Re: [exim4] Testing and making sense of smtp output

[lee <lee@yagibdah.de>]

Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:

> Martin Read <zen75502@zen.co.uk> writes:
>
>> On 12/10/14 14:52, lee wrote:
>>> Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> writes:
>>>
>>>> Can any of you experienced exim4 hands interpret this output?
>>>
>>> Reading RFC-821 would tell you more.
>>
>> Reading RFC 2821 would be even better, since RFC 821 is obsoleted by
>> RFC 2821.
>
> Thanks.
>
> I pounded thru that but I have to say I really didn't know any more
> about interpreting smtp output when done.  What really happened is
> that I realized I'm probably a basic dimwit or severely under
> educated.  

These RFCs aren't exactly easy to read.  You have to get the hang of it.

I guess I kinda understand your frustration because I had a likewise
experience a long time ago.  I was reading lots of documentation, and it
was very frustrating until I realised that I could not understand the
documentation because I hadn't understood it yet.

That means there's no way to understand it before you have picked up
some knowledge, done some experimentation and developed some
understanding.  From there, you can read the documentation again and
understand some more, experiment some more, and so on.  And then,
reading the exim documentation, things finally really started to make
sense.

Using the automagic configuration of exim doesn't help you to understand
things in any way.  It's much easier to use the example configuration
and to understand it by consulting the exim specification.  The example
configuration gives you a guide telling you what you need to look at.
It's also much less frustrating:  You can actually see what's configured
and you can actually try it out.

You don't need to understand every little detail of it.  There are lots
of options and possibilities, and you don't need to know all of them.

You'll understand how it basically works, and then you can look up the
particular details of the implementation in the documentation of the
particular MUA you're using.  One of the advantages of exim is its
outstanding documentation, so it's a good idea to use exim.


-- 
Again we must be afraid of speaking of daemons for fear that daemons
might swallow us.  Finally, this fear has become reasonable.