Re: httpd servers do not conflict at each other (?)
Steve Greenland <stevegr@debian.org> writes:
> > You can (in fact it's fairly common) run different webservers on multiple
> > ports. Mail servers usually only run on port 25.
>
> And before you point out that many mail servers *can* be run
> on alternative ports, there's the extra effort of dealing with
> /usr/sbin/sendmail, /usr/bin/mailq, etc., while webservers packages
> don't usually contain overlapping files.
In fact I believe this is the primary reason for the conflict.
It could be dealt with by making /usr/sbin/sendmail an alternative, however
then there's the added problem of how to tell the system which daemon you want
to actually deliver mail and accept mail etc.
In other words, if you just made /usr/sbin/sendmail an alternative there might
be situations where running it would queue mail but it would never be
delivered.
Personally I would prefer we go this extra mile and arrange for it to be
possible for multiple MTAs to be installed. It's very awkward for them to
conflict since it means I can't install a new MTA, configure and test it
before switching and removing the old one. Instead I'm forced to have a period
when no MTA works. I may not actually know what MTA I want, I would prefer for
example to download postfix and play with it for days or weeks before turning
off exim.
Being able to install packages but not actually have them active is a general
open problem in Debian currently.
--
greg
Reply to: