Re: [Exim] .rpms .debs and Exim

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Author: Jim Knoble
Date:  
To: exim-users
Subject: Re: [Exim] .rpms .debs and Exim
Circa 2002-Mar-21 18:46:26 +0100 dixit Tony Earnshaw:

: Anybody disagree? Reasons?

(-1, Troll)

Allow me to translate:

: Contention: Exim is not for .deb or .rpm people. Or, they'll have to
: become "proper" Unix people.

Opinion: Exim is not for people who would rather work a little harder
once so that it pays off later. Unless, of course, they become
severely masochistic, lose functionality in portions of their brain
due to heavy metal poisoning, and begin drooling into a cup.

: I use .rpms, but only for situations where I sense that there won't be
: problems. Exim, BIND, Apache, Linux Netfilter and FreeS/Wan (IPsec/VPN)
: are a few examples of utilities that need a basic Unix mentality. Aka
: RTFM, sweating blood.

I only use the fruit of other people's labor when my
obsessive-compulsive disorder is dormant. When i see a trigger word
(Exim, BIND, Apache, Netfilter, FreeS/Wan, Linux kernel, kernel,
kernel, kernel...), then my OCD wakes up, grabs me by the eyebrows,
and forces me to spend countless hours compiling something by hand.
I become so focused on compiling it, installing it, and getting it to
work that i don't even bother to write down the steps that i took to
build and configure the software, let alone make a script that would
let me repeat my steps without thinking about it next time. And it's
not until my obsessive-compulsive behavior finally wears me out after
36 hours or so that i realize with a shudder that i might have to
uninstall that software later, and i have no idea where all those
files got installed....

: Exim needs that RTFM mentality, that .deb and .rpm people just don't
: have.

The folks that actually build all those freely available prebuilt
packages for me may look or sound smart, but really they're
self-centered, illiterate, stupid weenies. Their glitz may fool you,
but it doesn't fool me, ha-ha! I'm better than they are, because i
eschew the easy path, just as the ancient Greek Cynics did, with
their sandals, cloaks, cups, and wallets. "I'll give you anything
you want, any program, in source or binary form, with complete
self-contained instructions about how i built it," the packagers say,
and my response: Move aside a little, would you? You're standing in
my sunlight just now.

--
jim knoble | jmknoble@??? | http://www.pobox.com/~jmknoble/
(GnuPG fingerprint: 31C4:8AAC:F24E:A70C:4000::BBF4:289F:EAA8:1381:1491)