Dovecot upgrade

[Ray Leventhal]

Sam Przyswa wrote:
> I just want you think just a minute about the SysAdmin on a network of 
> hundreds users who can't catch their mails because "isn't where you 
> expected" after a simple upgrade.
> 
> Reply by "get a Mac" it's not what we are expected from a foundation 
> like Ubuntu, perhaps you have to take care about the SysAdmin who have 
> the responsibility of lot of users mail. It's for these reasons that I 
> said Ubuntu it's not a right OS for production server and your response 
> confirm my talk.
> 
> Sorry for the disturbing.
> 
> Sam.
> 
Sam,

This list is full of folks who would happily go out of their way to 
assist you with a problem.  I've been the benefactor of this type of 
benevolence often.  But as with anything that's community based, as is 
the support here, how you approach a problem is going to greatly affect 
how you're helped.

You're doing a great job complaining, but without specifics on what 
version you upgraded from and to and any differences in the config 
files, you're not going to get much help here.

For the record, we don't even know what version of Ubuntu Server you're 
running...what version of dovecot was installed prior to your update and 
with what version you're now having trouble. Is *this* the fault of this 
helpful list or the Ubuntu developers?  C'mon now...be fair and real.

IMNSHO, if you're a sysadmin, you're expected to be prepared to handle 
issues such as the one you've barely described.  While I don't use 
Ubuntu on servers (my personal pref is CentOS there), I do use Ubuntu on 
all my desktop installations (though my 'day' job insists on MS). 
Ubuntu server is a fully supported and righteous OS as an internet 
services server.  There's nothing about it that could be referred to as 
a 'bad choice' for a production server.

Personally, before any upgrades, I simply make copies of any conf files 
that I think /might/ be affected by newly upgraded packages.  This isn't 
a complete failsafe, but it has saved my butt more times than I can 
count.  Is your lack of preparedness and foresightedness the fault of 
Ubuntu developers?  I think not.

Perhaps you should contact Canonical or another consultancy and purchase 
a paid maintenance agreement - they'll do your upgrades for you and you 
don't have to worry about a thing.  One thing you shouldn't do, again 
imnsho, is gripe and blame.

Derek was right in saying this is Linux...when /you/ break something, 
/you/ get to keep the pieces.  Typically /we/ will gladly help if that 
happens...but you have to be a willing participant in obtaining a 
solution that will work for you, not an adversary to those from whom 
you're seeking help.

@list - sorry for the noise...just my .02

-Ray


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