On Wed, Apr 28, 1999 at 09:38:57PM +0200, Pike wrote:
> Should you install qmail ?
> ---------------
>
> First of all, consider these:
>
> * You have to deinstall sendmail before starting to install qmail. 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.
> It's a good idea to completely backup your system so you'll be able to
> swap it
> back in once you really fall asleep and things are still not working.
>
> * There are some differences in securitymechanisms, for better or for worse.
>
> * Qmail is probably also more inviting to hackers, just because it's more
> human.
>
> * 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.
Should you install sendmail ?
---------------
First of all, consider these:
* You have to deinstall qmail before starting to install sendmail.
While installing sendmail, 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 qmail. It's a good idea to completely backup your
system so you'll be able to swap it back in once you really fall asleep
and things are still not working.
* There are some differences in security mechanisms, for better or for
worse.
* Sendmail is probably also more inviting to hackers, just because there
have been so many vulnerabilities posted.
* Some experience is necessary. It may take you some hours. Don't use an
RPM as the recommend way of configuring sendmail (AFAIK) is to build the
config file from the original M4 sources which you have (of course)
tweaked. Either that or stand on your head and pound your keyboard with
your fists, at which point you will come up with some sensible
configuration rules like the following (which has a "glaring" error,
according to the LSMTP home page :-):
S90
R$* <$- . $+ > $* $: $1$2 < $(mailertable .$3 $@ $1$2 $@ $2 $) > $4
R$* <$- : $+ > $* $# $2 $@ $3 $: $4
R$* < . $+ > $* $@ $>90 $1 . <$2> $3
R$* < $* > $* $: < $(mailertable . $@ $1$2 $) > $3
R<$+ : $- > $* $# $1 $@ $2 $: $3
R< $* > $* $@ $2
Sorry for the sarcasm, but all of these arguments apply the same way if
you were going from qmail to sendmail.
> If you have a server with several users, things may get messy. You've never
> realised how many users you have untill they all start complaining, believe me,
> I know :-)
If you don't know how many users you have until after you've pissed them
all off, tough luck. You're a sysadmin. You're supposed to know.
> And then you're not really 'running qmail', you're just using some bits of
> the qmail package. Things may get tricky when all the bugs arrive and you
> need to update.
I hope you're not referring to bugs in qmail. I've been using qmail
1.01 on some of my servers for over two years (I know, a short time).
The upgrade to 1.03 was fairly minor in scope and for several of the
servers was basically irrelevant.
--
Bruce Guenter, QCC Communications Corp. EMail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Phone: (306)249-0220 WWW: http://www.qcc.sk.ca/~bguenter/
