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annotate thesis/tex/1-Candidates.tex @ 54:da11c1b9e8cb
splitted bib into 2 parts: books and web (using multibib)
| author | meillo@marmaro.de |
|---|---|
| date | Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:53:19 +0200 |
| parents | 92e59ffe2388 |
| children | 1412d283624a |
| rev | line source |
|---|---|
| 31 | 1 \chapter{\unix\ \MTA{}s} |
| 27 | 2 |
| 44 | 3 This chapter introduces a group of \mta{}s. |
| 4 These will be presented to the reader in a short overview and with the most important facts. | |
| 5 The next chapter will show a comparison of the candidates in several disciplines. | |
| 28 | 6 |
| 27 | 7 |
| 28 | 8 \section{Types of \MTA{}s} |
| 44 | 9 ``Mail transfer agent'' is a term covering a variety of programs. |
| 10 One thing is common to them: they transport email from one \emph{thing} to another. | |
| 11 These \emph{things} can be hosts, meaning independent machines, or protocols like \NAME{SMTP} and \NAME{UUCP}, between which mail is transfered.\footnote{\sendmail{}'s initial purpose was moving mail between \NAME{UUCP}, \name{Berknet} and \NAME{SMTP}.} | |
| 28 | 12 |
| 44 | 13 Beside this common property, \MTA{}s can be very different. |
| 14 Some of them have \NAME{POP3} and/or \NAME{IMAP} servers included. | |
| 15 Some can fetch mails through these protocols. | |
| 16 Others have have every feature you can think of. | |
| 17 And maybe there are some that do nothing else, but transporting email. | |
| 28 | 18 |
| 31 | 19 |
| 28 | 20 \section{The ones not regarded here} |
| 44 | 21 The candidates for the competition in the next chapter are a subset of the \MTA{}s available. |
| 22 Comparision between totally different programs (apart of one function) makes not much sense. | |
| 23 One would not use a program for a job it is not suited for. | |
| 24 Therefor \mta{}s that are rarely similar to \masqmail\ are not regarded. | |
| 27 | 25 |
| 44 | 26 The first group of programs to sort out are the so called \name{groupware} programs. |
| 27 These provide a whole lot of functions, including mail transfer, file storage, calendars, resource management, instant messaging and more. | |
|
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28 Examples for this kind of programs are: \name{Lotus Notes}, \name{Microsoft Exchange}, \name{OpenGroupware.org} and \name{eGroupWare}. |
| 27 | 29 |
|
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30 The second group are the \name{relay-only} \MTA{}s. |
| 44 | 31 They transfer mail only to defined \name{smart hosts}\index{smart host}\footnote{\MTA{}s that receives email and route it to the actual destination}. |
| 32 Most \MTA{}s can be configured to act as such a forwarder. | |
| 33 But this is normally an additional functionality. | |
| 28 | 34 Examples for that group are: \name{nullmailer}, \name{ssmtp} and \name{esmtp}. |
| 35 | |
| 44 | 36 Third, only \emph{sendmail-compatible} \MTA{}s will be regarded in the competition. |
| 37 Hence all \MTA{}s not having a \emph{sendmail-compatible} interface or not offering it as a compatibility addon, will not be covered here. | |
| 38 The reason is the heavy reliance of \unix\ systems on the existance of a programs called \path{sendmail}. | |
| 39 This has historical reasons. See section \ref{sec:sendmail} for further information. | |
| 40 | |
| 41 Further more, only programs with source code available are regarded. %FIXME: why | |
| 27 | 42 |
| 43 | |
|
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44 \section{The competitors} |
| 28 | 45 The programs remaining are \emph{sendmail-compatible} ``smart'' \MTA{}s that do not offer masses of features unrelated to mail transport. |
| 27 | 46 |
| 44 | 47 For the comparision, five programs of this group are taken. |
| 48 These are: \sendmail, \name{qmail}, \name{postfix}, \name{exim} and \masqmail. | |
| 49 The four alternatives to \masqmail\ are the most important representatives of the regarded group. | |
| 50 %TODO: what about having one program as ``outsider'' ...? | |
| 51 | |
| 52 Other, but not covered, group members are: %FIXME: are these all MTAs of that group? why these and not others? | |
| 53 %TODO: what about `courir-mta'? | |
| 27 | 54 |
| 28 | 55 Here follows a small introduction to each of the five. |
| 27 | 56 |
| 28 | 57 \subsection{\sendmail} |
| 31 | 58 %TODO: author, date of first release, basic intention of program, ... |
| 59 %TODO: references to various descriptions | |
| 28 | 60 |
| 61 \subsection{\name{qmail}} | |
| 31 | 62 %TODO: author, date of first release, basic intention of program, ... |
| 63 %TODO: references to various descriptions | |
| 27 | 64 |
| 28 | 65 \subsection{\name{postfix}} |
| 31 | 66 %TODO: author, date of first release, basic intention of program, ... |
| 67 %TODO: references to various descriptions | |
| 27 | 68 |
| 28 | 69 \subsection{\name{exim}} |
| 31 | 70 %TODO: author, date of first release, basic intention of program, ... |
| 71 %TODO: references to various descriptions | |
| 28 | 72 |
| 73 \subsection{\masqmail} | |
| 44 | 74 The \masqmail\ program was written by Oliver Kurth, starting in 1999. |
| 75 His aim was to create a \mta\ which is especially focused on computers with dial-up connections to the internet. | |
| 76 \masqmail\ handles situations which are rarely solveable with the common \MTA{}s. | |
| 31 | 77 %TODO: references to various descriptions |
| 27 | 78 |
| 79 |