On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 1:37 PM, Chris Babcock <cbabc...@kolonelpanic.com>wrote:
> On Mon, 26 Jan 2009 18:41:32 -0800 (PST) > MountainX <d...@davestechshop.net> wrote: > > > The experts have already learned Postfix. As far as I am concerned, I > > can't add anything to the world by learning Postfix too. > > It isn't enough for email to just work. It has to work right. Imparting > knowledge without understanding in such an environment would be ill > advised. You may or may not be able to add anything to the world by > learning Postfix, but you can take quite a bit out by running a mail > server without understanding what you are doing. Applications that send > mail are serious. If a web server configuration breaks, it stops > delivering content. If a mailserver breaks, it just may turn into that > horrid broom from "The Sorceror's Apprentice". Excellent point. I do have some appreciation for this. People on the list helped me yesterday and I think my Postfix installation is in better shape now (and I believe it is adequately secure), although I still have to apply the one suggestion from today (and I did not understand it to the point where I could apply it.) > > > I like deployment recipes as well as the next person (and Postfix has > them), but I generally use them as an outline to study the process - a > syllabus. I've run Postfix as part of a hobby server setup for only > three years now and the time I spent learning the why along with the > how has been saved several times over since. > > Open source communities are a little like martial arts instructors. The > good ones are willing to give you a few bruises if it is going to keep > you from getting killed in the real world. Good analogy. :) > > > Chris Babcock > >
