On Mon, 31 Dec 2001, dman wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 31, 2001 at 02:47:09PM -0500, Dave C. wrote:
> |
> | Keep in mind you should be using an actual MUA to read/send email's, not
> | exim directly.
>
> Right, but my MUA needs to use exim.
>
> | Exim is an MTA,m *NOT* an MUA (eg, its not comparable to Outlook Express
> | or Netscape Communicator, its comparable to eg, MS Exchange Server )..
> | it is a mailserver itself..
>
> Right.
>
> | Many (but not all) unix MUA's can be set to use SMTP to a remote host to
> | send mail,
>
> Here's the problem. A MUA should not be dealing with SMTP -- an MTA
Well, perhaps, but most MUA's on 'single user' systems (eg, windows
boxes), *DO* have to use SMTP to submit messages for delivery
> should. mutt (and, AFAIK, elm and pine) do not do SMTP at all.
I know pine supports SMTP, and I think mutt does too. Not sure about
elm. Mozilla and Communicator (4.x and 6.x) do, and most of the newer
KDE and Gnome MUA's do as well.
So, you don't *have* to use an MTA on a workstation, and unless you are
familiar with how to operate one, and understand the responsibilities
you take on by doing so, you shouldn't.
That said, if you *do* understand how your choice of MTA works, that you
really don't have a real 'local' domain, and how to make it use a
smarthost, that is a perfectly valid setup. However, if you are 'Joe
User', it makes far more sends to use an MUA that speaks SMTP, and not
try and run an MTA..
> Instead they pipe the message to the system's MTA and let it take
> responsibility for delivering it.
>
> | With such a setup you would not even need to run any MTA at all on your
> | single user system.
>
> With such a setup (I use mutt) is it imperative that I have an MTA
> (even it if it is just ssmtp) otherwise I can not send any mails at
> all.
>
> | To the list: Lots of new exim users seem to end up getting confused
> | about the difference between an MTA and an MUA, and try to use exim as
> | the latter. A good explanation as to the distinction would be a good
> | addition to any 'newbie' documentation in existance.
>
> I agree here.
>
> -D
>
> --
>
> "...In the UNIX world, people tend to interpret `non-technical user' as
> meaning someone who's only ever written one device driver."
> --Daniel Pead
>
>
> --
>
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>
>
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