Re: [exim] Exim 5

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Author: Philip Hazel
Date:  
To: Magnus Holmgren
CC: exim-users
Subject: Re: [exim] Exim 5
On Wed, 7 Feb 2007, Magnus Holmgren wrote:

> Are there any plans for Exim 5, other than that Philip intends to retire from
> his job first?


I shall be retiring at the end of September.

In the next 6 or 7 months, the Exim community will have to give some
thought about the future maintenance of Exim when I am no longer around.
I would like to get a discussion going, but I do not really want to be
part of it - it's your future, not mine. :-)

I won't completely disappear after September, but I do not want to be in
the main loop any more. Retirement apart, I've been working on Exim for
over 10 years now, and that is long enough on any project IMO. So you
can be sure that I *am* going to stop. You (plural) will just have to
deal with it. :-)

As for Exim 5, I'm sure that there is a lot that could be done if there
were enough keen people to run such a project. I have a list of ideas
that have accumulated from time to time (not updated since October
2004). One obvious change is to require PCRE to be installed (it is on
many systems anyway) instead of using an internal copy.

One might feel that after 10 years a big new re-design is long overdue.
On the other hand, large computing projects often get bogged down and
never get done; incremental changes often have a better chance. But as I
say, it's up to you guys.

-- 
Philip Hazel            University of Cambridge Computing Service
Get the Exim 4 book:    http://www.uit.co.uk/exim-book