missing map file /etc/mail/aliases

[caillebotte]

I get the following message in AIX whenever I try to use sendmail to send a message:

missing map file /etc/mail/aliases

Any ideas?

 

[sbix]

output of: man aliases
aliases File for Mail

Purpose

Contains alias definitions for the sendmail command.

Description

The /etc/aliases file contains the required aliases for the sendmail command. Do
not change these defaults, as they are required by the system. The file is
formatted as a series of lines in the form:
name: name_1, name_2, name_3,...

The name: is the name of the alias, and the name_n are the aliases for that
name. Lines beginning with white space are continuation lines. Lines beginning
with a # (pound sign) are comments.

Aliasing occurs only on local names. System-wide aliases are used to redirect
mail. For example, if you receive mail at three different systems, you can use
the /etc/aliases file to redirect your mail to one of the systems. As an
individual user, you can also specify aliases in your .mailrc file.

Aliases can be defined to send mail to a distribution list. For example, you can
send mail to all of the members of a project by sending mail to a single name.

The sender of a message is not included when the sendmail command expands an
alias address. For example, if amy sends a message to alias D998 and she is
defined as a member of that alias, the sendmail command does not send a copy of
the message to amy.

The /etc/aliases file is a raw data file; the actual aliasing information is
placed into a binary format in the /etc/aliasesDB/DB.dir and
/etc/aliasesDB/DB.pag files by using the newaliases command. The newaliases
command must be executed each time the aliases file is modified.

Note: Upper case characters on the left hand side of the alias are converted
to lowercase before being stored in the database manager (DBM). In the
following example, mail sent to the testalias user alias fails, since TEST
is converted to test when the second line is stored.
TEST: user@machine

testalias: TEST

To preserve uppercase in user names and alias names, add the u flag to the
local mailer description in the /etc/sendmail.cf file. Thus, in the example
above, mail to the testalias user alias would succeed.

Implementation Specifics

This /etc/aliases file is part of Base Operating System (BOS) Runtime.

Files

/etc/aliases Contains systemwide aliases.

/etc/aliasesDB directory Contains the binary files created by the newaliases
command, including the DB.dir and DB.pag files.

Related Information

The newaliases command, sendmail command.

The .mailrc file.

Building the Alias Database, Creating Local System Aliases for Mail, Managing
Mail Aliases in AIX Version 4.3 System Management Guide: Communications and
Networks.

 

[aixmurderer]

The aliases file usually resides in /etc, however you can have it in /etc/mail, which seems to be the new standard location for sendmail.

The path to the aliases file is defined in the sendmail.cf file, so you have 2 choices, either change the path in the sendmail.cf file to /etc/aliases or move the aliases file to /etc/mail.

IBM Certified Confused - MQSeries
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[caillebotte]

Thanks guys.
I was able to edit the file and run sendmail -bi.
No more error.
Caillebotte