Re: [cobalt-users] Editing sendmail.cf (was: mailscanner onraq550 gives an error)

[Jeff Lasman <jblists@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

SM wrote:

> I am not referring to sendmail.com. :)  I have seen a lot of people
> encountering problems upgrading to a new version because the previous admin
> did things his/her way.

I suppose it's true now that new admins will unthinkingly use m4 and
overwrite changes, but a few years ago it was exactly the opposite.

> It takes longer to read through the sendmail.cf and see whether it was
> hacked or not. :)

That depends on how conversant you are with m4.  I can
find/understand/read things in sendmail.cf pretty quickly; I'm not
suggesting that you (or in fact anyone else) can <smile>.

> >No, that makes it difficult to customize sendmail using m4.  We have no
> >problem customizing sendmail by writing the sendmail.cf file; I've been
> >making changes directly to the sendmail.cf file since at least 1994,
> >probably earlier.
> 
> I don't understand your statement about how it is more difficult to
> customize sendmail using m4.

That's not what I meant to say; sorry if I gave that opinion.  What I
meant (and still mean <smile>) is that changes in sendmail.cf makes it
difficult to customize sendmail using m4; not that changes in
sendmail.cf makes it difficult to make changes.

Since Sun Cobalt regularly makes changes in sendmail.cf and I don't
think all those changes make it into the m4 files, I see that as an
acceptable tradeoff.

Certainly when I'm going to make changes to sendmail.cf for a client I
tell them about the changes, and include them in a separate file they
can add back later if either a Sun Cobalt patch or an m4 rebuild deletes
them.

> m4 is not only used by sendmail. It is still used in configuration
> scripts.

Can you tell me some other programs that use m4?  If it turns out that
learning m4 will make my job easier, I'm happy to learn it.

> A lot of people won't take the time to learn how to administer
> their server. :)

We agree fully on that.  However some of us see direct manipulation of
sendmail.cf to be the right way to administer sendmail.

> The sendmail.cf is the reason why people shy away from
> sendmail.

Here's my take on your sentence:  Sendmail.cf is a reason why a lot of
people who don't take the time to learn how to administer their server
shy away from sendmail. <smile>

And there are lots of other reasons to leave sendmail as well.  We're
currently studying qmail and ensim; so far, of the two, I like qmail
better; it's much more efficient than sendmail, at least in my tests.

I checked out postfix a long time ago, and had a bad experience that
wasn't their fault, so I'll look at it again, too.

> You don't have to understand the m4 language to use m4 and
> generate the sendmail.cf.

I presume you mean that if you're willing to follow someone else's
cut-and-paste instructions you don't have to know the language.

Of course the same holds true for sendmail.cf.

If you mean something else, I'd like to see your explanation; if you
have something to teach me I'm certainly willing to learn.

Jeff
-- 
Jeff Lasman, nobaloney.net, P. O. Box 52672, Riverside, CA  92517 US
Internet & Unix/Linux/Sun/Cobalt Consulting +1 909 778-9980
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