Something overwrote your aliases file, aliases database, or removed the postmaster account or alias you made. The default aliases file includes these two items:
Yes it did and this was in fact the problem.
# Person who should get root's mail. Don't receive mail as root!
#root: you
# Basic system aliases -- these MUST be present
MAILER-DAEMON: postmaster
postmaster: root
Thus, root has no address and postmaster is sent there. poof goes the mail. This is default.
The Hard Way
To change, either uncomment the line for root and send it somewhere, or change the line for postmaster to someone useful.
I changed the line:
postmaster: root
to
postmaster: postmaster
because I have a user named postmaster and I'll explain this later.
Editing the file on the console is quite easy but saving that file back is not. The server essentially says no way. I tend to use Textedit and the workaround I have found is to save the Textedit file to the desktop and then drag it into the directory. The server then asks you to authenticate and all is well.
If you change the file, run the following commands as root so the changes take effect:
postalias /etc/aliases
newalias
postfix reload
This didn't work at all. I probably didn't go about it the correct way, being a bit of a noob. This is the transcript of my Terminal activity.
Last login: Fri Oct 6 08:39:56 on console
Welcome to Darwin!
mydomain:~ admin$ sudo postalias /etc/aliases
Password:
postalias: fatal: open /etc/aliases.db: Permission denied
mydomain:~ admin$ sudo newalias
sudo: newalias: command not found
mydomain:~ admin$ sudo postalias /etc/aliases
postalias: fatal: open /etc/aliases.db: Permission denied
Go into Workgroup Manager and give someone the alias postmaster or postmaster@yourdomain.com. Works instantly.
Downside: Sieve filtering won't catch it. But that only matters if you're using Sieve.
Yes, this does work instantly. However, mail is sent to the users' account on the client. If this user wants to reply as "postmaster" their email header shows their real account name and not their alias as postmaster.
Having a real account named postmaster allows a response from postmaster@ourdomain.com rather than from somebody@ourdomain.com. People tend to see messages from the postmaster as rather more compelling than a message received from "Bob".
The rub here is that I fixed the problem and I thank you for the help.
…this is what happened.
Something overwrote your aliases file, aliases database, or removed the postmaster account or alias you made. The default aliases file includes these two items:
Yes it did and this was in fact the problem.
# Person who should get root's mail. Don't receive mail as root!
#root: you
# Basic system aliases -- these MUST be present
MAILER-DAEMON: postmaster
postmaster: root
Thus, root has no address and postmaster is sent there. poof goes the mail. This is default.
The Hard Way
To change, either uncomment the line for root and send it somewhere, or change the line for postmaster to someone useful.
I changed the line:
postmaster: root
to
postmaster: postmaster
because I have a user named postmaster and I'll explain this later.
Editing the file on the console is quite easy but saving that file back is not. The server essentially says no way. I tend to use Textedit and the workaround I have found is to save the Textedit file to the desktop and then drag it into the directory. The server then asks you to authenticate and all is well.
If you change the file, run the following commands as root so the changes take effect:
postalias /etc/aliases
newalias
postfix reload
This didn't work at all. I probably didn't go about it the correct way, being a bit of a noob. This is the transcript of my Terminal activity.
Last login: Fri Oct 6 08:39:56 on console
Welcome to Darwin!
mydomain:~ admin$ sudo postalias /etc/aliases
Password:
postalias: fatal: open /etc/aliases.db: Permission denied
mydomain:~ admin$ sudo newalias
sudo: newalias: command not found
mydomain:~ admin$ sudo postalias /etc/aliases
postalias: fatal: open /etc/aliases.db: Permission denied
WTF! So…
mydomain:~ admin$ sudo newaliases
mydomain:~ admin$
Ahhhh…it worked and everything is set right.
The Mac Way
Go into Workgroup Manager and give someone the alias postmaster or postmaster@yourdomain.com. Works instantly.
Downside: Sieve filtering won't catch it. But that only matters if you're using Sieve.
Yes, this does work instantly. However, mail is sent to the users' account on the client. If this user wants to reply as "postmaster" their email header shows their real account name and not their alias as postmaster.
Having a real account named postmaster allows a response from postmaster@ourdomain.com rather than from somebody@ourdomain.com. People tend to see messages from the postmaster as rather more compelling than a message received from "Bob".
The rub here is that I fixed the problem and I thank you for the help.