Which processes doi Really Need

[James Wilkinson]

Kevin Fries wrote:
> | *sendmail
> I wish Linux distros would stop installing this by default.  If you have
> a smtp and either a pop or imap server you collect email from, it is
> safe to remove this.  However, if you do not have such a servers
> available to you, you will need to keep this.

For better or worse, Unix will send certain notifications, especially to
the root user, by e-mail. And Linux follows this pattern. Fedora will
normally send one such e-mail each day.

If you remove sendmail, you break this, and you need some other way to
receive these messages (at least for suitably important systems).

I'd also point out that having a Real Local Mail Server works a lot
better over intermittent links like dial-up lines, especially when users
don't necessarily know that the link is up, and/or don't necessarily get
to (or want to) make a connection each time they check e-mail. In the
West, with cheap broadband, this situation is becoming much less common.
Elsewhere...

James.

-- 
E-mail address: james | ...a probably apocryphal bilingual sign in darkest
@westexe.demon.co.uk  | North Wales. In English it says "70mph" and in Welsh
                      | "slow down, sharp bend ahead".
                      |     -- Peter Corlett