From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Sep 22 11:26:46 2007 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id EB56116A417 for ; Sat, 22 Sep 2007 11:26:46 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from erikt@midgard.homeip.net) Received: from ch-smtp01.sth.basefarm.net (ch-smtp01.sth.basefarm.net [80.76.149.212]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A21D513C43E for ; Sat, 22 Sep 2007 11:26:46 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from erikt@midgard.homeip.net) Received: from c83-253-31-60.bredband.comhem.se ([83.253.31.60]:63408 helo=falcon.midgard.homeip.net) by ch-smtp01.sth.basefarm.net with esmtp (Exim 4.66) (envelope-from ) id 1IZ38D-0003CX-5u for freebsd-questions@freebsd.org; Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:26:46 +0200 Received: (qmail 31993 invoked from network); 22 Sep 2007 13:26:40 +0200 Received: from owl.midgard.homeip.net (10.1.5.7) by falcon.midgard.homeip.net with ESMTP; 22 Sep 2007 13:26:40 +0200 Received: (qmail 56058 invoked by uid 1001); 22 Sep 2007 13:26:40 +0200 Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:26:40 +0200 From: Erik Trulsson To: Gabriel Dragffy Message-ID: <20070922112640.GA56015@owl.midgard.homeip.net> Mail-Followup-To: Gabriel Dragffy , freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <6CBE22B2-206F-4695-889F-5630E6B9399C@dragffy.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <6CBE22B2-206F-4695-889F-5630E6B9399C@dragffy.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.16 (2007-06-09) X-Originating-IP: 83.253.31.60 X-Scan-Result: No virus found in message 1IZ38D-0003CX-5u. X-Scan-Signature: ch-smtp01.sth.basefarm.net 1IZ38D-0003CX-5u 0c512ede2140f8b7b7b14f4949ceb472 Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why is sendmail in the core of FreeBSD? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2007 11:26:47 -0000 On Sat, Sep 22, 2007 at 11:55:51AM +0100, Gabriel Dragffy wrote: > Just been wondering about this. If you do a standard install of FreeBSD it > includes things such as a basic FTP daemon, all the various utilities such > as df, ls, etc. SSHD etc. I assum these are all in FreeBSDs core, as > developed in the same CVS repo. Having read the mails on this list for > several weeks it seems obvious that most people regard Postfix or EXIM to > be the best MTAs, so I'm wondering why is sendmail the MTA that is integral > to FreeBSD? Wouldn't it be ace to have the default one be Postfix or > something? > Sendmail was originally developed for BSD (the ancestor to FreeBSD). At that time none of the current alternatives (postfix/qmail/exim) existed yet. So the reason Sendmail is included in FreeBSD is mainly historical - it has always been there. If the default MTA were changed many existing users would be quite upset when their working configurations suddenly stopped working - so one should not change the default MTA without a very good reason. For a new user it does not really matter that much which MTA is installed by default, if they are not familiar with any of them. Installing an alternative from ports only takes a couple of minutes anyway. -- Erik Trulsson ertr1013@student.uu.se