Which mail server is the best for me?

[Jochen Keil]

Kiffin Gish wrote:
> I would like to setup a mail server but am a little confused about whether
> to use sendmail, qmail, postfix or whatever. Basically my web server is a
> simple one to be used for personal use with maybe no more than a 10-20 mail
> accounts.

Those statements made by someone about qmail needing patches are not 
true. Qmail runs very good here with the same usage you described above.
Someone else said that qmail breaks standards. This is true but DJB 
gives a good explanation for this on his homepage. Anyway i never 
experienced problems because of this (maybe because it just works?).
Furthermore configuration isn't "a pain in the ass". It takes you some 
time to get the idea but then qmail will reveal you endless possibilitys 
to configure qmail in a very easy and effective way (one word: 
dotfiles). There are also a lot of examples and FAQs on http://cr.yp.to.
Another point for qmail: it will run reliable with daemontools.
Finally just have a look at this:
$ du -sh qmail-1.03
1.4M    qmail-1.03
$ du -sh /usr/src/gnu/dist/sendmail/
12M     /usr/src/gnu/dist/sendmail/
$ du -sh /usr/src/gnu/dist/postfix/
14M     /usr/src/gnu/dist/postfix/
(postfix and sendmail are from the netbsd source but i don't think this 
matters.)

> What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of each choice, and where can I
> find more information comparing them?

Again i can only speak about my own experiences. I had bind running a 
long time until a friend convinced me to try djbdns. It was like: "What? 
It's that easy to run a dnscache/server?". After that i followed his 
recommendation straight to qmail and i don't want to miss it anymore or 
feel the urge to try something different also i haven't run a mail 
server before.

So much for djb advocacy.

Greetings,

Jochen Keil