8.04 MTA?

[Robert Holtzman]

On Sun, 27 Jul 2008, Mario Vukelic wrote:

> "aptitude search postfix exim sendmail" gives me a looong list of
> packages. Note that there are also smail, ssmtp and other similarly
> simple MTAs for special cases, e.g., if you only want local mail for
> system messages.

Coming from a redhat background, I keep forgetting about the various 
aptitude options.

>>  Running a search on "ubuntu 8.04 MTA" came up with an entry for
>> their server guide I found amusing. It states that postfix is the default
>> MTA then goes on to give instructions on installing and configuring
>> postfix. If it's the default, why are they telling you how to install it?
>> Anyone have an explanation?
>
> A desktop system rarely needs an MTA, and Ubuntu's default setup does
> not require one. Installing an MTA for users who don't need one and who
> don't know what an MTA is has no benefit in the best case and is an
> added security liability in the worst case.

I was unaware that an MTA isn't required for a desktop installation. I 
thought it was neccessary to transfer the mail from the server to the MUA, 
or in my case to Procmail.

I will probably have to install sendmail or postfix as I want to run 
SpamAssassin, invoking it thru the MTA rather than thru Procmail. I have 
documentation on setting this up on sendmail but nothing on postfix. Oh 
well, research time (again). I would wecome any pointers on this from 
anyone.

> postfix is still the default MTA because when you don't have one
> installed and install a package that depends on having an MTA, Ubuntu
> installs postfix as the dependency. It is also the default because the
> offical docs assume or describe postfix, as you have noticed. Further, I
> expect that the server team focuses its testing on postfix.

That gives me the best reason yet of why they refer to it as the default.

-- 
Bob Holtzman
A day without fusion is like, a day without sunshine
If it smells it's chemistry, if it crawls it's biology, if it doesn't
work it's physics