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Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2004 10:33:44 -0800
From: Tim Kientzle <tim@kientzle.com>
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To: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@online.fr>
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cc: Richard Coleman <richardcoleman@mindspring.com>
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Subject: Re: Pkg-based base system.
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Rahul Siddharthan wrote:
> Richard Coleman wrote:
> 
>>But I don't think anyone is advocating Linux-style granularity of 
>>packages.  Most people just want a little finer granularity to handle 
>>bind, sendmail, dhcp, and maybe openssh.
> 
> Yes, and nobody is suggesting removing anything from the base system,
> merely making it easier for the end-user to remove unnecessary base
> components.

You don't have to remove one thing to use something else.

Many FreeBSD systems use alternative software without
touching the base system.  Just disable the base components
in rc.conf and run your own.  You can also "upgrade" any
existing piece by installing a newer port and disabling the
pieces in the base system.

In the particular case of sendmail, look at the mailwrapper
functionality, which simply redirects the standard "sendmail"
name to your favorite MTA.  It's been in FreeBSD since 4.0
and makes it quite trivial to use any MTA you like instead
of the built-in sendmail.

Tim Kientzle