Re: default MTA

[Bjørn Mork <bjorn@mork.no>]

Josselin Mouette <joss@debian.org> writes:
> Le mardi 28 mai 2013 à 13:07 +0200, Bjørn Mork a écrit : 
>> The local MTA serves as a common configuration for the external SMTP
>> server, with a well known interface supported by every single package
>> which wants to send mail.
>
> Which packages are entitled to send mail to the outside without
> configuration from the sysadmin, exactly?

All packages are installed and configured by the sysadmin.  So that
would be none.

But there should be exactly one package asking the sysadmin about smtp
smarthost settings.  The other mail sending packages should just depend
on that package and reuse the settings already configured.

> We are talking about a default configuration, and the only useful thing
> in a default configuration is local mail. 

I disagree. The only useful default configuration is a default-mta
package asking how to deliver both local and remote mail, and holding
the sysadmin's hand while setting up delivery to a smarthost.  Possibly
mapping local accounts to a single remote address.

> Local mail not being read by anyone on most machines.

This we can agree on :)

>> I don't see the point discussing this at all until there is an
>> alternative interface with a similar level of support.  Otherwise you
>> are just going to repeat the MIME support mess again.
>
> Just like for the MIME support mess, the damage is already done. Nobody,
> I repeat, nobody, ever reads local mail on most desktop systems, and
> even many server systems. For desktops, we need to rely on direct user
> notification. For servers, careful people rely on real-time monitoring. 
>
> Local mail is a quick solution for persistent notification of the system
> administrator, but it doesn’t scale at all when you have more than 3
> machines under your control.
>
> I don’t think the situation is that bad. We could probably work on
> alternative notification systems for cron jobs, but for the other
> important use cases of local mail, we already have what we need.

Sure.  Yes, I agree that local mail isn't necessarily the answer to any
notification requirement.  But I don't think that means that it never is
the answer.   There are situations where local mail notification is
fine.


Bjørn