Re: [exim] suggestion - exim-new-users

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Author: Jason Meers
Date:  
To: Yann Golanski, ph10
CC: exim-users
Subject: Re: [exim] suggestion - exim-new-users
I think you have misunderstood me, I showed an example of the type of
simple config that "I would have found useful" when I first started
leaning to use Exim, and went on to say that once I had a working
config, no matter how clunky it was, it would not matter as long as I
was not running an open relay.

Using this config as a base I would then want to ask questions like:

how can I specify 2 local domains instead of just 1
how do I list hosts in a separate file...etc...

I wasn't suggesting that the config shipped in a default install is in
some way inadequate, quite the opposite, I actually said it was very
thorough (and in some ways overwhelming).

I am not asking for Exim to be dumbed down for the lowest common
denominator, just pointing out that it is very hard to take in
everything at once. I stand corrected about the default config, it is 12
pages long not 20 (when opened up in gedit and printed out on my machine).

A new user doesn't *necessarily* need to know how to configure any of
the following if they haven't got a working server to begin with:

av_scanner
spamd
dns blacklisting
mime decoding and content checking

That is not to say that I think the default config should be rewritten,
just that we should have some simpler configs we can show new users who
may have trouble with sections like:

        condition = ${if match \
                         {${lc:$mime_filename}} \
                         {\N(\.exe|\.pif|\.bat|\.scr|\.lnk|\.com)$\N} \
                      {1}{0}}
and


        condition = ${if eq{$mime_charset}{gb2312}{1}{0}}


Everybody who has replied to this thread and described their first
experiences with Exim said it was hard, and most of the counter
arguments have been along the lines of:

"the answer was here, you just needed to look properly" or

"if you can't understand this you should stop trying or pay someone else
to do it for you".

Like it or not, this list DOES respond with "your wrong, you would have
known this if you had read the documentation properly".

I have been offering my help, not just asking a stupid question because
I can't be bothered to read something for myself and I still feel like
I'm annoying you.

I am simply offering my time to see if we can help new users who are
trying to learn how to use Exim.

Can anybody on this list honestly tell me that learning Exim is easy and
so simple to master that it nots worth trying to help new users or
converters from other MTAs.

Thanks

Jason Meers






Yann Golanski wrote:
> Quoth Philip Hazel on Wed, Nov 16, 2005 at 10:02:48 +0000
>
>>It's the way it is because people (in the early days) wanted a working
>>configuration that was highly commented so that newcomers could read it
>>and perhaps understand the way it worked. Perhaps this has turned into
>>overkill?
>
>
> No, that's the way it should be. Even on 24 lines terminals, it's
> quiet readable.
>
>
>>OK, I'm a grumpy old man, but sometimes I do think that people have lost
>>the habit of reading documentation. This may be because so much
>>available software is poorly documented, so people's expectations are
>>low. Or maybe nobody reads books any more at all...
>
>
> You know, I think the same way... does that mean that I am a grumpy old
> man as well?...
>