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

[Duncan Roe]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for putting together such a detailed response.

On Wed, Mar 08, 2017 at 09:13:36AM -0600, Rob McGee wrote:
> 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.

Neither would I recommend anyone not already using qmail to start using it, so
we agree on that. The SB is intended for folk who are using qmail now and might
like a clean way to install and remove the latest version there is.
>
> 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. :)

Netqmail 1.06 looks after that, up to November 2007 anyway. That's what the SB
installs.
>
> > 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.

I'm sorry to hear of your unfortunate experience with qmail. qmail has "just
worked" for me since I installed it in 1996.

I have SB's for daemontools, netqmail and serialmail now. The netqmail SB can do
all the configuration in LWQ section 2 except the tests in section 2.9, which
pass when run. It only goes ahead with the invasive parts of section 2 (such as
creating the groups and users) if controlling environment variables are set.
>
> 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.

On a clean system, with the right environment variables set I can install
daemontools and netqmail and on completion have a running qmail which passes
"qmailctl stat" and "inst_check" tests.

That is the build system I am offering,

Cheers ... Duncan.