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On 21 Feb 1997, D. J. Bernstein wrote:
> qmail 1.00 is available through http://pobox.com/~djb/qmail.html.
>
> No code changes from 0.96. I have lots of cleanups scheduled, and I'll
> have to add IPv6 support someday, but 1.00 should be an adequate MTA for
> the next several years.
I've been using qmail for a number of releases, and recommending it to a
fairly large number of users on the IRC support network I run. I've been
waiting to see what the license for the production version would be:
>[root@austin; /usr/local/src/qmail-1.00] grep -qie license *;echo $?
>1
I'm disappointed. The web page on url
http://pobox.com/~djb/qmail.index points to information that suggests that the distribution policy (distribute
an unmodified tar file, no `package' formats or precompiled binaries without
special permission) still holds.
I've been using qmail since 0.90 or so, and am very happy with it. It's
certainly a lot better alternative for the experienced admin than sendmail.
As a result, I've been recommending it fairly heavily on the IRC support
network I run.
I had hoped that qmail would make an impact on the Internet as free software
(BSD license, GPL, whatever), but it's hard to see how it's going to make
much of an impact when distribution is so tightly-controlled.
Sendmail, in particular, is available in several `plug-and-play' varieties,
and will be up and running in the second or two it takes to install it, for
example, from a Red Hat or Debian Linux distribution. Qmail has the
potential to be just as flexible, but the chosen `default' licensing,
involving having all distributors ask for special permission to distribute
qmail with modified packaging, seems likely to encourage fewer, rather than
more, installations.
I know it's been heard before, but I'd really been hoping something more
flexible could be done---I regret that I'll have to stop recommending the
package for new users, since they are the people who will be offering advice
in mailer selection, based on their own experiences, in a year or two.
lilo
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