We need a new subject- bug fixes

Les Mikesell lesmikesell at gmail.com
Tue Mar 6 13:46:55 UTC 2007


Tim wrote:

>>> What, every machine has to accept incoming mail connections for
>>> E-mail to work? You need to come into the real world, where most
>>> people get their e-mail from a POP or IMAP server.
> 
> Les Mikesell:
>> How do you think it got there?
> 
> Not by the average user using any SMTP server on their own equipment,
> that's for sure.

Is that your impression of the only way Linux is used?

 > Most people receive theirs through their ISP, most
> people would have no clue as to how to set up an SMTP server, even less
> about doing so safely.

And odds are that it is running on Linux and probably on an RH based 
distro.

> If most users had to set up an SMTP server, we know what would happen:
> They'd be set to accept mail from all domains, and relay to all, as it'd
> be too hard to work out how to do it otherwise.

This is precisely why a usable configuration should be supplied, so the 
users don't make such mistakes.  Exactly the same is true for samba, 
ftp, sshd, and most other services.  If someone has to set any of these 
up from scratch they are going to make mistakes the first time and have 
an insecure system.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com





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