> -----Original Message-----
> From: exim-users-bounces@???
> [mailto:exim-users-bounces@exim.org] On Behalf Of Graeme Fowler
> Sent: Friday, January 25, 2008 4:29 AM
> To: exim-users
> Subject: Re: [exim] Router Redirect Question
Thanks for a thoughtful reply. I thought the list might like a
perspective from someone who's used Exim for over ten years but has been
too busy wearing other hats to actually become proficient.
First, I don't think being a programmer would even help understand how
to use Exim a whole lot. Learning Exim is not really a programming
issue. The problem with learning mail software such as Exim is actually
understanding how mail works. There are hundreds of arcane concepts to
learn about email, DNS, TCPIP, etc, that make the chore quite boggling.
In addition to this Exim (et al) tries to condense all of this
inter-related stuff into a set of very succinct codes that seem to look
alike to me and which all are supposed to fit together in one huge flat
file in sequence. Exim does a great job of this but it is quite daunting
for the average system administrator, especially one as forgetful as I
am. The Exim documentation, as good as it is (leaps and bounds better
than most software documentation out there OSS, canned, or other) is
woefully inadequate as a HOW TO do everything you need to do quickly.
It's taken me _days_ to implement BATV in a slightly different way than
the way shown in the docs. The fact that I _can_ do it speaks volumes to
Exim's credit. I am sure with canned software, I'd be stuck. And that's
why I use Exim.
The documentation doesn't necessarly have to be much better. But maybe a
comprehensive exhaustive cross-reference would help that links things
that are related with an explanation as to why they are related. I
noticed that there is a lot more cross-referencing now anyway. Maybe
full-blown examples like the Samba site has might help. I would be happy
to help if you would point me in the right direction to helping. But I'm
not sure you want me involved judging from the types of questions I ask
here.
Thanks for the hard work.
Craig
