Hi all,
Trying to install postfix in a non-standard location (specifically /usr/local/
instead of /), I ran into two quirks, the second one more severe than the
first one:
Firstly, the naming of the config variable names the user is asked when
saying "make install" is highly confusing: First, it is asking for the
install_root, and then it is asking for "destination directories and paths",
providing something like /etc/postfix as default, which suggests that they are
overriding the setting of install_root. When accepting the default or typing
something else, it is later interpreted as relative to install_root EVEN IF it
starts with a / . This is confusing. Maybe the description should be changed
into "Please enter XYZ *relative* to install_root", or the provided values
should be interpreted as absolute paths if prepended with / and as relative
paths (relative to install_root) if not.
Secondly, the non-standard location is not reflected in main.cf .
E.g. queue_directory still points to /var/spool/postfix/ . This is the value
I typed in, and it was correctly (?) interpreted to be relative to
/usr/local/, so make install created /usr/local/var/spool/postfix/ . Why is
main.cf still pointing to /var/spool/postfix/ ? Is this the wrong target, or
is the prefix /usr/local/ hardcoded in postfix somewhere after make install?
After all, moving to autoconf would be a good idea because the generated
Makefiles can handle non-standard installation locations very well, and it
has become some sort of standard for C projects.
I am using version 2.7.2 . Let me "have it" if this was fixed in the meantime.
(Please, no questions as to why I want postfix to live in /usr/local/ instead
of / .)
- Winston
