/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. 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]. 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 && 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 && /usr/bin/newaliases && /usr/sbin/postfix start To automate the running of Postfix at startup, install /etc/rc.d/init.d/postfix init script included in the package. make install-postfix