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Re: Bug#233983: esmtp: support sendmail replacement MTA situations



[I'm CCing to debian devel and my mentor since I don't know how I should proceed]

On Fri, Feb 20, 2004 at 07:55:38PM -0800, Scott Robinson wrote:
> Package: esmtp
> Severity: normal
> Tags: sid
> 
> I would like to run my local SMTP server (postfix) and use esmtp for my
> personal account.
> 
> esmtp provides and replaces mail-transfer-agent, so it automatically removes
> postfix.
> 
> Would it be possible to break the package int:
> 
> esmtp       - Provides the base binary and setting.
> esmtp-mta   - Provides the sendmail replacement symlinks.

In principle it should be possible to do that. Actually the usage
pattern you describe above crossed my mind when I started the packaging,
but the debian policy was quite clear regarding the
"mail-transport-agent" provide/conflict (see
<http://www.debian.org/doc/debian-policy/ch-customized-programs.html#s-mail-transport-agents>),
and both then and now there is *no* MTA debian package that is packaged
differently (even other relay mailers, such as ssmtp and nullmailer, all
do the same).

Perhaps a change in the debian policy is in order to allow multiple MTAs
(e.g., by using alternatives to /usr/sbin/sendmail and friends), or does
everybody agree that Scott suggestion above of spliting the package
would be better?

José Fonseca



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