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Re: SMTP server



Grok Mogger wrote:

> Hope no one minds if I hijack this thread.  =)

It's best to start a new one; better luck next time.  :o)

> I just read through all the responses and was surprised to see
> three people using postfix, one using exim4, and none using
> sendmail.
> 
> I've heard so much about sendmail that I thought it was the de
> facto standard.

Hardly any new sites use it at this point, and I'm reasonably certain most
people who have had the misfortune of dealing with sendmail.cf really
question Sendmail's existence given more secure, flexible alternatives to
the crufty dinosaur standard.

> I considered exim4 "that other MTA", and I have 
> never even heard of postfix until now.

exim is still that other MTA, though it has gained a lot of ground in recent
years largely owing to it being the default MTA in Debian in recent years. 
Thank God that default changed to exim:  I liked smail when it was the
Debian default and I didn't know better, but then I tried to do something
with it beyond handling local mail and it was almost more trouble than it
was worth in smail.  Part of it was newbieism, a lot of it was exim was
more straightforward for implementing DNSBLs at the time.

> Could someone please briefly tell me the differences between the
> three in a nutshell?

I could further bash sendmail but I think the Unix Hater's Handbook already
beat me to every possible joke to that end.  It's amazing:  That book's
starting to get up there in years (as far as CIS-related anything is
concerned) and so much if it is still true.

> And maybe recommend one for a newbie to setup just as an experiment / 
> learning experience?  (From this thread, it sounds like postfix would be 
> the choice in that regard, but can't hurt to ask)  

I find postfix's configuration is almost sendmailesque in how arcane the
configuration was at the time I tried it last year, but some people seem to
like it and it appears to stay within the RFCs so it can't be all bad.

I prefer exim myself.  It's relatively straightforward and exim4-doc is
excellent.  If only all packages had that kind of comprehensive
documentation...




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