F20 System Wide Change: No Default Sendmail

[Billy Crook]

On Fri, Jul 19, 2013 at 12:37 PM, Miloslav Trmač <mitr at volny.cz> wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 15, 2013 at 10:36 AM, Jaroslav Reznik <jreznik at redhat.com>
> wrote:
> > = Proposed System Wide Change: No Default Sendmail =
> > https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/NoDefaultSendmail
> >
> > Change owner(s): Lennart Poettering <lennart at poettering net>, Matthew
> > Miller <mattdm at fedoraproject org>
> >
> > No longer install an MTA by default. (Specifically let's remove sendmail
> from
> > @core and @standard comps groups.)
> >
> > == Detailed description ==
> > Let's change the default install to no longer install an MTA by default.
> > Specifically, let's remove sendmail from the @standard and @core group.
> >
> > On today's Internet most SMTP hosts do not accept mail from a server
> which is
> > not configured as a mail exchange for a real domain, hence the default
> > configuration of sendmail is seldom useful.
>
> We don't necessarily have to have a MTA always running, or listening on
> port 25.
>
> However, having the /usr/sbin/sendmail API available to applications
> is valuable - it brings a significant system administration benefit of
> centralizing the SMTP configuration.
>
> Every application[1] can be rewritten to have its own SMTP client and
> configuration instead of calling /usr/sbin/sendmail, sure, but the
> system administrators are much better off if the applications call
> /usr/sbin/sendmail and $whatever implementation handles that.
>
> This is not a packaging matter of adding Requires:/usr/sbin/sendmail -
> we get the benefit of centralization only if applications support
> /usr/sbin/sendmail , and have it configured as the default.  Removing
> a provider of /usr/sbin/sendmail from the default installation
> entirely makes both of these application design choices problematic
> and unlikely.
>      Mirek


Agreed.  An MTA is an important component of *nix systems.

Sendmail stays in Default unless there is compelling reason to switch to
postfix, exim, meta1, etc.  Those users who wish to remove it are welcome
to do so.  Nobody is stopping them. The default configuration of sendmail
poses no problem to users who are unaware of it.

A better option than its removal would be its configuration during install,
which is currently not supported in the installer.  A during-install
installer 'spoke' could be added to support this in the same way root
password is handled today.  Additionally, on a user's first login, they
could be prompted for their preference in how they receive locally
originated messages.

Please voice yourself at meetings in #fedora-devel if this is important to
you.
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