Thanks for that excellent explanation Jim. So for mail local to my machine, do I configure mozilla mail to look at localhost for a mail server? BTW - does Gentoo defaultly setup a mail server thingee? I can't remember doing that before.
Brad > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim Cheetham [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, April 16, 2004 4:35 PM > To: canterbury linux users group > Subject: Why use a MTA like sendmail > > > It's not hijacking a thread if you start a new message (not reply) and > choose a different subject, like this one ... > > > could somebody > > give me a quick run down (or link) on why you would use > sendmail/qmail > > at all? I just use mozilla's builtin mail agent, am I missing some > > unixy goodness by not using sendmail/qmail? > > You receive all your email from your ISP, and send all your outgoing > email to them too, using your wonderful shiny MUA (Mail User > Application) > > They are running the MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) and MDA (Mail Delivery > Agent), for which they'll be using sendmail, qmail, Exim, Postfix or > something else. > > However, underneath your user experience, things on your machine might > want to send email - like cron job outputs and so on. For > that they need > a "mail" or "sendmail" interface, and the common way to get that is to > run a MTA. Debian installs Exim by default, the "common" choice is > sendmail. Often these will only handle local mail (until you > reconfigure > them), and not invoke the Internet at all. > > When you're running your own servers, you want them to handle > email for > your domains, rather than pay an ISP for each email address you need. > That's what it's all about ... > > Oh, Rex - I think I see where you're coming from, despite the odd > punctuation - sendmail probably does rule ducks :-) > > -jim > >
