docs/diploma

annotate thesis/tex/0-preface.tex @ 358:bab625cdd64e

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author meillo@marmaro.de
date Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:36:53 +0100
parents 1bee308d0f1c
children 0850f0a9dbb3
rev   line source
meillo@274 1 \clearpage
meillo@8 2 \chapter*{Preface}
meillo@98 3 \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Preface}
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meillo@356 5 This thesis is about \masqmail, a small mail transfer agent for workstations and home networks. In October 2007 I chose \masqmail\ for my machines because it is a small but ``real'' mail transfer agent. \masqmail\ served me well since then and I found no reasons to change.
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meillo@358 7 Unfortunately, the \masqmail\ package in \debian, which is my preferred \NAME{GNU}/Linux distribution, is unmaintained since the beginning of 2008. Unmaintained packages with critical bugs are likely to get dropped out of a distribution. Although \masqmail\ had no critical bugs, this was a situation I definitely wanted to prevent.
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meillo@356 9 Using my diploma thesis as a ``power-start'' for maintaining and developing \masqmail\ in the future was a great idea. As it came to my mind I knew this is the thing I \emph{wanted} to do. --- I did it! :-)
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meillo@356 12 \quad
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meillo@356 14 The overall goal of this document is to revive \masqmail\ in usage and development. \masqmail\ was not developed in the last five years, but the world of email changed during this time. Hence quite some work needed to be done.
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meillo@358 16 I chose to start down at the basis and analyze the environment and \masqmail\ throughout to end in concrete plans of what should be done and how it should be done to turn \masqmail\ into a modern mail transfer agent again.
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meillo@356 18 The actual implementation of the the proposed changes goes beyond this thesis. Here are solutions identified, described, discussed, and recommended but not implemented. I did work in the code and have fix bugs during the time I wrote on the thesis, though.
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meillo@356 21 \quad
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meillo@352 23 This document is primary written with an audience of \masqmail\ developers or developers of other mail transfer agents in mind. But users of \masqmail\ and everyone who is interested in email systems in general may find this thesis an interesting literature.
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meillo@356 25 However, at least basic knowledge about \unix\ and C programming is preconditioned in chapter three, four, and five. The required knowledge about \unix\ can be gained from \person{Kernighan} and \person{Pike}'s ``The \NAME{UNIX} Programming Environment'' \cite{kernighan84}. Programming in the C language is best learned from \person{Kernighan} and \person{Ritchie}'s ``The C Programming Language'' \cite{k&r}.
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meillo@356 32 %fixme: << hikernet >>
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meillo@356 35 %fixme: how to get the masqmail source code
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meillo@316 44 \section*{Organization}
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meillo@356 46 Six chapters structure the document. Each one covers a delimited part of the overall topic and builds upon the knowledge and results of the previous ones. The first three chapters lead into the topic and create a solid base where the second part builds upon. Chapter four and five are the central part of the thesis as they focus on \masqmail.
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meillo@356 48 Chapter 1 \textbf{introduces} \masqmail\ to the reader. It presents the properties, goals, advantages, and problems of the program. Basic concepts of the email technology are also described and later assumed to be know.
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meillo@358 50 Chapter 2 \textbf{analyzes the market} of electronic communication and email. This chapter provides a secure basis by showing that email will remain an important technology in the future. It tries to identify future trends too.
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meillo@356 52 Chapter 3 \textbf{deals with mail transfer agents} (\MTA{}s) which are the most important entities of the email transport structure. \MTA{}s are defined, classified, and important ones are presented and compared.
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meillo@352 54 Chapter 4 \textbf{focuses on \masqmail's present and future}. It is the core of the thesis. Requirements are identified and lead to a list of pending work tasks. Then possible strategies for future development are discussed.
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meillo@356 56 Chapter 5 \textbf{describes improvement plans}, which are based on decisions in chapter four, in more detail. A proposed architecture for a redesigned \masqmail\ is presented too.
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meillo@352 58 Chapter 6 \textbf{summarizes} the most important results and closes the thesis.
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meillo@280 65 \section*{Conventions}
meillo@302 66 %TODO: check it!
meillo@280 67 The following typographic conventions are used in this thesis:
meillo@150 68
meillo@304 69 \begin{enumerate}
meillo@316 70 \item \emph{Italic shape} is used to emphasize text, to introduce new terms, and for names, including product, host, and user names, as well as email addresses.
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meillo@304 72 \item For names of persons \textsc{Small Caps} are used.
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meillo@356 74 \item File and path names, contents of files, and output from programs are displayed in \texttt{Typewriter font}.
meillo@304 75 \end{enumerate}
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meillo@302 77 References to external resources are marked using one of three styles, distinguished by the type of resource.
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meillo@302 79 \begin{enumerate}
meillo@316 80 \item References to books, articles, and similar documents looks like this: \cite{kernighan84}. The letters represent the author(s) (here \person{Kernighan} and \person{Pike}), the number represents the year of publication (here 1984).
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meillo@302 82 \item Websites differ from documents as they are less of a text written by some author but more a place where information is gathered. They are only indicated by numbers, like for example: \citeweb{masqmail:homepage}.
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meillo@356 84 \item \name{Request for Comments}---the documents that define the Internet---are referenced in a third way, by specifying the unique number of the \RFC\ directly: \RFC821.
meillo@302 85 \end{enumerate}
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meillo@302 87 The Bibliography is located at the end of the thesis. It also includes a list of the relevant \RFC{}s and how they can be retrieved.
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meillo@98 93 \section*{Acknowledgments}
meillo@33 94 %FIXME: write this at the very end.
meillo@33 95 % dont forget: proove readers, suggestion makers, supporters, ...
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meillo@356 101 \vspace{12ex}
meillo@356 102 { \it
meillo@356 103 \hspace*{23em}markus schnalke\\
meillo@356 104 \hspace*{23em}February 2009
meillo@356 105 }