Re: [Exim] Question about exims security vs qmail? -- perfor…

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Author: Theo E. Schlossnagle
Date:  
To: exim-users
Subject: Re: [Exim] Question about exims security vs qmail? -- performance thread.
Does it really matter if you like qmail. qmail is fine and use sit in
certain situations. I hate BIND, but I use that everywhere. What you
like is not the point unless the program in question has an equal.

qmail and exim are not equal. They are inherently different in their
appraoch to handling mail. PERIOD.

As for performance, I design high performace email relays (for places
that need to email confirmations at various points in a web visitors
stay). In my experience, qmail goes head to head with exim.

Under exim, I put about 5GB (bytes not bits) from one machine between
8pm and 9am. That is over one million outbound emails in 12 hours. You
do the math. That is a lot of traffic and is on a small dual processor
PIII with a single SCSI disk (no stripe for the spool). Also, tuning
isn't finished, there are some system issues (correct filesystems and
keeping the remote-smtp database on a ram disk) that will help
performance etremely.

So, at least put things in perspective. How many people out there need
to handle that much traffic? If you don't, what is the point of going
with qmail over exim?

Answer: You PREFER it. It does what YOU need the way YOU want it done.
I see exim keep up with qmail just fine. Performance is not the reason
to choose one over the other.

Myself? I prefer exim, I find it more cleanly written (read easier to
patch or tune). I also find it much easier to configure and install.
And most importantly, when something goes wrong, I have no trouble
finding out where the problems is (VERY easy to troubleshoot). I find
qmail much more difficult to troubleshoot. This is just my opinion and,
frankly, I have recommended qmail on multiple occasions for different
mailing needs.

It is like the war between vi and emacs (the war that shouldn't exist).
Use the one you like -- I'll just keep using both.

> What does this example have to do with anything? You have to consider all
> the other variables (and there are a lot). (And I don't think anyone
> thinks that qmail is bad.)


--
Theo Schlossnagle
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