[Bug 379882] Re: mdadm installs postfix

[Matthew O'Riordan]

You can tell mdadm not to install postfix by simply passing in the --no-install-recommends param, such as 
`sudo apt-get install mdadm --no-install-recommends`

In my setup, I used msmtp, symlinked it `ln -s /usr/bin/msmtp
/usr/sbin/sendmail`, and mdadm now sends mail through this lightweight
email sender.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/379882

Title:
  mdadm installs postfix

Status in “mdadm” package in Ubuntu:
  Opinion

Bug description:
  Binary package hint: mdadm

  When upgrading to Jaunty from Intrepid, the mdadm package installed
  postfix. I can't see why a package that manage software RAID
  partitions needs a mail transport agent, but what is worse is that my
  desktop machine is suddenly turned into a mail server. One of the
  reasons Ubuntu desktop is deemed secure is that it does not run
  unnecessary services.

  The dependency has been introduced in version 2.6.7.1-1ubuntu5; from
  the changelog:

  mdadm (2.6.7.1-1ubuntu5) jaunty; urgency=low

    * Depend on postfix | mail-transport-agent, to ensure we get the
      correct default MTA for Ubuntu.

  During the upgrade the postfix configuration was run and although I
  ticked not to configure, the postfix service was running by default
  anyway.

  I manually uninstalled postfix and mdadm runs perfectly fine. Can this
  dependency be removed?

  --

  -> mdadm should by default only install with a small local mail
  delivery system (like esmtp + procmail) but not postfix on desktops,
  laptops etc.! On servers postfix is pulled in by server tasks anyway.

  Here is how to setup esmtp+procmail:
  apt-get install esmtp procmail
  echo mda=\'/usr/bin/formail -a \"Date: \`date -R\`\" \| /usr/bin/procmail -d %T\' >> /etc/esmtprc
  (as documented in /usr/share/doc/esmtp/README)

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