Qmail Support Forum

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 209

> Does anyone have any opinions/suggestions/gotchas regarding moving to
> Postfix/Qmail? (Qmail would involve Maildir..)

I do.

Maildir isn't a complication. Its the solution. It makes IMAP lots faster when
you have folders of any great size (and I do), and in fact, that was the real
reason for my originally using qmail, because mbox format sucks for large
folders.

However, Postfix and Qmail will both do Maildir, and I've just switched from
qmail to postfix on the dirtbike.ws server, as I broke qmail in a way i was
unable to fix!

Unfortunately, this is probably my biggest gripe with qmail, it uses so many
unusual (for redhat/debian) things.

qmail setup is quite easy (try www.qmailtoaster.com), but debugging what was
wrong when I broke it drove me nuts. Restore from your backup you say. Good
call, but in true backup tradition, I'd backed up /etc /usr/local and all but
the $*^$#% /var/qmail directory ;-/.

I could have re-installed the qmail from scratch, but decided that i'd try
postfix instead, since I was going to do all the work, and i'd like to see
the differences. IMHO postfix _fits_ better in the redhat/debian/sendmail
world. Virtual hosting is "similar" to sendmail.

> I have done a lot of reading on the web and am leaning to Qmail as it
> seems to have been built ground up to be secure, fast and easier to
> configure (fast and easy to configure are the main points for me).

Yes, that was my thought as well. Qmail also has some nice admin addons, which
i've had installed and used, and vpopmail is sweet for virtual hosting.

> Postfix on the other hand seems to have been somewhat handicapped by
> remaining compatible with Sendmail (though this could be considered an
> advantage).

Postfix seems to do all the qmail can do, and its much more understandable.

Disclaimer: I looked at exim, and it didn't _feel_ right Wink

Just my 2c.

Simon

--
LinuxSA WWW: http://www.linuxsa.org.au/

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 209

> I haven't done much with qmail but there must surely be ways to
> recompile it to get it in a more sane place. Besides which, don't
> take me the wrong
You can, but it is only necessary because it can't be modified to
conform to Linux standards by the distributer.

See http://cr.yp.to/qmail/dist.html

Whatever its supposed technical advantages I stay clear of djb software
because of this sort of thing.