Pike <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
>Qmail claims it's a replacement for sendmail.
It is. It's just not a 100% compatible sendmail replacement. It
performs the same high-level functions, but almost all of the details
differ.
>They say 'after installing, read the docs,there are some minor differences'
>:-) LOL! But beware. That's vaporware.
No, read the docs *first*.
>Qmail is a package of programs, all neatly documented and worked out,
>to do something like sendmail does. It does it a whole lot different
>though. If you want it to behave like sendmail, you need to do a lot
>of things _after_ installing qmail. You even need to install things
>that are not in the package, which you have to find online somewhere
>(checkpasswd ?). Therefore, qmail is not a (complete) replacement for
>sendmail.
s/checkpassword/dot-forward/, perhaps. If you want complete sendmail
compatibility, you need some add-ons. Many sites don't require this
level of compatibility, so these packages are not included with
qmail.
>* You have to deinstall sendmail before starting to install qmail.
No, they can co-exist until you decide to flip the switch.
>While installing qmail, you won't be able to do mail. Also, you will
>probably make quite some changes to your fs, which makes it hard to
>just give up and reinstall sendmail.
Not if you're careful.
>It's a good idea to completely backup your system...
Not really necessary, but always a good idea before major surgery.
>* There are some differences in securitymechanisms, for better or for
>worse.
Definitely for better.
>* Qmail is probably also more inviting to hackers, just because it's
>more human.
Hmm? I don't follow. I think qmail is clearly more secure, so cracker
activity shouldn't be too worrisome.
>* Some experience is necessary. It may take you some hours. Don't use an
>RPM (as of this date); qmail is _not_ fsstnd. Install it 'by hand',
>step by step.
True. Practice on a spare machine, if you can.
>- qmail doesn't do /var/spool/mail. it tries to keep
>the mailboxes in the users' homedirectories (which is better).
It can use /var/spool/mail, if you want it to.
>other popdeamon and get it to cooporate with qmail. There's a techy bit ....
>And then you're not really 'running qmail', you're just using some bits of
>the qmail package.
No, you're still using qmail when you use a third-party POP/IMAP
daemon.
>In practice, a lot of things didn't work at my server. I had to move
>all the mboxes, rename & edit all .forward files (dotforward barfed),
>and decided not to even try fastforward
Migrating an entrenched sendmail system to qmail *is* complicated, and
shouldn't be attempted by someone who isn't familiar with both
sendmail and qmail. Hire an expert if you don't qualify.
>Things were still not working and I had to invent complex
>workarounds. A lot of handwork ... a week later, I had to do it all
>over again, to try and fix it. The users got funny errors and
>received all the mail they left on the server several times .... even
>on such a small system as mine,
> it was HELL.
Mostly because you didn't know what you were doing.
>I'm glad I have it running & I like it.
>But would I have known all this, I wouldn't have done it.
Come back in a couple years and tell us if you still feel that way.
>Sendmail, after all, was working fine.
Then why on Earth did you switch?
-Dave
