Re: [Plug] Topic for next month's PLUG meeting

[Hugh Brock <hbrock@indigologic.com>]

tburba@GLCORPIS01.usvision.com wrote:
> 
> Forgive me for not being clear. Can anyone provide a 10,000 foot overview
> on Qmail? Hugh gave it a start by identifying it as an MTA. Is it part of
> any of the distros? Would a more general discussion on mail agents be more
> appropriate for the meeting?

Good question.

Like Sendmail, Qmail is a program (really a set of programs) that turns
an Internet-connected computer into a mail server. It has a component
that receives mail, another component that decides if it should be
delivered locally or forwarded, and yet another component that does the
forwarding. It has an SMTP server and a POP server that you can set up
if necessary. Basically it comes with everything you need to receive
mail for a domain (or multiple domains) and ensure that it gets
delivered to its final destination.

The big selling point on Qmail is security; according to the Qmail web
page, there has never been a security-related problem with the program.
It is also supposed to be considerably simpler to set up and use than
Sendmail, although not having personally configured Sendmail I can't
speak to that.

Qmail is not a mail reader like Mutt, Pine, or Eudora, and therefore is
probably of no interest to those who are not trying to set up their own
mail servers. Although the whole problem of Internet mail is kind of
interesting from an abstract standpoint.

Hope this helps!

--Hugh

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