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 Fri, 18 Feb 2005 02:19:18 +0800, Bill Hacker <wbh@???>
wrote:
>In which case they look to me like *workstations* not *servers*
>and should be running MUA's not MTA's.


How would local processes (syslog rotation and automatic updating
engines come to mind) send e-mail on a MTA-less system?

>But setting up full-house MTA's on IP's 'allocated portable' is not
>generally in the best interest of the 'net.


If you take the default for all questions the Debian exim4 packages
ask on installation, you end up with an SMTP listener on 127.0.0.1,
which is not doing harm to the 'net.

>The UNIX default install of Exim goes in right over top of that with
>very minimal config changes required.


The UNIX default install of Exim listens on all available interfaces,
sends out messages with an envelope sender which is invalid in 99 % of
all today's cases, and uses direct-to-MX delivery which is a bad idea
for most of today's cases as well.

>And - BTW - for a box that is NOT a remote, unattended server, there is
>seldom a pressing need to send that mail somewhere off-box.


Which is why the Debian exim4 packages default to "local delivery
only, not on a network".

>IF/AS/WHEN one needs to provide smtp as a more general service, to many
>shell account users, for a corporate LAN / intra-net, or for virtual
>hosting, then it is another matter entirely - but one should by then
>also be into registered domains and fixed IP's.


The Debian exim4 packages support most of today's setups which is
significantly more than a stock install can do.

>> ways of integrating debconf with exim's rather big, monolithic
>> configuration have shown not to be practical.
>
>Compare it with the small modular courier-mta configuration.


Courier is no way near to exim in flexibility.

>> We don't expect our users to edit a multi-hundred line config file.
>
>To which a very, very few changes are needed...


And a single change is enough to completely break the automated config
file handling that is a big part of the things people like about
Debian.

>- Provide a menued 'sed inplace' or similar tool to set the domain.tld
>and such other 'personalization' required - BUT STILL to a 'standard'
>exim configure file format (optionally stripped of comments - or with
>Debian comments *added*)


This proposal prompts the question wheter you have actually ever
looked at the Debian exim 4 package since this is the exact way we do
it now.

>Then - the 'expert level' - leave editing of a *full standard* Exim
>configure to those who need and want the full power of it.


This is supported by the Debian exim4 packages as well.

Greetings
Marc

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