annotate thesis/tex/4-MasqmailsFuture.tex @ 145:93a47593a493

changed order of mta stats cols; added subsection headings
author meillo@marmaro.de
date Mon, 15 Dec 2008 16:59:01 +0100
parents 1b0ba5151d1b
children 2c4673d983c3
Ignore whitespace changes - Everywhere: Within whitespace: At end of lines:
rev   line source
109
de590ff06051 changes suggested by schaeffter
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 99
diff changeset
1 \chapter{\masqmail's present and future}
93
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
2
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
3 \section{Existing code base}
142
1b0ba5151d1b person names in small caps
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 140
diff changeset
4 Here regarded is version 0.2.21 of \masqmail. This is the last version released by Oliver \person{Kurth}, and the basis for my thesis.
1b0ba5151d1b person names in small caps
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 140
diff changeset
5
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
6
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
7 \subsubsection*{Features}
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
8
142
1b0ba5151d1b person names in small caps
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 140
diff changeset
9 \masqmail\ accepts mail on the command line and via \SMTP. Mail queueing and alias expansion is supported. \masqmail\ is able to deliver mail to local mailboxes (in \name{mbox} or \name{maildir} format) or pass it to a \name{mail delivery agent} (like \name{procmail}). Mail destinated to remote locations is sent using \SMTP\ or can be piped to commands, being gatesways to \NAME{UUCP} or \NAME{FAX} for example.
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
10
142
1b0ba5151d1b person names in small caps
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 140
diff changeset
11 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 offers a two way communication through a wrapper application like \name{openssl}.
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
12 %todo: what about SSL/TLS encryption?
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
13
142
1b0ba5151d1b person names in small caps
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 140
diff changeset
14 \masqmail\ focuses on non-permanent online connections, thus a concept of online routes is used. One may configure any amount of routes to send mail. Each route can have criterias, like matching \texttt{From:} or \texttt{To:} headers, to determine if mail is allowed to be sent using it. Mail to destinations outside the local net gets queued until \masqmail\ is informed about the existance of a online connection.
1b0ba5151d1b person names in small caps
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 140
diff changeset
15
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
16 The \masqmail\ executable can be called under various names for sendmail-compatibility reasons. This is organized by symbolic links with different names pointing to the \masqmail\ executable. The \sendmail\ names are \path{/usr/lib/sendmail} and \path{/usr/sbin/sendmail} because many programs expect the \mta\ to be located there. Further more \sendmail\ supports calling it with a different name instead of supplying command line arguments. The best known of this shortcuts is \path{mailq}, which is equivilent to calling it with the argument \verb+-bq+. \masqmail\ recognizes the names \path{mailq}, \path{smtpd}, \path{mailrm}, \path{runq}, \path{rmail}, and \path{in.smtpd}. The first two are inspired by \sendmail. Not implemented is the name \path{newaliases} because \masqmail\ does not generate binary representations of the alias file.\footnote{A shell script located named \path{newaliases}, that invokes \texttt{masqmail -bi}, can provide the command to satisfy other software needing it.} \path{hoststat} and \path{purgestat} are missing for sendmail-compatibility.
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
17 %masqmail: mailq, mailrm, runq, rmail, smtpd/in.smtpd
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
18 %sendmail: hoststat, mailq, newaliases, purgestat, smtpd
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
19
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
20 Additional to the \mta\ job, \masqmail\ also offers mail retrieval services with being a \NAME{POP3} client. It can fetch mail from different remote locations, dependent on the active online route.
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
21
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
22
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
23
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
24 \subsubsection*{The code}
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
25
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
26 \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, containing about 9,000 lines of code\footnote{Measured with \name{sloccount} by David A.\ Wheeler.}. 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 however has higher precedence in linking.
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
27
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
28 The only mandatory dependency is \name{glib}---a cross-platform software utility library, originated in the \NAME{GTK+} project. It provides safer replacements for many standard library functions. It also offers handy data containers, easy-to-use implementations of data structures, and much more.
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
29
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
30
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
31 With \masqmail\ comes the small tool \path{mservdetect}; it helps setting up a configuration that uses the \name{mserver} system to detect the online state. Two other binaries get compiled for testing purposes: \path{readtest} and \path{smtpsend}. All three programms use \masqmail\ source code; they only add a file with a \verb+main()+ function each.
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
32
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
33
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
34 \masqmail\ does not provide an interface to plug in modules with additional functionality. There exists no add-on or module system. The code is only separated by function to the various source files. Some functional parts can be included or excluded by defining symbols. Adding maildir support at compile time, means giving the option \verb+--enable-maildir+ to the \path{configure} call. This preserves the concerning code to get removed by the preprocessor. Unfortunately the \verb+#ifdef+s are scattered through all the source, leading to a FIXME(holperig) code base.
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
35
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
36
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
37
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
38
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
39
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
40 \section{Directions to go}
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
41
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
42 << plans to get masqmail more popular again (if that is the goal) >>
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
43
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
44
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
45 \subsection{\masqmail\ in five years}
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
46
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
47 Now how could \masqmail\ be like in, say, five years?
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
48
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
49 << requirements >>
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
50
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
51 << which parts to do >>
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
52
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
53 << how to make masqmail future-safe >>
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
54
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
55 << how to advertise masqmail >>
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
56
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
57 << why is it worth to revive masqmail? >>
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
58
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
59
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
60 << short term goals --- long term goals >>
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
61
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
62 << concrete decisions based on results of the last 2 chapters >>
137
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
63
c60b164bfd3c rearranging of ch04
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 133
diff changeset
64
93
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
65
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
66
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
67 \subsection{Architecture}
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
68
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
69 << architecture diagram >>
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
70
129
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
71 (ssl) -> msg-in (local or remote protocol handlers) -> spam-filter (and more) -> queue -> msg-out (local-delivery by MDA, or remote-protocol-handlers) -> (ssl)
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
72
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
73 A design from scratch?
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
74
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
75 << what would be needed (effort) >>
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
76
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
77 << would one create it at all? >>
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
78
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
79 << should it be done? >>
132
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
80
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
81
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
82
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
83 \subsection{local mail delivery}
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
84 But for example delivery of mail to local users is \emph{not} what \mta{}s should care about, although most \MTA\ are able to deliver mail, and many do. (\name{mail delivery agents}, like \name{procmail} and \name{maildrop}, are the right programs for this job.)
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
85
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
86
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
87
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
88 \subsection{various protocols}
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
89 protocols like \NAME{SMTP} and \NAME{UUCP}, between which mail is transferred.\footnote{\sendmail{}'s initial purpose was moving mail between \NAME{UUCP}, \NAME{SMTP}, and \name{Berknet}.}
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
90
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
91
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
92
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
93
a83a29e10b10 new books
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 129
diff changeset
94
129
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
95
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
96 http://fanf.livejournal.com/50917.html %how not to design an mta - the sendmail command
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
97 http://fanf.livejournal.com/51349.html %how not to design an mta - partitioning for security
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
98 http://fanf.livejournal.com/61132.html %how not to design an mta - local delivery
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
99 http://fanf.livejournal.com/64941.html %how not to design an mta - spool file format
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
100 http://fanf.livejournal.com/65203.html %how not to design an mta - spool file logistics
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
101 http://fanf.livejournal.com/65911.html %how not to design an mta - more about log-structured MTA queues
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
102 http://fanf.livejournal.com/67297.html %how not to design an mta - more log-structured MTA queues
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
103 http://fanf.livejournal.com/70432.html %how not to design an mta - address verification
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
104 http://fanf.livejournal.com/72258.html %how not to design an mta - content scanning
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
105
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
106
5a122d28f1ca moved some comment lines
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 117
diff changeset
107
93
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
108
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
109
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
110
109
de590ff06051 changes suggested by schaeffter
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 99
diff changeset
111
93
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
112
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
113
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
114
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
115
99
d24fdd3d5990 added lots of comments and annotations about what to do
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 93
diff changeset
116
93
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
117
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
118
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
119
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
120 \section{Work to do}
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
121
140
002fd18820cc small changes
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 137
diff changeset
122 << which parts to take out and do within the thesis >>
93
a6f8a93abd64 new chapter 4 (split ch5); added lots of annotations
meillo@marmaro.de
parents:
diff changeset
123
133
653ff21b89be the last commit had a bad message better is:
meillo@marmaro.de
parents: 132
diff changeset
124