Hostname setting and Exchange server problems

Aug 31, '02 05:38:56AM

Contributed by: caffeine1

After installing Jaguar, I found that the new Mail.app wasn't sending my mail; it was having a hard time finding my ISP's SMTP server. The problem, and a solution, were provided graciously by Mr. Rich Stultz, who got the following fix from Apple directly. The problem is in the /etc/hostconfig file. There is one line, just one line, that needs to be changed. It currently may look like:

HOSTNAME=-AUTOMATIC-
and should look like:
HOSTNAME=-localhost-
Edit this file as root (creating ahem! a backup copy before doing so) and make the change. Don't know how? Read the rest of the article for Mr. Stultz's brief instructions.

The following fix uses the pico text editor; if you have another favorite Unix text editor, like vi or emacs, alter the steps accordingly:

[Editor's note: This is the same fix presented by 'sunsworth' in the comments to this hint regarding issues with Mail and Exchange servers. I felt that it was worth mentioning on its own as a Mac-side fix for the problem (the other hint requires a setting change on the Exchange server).]

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