<mail> command missing?

[Derek Broughton]

Peter Garrett wrote:

> On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 03:23:39 -0800
> Mike Bird <mgb-ubuntu at yosemite.net> wrote:
> 
>> On Tue, 2005-12-13 at 03:03, David wrote:
>> > I've just done my second fresh install of Breezy (both for friends).
>> > Apparently the "mail" unix command is missing! These seems really odd.
>> > Have I missed something obvious?
>> > 
>> > It's not available from apt and I thought it was a basic shell command.
>> > 
>> > It's still there on two other machines that I upgraded from Hoary.
>> > /usr/bin/mail
>> 
>> You'll need to install the mailx package.  It was required by
>> ubuntu-base in Hoary but dropped for Breezy.  I have no idea why.
> 
> I noticed this too. I assume it's part of the "no servers by default"
> policy - if anyone knows whether that's right, please enlighten us.

Well, I'd have to claim a small part in that decision, then.  I have, since
Warty, campaigned - and filed bugs - against the requirement for postfix in
(*)ubuntu-desktop.  I do, though, think it should require
<mail-transport-agent>.  I prefer to use masqmail for a desktop system that
won't ever need a full MTA.
> 
> I found this decision by Ubuntu a bit annoying, but I guess it's something
> only geeks and sysadmins etc need or know about ;-)

It makes me happier :-)
-- 
derek