masqmail

annotate README @ 214:ecd8d737d78e

removed the old manual because it is really outdated now In masqmail's 0.3 branch, so much changed that the old manual causes more harm than it improves the distribution. Most content is covered by the man pages anyway. You'll still find the old manual on masqmail's homepage.
author meillo@marmaro.de
date Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:06:08 +0200
parents 89467037cb36
children 5a93bdc261ba
rev   line source
meillo@67 1 Masqmail README
meillo@67 2 ===============
meillo@0 3
meillo@67 4 Masqmail is a mail server designed for hosts that are not permanently
meillo@0 5 connected to the internet. It handles outgoing messages, i.e. those
meillo@0 6 that are to be sent over the non-permanent link (usually a ppp or slip
meillo@0 7 connection over a modem or ISDN adapter) specially and delivers them
meillo@0 8 only when explicitely told to do so. There is support for multiple
meillo@0 9 providers, it is possible to write different configurations for each
meillo@0 10 one. The configuration chosen is selected at delivery time, so that if
meillo@0 11 for example a delivery of a message failed while connected with
meillo@0 12 provider 1, it may be delivered when connected to provider 2. For each
meillo@0 13 provider another mail host (or none) can be specified.
meillo@0 14
meillo@67 15 Masqmail provides (a yet simple) mechanism to rewrite headers, also
meillo@0 16 depending on the current connection. This makes it possible to deliver
meillo@0 17 messages with a return address on the local network which will be
meillo@0 18 rewitten at delivery time. The purpose of this is:
meillo@0 19
meillo@0 20 - to allow delivery failure messages that are produced on the local
meillo@0 21 network to be delivered immediately, while those that are produced
meillo@0 22 outside can be delivered to a mailbox on the internet, to be retrieved
meillo@0 23 later.
meillo@0 24
meillo@0 25 - to give mail servers a return address which they can accept if they
meillo@0 26 check for spam mail. Many mail servers require a return address which
meillo@0 27 has the same domain as the server it is getting the message from. If
meillo@0 28 you normally connect to only one provider, this is usually not a
meillo@0 29 problem as you can configure your mailer to a fixed address (but then
meillo@0 30 there is still the problem with the failure messages...), but it is a
meillo@0 31 problem if you use different ones from time to time.
meillo@0 32
meillo@67 33 Masqmail shall once be a complete replacement for sendmail (or other
meillo@0 34 MTAs such as exim, qmail or smail) on a local network, but it is NOT
meillo@0 35 supposed to be installed in a network with a permanent internet
meillo@0 36 connection (at least if it is not behind a secure firewall) because
meillo@0 37 it has no ability to check for undesired relaying or spam filtering.
meillo@0 38
meillo@0 39
meillo@67 40 Masqmail's website is:
meillo@0 41
meillo@67 42 http://marmaro.de/prog/masqmail
meillo@0 43
meillo@67 44 The email address of it's mailing list is:
meillo@67 45
meillo@67 46 <masqmail@marmaro.de>
meillo@67 47
meillo@67 48 To subscribe yourself to the list, send a mail with the subject
meillo@67 49 ``subscribe masqmail'' to <minimalist@marmaro.de>. The mailing list
meillo@67 50 archive is accessible at: http://lists.marmaro.de/masqmail/ . If you
meillo@67 51 have any problems, contact me: markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de>.
meillo@67 52
meillo@67 53
meillo@67 54 INSTALLATION
meillo@67 55 ------------
meillo@0 56
meillo@0 57 For installation instructions, see INSTALL.
meillo@0 58
meillo@0 59
meillo@67 60 BUGS
meillo@67 61 ----
meillo@67 62
meillo@67 63 There are probably a lot of bugs in masqmail. Please report any one you
meillo@67 64 discover to me. The more bug reports I get, the better masqmail will
meillo@67 65 get.
meillo@67 66
meillo@67 67 See docs/howto-report-bugs for detailed instructions.
meillo@67 68
meillo@67 69
meillo@67 70 CREDITS
meillo@67 71 -------
meillo@0 72
meillo@0 73 I would like to thank everyone who has submitted suggestions and bug
meillo@196 74 reports.
meillo@0 75
meillo@196 76 See THANKS.
meillo@67 77
meillo@67 78
meillo@67 79
meillo@67 80 This file was originally written by by Oliver Kurth <oku@masqmail.cx>.
meillo@67 81 Later updated and extended by markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de>.