Re: [exim] Debian as a 'Special Case' for Exim

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Author: Marc Haber
Date:  
To: exim-users
Subject: Re: [exim] Debian as a 'Special Case' for Exim
On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 13:49:10 +0000, Tony Finch <dot@???> wrote:
>The main problem I have with supporting Debian users on this list is that
>they aren't talking about their Exim configuration, they're talking about
>how they drove Debconf to generate it. I don't understand the way Debian's
>Exim configurator works, so I can't help them. I don't think this is
>really the appropriate place for these users to come for support, but as I
>understand it Debian doesn't have a support forum for them either.


There is the mailing list debian-user, and the BTS, and the mail
address of the Debian exim4 maintainers. You can freely send people
asking about the Debian configuration there, and the Debian exim4
maintainers at least try to read exim-users.

>Marc Sherman's suggestion of providing an unadorned Exim configuration
>package would be greatly preferable, not just for us but for competent
>users too.


Competent users can use their monolithic config file in there.

> My friend Ian Jackson recently tried installing Debian's exim4
>on his computer at work and rapidly replaced it with Smail because he
>didn't want to battle with the configuration system. Debian's exim4 uses
>*39* files (!), Debian's Smail uses 6, and a normal Exim installation
>would have 2 or 3 (the non-split configuration file being one of Exim's
>early improvements over Smail).


Your friend Ian Jackson is the one who designed the dpkg conffile
handling and should be able to explain why it is hard to keep a
multi-hundred-line config file under conffile control while allowing
local changes _and_ distribution upgrades.

Greetings
Marc

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