'bsd-mailx' should be a high-priority candidate to provide the 'mailx' virtual package

Bug #1013922 reported by Bob Bib
18
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
bsd-mailx (Debian)
New
Unknown
bsd-mailx (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

There are 3 packages providing 'mailx' (as of Precise);
'heirloom-mailx' seems to be selected as the default one;
'mailutils' and 'heirloom-mailx' are located in 'universe', but 'bsd-mailx' is in 'main' (and therefore should be the default suggested one).
---
$ sudo apt-get install mailx
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package mailx is a virtual package provided by:
  mailutils 1:2.2+dfsg1-5
  heirloom-mailx 12.5-1build1
  bsd-mailx 8.1.2-0.20111106cvs-1
You should explicitly select one to install.

E: Package 'mailx' has no installation candidate
---
$ sudo apt-get install exim4
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light heirloom-mailx
Suggested packages:
  eximon4 exim4-doc-html exim4-doc-info spf-tools-perl swaks
Recommended packages:
  mailx
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  exim4 exim4-base exim4-config exim4-daemon-light heirloom-mailx
0 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 1,923 kB of archives.
After this operation, 4,278 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? n
Abort.
---
$ apt-cache madison mailutils heirloom-mailx bsd-mailx
 mailutils | 1:2.2+dfsg1-5 | http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/universe amd64 Packages
heirloom-mailx | 12.5-1build1 | http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/universe amd64 Packages
 bsd-mailx | 8.1.2-0.20111106cvs-1 | http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages
---

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: bsd-mailx (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Jun 16 03:40:02 2012
SourcePackage: bsd-mailx
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

Revision history for this message
Bob Bib (bobbib) wrote :
Changed in bsd-mailx (Debian):
status: Unknown → New
Revision history for this message
Alexandre Magno (alexandre-mbm) wrote :

bug in heirloom-mailx? see: mailx command sends mail body as attachment (noname)
http://www.claudiokuenzler.com/blog/300/mailx-sends-noname-attachment-instead-of-text-in-mail-body

Revision history for this message
Alexandre Magno (alexandre-mbm) wrote :

without email servers/services

Revision history for this message
Alexandre Magno (alexandre-mbm) wrote :

SMTP support is present in heirloom-mailx, but not in the traditional bsd-mailx.

See: http://superuser.com/questions/137461/does-mailx-send-mail-using-an-smtp-relay-or-does-it-directly-connect-to-the-targ

Revision history for this message
Alexandre Magno (alexandre-mbm) wrote :

About the supposed bug in heirloom-mailx. If content all is utf-8, the mailx command works and it don't sends mail body as attachment (noname). For example: cat two utf-8 files; not a union of iso-8859-1 and utf-8 files.

Revision history for this message
Bob Bib (bobbib) wrote : Re: [Bug 1013922] Re: 'bsd-mailx' should be a high-priority candidate to provide the 'mailx' virtual package

Alexandre Magno:
> bug in heirloom-mailx? see: mailx command sends mail body as attachment (noname)

'heirloom-mailx' and 'bsd-mailx' are different packages:
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bsd-mailx
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/heirloom-mailx

You should report your heirloom-mailx bug here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/heirloom-mailx
and then, if you think that bug affects the current one, you can just post a comment with that bug number here,
there's no need to repost everything.

Revision history for this message
Alexandre Magno (alexandre-mbm) wrote :
Revision history for this message
Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote :

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in bsd-mailx (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in bsd-mailx (Debian):
status: New → Fix Released
Changed in bsd-mailx (Debian):
status: Fix Released → New
To post a comment you must log in.
This report contains Public information  
Everyone can see this information.

Other bug subscribers

Remote bug watches

Bug watches keep track of this bug in other bug trackers.