/etc/aliases, /etc/postfix/main.cf and /etc/postfix/master.cf cat > /etc/aliases << "EOF" # Begin /etc/aliases MAILER-DAEMON: postmaster postmaster: root root: LOGIN # End /etc/aliases EOF The /etc/aliases file that was just created, the main.cf and the master.cf must be personalized for your system. The aliases file needs your non-root login identity so mail addressed to root can be forwarded to you at the user level. The main.cf file needs your fully qualified hostname. The master.cf needs to be modified to prevent your machine from becoming a relay for unauthorized entities. All of these edits can be done with sed commands entered into the console with appropriate substitutions of your non-root login name for [user] and your fully qualified hostname for [localhost.localdomain]. These edits will create a single host mail system, other edits are necessary to perform the many other functions available. You will find the main.cf file is self documenting, so load it into your editor to make the changes you need for your situation. cp /etc/aliases /etc/aliases.bak cp /etc/postfix/main.cf /etc/postfix/main.cf.bak cp /etc/postfix/master.cf /etc/postfix/master.cf.bak sed "s/LOGIN/[user]/" /etc/aliases.bak > /etc/aliases sed "s/#myhostname = host.domain.tld/myhostname = \ [localhost.localdomain]/" \ /etc/postfix/main.cf.bak > /etc/postfix/main.cf sed '/^smtp.*smtpd$/s/inet/unix/' /etc/postfix/master.cf.bak > \ /etc/postfix/master.cf /usr/bin/newaliases /usr/sbin/postfix start To automate the running of postfix, use following command to create the init.d script: cat > /etc/rc.d/init.d/postfix << "EOF" #!/bin/sh # Begin $rc_base/init.d/postfix # Based on sysklogd script from LFS-3.1 and earlier. # Rewritten by Gerard Beekmans - gerard@linuxfromscratch.org source /etc/sysconfig/rc source $rc_functions case "$1" in start) echo "Starting Postfix..." loadproc postfix start ;; stop) echo "Stopping Postfix..." loadproc postfix stop ;; reload) echo "Reloading Postfix..." loadproc postfix reload ;; restart) $0 stop sleep 1 $0 start ;; *) echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|reload|restart}" exit 1 ;; esac # End $rc_base/init.d/postfix EOF chmod 755 /etc/rc.d/init.d/postfix Create the symbolic links to this file in the relevant rc.d directory with the following commands: cd /etc/rc.d/init.d && ln -sf ../init.d/postfix ../rc0.d/K25postfix && ln -sf ../init.d/postfix ../rc1.d/K25postfix && ln -sf ../init.d/postfix ../rc2.d/K25postfix && ln -sf ../init.d/postfix ../rc3.d/S35postfix && ln -sf ../init.d/postfix ../rc4.d/S35postfix && ln -sf ../init.d/postfix ../rc5.d/S35postfix && ln -sf ../init.d/postfix ../rc6.d/K25postfix