs's smtpmail you can use the following configuration.

(require 'smtpmail)
(setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it
      smtpmail-smtp-server "mail.hcoop.net"
      smtpmail-smtp-service 25
      smtpmail-starttls-credentials '(("mail.hcoop.net" 25 nil nil))
      smtpmail-debug-info t ; optional, but handy in case something goes wrong
      smtpmail-auth-supported '(plain))

Put your authentication information into ~/.authinfo which is in the netrc(5) format (make sure to supply port 25 or else smtpmail won't read the entry), and ensure that it is readable only by your user. An example of a netrc line follows. Replace $YOURNAME with your HCoop login name, $YOURPASSWORD with your password.

machine mail.hcoop.net login $YOURNAME password $YOURPASSWORD port 25

If you are using a vmail account, then use the form "yourname@domain.tld" for $YOURNAME in the above.

This will work for any mail client that uses message-mode for editing and sending mail (e.g. Gnus).

Exim smarthost

This section explains how to set up a local Exim daemon on your computer to use our mail server as a smarthost.

First, run dpkg-reconfigure exim4 and choose to use mail.hcoop.net. In case you missed anything, here is a known working /etc/exim4/update-exim4.conf.conf file. $HOSTNAME is the hostname of your local machine.

dc_eximconfig_configtype='satellite'
dc_other_hostnames='$HOSTNAME'
dc_local_interfaces='127.0.0.1'
dc_readhost='$HOSTNAME'
dc_relay_domains=''
dc_minimaldns='false'
dc_relay_nets=''
dc_smarthost='mail.hcoop.net'
CFILEMODE='644'
dc_use_split_config='true'
dc_hide_mailname='true'
dc_mailname_in_oh='true'
dc_localdelivery='mail_spool'

Then, modify the /etc/exim4/passwd.client file to add a mapping for your HCoop username and password.

mail.hcoop.net:$USERNAME:$PASSWORD

Finally, modify /etc/exim4/conf.d/transport/30_exim4-config_remote_smtp_smarthost as follows. The hosts_require_auth and tls_tempfail_tryclear lines are the most important.

remote_smtp_smarthost:
  debug_print = "T: remote_smtp_smarthost for $local_part@$domain"
  driver = smtp
  # NOTE: Force the connection to be authenticated.
  hosts_require_auth = <; ${if exists{CONFDIR/passwd.client} \
        {\
        ${lookup{$host}nwildlsearch{CONFDIR/passwd.client}{$host_address}}\
        }\
        {} \
      }
.ifdef REMOTE_SMTP_SMARTHOST_HOSTS_AVOID_TLS
  hosts_avoid_tls = REMOTE_SMTP_SMARTHOST_HOSTS_AVOID_TLS
.endif
.ifdef REMOTE_SMTP_HEADERS_REWRITE
  headers_rewrite = REMOTE_SMTP_HEADERS_REWRITE
.endif
.ifdef REMOTE_SMTP_RETURN_PATH
  return_path = REMOTE_SMTP_RETURN_PATH
.endif
  # NOTE: Force the connection to use TLS.
  tls_tempfail_tryclear = false

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