Mercurial > docs > master

comparison discussion.roff @ 223:1fa5a74bf138

Find changesets by keywords (author, files, the commit message), revision number or hash, or revset expression.
Reworked References structure: Collect them all in one Chapter. Have list of websites separately.
author markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de>
date Sun, 15 Jul 2012 19:16:35 +0200
parents 95257474a123
children b0e83cfde2bf
comparison
equal deleted inserted replaced
222:2427d1dadb57 223:1fa5a74bf138
73 Today, email is too complex to be fully covered by a single project. 73 Today, email is too complex to be fully covered by a single project.
74 Such a project will not be able to excel in all aspects. 74 Such a project will not be able to excel in all aspects.
75 Instead, the aspects of email should be covered by multiple projects, 75 Instead, the aspects of email should be covered by multiple projects,
76 which then can be combined to form a complete system. 76 which then can be combined to form a complete system.
77 Excellent implementations for the various aspects of email already exist. 77 Excellent implementations for the various aspects of email already exist.
78 Just to name three examples: Postfix 78 Just to name three examples: Postfix is a specialized MTA, Procmail
79 .[ 79 is a specialized MDA, and Fetchmail is a specialized MRA.
80 postfix website
81 .]
82 is a specialized MTA, Procmail
83 .[
84 procmail website
85 .]
86 is a specialized MDA, and Fetchmail
87 .[
88 fetchmail website
89 .]
90 is a specialized MRA.
91 I believe that it is best to use such specialized tools instead of 80 I believe that it is best to use such specialized tools instead of
92 providing the same function once more as a side component. 81 providing the same function once more as a side component.
93 .P 82 .P
94 Doing something well requires focusing on a small set of specific aspects. 83 Doing something well requires focusing on a small set of specific aspects.
95 Under the assumption that development which is focussed on a particular 84 Under the assumption that development which is focussed on a particular
124 The desire for this change initiated the creation of the mmh project. 113 The desire for this change initiated the creation of the mmh project.
125 .P 114 .P
126 Focusing on one mail agent role only, is motivated by Eric Allman's 115 Focusing on one mail agent role only, is motivated by Eric Allman's
127 experience with Sendmail. 116 experience with Sendmail.
128 He identified the limitation of Sendmail 117 He identified the limitation of Sendmail
129 .[
130 sendmail website
131 .]
132 to the MTA task as one reason for its success: 118 to the MTA task as one reason for its success:
133 .[ [ 119 .[ [
134 costales sendmail 120 costales sendmail
135 .], p. xviii] 121 .], p. xviii]
136 .QS 122 .QS
162 command, which almost any MSA provides. 148 command, which almost any MSA provides.
163 If not, a wrapper program can be written. 149 If not, a wrapper program can be written.
164 It must read the message from the standard input, extract the 150 It must read the message from the standard input, extract the
165 recipient addresses from the message header, and hand the message 151 recipient addresses from the message header, and hand the message
166 over to the MSA. 152 over to the MSA.
167 For example, a wrapper script for qmail 153 For example, a wrapper script for qmail would be:
168 .[
169 qmail website
170 .]
171 would be:
172 .VS 154 .VS
173 #!/bin/sh 155 #!/bin/sh
174 exec qmail-inject # ignore command line arguments 156 exec qmail-inject # ignore command line arguments
175 VE 157 VE
176 The requirement to parse the recipient addresses out of the message header 158 The requirement to parse the recipient addresses out of the message header
310 .P 292 .P
311 Users of MH should not have problems setting up an external MSA and MRA. 293 Users of MH should not have problems setting up an external MSA and MRA.
312 Also, the popular MSAs and MRAs have large communities and a lot 294 Also, the popular MSAs and MRAs have large communities and a lot
313 of available documentation. 295 of available documentation.
314 296
315 Choices for MSAs range from small forwarders such as 297 Choices for MSAs range from small forwarders such as \fIssmtp\fP and
316 .[ 298 \fInullmailer\fP, over mid-size MTAs including \fImasqmail\fP and
317 ssmtp website 299 \fIdma\fP, up to full-featured MTAs as for instance \fIPostfix\fP.
318 .] 300 MRAs are provided for example by \fIfetchmail\fP, \fIgetmail\fP,
319 and, 301 \fImpop\fP, and \fIfdm\fP.
320 .[
321 nullmailer website
322 .]
323 over mid-size MTAs including
324 .[
325 masqmail website
326 .]
327 and,
328 .[
329 dma dragonfly mail agent website
330 .]
331 up to full-featured MTAs as for instance.
332 .[
333 postfix website
334 .]
335 MRAs are provided for example by
336 .[ [
337 fetchmail website
338 .]
339 .[
340 getmail website
341 .]
342 .[
343 mpop website
344 .]
345 .[
346 fdm website
347 .]].
348 302
349 303
350 .H2 "Non-MUA Tools 304 .H2 "Non-MUA Tools
351 .P 305 .P
352 One goal of mmh is to remove the tools that do not significantly 306 One goal of mmh is to remove the tools that do not significantly
902 .P 856 .P
903 The configure option 857 The configure option
904 .Sw --disable-mhe 858 .Sw --disable-mhe
905 was removed when the MH-E support was reworked. 859 was removed when the MH-E support was reworked.
906 MH-E is the Emacs front-end to MH. 860 MH-E is the Emacs front-end to MH.
907 .[
908 mh-e emacs website
909 .]
910 It requires MH to provide minor additional functions. 861 It requires MH to provide minor additional functions.
911 The 862 The
912 .Sw --disable-mhe 863 .Sw --disable-mhe
913 configure option had switched off these extensions. 864 configure option had switched off these extensions.
914 After removing the support for old versions of MH-E, 865 After removing the support for old versions of MH-E,
2412 as they are part of the public domain. 2363 as they are part of the public domain.
2413 .P 2364 .P
2414 .Pn mhsign 2365 .Pn mhsign
2415 handles the signing and encrypting part. 2366 handles the signing and encrypting part.
2416 It comprises about 250 lines of shell code and interfaces between 2367 It comprises about 250 lines of shell code and interfaces between
2417 .Pn gnupg " 2368 .Pn gnupg
2418 .[
2419 gnupg website
2420 .]
2421 and the MH system. 2369 and the MH system.
2422 It was meant to be invoked manually at the WhatNow prompt, but in mmh, 2370 It was meant to be invoked manually at the WhatNow prompt, but in mmh,
2423 .Pn send 2371 .Pn send
2424 invokes 2372 invokes
2425 .Pn mhsign 2373 .Pn mhsign