docs/diploma

annotate thesis/tex/1-Introduction.tex @ 400:5254a119ad56

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author meillo@marmaro.de
date Sat, 07 Feb 2009 23:47:34 +0100
parents 13e630c5a44d
children e57129f57faa
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meillo@26 1 \chapter{Introduction}
meillo@42 2 \label{chap:introduction}
meillo@26 3
meillo@370 4 This chapter introduces some basic email concepts that are essential for understanding the remainder of the thesis. Then \masqmail---the program of interest---is presented. History, typical usage, and the function it provides are described. After an explanation of \masqmail's relevance, its weaknesses are pointed out. Solving these weaknesses is the topics that is covered throughout this thesis.
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meillo@245 10 \section{Email prerequisites}
meillo@245 11
meillo@373 12 Electronic mail is a service on the Internet and thus, like other Internet services, defined and standardized by \name{Requests For Comments}\index{rfc} (short: \RFC{}s\index{rfc}) under management of the \name{Internet Engineering Task Force}\index{ietf} (short: \NAME{IETF}). \RFC{}s are highly technical documents and it is not required that the readers of this thesis are familiar with them.
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meillo@370 14 This section gives an introduction into the basic internals of the email system in a low-technical language. It is intended to make the reader familiar with the essential concepts of email as they are essential throughout the thesis.
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meillo@245 16
meillo@245 17 \subsubsection{Mail agents}
meillo@373 18 \index{mail agents}
meillo@245 19
meillo@378 20 This thesis will frequently use the three terms: \MTA, \MUA{}, and \MDA{}, naming the three different kinds of nodes of the email infrastructure. Here, they are explained with references to the ``snail mail'' system which is known from everyday life. Figure~\ref{fig:mail-agents} shows the relation between those three mail agents and the way an email message takes when passing through the system.
meillo@253 21
meillo@269 22 \begin{description}
meillo@269 23 \item[\MTA:]
meillo@373 24 \index{mta}
meillo@378 25 \name{Mail Transfer Agents} are the post offices for electronic mail. The basic job of an \MTA\ is to transport mail from senders to recipients, or more pedantic: from \MTA\ to \MTA. \sendmail, \exim, \qmail, \postfix, and, of course, \masqmail\ are \MTA{}s. \MTA{}s are explained in more detail in chapter~\ref{chap:mail-transfer-agents}.
meillo@245 26
meillo@373 27 \item[\MUA{}:]
meillo@373 28 \index{mua}
meillo@393 29 \name{Mail User Agents} are the software users deal with. A user writes and reads email with it. The \MUA{} passes outgoing mail to the nearest \MTA. Also the \MUA{} displays the contents of the user's mailbox. Well known \MUA{}s are \name{Mozilla Thunderbird} and \name{mutt} on Unix systems, and \name{Microsoft Outlook} on \name{Windows}.
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meillo@373 31 \item[\MDA{}:]
meillo@373 32 \index{mda}
meillo@373 33 \name{Mail Delivery Agents} correspond to postmen in the real world. They receive mail, destined to recipients they are responsible for, from an \MTA, and deliver it to the mailboxes of those recipients. Many \MTA{}s include an own \MDA{}, but independent ones exist: \name{procmail} and \name{maildrop} are examples.
meillo@269 34 \end{description}
meillo@245 35
meillo@253 36 \begin{figure}
meillo@253 37 \begin{center}
meillo@397 38 \includegraphics[scale=0.75]{fig/mail-agents.eps}
meillo@253 39 \end{center}
meillo@253 40 \caption{Mail agents and the way a mail message takes}
meillo@253 41 \label{fig:mail-agents}
meillo@253 42 \end{figure}
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meillo@229 48
meillo@245 49 \subsubsection{Mail transfer with SMTP}
meillo@396 50 \label{smtp-intro}
meillo@245 51
meillo@373 52 Today most of the email is transferred using the \name{Simple Mail Transfer Protocol}\index{smtp} (short: \SMTP), which is defined in \RFC\,821 and the successors \RFC\,2821 and \RFC\,5321. A good entry point for further information is \citeweb{wikipedia:smtp}.
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meillo@373 54 A selection of important concepts of \SMTP\index{smtp!concepts of} is explained here.
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meillo@396 56 First the \name{store-and-forward}\index{smtp!store-and-forward} transfer concept. This means mail messages are sent from \MTA\ to \MTA, until the final \MTA\ (the one which is responsible for the recipient) is reached. The message is stored for some time on each \MTA, until it is forwarded to the next \MTA.
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meillo@392 58 This leads to the concept of \name{responsibility}\index{smtp!responsibility}. A mail message is always in the responsibility of one system. First it is the \MUA\index{mua}. When it is transferred to an \MTA, this \MTA\ takes over the responsibility for the message, too. The \MUA{} can then delete its copy of the message. This is the same for each transfer---from \MTA\ to \MTA\ and finally from \MTA\ to the \MDA{}---the message gets transferred and if the transfer was successful, the responsibility for the message is transferred as well. The responsibility chain ends at a user's mailbox where he himself has control on the message.
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meillo@373 60 A third concept is about failure handling. At any step on the way an \MTA\ may receive a message it is unable to handle. In such a case this receiving \MTA\ will \name{reject}\index{smtp!rejecting} the message before it takes responsibility for it. The sending \MTA\ still has responsibility for the message and may try other ways for sending the message. If none succeeds the \MTA\ will send a \name{bounce message}\index{smtp!bouncing} back to the original sender with information on the type of failure. Bounces are only sent if the failure is expected to be permanent or if the transfer still was unsuccessful after many tries.
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meillo@245 64 \subsubsection{Mail messages}
meillo@245 65
meillo@373 66 Mail messages\index{mail message} consist of text in a specific format. This format is specified in \RFC\,822, and the successors \RFC\,2822 and \RFC\,5322.
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meillo@373 68 A message has two parts, the \name{header}\index{mail message!header} and the \name{body}\index{mail message!body}. The header of an email message is similar to the header of a (formal) letter. It spans the first lines of the message up to the first empty line. The header consists of several lines, called \name{header lines}\index{mail message!header lines} or simply \name{headers}. They specify the sender, the recipient(s), the date, and possibly further information. Their order is irrelevant. Headers are named like the colon-separated start of those lines, for example the ``\texttt{Date:}'' header. A user may write the header himself but normally the \MUA{} does this job.
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meillo@373 70 The body is the payload\index{mail message!payload} of the message. It is under full control of the user. From the view point of the \SMTP\ protocol, it must consist of only 7-bit \NAME{ASCII}\index{ascii} text. But arbitrary content can be included by encoding it to 7-bit \NAME{ASCII}. \NAME{MIME}\index{mime} is the common \SMTP\ extension to handle such conversion automatically in \MUA{}s.
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meillo@253 72 Following is a sample mail message with four header lines (\texttt{From:}, \texttt{To:}, \texttt{Date:}, and \texttt{Subject:}) and three lines of message body.
meillo@245 73
meillo@373 74 \codeinput{input/sample-email.txt}\index{mail message!example}
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meillo@373 76 Email messages are put into \name{envelopes}\index{mail message!envelope} for transfer. This concept is also derived from the real world so it is easy to understand. The envelope is used to route the message from sender to recipient. It contains the sender's address and addresses of one or more recipients. Envelopes are generated by \MTA{}s, usually from mail header data. The user has not to deal with them.
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meillo@260 78 Each \MTA\ on the way reads envelopes it receives and generates new ones. If a message has recipients on different hosts, then the message gets copied and sent within multiple envelopes, one for each host.
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meillo@374 80 The sample message would lead to two envelopes\index{mail message!more envelopes}, one from \name{markus@host01} to \name{alice@host02}, the other from \name{markus@host01} to \name{bob@host03}. Both envelopes would contain the same message.
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meillo@92 87 \section{The \masqmail\ project}
meillo@102 88 \label{sec:masqmail}
meillo@96 89
meillo@373 90 The \masqmail\ project\index{masqmail!the project} was initiated by \person{Oliver Kurth} in 1999. His aim was to create a small \MTA\ that is especially focused on computers with dial-up Internet connections\index{dial-up}. Throughout the next four years he worked steadily on it, releasing new versions every few weeks. During the active phase of development 53 version have been released. In average, this is a new version every 20 days.
meillo@96 91
meillo@393 92 This thesis is based on the latest release of \masqmail---version 0.2.21, dated November 2005\index{masqmail!latest release}. It was released after a 28 month gap of inactivity. The source code of 0.2.21 is the same as of 0.2.20, with only build documents modified. The homepage of \masqmail\ \citeweb{masqmail:homepage2}\index{masqmail!homepage} does not include this latest release, but it can be retrieved from the \name{Debian} package pool\index{debian!package pool}\footnote{The \NAME{URL} is:\\\url{http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/main/m/masqmail/masqmail_0.2.21.orig.tar.gz}} \citeweb{packages.debian}.
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meillo@376 94 \masqmail\ is covered by the \name{General Public License}\index{gpl} (short: \NAME{GPL}) version two or any later version \cite{fsf:gpl}. This qualifies \masqmail\ as Free Software\index{free software} \cite{fsf:freesw-definition}.
meillo@102 95
meillo@370 96 \person{Kurth} abandoned \masqmail\ after 2005 and no one adopted the project since then. Thus, the author of this thesis decided to take over responsibility for \masqmail\ now. He received \person{Kurth}'s permission to do so in private telephone conversation with \person{Kurth} on September 4, 2008.
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meillo@391 98 The program's new homepage\index{masqmail!homepage} \citeweb{masqmail:homepage} includes a collection of available information about this \MTA.
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meillo@92 102
meillo@366 103 \subsection{Target field}
meillo@266 104 \label{sec:masqmail-target-field}
meillo@245 105
meillo@391 106 \person{Kurth}'s intention when creating \masqmail\ is best told in his own words:\index{masqmail!design intention}
meillo@375 107
meillo@92 108 \begin{quote}
meillo@366 109 MasqMail is a mail server designed for hosts that do not have a permanent internet connection eg. a home network or a single host at home. It has special support for connections to different \NAME{ISP}s. It replaces sendmail or other \MTA{}s such as qmail or exim.
meillo@257 110 \hfill\citeweb{masqmail:homepage2}
meillo@257 111 \end{quote}
meillo@375 112
meillo@366 113 It is intended to cover a specific niche: non-permanent Internet connection and different \name{Internet Service Providers} (short: \NAME{ISP}s).
meillo@257 114
meillo@393 115 Although it can basically replace other \MTA{}s it is not \emph{generally} aimed to do so. The package description of \masqmail\ within \name{Debian} states this more clearly by changing the last sentence to:\index{debian!masqmail package}
meillo@375 116
meillo@257 117 \begin{quote}
meillo@366 118 In these cases, MasqMail is a slim replacement for full-blown \MTA{}s such as sendmail, exim, qmail or postfix.
meillo@257 119 \hfill\citeweb{packages.debian:masqmail}
meillo@257 120 \end{quote}
meillo@257 121
meillo@375 122 The program is a good replacement ``in these cases'' but not generally, since it lacks essential features for running on publically accessable mail servers. It is primarily not secure enough for being accessible from untrusted locations.
meillo@257 123
meillo@391 124 \masqmail\ is best used in home networks which are non-permanently connected to the Internet\index{non-permanent}. It is easy configurable for situations which are rarely solvable with the common \MTA{}s. Such include different handling of mail to local or remote destination and respecting different routes of online connection. These features are explained in more detail in section~\ref{sec:masqmail-features}.
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meillo@392 126 While many other \MTA{}s are general purpose \MTA{}s, \masqmail\ aims on special situations. Nevertheless, it can be used as general purpose \MTA, too. Especially this was a design goal of \masqmail: To be a replacement for \sendmail\ or similar \MTA{}s.\index{masqmail!sendmail replacement}
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meillo@370 128 \masqmail\ is designed to run on workstations and on servers in small networks, like they are common in \NAME{SOHO}s (\name{Small Offices/Home Offices}).
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meillo@260 132 \subsubsection*{Typical usage scenarios}
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meillo@391 134 This section describes three common setups that make sensible use of \masqmail. The first two are shown in figure~\ref{fig:masqmail-typical-usage}.\index{masqmail!common setups}
meillo@257 135
meillo@257 136 \begin{figure}
meillo@257 137 \begin{center}
meillo@397 138 \includegraphics[scale=0.75]{fig/masqmail-typical-usage.eps}
meillo@257 139 \end{center}
meillo@257 140 \caption{Typical usage scenarios for \masqmail}
meillo@257 141 \label{fig:masqmail-typical-usage}
meillo@257 142 \end{figure}
meillo@257 143
meillo@375 144 Imagine an Internet-connected home network consisting of some workstations.
meillo@260 145
meillo@269 146 \begin{description}
meillo@269 147 \item[Scenario 1:]
meillo@369 148 \label{scenario1}
meillo@375 149 If no server is present, every workstation would be equipped with \masqmail. Mail transfer within the same machine or within the local net works straight forward using direct transfer. Outgoing mail to the Internet is sent to an \name{Internet Service Provider} (short: \NAME{ISP}) for relaying whenever the router goes online. The configuration of \masqmail\ would be the same on every computer; only host names would differ.
meillo@269 150 To receive mail from the Internet requires a mailbox on the \NAME{ISP}'s mail server. Mail needs to be fetched from the \NAME{ISP}'s server onto the workstation using the \NAME{POP3} or \NAME{IMAP} protocol.
meillo@391 151 \index{isp}
meillo@391 152 \index{pop3}
meillo@391 153 \index{imap}
meillo@269 154
meillo@269 155 \item[Scenario 2:]
meillo@369 156 \label{scenario2}
meillo@378 157 In the same network but with a server, one could have \masqmail\ running on the server and using simple forwarders (see section~\ref{subsec:relay-only}) on the workstations to transfer mail to the server. The server would then, dependent on the destination of the message, deliver locally or relay to an \NAME{ISP}'s server for further relay. This setup does only support mail transfer to the server but not back to a workstation. However, this can be solved by mounting the user's mailbox from the server to the workstation or by using \NAME{POP3} or \NAME{IMAP}. Mail transfer from the \NAME{ISP} to the local server needs \NAME{POP3} or \NAME{IMAP} as well.
meillo@391 158 \index{isp}
meillo@391 159 \index{pop3}
meillo@391 160 \index{imap}
meillo@269 161
meillo@269 162 \item[Scenario 3:]
meillo@369 163 \label{scenario3}
meillo@369 164 A third scenario is unrelated as it is about notebooks. Notebooks are usually used as mobile workstations. One uses them to work at different locations. With the increasing popularity of wireless networks this becomes more and more common. Different networks demand for different setups: In one network it is best to send mail to an \NAME{ISP} for relay. In another network it might be preferred to use a local mail server. A third network may have no Internet access at all, hence using a local mail server is required. All these different setups can be configured once and then used by simply telling the online state to \masqmail, even automatically within a network setup script.
meillo@391 165 \index{isp}
meillo@391 166 \index{notebook}
meillo@269 167 \end{description}
meillo@269 168
meillo@269 169
meillo@374 170 In general, all kinds of usage scenarios within a trusted network are possible. Important to notice is that mail can not be sent from outside into the trusted network then. For using \masqmail\ on notebooks it is suggested to only accept mail from local users because notebooks are often in untrusted environments.
meillo@391 171 \index{untrusted environments}
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meillo@257 175
meillo@257 176 \subsubsection*{Limitations}
meillo@391 177 \index{masqmail!limitations}
meillo@257 178
meillo@369 179 Although \masqmail\ is seen as a replacement for other general purpose \MTA{}s, it should not be used on large mail servers. The reasons are that it implements only a basic subset of features and that its performance and security is not as good as needed for such usage.
meillo@257 180
meillo@369 181 The author, \person{Kurth}, warns on the old project's website about using \masqmail\ to accept connections from the Internet because of the risk of being an open relay:
meillo@391 182 \index{open relay}
meillo@257 183
meillo@257 184 \begin{quote}
meillo@257 185 MasqMail is not designed to run on a host with a permanent internet connection. It does not have the ability to check for spam mail and it will relay everything from everywhere to everywhere. Use another mail server such as exim for permanent connections.
meillo@257 186 \hfill\citeweb{masqmail:homepage2}
meillo@92 187 \end{quote}
meillo@92 188
meillo@369 189 The actual problem is not the permanent Internet connection but listening for incoming mail on it. If a firewall is closed for incoming mail, then the permanent Internet connection is no problem. To use \masqmail\ for permanent Internet connections it needs to be secured with care.
meillo@391 190 \index{firewall}
meillo@160 191
meillo@392 192 The Internet is the common example for an untrusted network but other networks may be untrusted, too.
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meillo@245 204
meillo@245 205 \subsection{Features}
meillo@238 206
meillo@374 207 This thesis regards version 0.2.21 of \masqmail. This is the last version released by \person{Oliver Kurth}.
meillo@238 208
meillo@238 209
meillo@238 210 \subsubsection*{The source code}
meillo@238 211
meillo@369 212 \masqmail\ is written in the C programming language. The program, as of version 0.2.21, consists of 34 source code and eight header files which contain about 9\,000 lines of code\footnote{Measured with \name{sloccount} by David A.\ Wheeler \citeweb{sloccount}.}. Additionally, it includes a \name{base64} implementation (about 300 lines) and \name{md5} code (about 150 lines). For systems that do not provide \name{libident}, this library is distributed as well (circa 600 lines); an available shared library has higher precedence in linking, though.
meillo@391 213 \index{c}
meillo@391 214 \index{lines of code}
meillo@391 215 \index{base64}
meillo@391 216 \index{md5}
meillo@391 217 \index{libident}
meillo@238 218
meillo@238 219 The only mandatory dependency is \name{glib}---a cross-platform software utility library, originated in the \NAME{GTK+} project. It provides safe replacements for many standard library functions, especially for the string functions. It also offers handy data containers, easy-to-use implementations of data structures, and much more.
meillo@391 220 \index{glib}
meillo@391 221 \index{masqmail!dependencies}
meillo@238 222
meillo@369 223 Some parts of \masqmail's functionality can be included or excluded at compile time by defining symbols. To enable maildir support for example, one has to add \verb_--enable-maildir_ to the configure call. Otherwise the concerning code gets removed during preprocessing.
meillo@391 224 \index{exclude code}
meillo@391 225 \index{maildir}
meillo@260 226
meillo@369 227 With \masqmail\ comes the small tool \path{mservdetect}; it helps setting up a configuration that uses the \name{mserver} system for online state detection. Two other binaries get compiled for testing purposes: \path{readtest} and \path{smtpsend}. These three additional programs use parts of \masqmail's source code; they only add a file with a \verb+main()+ function each.
meillo@391 228 \index{mserver}
meillo@391 229 \index{test program}
meillo@238 230
meillo@238 231
meillo@238 232
meillo@238 233 \subsubsection*{Features}
meillo@238 234 \label{sec:masqmail-features}
meillo@238 235
meillo@369 236 \masqmail\ supports two channels for incoming mail:
meillo@391 237 \index{masqmail!incoming channels}
meillo@369 238
meillo@369 239 \begin{enumerate}
meillo@391 240 \item Standard input which is used when \path{masqmail} (or the \path{sendmail} link) is executed on the command line
meillo@391 241 \item A \NAME{TCP} socket which is used by local or remote clients that talk \SMTP
meillo@369 242 \end{enumerate}
meillo@391 243 \index{sendmail!command}
meillo@391 244 \index{tcp socket}
meillo@369 245
meillo@369 246 The outgoing channels for mail are:
meillo@369 247
meillo@369 248 \begin{enumerate}
meillo@391 249 \item Direct delivery to local mailboxes (in \name{mbox} or \name{maildir} format)
meillo@391 250 \item Local pipes to pass mail to a program (e.g.\ to \MDA{}s or to gateways to \NAME{UUCP} or fax)
meillo@391 251 \item \NAME{TCP} sockets to transfer mail to other \MTA{}s using the \SMTP\ protocol
meillo@369 252 \end{enumerate}
meillo@391 253 \index{tcp socket}
meillo@391 254 \index{local delivery}
meillo@391 255 \index{mbox}
meillo@391 256 \index{maildir}
meillo@391 257 \index{uucp}
meillo@391 258 \index{fax}
meillo@391 259 \index{gateway}
meillo@369 260
meillo@378 261 Figure~\ref{fig:masqmail-channels} shows this as a picture. (The ``online state'' input is explained a bit later.)
meillo@260 262
meillo@260 263 \begin{figure}
meillo@260 264 \begin{center}
meillo@397 265 \includegraphics[scale=0.75]{fig/masqmail-channels.eps}
meillo@260 266 \end{center}
meillo@260 267 \caption{Incoming and outgoing channels of \masqmail}
meillo@260 268 \label{fig:masqmail-channels}
meillo@391 269 \index{figure!incoming and outgoing channels of \masqmail}
meillo@260 270 \end{figure}
meillo@238 271
meillo@369 272 Outgoing \SMTP\ connections feature \SMTP-\NAME{AUTH} and \SMTP-after-\NAME{POP} authentication but incoming connections do not. Using wrappers for outgoing connections is supported. This allows encrypted communication through a gateway application like \name{openssl}.
meillo@391 273 \index{auth!smtp-auth}
meillo@391 274 \index{auth!smtp-after-pop}
meillo@238 275
meillo@369 276 Mail queuing is essential for \masqmail\ and thus supported of course, alias expansion is also supported.
meillo@391 277 \index{alias expansion}
meillo@238 278
meillo@400 279 The \masqmail\ executable can be called by various names for sendmail-com\-pa\-ti\-bi\-li\-ty reasons. As many programs expect the \MTA\ to be located at \path{/usr/lib/sendmail} or \path{/usr/sbin/sendmail}, symbolic links are pointing from there to the \masqmail\ executable. Furthermore does \sendmail\ support calling it with a different name instead of supplying command line arguments. The best known of these shortcuts is \path{mailq} which is equivalent to calling it with the argument \verb+-bq+. \masqmail\ recognizes the shortcuts \path{mailq}, \path{smtpd}, \path{mailrm}, \path{runq}, \path{rmail}, and \path{in.smtpd}. The first two are inspired by \sendmail. Not implemented yet is the shortcut \path{newaliases} because \masqmail\ does not generate binary representations of the alias file.\footnote{A shell script named \path{newaliases} that invokes \texttt{masqmail -bi} can provide the command to satisfy strict requirements.} \path{hoststat} and \path{purgestat} are missing for complete sendmail-compatibility.
meillo@391 280 \index{sendmail!compatibility}
meillo@391 281 \index{symbolic link}
meillo@391 282 \index{shortcuts}
meillo@238 283
meillo@391 284 Additional to the \MTA\ job, \masqmail\ also offers mail retrieval services by acting as a \NAME{POP3} client. It can fetch mail from different remote locations, also dependent on the active online connection. Such functionality is especially useful in a setup like \name{Scenario 2} on page~\pageref{scenario2}.
meillo@391 285 \index{pop3}
meillo@238 286
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meillo@238 288
meillo@370 289 \subsubsection*{Online detection and online routes}
meillo@245 290 \label{sec:masqmail-routes}
meillo@391 291 \index{masqmail!online routes}
meillo@238 292
meillo@275 293 \masqmail\ focuses on handling different non-permanent online connections, thus a concept of online routes is used. One may configure any number of routes to send mail. Each route can have criteria to determine if some message is allowed to be sent over it. Mail to destinations outside the local network gets queued until a suitable online connections is available.
meillo@391 294 \index{non-permanent}
meillo@260 295
meillo@370 296 The idea behind this concept is sending mail to the Internet through the mail server of the same \NAME{ISP} over which one had dialed in. It was quite common that \NAME{ISP}s accepted mail for relay only if it came from a online connection they managed. This means, it was not possible to relay mail through the mail server of one \NAME{ISP} while being online through the connection of another \NAME{ISP}. \masqmail\ is a solution to the wish of switching the relaying mail server easily.
meillo@391 297 \index{isp}
meillo@257 298
meillo@316 299 Related is \masqmail's ability to rewrite the sender's email address dependent on which \NAME{ISP} is used. This prevents mail from being likely classified as spam.
meillo@391 300 \index{spam}
meillo@257 301
meillo@369 302 To react on the different situations, \masqmail\ needs to query the current online state. Is an online connection available? And if it is: Which one? Three methods are implemented:
meillo@391 303 \index{online state}
meillo@238 304
meillo@369 305 \begin{enumerate}
meillo@391 306 \item Reading from a file
meillo@391 307 \item Reading the output of a command
meillo@391 308 \item Querying an \name{mserver} system
meillo@369 309 \end{enumerate}
meillo@391 310 \index{mserver}
meillo@238 311
meillo@374 312 Each method may return a string naming the route that is online or returning nothing to indicate offline state.
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meillo@369 315 Mail for hosts inside the local network or for users on the local machine is not touched by this concept; such mail is always sent immediately.
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meillo@370 324 \section{Why \masqmail\ is worth it}
meillo@391 325 \index{masqmail!reasons to revive}
meillo@245 326
meillo@369 327 First of all, \masqmail\ is better suited for its target field of operation (multiple non-permanent online connections) than every other \MTA. Especially is such usage easy to set up because \masqmail\ was designed for that. Many alternative \MTA{}s were not designed for those scenarios at all as the following two example show: ``Exim is designed for use on a network where most messages can be delivered at the first attempt.'' \cite[page~30]{hazel01}. ``qmail was designed for well-connected hosts: those with high-speed, always-on network connectivity.'' \cite[page9]{sill02}.
meillo@391 328 \index{non-permanent}
meillo@391 329 \index{qmail}
meillo@391 330 \index{exim}
meillo@369 331
meillo@369 332 %fixme: hikernet
meillo@245 333
meillo@396 334 Additionally does \masqmail\ make it easy to run an \MTA\ on workstations or notebooks. There is no need to do complex configuration or to be a mail server expert. Only a handful of options need to be set; the host name, the local networks, and one route for relaying are sufficient in most times.
meillo@391 335 \index{notebook}
meillo@245 336
meillo@369 337 Probably users say it best; in this case \person{Derek Broughton}:
meillo@391 338 \index{masqmail!users}
meillo@391 339
meillo@284 340 \begin{quote}
meillo@284 341 No kidding. The whole point is that you \_have\_ to have an \MTA\ and you don't
meillo@284 342 want to configure Postfix/Exim/Sendmail/Qmail (almost all of which I've
meillo@284 343 actually done).
meillo@284 344
meillo@369 345 I now use masqmail -- it's really simple, my configuration is all in debconf,
meillo@284 346 it's supported by whereami, and it's really simple :-)
meillo@284 347
meillo@284 348 I'm sure you can make any \MTA\ behave nicely when offline, but it was a chore
meillo@284 349 with all of them.
meillo@284 350 \hfill\citeweb[post~\#8]{ubuntuforums:simple-mailer}
meillo@284 351 \end{quote}
meillo@284 352
meillo@378 353 Not to forget \masqmail's size. \masqmail\ is much smaller than full-blown \MTA{}s like \sendmail, \postfix, or \exim, and still smaller than \qmail. (See section~\ref{sec:mta-comparison} for details.) This makes \masqmail\ a good choice for workstations or even embedded computers.
meillo@245 354
meillo@284 355 Again words of a user who chose \masqmail\ as \MTA\ on his old laptop with a 75 megahertz processor and eight megabytes of \NAME{RAM}:
meillo@391 356
meillo@284 357 \begin{quote}
meillo@284 358 Masqmail appears to be a great sendmail replacement in this case. It's small and is built to support sending mail ``off-line'', and to connecting to the \SMTP\ servers of several \NAME{ISP}s.
meillo@284 359 \hfill\citeweb{stosberg:low-mem-laptop}
meillo@284 360 \end{quote}
meillo@391 361 \index{isp}
meillo@391 362 \index{notebook}
meillo@92 363
meillo@92 364
meillo@92 365
meillo@370 366 Although the development on \masqmail\ has been stopped in 2003, \masqmail\ still has its users. Having users is already reason enough for further development and maintenance. This applies especially when the software covers a niche and when requirements for such software in general changed. Both is the case for \masqmail.
meillo@284 367
meillo@393 368 It is difficult to get numbers about users of Free Software because no one needs to tell anyone when he uses some software. \name{Debian}'s \name{popcon} statistics \citeweb{popcon.debian} are a try to provided numbers. For January 2009, the statistics report 60 \masqmail\ installations of which 49 are in active use. If it is assumed that one third of all \name{Debian} users report their installed software\footnote{One third is a high guess as it means there would be only about 230 thousand \name{Debian} installations in total. But according to the \name{Linux Counter} \citeweb{counter.li.org} between 490 thousand and 12 million \name{Debian} users can be estimated.}, there would be in total around 150 active \masqmail\ installations in \name{Debian}. \name{Ubuntu} which also does \name{popcon} statistics \citeweb{popcon.ubuntu}, counts 82 installations with 13 active ones. If here also one third of all systems submit their data, 40 active installations can be added. Including a guessed amount of additional 30 installations on other Unix operating systems makes about 220 \masqmail\ installations in total. Of course one person may have \masqmail\ installed on more than one computer, but a total of 150 different users seems to be realistic.
meillo@391 369 \index{debian!popcon}
meillo@391 370 \index{masqmail!users}
meillo@284 371
meillo@286 372 %The increasing number of systems using \masqmail, as it is shown on the \name{popcon} graph \citeweb{popcon.debian:masqmail}, seems to be impressive in the beginning as \masqmail\ was not developed during that time. But it might come from the increasing popularity of \name{popcon} over the time.
meillo@284 373
meillo@369 374 One thing became clear now: \masqmail\ has users. And software that is used should be developed and maintained.
meillo@92 375
meillo@92 376
meillo@275 377 % alternative: http://anfi.homeunix.org/sendmail/dialup10.html
meillo@96 378
meillo@275 379
meillo@175 380
meillo@96 381
meillo@96 382
meillo@245 383
meillo@245 384
meillo@245 385
meillo@245 386
meillo@92 387 \section{Problems to solve}
meillo@391 388 \index{masqmail!problems}
meillo@92 389
meillo@370 390 A program that is neglected for more than five years in a field of operation that changed during this time surely needs improvement. Security and spam have highly increased in importance since 2003. Dial-up connections became rare, instead broadband flat rates are common now. Other \MTA{}s evolved in respect to theses changes---\masqmail\ did not.
meillo@391 391 \index{dial-up connections}
meillo@96 392
meillo@369 393 The current market situation and trends for the future need to be identified. Looks at other \MTA{}s need to be taken. Required work on \masqmail\ needs to be defined in combination with the evaluation of strategies to do this work. And a plan for further development should be created.
meillo@96 394
meillo@96 395
meillo@245 396
meillo@245 397
meillo@245 398
meillo@245 399 \section{Delimitation}
meillo@96 400
meillo@369 401 This thesis is neither a installation guide for \masqmail\ nor a detailed explanation of \masqmail's source code. Installation and setup guides can be found on \masqmail's homepage \citeweb{masqmail:homepage}.
meillo@96 402
meillo@369 403 The \NAME{POP3} functionality of \masqmail\ receives few regard in this document because it is not directly related to the core of \masqmail\ which is being an \MTA.
meillo@391 404 \index{pop3}
meillo@96 405
meillo@369 406 The \name{mserver} system to query the online state is also only mentioned but not regarded further. It seems best to move this functionality into a separate program which is run through the shell command interface, anyway.
meillo@391 407 \index{mserver}
meillo@96 408
meillo@150 409
meillo@369 410