Question

-bash: sendmail: command not found

Posted July 30, 2014 23.6k views

I installed sendmail:

$ sudo apt-get install sendmail
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  procmail sensible-mda
Suggested packages:
  sendmail-doc rmail
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  procmail sendmail sensible-mda
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 587 kB of archives.
After this operation, 805 kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://mirrors.digitalocean.com/debian/ wheezy/main procmail i386 3.22-20 [154 kB]
Get:2 http://mirrors.digitalocean.com/debian/ wheezy/main sensible-mda i386 8.14.4-4 [218 kB]
Get:3 http://mirrors.digitalocean.com/debian/ wheezy/main sendmail all 8.14.4-4 [215 kB]
Fetched 587 kB in 0s (779 kB/s)
Selecting previously unselected package procmail.
(Reading database ... 30414 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking procmail (from .../procmail_3.22-20_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package sensible-mda.
Unpacking sensible-mda (from .../sensible-mda_8.14.4-4_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously unselected package sendmail.
Unpacking sendmail (from .../sendmail_8.14.4-4_all.deb) ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up procmail (3.22-20) ...
Setting up sensible-mda (8.14.4-4) ...
Setting up sendmail (8.14.4-4) ...

But when I type “sendmail” it says the command isn’t found. Did I install sendmail properly? If I did, why is it saying the command isn’t found?

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nathancj224
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2 answers
asb July 30, 2014

Somewhat confusingly, the sendmail package doesn’t actually provide the /usr/sbin/sendmail command.

# apt-file search /usr/sbin/sendmail
citadel-mta: /usr/sbin/sendmail
courier-mta: /usr/sbin/sendmail
esmtp-run: /usr/sbin/sendmail
exim4-daemon-heavy: /usr/sbin/sendmail
exim4-daemon-light: /usr/sbin/sendmail
lsb-invalid-mta: /usr/sbin/sendmail
masqmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail
msmtp-mta: /usr/sbin/sendmail
nullmailer: /usr/sbin/sendmail
postfix: /usr/sbin/sendmail
qmail-run: /usr/sbin/sendmail
sendmail-base: /usr/sbin/sendmailconfig
ssmtp: /usr/sbin/sendmail
xmail: /usr/sbin/sendmail
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  • nathancj224 July 30, 2014

    Oh ok. Those other commands don’t work for me either though (including apt-file).

    But PHP’s mail function seems to be working now so I guess sendmail is installed and working properly.

    Thanks!

    Reply Report
ChrisMingay July 30, 2014

That’s how I’ve installed it!

When I type the command which sendmail I get the following /usr/sbin/sendmail

What do you get if you write the command sudo find / -name "sendmail"

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  • nathancj224 July 30, 2014

    When I entered which sendmail it returned /usr/sbin/sendmail for me as well.

    And when I entered sudo find / -name "sendmail":

    # sudo find / -name "sendmail"
/usr/share/doc/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/resolvconf/update-libc.d/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/dhcp/dhclient-exit-hooks.d/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/logcheck/ignore.d.server/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/logcheck/ignore.d.paranoid/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/logcheck/ignore.d.workstation/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/ppp/ip-down.d/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/ppp/ip-up.d/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/network/if-post-down.d/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/network/if-down.d/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/examples/network/if-up.d/sendmail
/usr/share/sendmail/sendmail
/usr/share/bug/sendmail
/usr/sbin/sendmail
/usr/lib/sm.bin/sendmail
/usr/lib/sendmail
/run/sendmail
/var/lib/sendmail
/etc/resolvconf/update-libc.d/sendmail
/etc/cron.daily/sendmail
/etc/init.d/sendmail
/etc/dhcp/dhclient-exit-hooks.d/sendmail
/etc/logcheck/ignore.d.server/sendmail
/etc/logcheck/ignore.d.paranoid/sendmail
/etc/logcheck/ignore.d.workstation/sendmail
/etc/alternatives/sendmail
/etc/ppp/ip-down.d/sendmail
/etc/ppp/ip-up.d/sendmail
/etc/cron.d/sendmail
/etc/network/if-post-down.d/sendmail
/etc/network/if-down.d/sendmail
/etc/network/if-up.d/sendmail

    PHP’s mail function seems to be working now so I guess sendmail is installed and working properly.

    Thanks!

    Reply Report
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