docs/diploma
diff thesis/tex/1-Introduction.tex @ 96:8db526d7a678
reorganized preface and introduction (feels better now)
author | meillo@marmaro.de |
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date | Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:29:59 +0100 |
parents | a6f8a93abd64 |
children | e3987669b64b |
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1.1 --- a/thesis/tex/1-Introduction.tex Sun Nov 16 15:29:30 2008 +0100 1.2 +++ b/thesis/tex/1-Introduction.tex Sun Nov 16 15:29:59 2008 +0100 1.3 @@ -1,108 +1,19 @@ 1.4 \chapter{Introduction} 1.5 \label{chap:introduction} 1.6 1.7 -% say what you want to say 1.8 +<< say what you want to say >> 1.9 1.10 - 1.11 -\section{Transporting mail} 1.12 - 1.13 - 1.14 -\subsection{History of electronic mail} 1.15 -%FIXME: shorter!!! 1.16 -%TODO: have a quote from Bell Labs about email here 1.17 - 1.18 -Electronic mail\index{electronic mail} (short: \name{email})\citeweb{wikipedia:email} is a basic concept in \unix.\citeweb{unix-mail-intro} On \unix\ machines, a lot of information is distributed by \name{system mail}, which is email sent by the operating system. Beside that, email is the common communication system between humans working on computers. 1.19 - 1.20 -The \unix\ operating system supports email through the \name{mail user agent} (short: \NAME{MUA}) \name{/bin/mail}. 1.21 - 1.22 -Development of \unix\ was not only made in the \name{Bell Labratories} of \NAME{AT\&T}. The \name{Univerity of California at Berkeley} worked on their version of a \unix\ operating system, too. It is refered to as \NAME{UCB} \unix, or \name{Berkeley} \unix\index{Berkeley Unix}. 1.23 - 1.24 -The few features of \name{/bin/mail} lead to a second \NAME{MUA} from Berkeley: \name{Mail} (with a capital `M'). Later, the superior functionality of \name{Mail} went back to \name{Bell Labs} and into the program \name{mailx}, the successor of \name{/bin/mail}. 1.25 - 1.26 -Nowadays, \name{mailx} and \name{Mail} are quite equivalent and \name{/bin/mail} is linked to either of them---whichever is installed. 1.27 - 1.28 -At that time, computers were connected by various kinds of networks. \name{Bell Labs} had invented the \NAME{UUCP} program and protocol suite (for ``\unix\ to \unix\ copy'')\citeweb{wikipedia:uucp}. Berkeley however had an own creation called \name{Berknet} in use. And the \name{United States Department of Defence Advanded Research Projects Agency}'s (\NAME{ARPA}) effort on designing a new wide area network, led to the \NAME{ARPANET}\citeweb{wikipedia:arpanet}, based on the \name{transmission control protocol} (\NAME{TCP}). There were also other, minor, kinds of networks in use. 1.29 - 1.30 -Email was transfered between different machines within the same networks. The file transfer itself was made uniformly using \NAME{FTP}, but the higher layered logic of the transfer was different. For example was addressing done different: \NAME{UUCP} used a flat-style schema, while \NAME{ARPANET}'s was hierachical. 1.31 - 1.32 -Mail transport from one machine connected to one kind of network to a second machine connected to another was a problem. This showed up at Berkeley where some departments of the university had switched to \NAME{ARPANET}, and some to \NAME{UUCP}, while the rest used \name{Berknet}. 1.33 - 1.34 -It was around 1982, when Eric Allman, then a student at Berkeley, wrote \name{delivermail}. Its purpose was to transform email from one network to another. \name{delivermail}, like its successor---the more flexible \sendmail---intermediated between the different networks. They were able to transform email messages from any network to any other. 1.35 - 1.36 -Todays email structure is basicly the same as then. The major difference is the uniformity of the underlying network, which is nearly always the \NAME{ARPANET}-based \name{Internet}. Hence lowering the importance of the transformation capabilities of \MTA{}s, that was essential to \sendmail's success---yet being the primary motivation for the program. 1.37 - 1.38 -More information about the history of electronic mail can be found at: \citeweb{email:griffiths}, \citeweb{email:crocker}, \citeweb{email:vleck}, \citeweb{email:akkad}, \citeweb{email:murakami}, and \citeweb{email:tomlinson}. A good starting point for general information on internet history is \citeweb{wikipedia:historyoftheinternet}. 1.39 -%TODO: check the websites which ones are the important ones; remove unnessesary ones 1.40 - 1.41 - 1.42 - 1.43 -\subsection{Definition of \MTA} 1.44 -%FIXME: better title; work text over! 1.45 -%TODO: when was the term ``mail transfer agent'' established? 1.46 - 1.47 -This thesis is about a \name{mail transfer agent} (or \index{mail transport agent|see{mail transfer agent}}\name{mail transport agent}, short \NAME{MTA}): \masqmail. \sendmail\ is one too---the most important one. 1.48 - 1.49 -The basic job of a \mta\ is to transfer/transport electronic mail from one host to another. 1.50 - 1.51 -Here are definitions from others: 1.52 - 1.53 -\begin{quote} 1.54 -A mail transfer agent (MTA) is a highly specialized program that delivers mail and transports it between machines, like the post office. 1.55 -\cite{costales97} 1.56 -\end{quote} 1.57 - 1.58 -\begin{quote} 1.59 -A mail transfer agent (MTA) (also called a mail transport agent, message transfer agent, or smtpd (short for SMTP daemon)), is a computer program or software agent that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another. 1.60 -\citeweb{wikipedia:mta} 1.61 -\end{quote} 1.62 - 1.63 -\begin{quote} 1.64 -mail server (also known as a mail transfer agent or MTA, a mail transport agent, a mail router or an Internet mailer) is an application that receives incoming e-mail from local users (people within the same domain) and remote senders and forwards outgoing e-mail for delivery. 1.65 -\citeweb{website:techtarget} 1.66 -\end{quote} 1.67 - 1.68 -\begin{quote} 1.69 -Message Transfer Agent - (MTA, Mail Transfer Agent): Any program responsible for delivering e-mail messages. Upon receiving a message from a Mail User Agent or another MTA, [...] it [...] delivers it to any local addressees and/or forwards it to other remote MTAs (routing) for delivery to remote recipients. 1.70 -%Any program responsible for delivering e-mail messages. Upon receiving a message from a Mail User Agent or another MTA, often by SMTP over the Internet, it stores it temporarily locally and analyses the recipients and delivers it to any local addressees and/or forwards it to other remote MTAs (routing) for delivery to remote recipients. In either case it may edit and/or add to the message headers. 1.71 -% 1.72 -%The most widely used MTA for Unix is sendmail, which communicates using SMTP. 1.73 -% 1.74 -%RFC 2821 (SMTP) expands MTA as ``Mail Transfer Agent'' though this is less common. Alternatives with ``Transport'' are also seen but less correct. 1.75 -\citeweb{website:thefreedictionary} 1.76 -\end{quote} 1.77 - 1.78 -Common is the transfer of mail to other machines; this is the actual job. \MTA{}s work with mail, received from local users and/or remote machines. Mail delivery however is \emph{not} what \mta{}s are for, although probably every \MTA\ is able to deliver mail, and many do. \name{mail delivery agents} (short: \NAME{MDA}) are the programs for this job. Two of the best known \NAME{MDA}s are \name{procmail} and \name{maildrop}. 1.79 - 1.80 - 1.81 - 1.82 -\subsection{\name{sendmail-compatibility}} 1.83 -\label{sec:sendmail} 1.84 -%FIXME: rewrite! 1.85 - 1.86 -Allman wrote it to transfer emails between different networks, thus giving \sendmail\ mighty address rewriting abilities. In contrast to its predecessor \name{delivermail}, was \sendmail\ designed to offer greatest flexiblity in configuration; this enabled it to deal with any type of network. 1.87 - 1.88 -\sendmail\ was, and still is, very successful. So successful that it stands, like no other, for the whole group of \MTA{}s: \name{sendmail} actually is the \emph{de facto standard} for \mta{}s. 1.89 - 1.90 -Its author, Allman, sees three reasons for the huge success: the ``sloopy'' approach (accepting badly formed messages); its focus on the routing function; and the flexible configuration (this was important in \sendmail's early days). 1.91 -\cite[page xviii]{costales97} 1.92 - 1.93 -Others see \sendmail's success more critical. One of them is quoted in the \name{MMDF} FAQs \citeweb{faqs:mmdf}: 1.94 -\begin{quote} 1.95 -Sendmail was once compared by one old Internet hand to ``those killer bees that escaped from the laboratory---and now they're everywhere and you can't get rid of 'em''. 1.96 -\end{quote} 1.97 -He definately hints here at \sendmail's many security vulnerabilities that came to light and on its complexity, in particular its obscure configuration file \path{sendmail.cf}. 1.98 - 1.99 -No matter how \sendmail\ is seen, one must admit its influence on \unix\ emailing programs. Most existing substitutes mimic \sendmail's interface and behavior. Most notable, they create a symbolic link named ``sendmail'' pointing to their own executable. The reason herefor are the many programs assuming an executable called ``sendmail'' on every computer system existing. 1.100 - 1.101 -\sendmail\ is not only ported to many platforms, even including \name{Microsoft Windows}, but also it is still the prefered \MTA\ on many systems. 1.102 - 1.103 -For deeper knowledge on \sendmail's history, see \cite{costales97} and \cite{vixie01}. 1.104 - 1.105 +<< the overall goal of the book >> 1.106 1.107 1.108 1.109 \section{The \masqmail\ project} 1.110 -%FIXME: explain why masqmail is old and why it is interesting/important however! 1.111 + 1.112 +<< about masqmail (some history) >> 1.113 + 1.114 +(include history of email, definition of MTA and sendmail-compatibility in text) 1.115 + 1.116 + 1.117 1.118 \subsubsection{Target field} 1.119 Its original author, Oliver Kurth, sees \masqmail\ so: 1.120 @@ -143,14 +54,62 @@ 1.121 1.122 Workstations use %FIXME 1.123 1.124 - 1.125 -\subsubsection{Alternatives?} 1.126 +\textbf{Alternatives?} 1.127 % http://anfi.homeunix.org/sendmail/dialup10.html 1.128 1.129 1.130 1.131 +<< explain why masqmail is old and why it is interesting/important however! >> %FIXME 1.132 + 1.133 + 1.134 + 1.135 \section{Problems to solve} 1.136 -%FIXME: what problems has masqmail? 1.137 -%FIXME: what's the intention of this document? 1.138 -%FIXME: why is it worth the effort? 1.139 1.140 +<< what problems has masqmail? >> %FIXME 1.141 + 1.142 +<< what's the intention of this document? >> %FIXME 1.143 + 1.144 +<< why is it worth the effort? >> %FIXME 1.145 + 1.146 + 1.147 + 1.148 + 1.149 +\section{How to read the book} 1.150 + 1.151 +\subsubsection*{Conventions used} 1.152 +%TODO: check if this tells what is really used! 1.153 +%FIXME: make it complete! 1.154 +%FIXME: remove everything not needed. Maybe write only a few sentences text. 1.155 +The following typographic conventions are used in this book: 1.156 + 1.157 +\begin{tabular}{ p{0.15\textwidth} p{0.8\textwidth} } 1.158 +\emph{Italic} & 1.159 +is used for names, including command names, file name, hostnames, usernames and email addresses. 1.160 +Further more it is used to emphasize text. 1.161 +\\ &\\ 1.162 + 1.163 +\texttt{Constant Width} & 1.164 +is used for source code, contents of files and output from programs. 1.165 +\\ &\\ 1.166 + 1.167 +\texttt{\$} & 1.168 +indicates the the user shell prompt. 1.169 +\\ &\\ 1.170 + 1.171 +\texttt{\#} & 1.172 +indicates the the root shell prompt. 1.173 +\\ 1.174 +\end{tabular} 1.175 + 1.176 + 1.177 + 1.178 + 1.179 +\section{Further reading} 1.180 + 1.181 +<< specify the really important external documents here >> %FIXME 1.182 + 1.183 +<< write about the bundled CD, and tell what's included >> %FIXME 1.184 + 1.185 +\NAME{RFC}s, other books, source code, websites 1.186 + 1.187 +