Re: [exim] Default enabling of dnsdb

On Tue, May 05, 2009 at 04:27:13PM +0100, Mike Cardwell wrote:
> I'd like to petition for a change in the default makefile for 4.70 such
> that DNSDB is enabled by default.

> I can't see any disadvantage to it being compiled in... I just compiled
> Exim with it, and then again without it and the difference between the
> two binaries was a mere 4285 bytes... Most *emails* are bigger than 4285
> bytes these days...

My initial thought was: Bloat starts at a single byte you don't need,
and as a matter of principle, it shouldn't be included.

But: Exim already contains various resolver functions. Any other lookup
encapsulates something that's not in Exim by default, so dnsdb is unlike
any extra lookup else. I guess lsearch is included by default for the
same reason, as are dbm lookups.

Personally, I never used dnsdb, but perhaps I should change that.
The ability to block based on the NS record for a domain sounds useful
and that's in no way abusing DNS as a database. The lookup name is
misleading, dnsdb is even more useful for applications where DNS is not
abused as a DB!

Including something that never was default is a significant change,
though, so we better prepare for 4.71 being released soon after 4.70,
in case changes are required for minor OS.

Michael