[Slackbuilds-users] Any interest in a qmail SlackBuild?

[Rob McGee]

On Wed, Mar 08, 2017 at 10:39:50AM +1100, Duncan Roe wrote:
> Would anyone use a SlackBuild for the qmail Mail Transport Agent
> if one was available?

I would recommend against it, as qmail was abandoned almost 20 years 
ago, and the world of email has not stood still in that time.  Even 
netqmail, the semi-official "patched" version which addresses flaws 
which were found in the final qmail release, is way behind.

You have to add multiple patches to qmail to get important basic 
functionality.  Of course, now that the original is in the public 
domain, you could just prepatch and distribute your own "dqmail" or 
whatever. :)

> I have written, for my own use, SB's for qmail, its prereq
> daemontools, and an optional dependency serialmail.
> 
> I ask if there's any interest, because it will take extra effort
> to put the builds into a state where they are acceptable to the
> moderators,

In 2003-05 I worked in a consultancy which (among other things) 
provided qmail for SMB clients, and ugh, that was awful.  I 
personally stayed away from the install of daemontools and qmail; 
boss had that all scripted, adapted to Slackware from the once- 
popular "Life with qmail" (LWQ) howto.

Dr. Bernstein had different ideas about Unix, and indeed, it's 
difficult to imagine having all this stuff packaged according to 
SBo/Slackware standards.

If it's still working for you, fine, but the day of qmail is over; 
let it remain in the past.  Those who are wanting to learn MTA 
management first should have a psychiatric evaulation, and then 
should choose a modern and well-maintained project, such as Exim, 
Postfix, or yes, even Sendmail MTA.

NB: this is a personal opinion and definitely not to be considered 
SBo "official policy."  If you want to make a qmail build, you are 
welcome to develop and to submit it.
-- 
    Rob McGee - /dev/rob0 - rob0 at slackbuilds.org