[Workaround.org] Etch mail server r149 feedback

petes-lists at thegoldenear.org petes-lists at thegoldenear.org
Mon Oct 8 18:22:01 CEST 2007


Hello everyone. I usually email Christoph directly with my corrections and
suggestions on his mail server documents but will instead send them to
this list from now on because that seems more the way things are done
around here.

I've been installing the Etch mail server from the howto (revision 149)
and have the following feedback:

- "aptitude install postfix-mysql
Answer the question for the "Mail name" by entering the fully qualified
hostname (that means including the domain part) of your system."

Please be really explicit here as to whether you mean the actual
server's hostname, i.e. for me that would be 'server.localdomain' or the
mail domain name(s) that the virtual server will be hosting

- typo: "The Perl DBI module is needed so that you AMaViS"

- "Some of the suggested packages are not free enough to be included in
Debian's main section. If you want to install them you first need to add
the contrib and non-free sections to your binary package source in the
/etc/apt/sources.list file:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main contrib non-free"

You don't advise a mirror server instead.
People will most likely have a main Debian repository so should instead be
advised to just add 'contrib non-free' to the end of their existing line.

- "$>" - your notation matches that of the non-root user. It's typical
to use '#' to signify root so it would be better if your prompt was '#>'

- You don't say, near the start of the document, at what point to migrate
your old system that was based on 'ISP mail Sarge', so if you're migrating
you're left wondering when you'll do that. I'm writing a section on
migration for you.

- You have mysql statements that require people to run mysql and then
paste the commands - two separate lines to paste. How about instead
giving it as a complete command-line in one that can be pasted using
mysqladmin?

- typo: "(A web interface for maintaining this information is alreadj in
the making.)"

- "mysql>
INSERT INTO virtual_users (id, domain_id, user, password)
VALUES (1, 1, 'john', MD5('summersun'));
exit"

Leave off the 'exit' because there's some more SQL in the next task so
it would be easier to remain in mysql.

- typo: "a feature called views that has been finally been introduced
with MySQL 5.0."

- typo?: "The SQL view works perfectly so that we can use it for Postfix."

How about 'The SQL view works perfectly so we can use it for Postfix.'?

- typo: "Now imagine what happens when Postfix received an email for"

- typo?: "after all your database password is stored there"

- typo: "But Dovecot comes with an own (local) delivery agent"

- 2 typos: "which will tell that the users' mailboxes are always found
at /home/vmail/DOMAIN/USER and that is should be in maildir format."

- typo: "The LDA (local delivery agent) is more capable than Postfix'"

- typo: "If an argument is given then only domains are listd"

- this on its own doesn't seem to make much sense:
"Instead of going through the following procedure (IMAP is rather
complicated) you may as well just use mutt to create an IMAP connection:
$> mutt -f imaps://john@example.com@localhost"

- typo: "The users will need to show you theyr username and password"

mal-formatted: "we can make Postfix ask the Dovecot server
<http://www.postfix.org/SASL_README.html#server_dovecot> to verify the
username and password"

- typo: "Your email programm may have warned you"

- You have 2 instances of 'bayesian' rather than 'Bayesian'

- typo: "If some person sends sends"

You say it will be like this:
"amavis[13001]: (13001-02) Passed SPAM, <...> -> <john at example.com>, ..."

but it's like this, at least it was for me:

Oct  4 21:05:54 server amavis[10471]: (10471-01) Blocked SPAM,
<root at server.localdomain> -> <john at example.com>

- "use the conversion script."
"conversion script" is a hyperlink to dbconvert.py. Straight after it
you go on to talk about ispadmin.py. It would be good if the text
instead said something like 'use the conversion script, dbconvert.py.'
where 'dbconvert.py' was hyperlinked. Because then on the next line when
you mention ispadmin.py the reader won't have to hover over 'conversion
script' to see if it's the same thing as ispadmin.py or something different.

I tried running dbconvert.py but it failed with "  File
"./dbconvert.py", line 16, in ? from sqlalchemy import * ImportError: No
module named sqlalchemy" - you don;t mention that it needs
python-sqlalchemy; you do for ispadmin.py but not for dbconvert.py.

- after installing the python libraries I get the following:
"server:~# ./dbconvert.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "./dbconvert.py", line 25, in ?
    meta_sarge = BoundMetaData(db_sarge)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/sqlalchemy/schema.py", line
893, in __init__
    self._engine = sqlalchemy.create_engine(engine_or_url, **kwargs)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/__init__.py",
line 91, in create_engine
    return strategy.create(*args, **kwargs)
  File
"/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/strategies.py", line
29, in create
    u = url.make_url(name_or_url)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/url.py", line
84, in make_url
    return _parse_rfc1738_args(name_or_url)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/url.py", line
115, in _parse_rfc1738_args
    return URL(name, **opts)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/sqlalchemy/engine/url.py", line
36, in __init__
    self.port = int(port)
ValueError: invalid literal for int(): port"

- You have a mention of spamassassin without a capital 'S': "Sieve has a
simple scripting language that allows us to forward all emails that are
tagged by spamassassin"

- this file doesn't already exist: "Put the following lines into the
/home/vmail/globalsieverc file:" so you should say to create it with the
following contents.

- "Then watch the /home/vmail/dovecot-deliver.log file. The last line
should look like:
deliver(john at example.com): "2007-06-18 22:17:46 "Info:
msgid=<GTUBE1.1010101 at example.net>: saved mail to spam"

Actually, I get this instead:

deliver(john at example.com): "2007-10-04 20:43:37 "Error:
chdir(/home/vmail/example.com/john) failed: No such file or
directorydeliver(john at example.com): "2007-10-04 20:43:37 "Info:
msgid=<20071004194330.97990175EA at server.localdomain>: saved mail to INBOX
deliver(john at example.com): "2007-10-04 20:56:28 "Info:
msgid=<20071004193403.AC378175E4 at server.localdomain>: saved mail to INBOX

- typo: "local email address where you can use piped aliases. </para>"

- poor translation from German to English: "But you will delay
legitimate email for at least five minutes what might annoy your users
who may impatiently wait for an urgent email."

- poor translation from German to English: "Greylisting seems to become
less useful with the time"

- typo: "which define the email servers responsible for receiving emails
for certain domain"

- this section is malformatted:
"..:
Setting up a backup MX
----------------------------
Most internet providers have more than one mail server to receive email..."

- typo: (english please)

- missing the word 'other': This tutorial is meant for Debian "Etch". If
you are trying this setup on any distribution you are completely on your
own.


Pete Boyd




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