annotate thesis/tex/7-Summary.tex @ 358:bab625cdd64e
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meillo@marmaro.de |
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Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:36:53 +0100 |
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1 \chapter{Summary}
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3 This thesis is a comprehensive analysis of \masqmail. It followed a clear structure from the present to the future, from the problems to the requirements to proposed solutions, and from the general to the special.
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5 The reasons why it is worth to restart development on the project and the problems to solve were identified in the beginning. The the current and future market for electronic communication and email was analyzed to show that it is future-proof and to spot future needs. Afterwards the different types of \MTA{}s were classified and the most important alternatives to \masqmail\ were presented and compared.
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7 In the second half of the thesis, \masqmail\ stood in the focus. First the goal to reach with further development was defined, then the requirements to reach it were identified. The existing source code was compared against them to see which requirements are already fulfilled. The pending work tasks were ranked by their importance and the amount of work they involve, to receive a list of tasks ordered by the focus they should receive.
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9 The possible strategies to control further development---improve existing code or redesign and rewrite---were compared against each other on basis of the pending work tasks. They were additionally discussed by regarding various other influences. The final decision is a twofold aim: First improve the existing code to keep it usable for the next time. Second, design a new version of \masqmail\ with respect for the modern goals for \MTA{}s that were identified throughout the thesis.
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11 In the end more concrete plans for the improvements of the existing code were made and a suggestion for a new design for \masqmail\ is presented. The description of this new design leaves quite a few questions open; it is more a discussion on the topic with suggested solutions. Covering such a topic throughout would take at least a second diploma thesis or a master's thesis. More information needs to be collected and further studies of the situations in existing \MTA{}s need to be made.
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14 \subsubsection*{Outlook}
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16 Writing this thesis is not the end of my work on \masqmail\ but the beginning. The next important step is creating a community of people that are interested in reviving \masqmail's development. Then comes implementing the identified tasks together with this group of volunteers, and afterwards designing \masqmail\ new.
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18 Of course there are known, but unfixed, bugs in \masqmail. Those need to be closed.
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20 Documentation and ``marketing'' is important too. Especially end user documentation is needed and people who help to distribute the knowledge of \masqmail's existence and its advantages.
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22 \masqmail\ is valuable software---this thesis is a first effort to revive it---it will not be the last.
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27 %``This is the Unix philosophy: Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together. Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.'' Doug McIlroy (quoted in Peter H. Salus. A Quarter-Century of Unix. Addison-Wesley. 1994. ISBN 0-201-54777-5.)
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