> Dumb question i know.... please humor me :) how do yo implement a snapshot > ???
Same as the regular. If you look at Wietse's download site, you will see both the official and experimental releases. The name of the experimental release is "Postfix Snapshot YYYYMMDD." The filename will be similar. It will also have the postfix version the snapshot is based off of as part of the name. ftp://ftp.porcupine.org/mirrors/postfix-release/index.html Basically Wietse does the snapshots as a way to let people test newly developed features. These features may stay or go away. It all depends on how well they work. Wietse's #1 concern is writing a stable, standards compliant MTA. Even if a new feature looks really good, chances are it will sit in the snapshot for 3 to 12 months before going to production. Most of the changes in the official release line are bug fixes, and other minor changes. Then a few times a year, the final form of some feature will be moved from the snapshot to official. Some changes that come out more rapidly are ones that address specific, time sensitive issues (Verisign for one). This is especially true if the change can re-use existing code. Proposed changes to the snapshot are generally discussed in the Postfix Users list. This allows both programmers, and simple administrators, to comment on the pros and cons of the changes. Most simple administrator suggestions have flaws, but the explanations to them seem to help push the development, and improve documentation. Many of the programmers suggestions and code snippets are discussed, improved, and sometimes added, or revised and added. You can see this in the history file entries where credit is given to the authors. Through all of this, Wietse maintains that code MUST be written clearly and cleanly, or he won't allow it into the snapshot. By clearly and cleanly I mean written well. It comes up at least a few times a year when a new programmer looks at the Postfix code. They all say things like, "This is so easy to read," and "This is some of the best written code I have ever seen." And Wietse demands that submissions meet this standard. So really, to make it into the snapshot, it needs to be decently written, reviewed by peers, and scrutinized by Wietse. That is why the snapshots are generally more stable than most other product's full releases. --Eric
