[exim] Re: Debian exim

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Author: Jari Aalto
Date:  
To: exim-users
Subject: [exim] Re: Debian exim
Marc Sherman <msherman@???> writes:
| This is not a reactionary rejection of someone
| who installed the Debian package, saw all the debian-specific stuff that
| wasn't what he was used to, and threw his hands up in disgust.
|
| I, personally, found that the amount of effort required to integrate
| updates into the many split config files with my own local
| modifications, even during the relatively calm period while Sarge was
| stabilizing for release, was not worth the benefits of using Debian
| configs for the parts I hadn't customized. In the end, I replaced the
| debian config files with a hand-crafted exim4.conf which was less than
| half the size of the complete debian config file, much simpler for me to
| understand in total, and did not contain some rather complex (and
| potentially performance-impacting) sections of Debian customization that
| were unnecessary in my installation. Of course, YMMV.


When I first experienced upgrade from Exim 3.x to 4.x, the horrid of
split configuration files was striking as well. "Doh, can't search all
file from one Emacs buffer any more? search/replace? Uhm."

But, it turned out to be the best thing ever. I many of my own
configurations for Exim and the problem with the monolithic file was
the upgrade. There was no way for the "new" changes to be merged into
the "old" config.

The split configuration fixed that. The lesson was, that user changes
should not be done by:

    .. modifying existing Debian files


But

    .. to put your configuration to separate files and then
    ".include" them into those Debian files.


Here is example:

    /etc/exim4/conf.d/acl/30_exim4-config_check_rcpt


    ...


    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/helo_mandate
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/helo_forged
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/helo_forged_internal_domain
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/helo_fqdn
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/helo_noip
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/domain_blacklist
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/reverse_dns
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/sender_null_invalid
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/sender_ident
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/sender_invalid_address
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/sender_blacklist_address
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/verify_postmaster
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/spf_spfquery
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/dnsbl
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/dsn_many_recipients
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/sender_verify
    .include MYCONF/acl/rcpt/greylistd


Likewise for "adding" new configuration files by increasing the
number that is free. Look above "30_exim4-config_check_rcpt" which is
Debian's, but the next free is "31_your_file_here".

Jari