Sendmail

Allman wrote the original ARPANET delivermail which shipped in 1979 with 4.0 and 4.1 BSD. He wrote Sendmail as a derivative of delivermail in the early 1980s at UC Berkeley. It shipped with BSD 4.1c in 1983, the first BSD version that included TCP/IP protocols.

In 1996, approximately 80% of the publicly reachable mail-servers on the Internet ran Sendmail.{{Cite web

|author=D. J. Bernstein

|url=http://cr.yp.to/surveys/smtpsoftware.txt

| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/http://cr.yp.to/surveys/smtpsoftware.txt

| archive-date=2021-10-24|title=Internet host SMTP server survey

|date=1996-11-27

}}{{cbignore}}

More recent surveys have suggested a decline, with 3.64% of mail servers in March 2021 detected as running Sendmail in a study performed by E-Soft, Inc.{{Cite web

|url=http://www.securityspace.com/s_survey/data/man.202102/mxsurvey.html

| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/http://www.securityspace.com/s_survey/data/man.202102/mxsurvey.html

| archive-date=2021-10-24|title=E-Soft MX survey |website=securityspace.com |publisher=E-Soft Inc. |date=1 March 2021 |access-date=21 March 2021

}}{{cbignore}} A previous survey (December 2007 or earlier) reported 24% of mail servers running Sendmail according to a study performed by Mail Radar.{{Cite web

|url = http://www.mailradar.com/mailstat/

|title = Mail Radar survey

|url-status = dead

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071213001115/http://www.mailradar.com:80/mailstat/

|archive-date = 2007-12-13

}}

Allman designed Sendmail to incorporate great flexibility, but it can be daunting to configure for novices.{{Cite web

|url=http://www.sendmail.org/doc/sendmail-current/doc/op/op.pdf

|title=Sendmail Installation and Operations Guide

|first1=Eric|last1=Allman

|first2=Claus|last2=Assmann

|first3=Gregory Neil|last3=Shapiro

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081203001718/http://www.sendmail.org/doc/sendmail-current/doc/op/op.pdf|archive-date=2008-12-03

|access-date=2009-07-28

}} Standard configuration packages delivered with the source code distribution require the use of the M4 macro language which hides much of the configuration complexity. The configuration defines the site-local mail delivery options and their access parameters, the mechanism of forwarding mail to remote sites, as well as many application tuning parameters.

Sendmail supports a variety of mail transfer protocols, including SMTP, DECnet's Mail-11, HylaFAX, QuickPage and UUCP. Additionally, Sendmail v8.12 {{As of|2001|alt=as of September 2001}} introduced support for milters - external mail filtering programs that can participate in each step of the SMTP conversation.

Sendmail, Inc was acquired by Proofpoint, Inc. This announcement was released on 1 October 2013.{{Cite press release |url=https://www.proofpoint.com/us/proofpoint-inc-acquires-sendmail-inc| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/https://www.proofpoint.com/us/proofpoint-inc-acquires-sendmail-inc| archive-date=2021-10-24| title=Proofpoint, Inc. Acquires Sendmail, Inc. |date=October 1, 2013 |publisher=Proofpoint, Inc.}}{{cbignore}}

Sendmail originated in the early days of the Internet, an era when considerations of security did not play a primary role in the development of network software. Early versions of Sendmail suffered from a number of security vulnerabilities that have been corrected over the years.

Sendmail itself incorporated a certain amount of privilege separation in order to avoid exposure to security issues. {{As of| 2009}}, current versions of Sendmail, like other modern MTAs, incorporate a number of security improvements and optional features that can be configured to improve security and help prevent abuse.

Sendmail vulnerabilities in CERT advisories and alerts:

• {{Cite web|title=TA06-081A Sendmail Race Condition Vulnerability|work=US-CERT Alerts|url=http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA06-081A.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060408201247/http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA06-081A.html| archive-date=2006-04-08}}
• {{Cite web|title=CA-2003-25 Buffer Overflow in Sendmail|work=CERT Advisories|date=31 December 2003 |url=http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-25.html| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-25.html| archive-date=2021-10-24|access-date=January 7, 2005}}{{cbignore}}
• {{Cite web|title=CA-2003-12 Buffer Overflow in Sendmail|work=CERT Advisories|date=31 December 2003 |url=http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-12.html| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-12.html| archive-date=2021-10-24|access-date=January 7, 2005}}{{cbignore}}
• {{Cite web|title=CA-2003-07 Remote Buffer Overflow in Sendmail|work=CERT Advisories|date=31 December 2003 |url=http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-07.html| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-2003-07.html| archive-date=2021-10-24|access-date=January 7, 2005}}{{cbignore}}
• {{Cite web|title=CA-1997-05 MIME Conversion Buffer Overflow in Sendmail Versions 8.8.3 and 8.8.4|work=CERT Advisories|date=31 December 1997 |url=http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1997-05.html| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1997-05.html| archive-date=2021-10-24|access-date=January 7, 2005}}{{cbignore}}
• {{Cite web|title=CA-1996-25 Sendmail Group Permissions Vulnerability|work=CERT Advisories|date=31 December 1996 |url=http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1996-25.html| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1996-25.html| archive-date=2021-10-24|access-date=January 7, 2005}}{{cbignore}}
• {{Cite web|title=CA-1996-24 Sendmail Daemon Mode Vulnerability|work=CERT Advisories|date=31 December 1996 |url=http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1996-24.html| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1996-24.html| archive-date=2021-10-24|access-date=January 7, 2005}}{{cbignore}}
• {{Cite web|title=CA-1996-20 Sendmail Vulnerabilities|work=CERT Advisories|date=31 December 1996 |url=http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1996-20.html| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/http://www.cert.org/advisories/CA-1996-20.html| archive-date=2021-10-24|access-date=January 7, 2005}}{{cbignore}}

The UNIX-HATERS Handbook dedicated an entire chapter to perceived problems and weaknesses of sendmail.

As of sendmail release 8.12.0 the default implementation of sendmail runs as the Unix user smmsp

{{Cite web

| title = Sendmail release notes

| url = http://www.sendmail.org/documentation

| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20211024/https://www.proofpoint.com/us/products/email-protection/open-source-email-solution

| archive-date=2021-10-24

| work = sendmail.org

| publisher = The Sendmail Consortium

| access-date = 2009-08-30

}}{{cbignore}}

— the sendmail message submission program.

• List of mail servers
• Comparison of mail servers
• Mail delivery agent
• Mail user agent
• msmtp
• Internet messaging platform
• Morris worm
• MeTA1

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book|title=sendmail, 4th Edition|author=Bryan Costales with Eric Allman|publisher=O'Reilly and Associates|date=October 2007}} — This is the Sendmail "bible" containing 1308 pages about Sendmail. It is also known as [http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510299/ "The Bat Book"], because of the picture on its cover. The 1st Edition was published in November 1993.
• {{Cite book|title=sendmail 8.13 Companion|author1=Bryan Costales |author2=George Jansen |author3=Claus Assmann |author4=Gregory Shapiro |publisher=O'Reilly and Associates|date=September 2004}} — A companion to sendmail, 3rd Edition, this book documents the improvements in V8.13 in parallel with its release.
• {{Cite book|title=sendmail Cookbook|author=Craig Hunt|publisher=O'Reilly|date=December 2003}}
• {{Cite book|title=sendmail Performance Tuning|author=Nick Christenson|publisher=Addison-Wesley|date=2002-09-13|isbn=978-0-321-11570-6}}
• {{Cite book|title=sendmail Theory and Practice|author1=Paul Vixie|author2=Frederick M Avolio|publisher=Digital Press|date=2002-01-09|isbn=978-1555582296}}
• {{cite magazine|url=http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_program.html?program_id=32|title=History of Sendmail: Interview with Eric Allman|magazine=Dr. Dobb's Journal|year=1999|first=Philippe|last=Lourier}}
• {{Cite conference|author=Eric Allman|url=http://www.sendmail.org/~gshapiro/Sendmail-8.10.Paper.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000914203045/http://www.sendmail.org/~gshapiro/Sendmail-8.10.Paper.pdf |archive-date=2000-09-14 |url-status=live|title=Sendmail Evolution: 8.10 and Beyond|year=1999|display-authors=etal|conference=USENIX Annual Technical Conference}}

• [http://www.sendmail.com/ Sendmail, Inc.]
• [https://ftp.sendmail.org Sendmail sources]
• [http://member.wide.ad.jp/wg/smtp/sendmail.html SMTPfeed], SMTP Fast Exploding External Deliverer for Sendmail.
• Daniel J. Bernstein, [http://cr.yp.to/surveys.html Internet SMTP server survey], October 2001
• Mike Brodbelt, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080327123951/http://www.coruscant.demon.co.uk/mike/sendmail/history.html A brief history of mail]

{{Email servers}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Message transfer agents

Category:Free email server software

Category:Free software programmed in C

Category:Email server software for Linux

Category:1983 software