% chaos seminar talk about masqmail
%
% markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de>
% since 2009-02-24


\documentclass{beamer}

\title{masqmail}
\author{markus schnalke}
\date{2009-03-09}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{url}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\setlength{\parskip}{2.0ex plus 1.0ex minus 0.5ex}

\newcommand{\secframe}[1]{
	\section{#1}
	\frame{ \vfill\vfill \centerline{ \huge #1 } \vfill }
}

\newcommand{\ft}[1]{
	\frametitle{#1}
}


\begin{document}


\frame{

\vspace{8em}
\begin{center}

{\huge\bf masqmail}

a mail transfer agent for workstations and small networks

\vspace{6em}

{ \tiny
markus schnalke \textless{}meillo@marmaro.de\textgreater{}
}

\end{center}
}



\frame{ \ft{overview}

1) about me

2) about masqmail

3) short explanation of my thesis

4) further development of masqmail

}




\secframe{about me}


\frame{\ft{markus schnalke}

studied Business Information Systems

at University of Applied Sciences, Ulm

diploma thesis about masqmail

now Master at University, Ulm

}


\frame{\ft{I am interested in}

Free Software

Debian

suckless software

the Unix Philosophy

}






\secframe{about masqmail}



\frame{ \ft{what is masqmail}

a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA)

a small MTA

one for a special kind of setup

}


\frame{ \ft{masqmail's niche}

non-permanent online connections

over multiple providers

especially: workstations and small networks

}


\frame{ \ft{history}

written by Oliver Kurth

between 1999 and 2003

most likely for masqdialer-controlled ISDN connections

source of the name (``masq\dots'')

}


\frame{ \ft{masqmail today}

development stopped in 2003

not maintained

even its website is down

but included in Debian, Ubuntu, Arch, FreeBSD

}


\frame{ \ft{value of masqmail}

covers a niche

has unique features

has users!

}


\frame{ \ft{problems of masqmail}

no further development

unfixed bugs

emailing has changed

}




\frame{\ft{masqmail and me}

Fall 2007: started to use masqmail

Spring 2008: realized it is unmaintained in Debian

A situation to be changed ... but by whom? ... me?

No!

}


\frame{\ft{diploma thesis}

Summer 2008:

problem: find a diploma thesis topic

The great idea: solve 2 problems

use the diploma thesis to revive masqmail

}


\frame{\ft{guiding principle}

\begin{center}
	\it
	Do what you think is interesting,\\
	do something that you think is fun and worthwhile,\\
	because otherwise you won't do it well anyway.

	---Brian~W.\ Kernighan---
\end{center}

}


\frame{\ft{advising professor}

Prof. Sch\"affter

thanks!

}




\secframe{the thesis}



\frame{ \ft{ch01: introduction}

general prerequisites

the masqmail project

value and problems of masqmail

\textbf{$\Rightarrow$ reasons for this thesis}

}



\frame{ \ft{ch02: market analysis}

classification, life cycle, and trends of electronic communication

SWOT and trends for email

\textbf{$\Rightarrow$ show that email will survive}

}


\frame{ \ft{ch03: mail transfer agents}

classification of MTAs

masqmail's competitors

short comparison

\textbf{$\Rightarrow$ provide knowledge for next chapters}

}




\frame{ \ft{ch04: masqmail's present and future}

the goal (revive masqmail)

requirements

\quad\quad fulfilled requirements

\quad\quad work to do

ways for further development

result

\textbf{$\Rightarrow$ the core of the thesis: how to revive masqmail}

}



\frame{ \ft{digression: the result}

``one fits all'' is not possible

hence: different strategies for different goals

short-term goal: keep masqmail usable\\
\quad\quad$\rightarrow$ improve existing code

long-term goal: make masqmail future-proof\\
\quad\quad$\rightarrow$ recreate it from scratch

disadvantage: more work

}


\frame{ \ft{ch05: improvement plans}

improvements of current code

a new design

\textbf{$\Rightarrow$ recommendations how to do the proposed changes}

}




















\frame{
	\vfill\vfill
	\centerline{\textbf{Thanks for your attention}}
	\vfill
}



\frame{ \ft{software used}

Debian GNU/Linux

\LaTeX\ with the beamer classes

Vim, latexmk, and Mercurial

\vfill

{\scriptsize The slides are available on \url{http://marmaro.de/docs} \hfill 2009-03-09 }

}




\end{document}





\url{http://ulm.ccc.de/ChaosSeminar/2009/03_masqmail}
