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Re: [djb@koobera.math.uic.edu: qmail 1.00 available]

To: Sasa@acm.muc.de, Ugrenovic@acm.muc.de, qmail@list.cr.yp.to
Subject: Re: [djb@koobera.math.uic.edu: qmail 1.00 available]
From: Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>
Date: 23 Feb 2007 21:14:25 +0100
Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 21:29:50 +0000
Cc: qmail@list.cr.yp.to
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User-agent: Mutt/1.5.9i
Hello, qmail!

On Thu, Feb 22, 2007 at 02:00:51PM +0100, Sasa Ugrenovic wrote:
> Ok .. i have a question.

> Is qmail usable ? I used qmail for 5 years before I switched to
> postfix.  I hope DJB reads this, because qmail is obsolete... you have
> to apply a million patches (which have backward compatibility issues)
> to have a decent functional SMTP.  Greylisting, helo checks, blabla ..

Well, I applied a tiny fraction of a percent the number of patches you
did.  And my qmail works.

It's not the mail server I wanted though.  I wanted a nice small friendly
mail server to run on my home Linux box, a program which would merely
connect my mutt with my ISP's mail server.  And, more importantly, a
program I could set up within an hour, whilst remaining as ignorant as
possible about mail transportation.  ;-)

Such a program doesn't seem to exist - I once tried masqmail, but it lost
some of my outgoing mail.  I just want to be a user.  How difficult can
it be to configure a program merely to connect mutt with ISP?

Then I tried some of the available elephantine servers.  exim, for
example, has no user documentation - it has "the manual", which is about
half the size of "War and Peace" (I downloaded a text-only copy of W&P
from project Gutenberg, just to see how big it was - yes, I know....),
and presumably this manual does contain pertinent user documentation
scattered about it somewhere.  When I complained about its unreadability,
the mailing list told me not to expect much help if I wasn't "even"
prepared to RTFM.

Next stop was postfix.  "Oh deity, do I really have to wade through all
this?"  I gave up after about 4 hours.  Wonderful software it might be,
but missing a critical component, "Life with Postfix".

So I ended up at qmail.  My ISP uses that, and he's always been a helpful
sort of chap.  And, of course, there's "Life with qmail."  :-) Well, I
had to install an SMTP-AUTH patch, and then I had to debug it.  :-( DJB's
style of commenting his code takes some getting used to, but at least the
accuracy level of the comments is high.  ;-)

So, qmail's not really what I want or need, but it's good enough.  And it
_works_.  This email is evidence!

> This is not a flamebait, .....

Of course it isn't.  Perish the thought!  Who could possibly take such a
pleasant conciliatory post for flamebait?

> .... i still use qmail/vpopmail on servers behind my MX processor which
> doesn't run qmail, since I'm not a zaelot.

A lot of what?  zaes?

> Kind Regards,
> Sasa

And to yourself.  Happy weekend!

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Ittersbach, Germany)

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