Re: [exim] converting from debian package to source

On 2022-01-08, Odhiambo Washington via Exim-users <exim-users@???> wrote:
> On Sat, Jan 8, 2022 at 5:26 PM Julian Bradfield via Exim-users <
> exim-users@???> wrote:
>
>> My mail servers run, and have run for decades, on Debian, and I've
>> always used the Debian package for exim4, though I don't use debconf
>> for my own additions, but just edit the conf.template file as if it
>> were a .conf file.
>>
>> The pain of dealing with Debian's antiquated versions (4.92) and
>> gratuitous messing around with upstream's configuration (most recent
>> annoyance, not supporting built-in SPF) is prompting me to think about
>> switching to using the primary source.
>>
>> I wonder if anybody on this list has done such a conversion recently,
>> and would have time to share the chief gotchas they encountered.
>>
>> If you reply to me, I will summarize to the list.
>>
>
> There are times I have simply grabbed the source tarball and compiled it
> manually.
> As long as you make the right edits to the Local/Makefile. You can always
> toss away the default /etc/exim4 and replace the contents
> with your own version of configs, while still being able to use the system
> control scripts to start/stop exim.
> I have never liked the split configurations I see on Debian and its
> derivates. I use the monolithic config everywhere.

The main benefits for the split config is to allow users to separate
custom from stock config (which makes upgrades less painful), and to
allow packages containing companion services (eg: mailscanner or dbmail)
to ship exim config changes.

It also makes things like adding procedurally generated config
sections easier.

--
Jasen.