----- Original Message ----- From: Stan Hoeppner <s...@hardwarefreak.com> Date: Saturday, July 28, 2012 12:14 pm Subject: Re: the mail server from source problem To: postfix-users@postfix.org
> On 7/27/2012 10:18 AM, Wietse Venema wrote: > > Dennis Clarke: > >> Do you think I can figure that one out ? No way. What I do > find is > >> vast amounts of info about how to put in ClamAV and SSL bits and auth > >> bits and endless web pages that point to apt-get and RHEL yum this > that > >> and the other thing. [1] What I am seeing is that no one seeems to > just > >> get the sources and "do it". Perhaps my entire understanding and > >> philosophy around open source is terribly flawed? > > > > Of course there are plenty people, but they have prior experience. > > > > If you have no prior experience, then you should not build a system > > from scratch, when you don't even know what a working system is > > supposed to look like. > > > > Instead, your time is better spent learning from a system that > > already works. In other words, start with a pre-built distribution. > > > > Have a wonderful learning experience. > > > > And please ignore the idiots on this list who say that you are stupid. > > > > Wietse > > To drive the prior experience point home, I've been building my own > Linux kernels from vanilla source for about 8 years because I don't like > stock kernels and hardware drivers as loadable modules, and 15MB kernel > files when 1.7MB works fine. I'm very comfortable with it and get the > results I want. There was a steep learning curve, not for the process, > but understanding which of the 1000s of configuration options I needed > to understand and change to meet my goals. > > If I wanted to or really had a need to, I'm sure I could build my own > Postfix and Dovecot and etc from source. Actually that was the easy part. Did that with no real problem and have been building bins from various software projects for years. No biggie. > But given how well the Debian > packaging system works, and the fact their Backports repo tends to keep > up fairly closely with Postfix releases, I see no point in embarking > upon yet another learning curve with no tangible payoff. I've better > things to do these days with my time. However what if you are running a T5240 Niagara Sparc server with Solaris 10 ? This is where I wander off the Linux reservation. > I don't build any applications from source, only my kernels. I'm > probably bass ackwards in this regard compared to many/most others. You know, funny enough I have a whole collection of weird and interesting servers. Once upon a time I install Red Hat 6.2 ( zoot ) onto a Sparc 20 server with no reason other than to follow the Linux from Scratch project guide. I di the same thing on some embedded Motorola PowerPC equipment and the process is very educational. I even have an old DEC Alpha in my pile. As for building my own kernel? Well I would love to really. However, as you say, the learning curve is a real mountain to climb and takes a pile of man hours. So I decided to simply stick with the task at hand which was a really minimal postfix dovecot config. I plan to go back and fight with that some more later today in fact. Dennis
