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Date:      Tue, 4 Apr 2017 08:14:18 +0000
From:      Matt Churchyard <matt.churchyard@userve.net>
To:        John <jwd@FreeBSD.org>
Cc:        "freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org" <freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org>
Subject:   RE: Sendmail conf files
Message-ID:  <bc93b4e267644d6e83cd6ffb76c185fa@SERVER.ad.usd-group.com>
In-Reply-To: <20170403235624.GA94548@FreeBSD.org>
References:  <481fef207e2e457cb4f8a689d0ce4373@SERVER.ad.usd-group.com> <20170403235624.GA94548@FreeBSD.org>

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----- Matt Churchyard's Original Message -----
> Hello,
>=20
> Not sure if this is the right list for this..
>=20
> For me the most awkward part of updating a system using freebsd-update is=
 when it comes to merging files. The most common files that pop up seem to =
be /etc/mail/sendmail.cf & /etc/mail/submit.cf, because these are included =
in the base distribution and almost certainly change if you actually use Se=
ndmail.

>   Simply don't use the same names.... in /etc/make.conf:

> SENDMAIL_MC =3D /etc/mail/prodconf.mc

>   and the .cf file(s) will be regenerated.

>YMMV,
>Cheers

I appreciate the response and could use that method on my own systems (alth=
ough I probably won't need to now as I pretty much always use Postfix). It =
doesn't really solve the original issue though.

It's not exactly ideal to tell all users they should edit /etc/make.conf ju=
st so they can use Sendmail and not have to mess about with cf files on eve=
ry upgrade. (To be honest I got to the point where I used to just accept th=
e merge even though it left errors in the config file, then went and ran /e=
tc/mail/make to re-create everything. For a user that's easier that trying =
to merge files in a terminal editor). As I said there is/has been a large e=
ffort to make sure users don't have to edit base config files in FreeBSD so=
 that base can be updated without affecting user config or requiring mergin=
g. Unless there's some awkward issue I'm not aware of, I don't really see w=
hy the two .cf files are included in base in the first place, rather than g=
enerated at runtime.

I didn't really post this to fix my own problem, I'm just trying to suggest=
 something that may make upgrades easier for everyone. When running freebsd=
-update these cf files are some of the very few files that regularly requir=
e manual intervention.

Matt

> In most cases this sort of issue has been solved by providing "default fi=
les" such as /etc/defaults/rc.conf, and letting the user override this with=
 files they create themselves. Obviously there is a concerted effort to mak=
e sure users don't have to edit base files where possible so that they don'=
t get these sort of issues.
>=20
>=20
> For Sendmail, would it not make sense to remove these 2 .cf files from ba=
se and update the sendmail rc.d script to run 'make install' in /etc/mail i=
f they don't exist? It may also be nice if the freebsd.* files were stored =
somewhere else such as /usr/share/sendmail, as these just causes confusion =
about which files are actually used if you're new to it.
>=20
>=20
> Personally I'm on the side that would rather have Sendmail removed entire=
ly and replaced with a simple smtp submission daemon/lda but I think that d=
iscussion has already been had.
>=20
>=20
> -
>=20
> Matt Churchyard



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