submittodebian needs configured mail agent

Actually, it doesn't. It shells out to reportbug, which doesn't need a local MTA to operate, see /usr/share/doc/reportbug/README.Users.gz

Maybe submittodebian should tell the user this, if there isn't a ~/.reportbugrc ?

well I don't have a ~./reportbug. Besides I am confused about what steps I have to follow to get submittodebian or reportbug to send the emails. I would be grateful for your help.

Create a ~/.reportbugrc with the following contents:

smtphost reportbug.debian.org:587
header "X-Debbugs-CC: your.email@address"
no-cc

Then it should work. I'll see about making submittodebian create such a configuration automatically.

This bug was fixed in the package ubuntu-dev-tools - 0.126

---------------
ubuntu-dev-tools (0.126) unstable; urgency=low

  [ Evan Broder ]
  * ubuntutools.misc: Add a new "system_distribution_chain", which returns
    a list starting with the current distribution and working its way up
    each distribution's parent.
  * ubuntutools.misc: Add a function to find the distribution that
    used a given release codename.
  * backportpackage, doc/backportpackage.1: Accept codenames from any
    distribution in the parenting chain. Makes it possible to, e.g.,
    backport from Debian. (LP: #703099)
  * ubuntutools.subprocess:
    - New drop-in replacement wrapper module around subprocess that
      backports the restore_signals kwarg and defaults close_fds=True
    - Switch everything previously using subprocess to use
      ubuntutools.subprocess instead (LP: #785854)

  [ Stefano Rivera ]
  * submittodebian: Write a usable .reportbugrc if it doesn't exist.
    (LP: #800429)

  [ Benjamin Drung ]
  * Add experimental to list of Debian distributions.

ubuntu-dev-tools (0.125ubuntu1) oneiric; urgency=low

  [ Benjamin Drung ]
  * backportpackage: Use --force-bad-version instead of --allow-lower-version
    (which requires a parameter) for debchange.
  * Adjust EOL date of Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala".

  [ Stefano Rivera ]
  * ubuntutools.archive: Display any errors rmadison emits, rather than
    guessing at the cause. (LP: #788447)
  * sponsor-patch: Use dch --release instead of --edit to work with
    DEBCHANGE_RELEASE_HEURISTIC=changelog.

  [ Dustin Kirkland ]
  * doc/lp-project-upload.1, lp-project-upload:
    - add support for optionally specifying files containing the changelog
      and release notes for the release
    - allows scripts to avoid the interactive editors
    - document these changes in the manpage

  [ Didier Roche ]
  * lp-project-upload:
    - fix a bug when new milestone wasn't specified (LP: #797170)
  * get-build-deps:
    - fix a wrong parser when some build-dep have an epoch

  [ Brian Murray ]
  * grab-attachments, doc/grab-attachments.1:
    - add in download attachments from duplicates
    - add in download attachments from all bugs about a package
    - document new options in the manpage
 -- Benjamin Drung <email address hidden> Sat, 25 Jun 2011 16:38:49 +0200