Re: [exim] The problem with Free Software

On 06/03/2013 03:20 PM, Allen Bell wrote:

> My case in point today is having installed the latest version of Exim and
> finding that the directive placing "root" on the never list - cannot be
> overridden.
>
> As a default - that is without question a good idea. But making it a
> hard-coded restriction implies that the author knows my system, my office,
> my environment, my business and my needs better than I do. In fact, the
> very last thing in the world that I need is a programmer trying to save me
> from myself.

#------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Although Exim is normally a setuid program, owned by root, it refuses
to run
# local deliveries as root by default. There is a runtime option called
# "never_users" which lists the users that must never be used for local
# deliveries. There is also the setting below, which provides a list that
# cannot be overridden at runtime. This guards against problems caused by
# unauthorized changes to the runtime configuration. You are advised not to
# remove "root" from this option, but you can add other users if you
want. The
# list is colon-separated. It must NOT contain any spaces.

It's a compile-time option. The benefit of Free software is that you can
change these things.

--
Chris