Re: Exim as default mailer
On Tue, 10 Nov 1998, Moore, Paul wrote:
> Hi,
> There seems to be a lot of talk about moving to Exim as the default
> mailer for Debian. While I feel like I should support Exim (as I used to
> go to Cambridge, whwre it was developed :-) I was concerned when I
> initially looked at it by the statement in the (version 2) manual
> (section 39, "Intermittently connected hosts") where it says "Exim was
> designed for use on permanently connected hosts, and so it is not
> particularly well-suited for use in an intermittently connected
> environment."
This is true for ANY SMTP mailer. SMTP is designed for servers with
permanent connections ( to the extent that inbound email is concerned ).
People with intermittant connectivity are best served with either
collecting mail via pop3 from a host with full-time connectivity, uucp
over tcp/ip for domain email for networks with intermittant connectivity,
or plain uucp for hosts with no tcp/ip access but dialup acces to a host
that does. UUCP over TCP/IP is a _MUCH_ better solution than a virtual
domain that feeds all-users@domain.com to a single pop3 mailbox.
>
> As I have a single-user home PC with dial-up access to my ISP, I fall
> squarely into the category of users for whom Exim is "not particularly
> well-suited". Is this a real problem, or is Exim a good mailer for
> dial-up systems?
You can use fetchmail to get the mail from your ISP but please have a look
at the exim site for some tweaks to get it to work at optimum performance.
>
> In theory, I like Exim, not least for the clear and comprehensive
> manual, but I really don't want to spend a long time fighting the
> system's assumptions just to get it set up...
It works just fine.
George Bonser
The Linux "We're never going out of business" sale at an FTP site near you!
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