Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2004 07:21:41 -0800 From: Joshua Tinnin <krinklyfig@spymac.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Cc: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> Subject: Re: migrating from thunderbird to mutt? Message-ID: <200412210721.41979.krinklyfig@spymac.com> In-Reply-To: <20041221110456.GA11107@orion.daedalusnetworks.priv> References: <41C4FA1C.4090006@nbritton.org> <200412200932.37029.krinklyfig@spymac.com> <20041221110456.GA11107@orion.daedalusnetworks.priv>
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On Tuesday 21 December 2004 03:04 am, Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr> wrote: > On 2004-12-20 09:32, Joshua Tinnin <krinklyfig@spymac.com> wrote: > > On Monday 20 December 2004 08:41 am, Giorgos Keramidas wrote: > > > So, why do people fear real MTAs so much and try to do their work > > > with "light, fast, broken, almost-there MTAs"? > > > > As for me, it's because my box is in a LAN with a router using a > > dynamic IP, so I can't get a fully-qualified domain name. > > You can always install a local DNS server that allows 'internal' > machines to use their own domain (only visible to internal hosts) but > forwards all other requests to your ISPs name servers. > > > This also causes some minor issues with fbsd, but not so much that > > I can't work with it. As for using Sendmail as the MTA just so Mutt > > can pass off email to an SMTP server, I've tried configuring it for > > weeks now, and I'm still not there. > > You have to solve the DNS problems first. Sendmail, like all MTAs > I've seen, depends on a working DNS setup. Yes, I began to realize this somewhere along the line. However, I've managed to get Mutt working with esmtp for now, although Sendmail is still the MTA for the system internally. This is not an ideal solution for me, as I mentioned I want to learn how to do this the right way. But just at the moment I'm not quite ready to tackle DNS (which I'm sure is "easy" for those who know it, but which is almost as confusing as MTAs for those of us who don't). I already have a machine in my LAN set up to use for it when the time comes, so it will happen soon enough. > > I may end up using esmtp if it can save some headaches, although I > > purposely tried to get Sendmail to work so that I could do it the > > "right" way. Well, I still want to learn, but it's one of the most > > confusing and frustrating experiences I've ever had dealing with > > software, and I'm not alone in this. > > This list is frequented by many knowledgeable people who can help you > with setting up Sendmail on FreeBSD. You may be pointed at README > files like `/usr/share/sendmail/cf/README' from time to time, but it > never hurts to ask :-) That's very true, and I appreciate this, but at the same time, at this moment I'm going to wait on configuring local DNS. I've managed to learn quite a bit about FreeBSD since I started using it that sounded completely confusing at first, but at the moment I'm dealing with starting back to college after many years and finding a new job, among other things, so it's not my first priority. But I'll be sure to bring it up when that moment comes, which shouldn't be too long. Oh, just you wait ... ;) > > *That's* why people fear "real" MTAs so much, because mail transfer > > protocols and software at the low level is very complicated and > > extremely finicky in ways that aren't documented clearly. > > I see. You do have a point there :/ Yes, for instance, it took me a long time to figure out what's up with "dnl." I've read through quite a bit at the Sendmail site itself, and, while their documentation is quite thorough, it's also obviously written for developers, moreso than most *nix docs. This is understandable, but there is a steep learning curve for those of us who aren't. Even the handbook recommends installing ssmtp for situations like mine http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/outgoing-only.html but I want to learn all the tools. Anyway, again I appreciate it, and soon enough I'll take you ... or the list ... up on that offer. - jt
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