Re: sendmail error, "MX list for mydomain.com points back to server.mydomain.com"

On Sat, 20 May 2023 10:03:12 -0700
vagabond <vagabond@blackfoot.net> wrote:

> I'm going to try installing sendmail from ports, as it's a newer 
> version,
> and will be easier to poke around in.  But first, a sanity check.
> It's been a while since I've needed to build ports; been using pkgs.
> When I built the sendmail port, it built 60+ other ports, which I 
> assumed
> were things already installed in some version for the sendmail that came
> with the system.
> 
> I "think" pkgs and ports both install libraries in the same place, 
> right?

	Correct - packages are built from ports and the port install
essentially builds a package and installs it - it just leaves out the
packing into a tarball and unpacking again.

> If so, is it likely installing sendmail from ports will break other 
> things
> installed as packages?

	That depends on whether your ports tree is in sync with the
packages you are using. It probably isn't.

	There is a handy target in the ports build that you can use so that
you only build the ports you really want/need to build and take everything
else from packages.

	make install-missing-packages
	make
	make install
	make clean

	Will install all the dependencies from packages and then build the
port against them. Once done prevent package updates from ruining your day
with:

	pkg lock <packagename>

> I'm thinking it will install newer versions, but
> they should be upward compatible for the other pkgs already installed,
> correct?

	It could get messy - not everyone maintains backward compatibility
well and there's always the risk of a major version bump in something.

> I remember seeing rumblings on the list about if you install
> pkgs, only use pkgs; and if you install from ports, do everything from 
> ports.

	That's generally good advice but the technique above is a good one
for safely bringing the occasional port into a package based system. On the
long run you do tend to need to pkg unlock it and build a new one from time
to time (major FreeBSD version bumps if nothing else).

	Some of the dependencies the port installs are probably build
dependencies.

-- 
Steve O'Hara-Smith <steve@sohara.org>