New Beta 4.58.6 released

Gerard Seibert gerard at seibercom.net
Mon Jan 29 20:24:20 CET 2007


On Monday January 29, 2007 at 12:48:22 (PM) Julian Field wrote:

[snip]

> Since when did his software come with a warranty? Ooohh, can I sue him 
> please? Please?

I assume he is referring to the implied warranty; i.e., the product
works as is. If you modify or attempt to use it in a way not expressly
approved by the author, you have voided the warranty.

This who matte seems rather strange though. The following two post were
just placed on the Postfix forum.

// QUOTE //

In the past, people did experience MailScanner corruption problems.
This corruption was traced back to queue files being moved between
Postfix queues on different file systems. This is just one example
of what happens when software approaches Postfix internals via
inappropriate methods.

It does not matter if this particular problem has been fixed.  It
should never have been allowed to exist. The MailScanner authors
should have used a documented EXTERNAL interface, and if no suitable
interface existed, then they should have proposed one - for example,
provide a patch for adoption into the MTA.

Case in point: there is no EXTERNAL interface to find out when a
file in the "hold" queue is ready for access; I have not been asked
to provide such an interface, nor have I seen a proposal to provide
support for such an interface. Absent a supported interface, it is
very well possible that MailScanner moves queue files around at an
inappropriate time; if not today, then some time when I revise the
Postfix queue internals. And then people will lose mail.

As long as the MailScanner people ignore common software engineering
practices, such as the use of documented EXTERNAL interfaces, they
will put the mail of their Postfix users at risk. The statement
that some operator never saw a problem is meaningless.

	Wietse

// END QUOTE //

// QUOTE //

It seems to me that all that is needed is for Mailscanner to propose an
external API that Postfix could implement to allow Mailscanner to access
the information they want and do the processing they want without
grovelling through undocumented queue files.

Paul Tomblin

// END QUOTE //

It has occurred to me that since Dovecot wrote an API to Postfix that
Mailscanner should be able to accomplish the feat also. It would appear
to me at least, that since Postfix is the 'Parent Program' and
'Mailscanner' is attempting to use the services that it offers, that
Mailscanner should take the lead in developing an interface that meets
with the Postfix developer's satisfaction.


-- 
Gerard

Scitum est inter caecos luscum regnare posse.
(It is well known, that among the blind the one-eyed man is king.)

     Gerard Didier Erasmus


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