Re: [exim] Spam getting through even though sa-exim is suppo…

On 23/10/11 21:38, Andreas Metzler wrote:
> I really wonder what the benefits of manually building exim, spamassassin
> and clamav are. There is really no problem with using the binary exim
> packages and using a hand built configuration in
> /etc/exim4/exim4.conf. Handbuilt packages have a very strong downside
> imho. - You will need to handle security updates on your own.
> cu andreas

Not relying on the pre-fab configuration files that come with the
package mean that people might learn more about how their email system
works, and more easily be able to customise its function.

My favourite distro is Slackware so I've always compiled it myself, and
wrote my own config file based on the example.conf. I learned a LOT
about email and Exim in the process.

Since I'm subscribed to exim-dev and exim-announce, I update Exim pretty
much the day any issues come out, or in the case of root exploit that
was patched in base years before, I was already perfectly safe since I
wasn't using an archaic version that was 5 released behind.

Unfortunately, getting a server hosting company to install Slackware is
like pulling teeth, so I usually get a CentOS or Debian install, keep
the core systems up to date with the package manager, but then self
compile everything world facing like LAMP, BIND, SSH and Exim.

I've only ever had one server compromised, and that was because the
version of Apache + SSL that came with the distro was exploitable. I've
kept it up to date myself ever since.