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moved a figure to a different place
author meillo@marmaro.de
date Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:26:59 +0100
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1 \clearpage
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2 \chapter*{Preface}
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3 \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Preface}
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5 This thesis is about \masqmail, a small mail transfer agent for workstations and home networks. I chose \masqmail\ in October 2007 because of its small size while it is still a ``real'' mail transfer agent. \masqmail\ served me well since then and I found no reasons to change.
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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\ has had no critical bugs then, this was a situation I definately wanted to prevent.
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9 Using my diploma thesis as a ``power-start'' to maintaining and developing \masqmail\ in the future was a great idea. As it came to my mind, while lying in bed, I knew this is the thing I \emph{wanted} to do. --- I did it! :-)
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12 \vspace{3ex}
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13 %\subsubsection*{Goal of the document}
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15 The overall goal of this document is revive \masqmail\ in usage and development. \masqmail\ was not developed for over five years but the world of email changed during this time. Hence quite some work needs to be done.
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17 I chose to start down at the basis and analyse the environment and \masqmail\ throughoutly, to end in concrete plans of what should be done how to let \masqmail\ become a modern mail transfer agent again.
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19 The actual implementation of the the proposed changes goes beyond this thesis. Here are solutions described 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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22 \vspace{3ex}
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24 %\subsubsection*{Audience}
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26 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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28 However, at least basic knowledge about \unix\ and the C programming language is preconditioned for the chapters 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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34 %<< \textbf{say what you want to say} >>
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35 %
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36 %<< preface == target of the book, related to the reader >> %FIXME
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37 %
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38 %<< have text by Oliver here? >> %TODO
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42 %<< hikernet >>
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45 %how to get the masqmail source code
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54 \section*{Organization}
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56 This document is organized in six chapters. Each chapter 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 to build the second part upon. Chapter four and five are the central part of the thesis as they focus on \masqmail.
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58 Chapter 1 \textbf{introduces} \masqmail\ to the reader. It presents the properties, goals, advantages, and problems of the program. General knowledge about the email technology is also describes and later assumed to be know.
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60 Chapter 2 \textbf{analyses 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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62 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 presented and compared.
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64 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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66 Chapter 5 \textbf{describes improvement plans}, as defined in chapter four, in more detail. A proposed architecture for a redesigned \masqmail\ is presented too.
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68 Chapter 6 \textbf{summarizes} the most important results and closes the thesis.
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75 \section*{Conventions}
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76 %TODO: check it!
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77 The following typographic conventions are used in this thesis:
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79 \begin{enumerate}
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80 \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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82 \item For names of persons \textsc{Small Caps} are used.
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84 \item File and path names, source code excerpts, contents of files, and output from programs are displayed in \texttt{Typewriter font}.
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85 \end{enumerate}
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87 References to external resources are marked using one of three styles, distinguished by the type of resource.
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89 \begin{enumerate}
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90 \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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92 \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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94 \item \name{Request for Comments}---documents that define Internet standards---are referenced in a third way, by specifying the unique number of the \RFC\ directly: \RFC821.
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95 \end{enumerate}
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97 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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103 \section*{Acknowledgments}
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104 %FIXME: write this at the very end.
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105 % dont forget: proove readers, suggestion makers, supporters, ...