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Re: switching from exim to postfix



On Tue, May 01, 2012 at 07:47:08PM +0100, Roger Lynn wrote:
> I have enabled accept_8bitmime in every exim I've installed for the last
> 10 years and no one has reported any problems. I think the risk of
> encountering a truly 7 bit MTA in this decade is low enough to be
> ignored for most purposes. Anyone still using one is likely to find that
> a substantial fraction of their incoming mail is corrupted.

I actually use Sendmail's strict 8BITMIME support to help catch spam.  I
agree that 7-bit MTAs are essentially gone, but with the volume of spam
I receive, I set my mail software to be extremely strict with regard to
protocols.  Legitimate software (of any sort) generally generates
protocol-compliant messages.  Malicious and illicit software (and that
created by Microsoft) generally does not.  Legitimate software also
generally has a userbase that will complain about rejected data if the
software is not protocol-compliant, which often leads to fixes.

I've complained to the listmasters that they send 8-bit data that is not
MIME (virtually all of which is spam) under the auspices of the 8BITMIME
extension; they refuse to fix this, and as a consequence they have to
deal with the occasional piece of undeliverable mail.  This is not a
knock against the listmasters, just an observation that if you violate
the protocols, some places will reject your data.

-- 
brian m. carlson / brian with sandals: Houston, Texas, US
+1 832 623 2791 | http://www.crustytoothpaste.net/~bmc | My opinion only
OpenPGP: RSA v4 4096b: 88AC E9B2 9196 305B A994 7552 F1BA 225C 0223 B187

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