Help with setting up a mail server

[Tim Judd]

On 7/20/10, Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 11:50 PM, Jerry <freebsd.user at seibercom.net> wrote:
>> On Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:03:55 +0300
>> Odhiambo Washington <odhiambo at gmail.com> articulated:
>>
>>
>>> On Tue, Jul 20, 2010 at 4:46 PM, Aryeh M. Friedman
>>> <aryeh.friedman at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> > On Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:33:28 -0400
>>> > Jerry <freebsd.user at seibercom.net> wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> On Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:26:44 -0400
>>> >> Aryeh M. Friedman <aryeh.friedman at gmail.com> articulated:
>>> >>
>>> >> > I am a consultant and was retained by my client to setup qmail or
>>> >> > exim on a VPS running 8.0-STABLE (i386). After setting up the DNS
>>> >> > (A record and MX record) we have been unable to send or receive
>>> >> > mail. The client has/had a working script for installing qmail on
>>> >> > 7.1-STABLE but it seems to not work on 8.0-STABLE. They are using
>>> >> > the same VPS provider who this 7.1-STABLE install script worked
>>> >> > under. I have tried everything I can think of to make it work
>>> >> > including asking obvious questions on -questions at .
>>> >> >
>>> >> > I informed the client that the task is likely beyond me capabilities
>>> >> > but I would help recruit someone who would be able to do it at a
>>> >> > reasonable fee paid to them (I am acting as a no cost middle man on
>>> >> > this [I am helping the client for free since I was unable to get it
>>> >> > done]).
>>> >> >
>>> >> > Please send any ideas and/or offers to do the job
>>> >>
>>> >> I would seriously suggest that you consider installing Postfix. It is
>>> >> in the ports tree, is well maintained and works out of the box. The
>>> >> Postfix forum will be glad to give you any advice you need for setting
>>> >> up and securing your mail server. Qmail is no longer supported by its
>>> >> author and can be a nightmare to maintain.
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> > We had also tried sendmail and couldn't get that working either so I
>>> > suspect it is a general config issue not a MTA one.  (I have set
>>> > sendmail up about 30 times in the past so I know a little bit about it)
>>>
>>> Exim is a very good choice. Forget the Postfix suggestions. It's
>>> Sendmail's brother:-)
>>
>> At least Postfix is fully RFC compliant, as opposed to Exim.
>>
>> SEE: RFC 2034 (SMTP enhanced status codes), RFC 3461-4 (delivery status
>> notifications), RFC 1652 (8-bit MIME including 8->7bit conversion)
>> among others.
>
> I doubt anyone makes a choice on an MTA (or any other software) based
> on it's RFC-compliance.
> In my experience, it's normally boils down to:
>
> 1. It has the features that I want
> 2. I can swim with it in times of toruble

I for one like to know that it is RFC compliant.  it's a reason RFCs
are made, so there can be standardization...  So yes, I do choose
based on compliance.  (anyone use Firefox over IE at work because
Firefox "works better"?)

"Did you get my email?"  "no, but i get everyone elses, let's check
the logs and find out why"