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author | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-28 09:51:24 +0000 |
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committer | Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org> | 2024-04-28 09:51:24 +0000 |
commit | f7548d6d28c313cf80e6f3ef89aed16a19815df1 (patch) | |
tree | a3f6f2a3f247293bee59ecd28e8cd8ceb6ca064a /doc/wiki/MTA.txt | |
parent | Initial commit. (diff) | |
download | dovecot-upstream.tar.xz dovecot-upstream.zip |
Adding upstream version 1:2.3.19.1+dfsg1.upstream/1%2.3.19.1+dfsg1upstream
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to '')
-rw-r--r-- | doc/wiki/MTA.txt | 54 |
1 files changed, 54 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/doc/wiki/MTA.txt b/doc/wiki/MTA.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..74722e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/wiki/MTA.txt @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +MTA +=== + +MTA is an acronym for _M_ail _T_ransport _A_gent. It is the software that works +behind the scenes to transport E-Mail messages from one computer to another. +MUAs (such as mutt, thunderbird, sylpheed, evolution, kmail) hand off newly +sent messages to an MTA. MTAs talk to other MTAs, and either deliver mail +locally or hand it off for delivery to an <MDA/LDA> [MTA.txt] if it was +destined to the local system. + +MTA is a generic term and usually refers to one of these popular software +packages: + + * Postfix [http://www.postfix.org/] is Wietse Venema's secure, fast and + flexible mailer. Default on SUSE Linux and NetBSD. + * Exim [http://www.exim.org/] is Philip Hazel's flexible mailer. Default on + Debian GNU/Linux. + * Sendmail [http://www.sendmail.org/] the original BSD mailer. Default on + FreeBSD; a Sun spinoff is used on Solaris. + * Courier [http://www.courier-mta.org/] was inspired by qmail, but intends to + do things right. + * qmail [http://cr.yp.to/qmail.html] is an obsolete and unmaintained server. + Its POP3 part can be taken over by Dovecot. Qmail started off boasting about + speed and security in the mid-1990s, but has lots of unfixed bugs (this + document includes patches where known), + [http://home.pages.de/~mandree/qmail-bugs.html] among them security bugs + that remain unfixed, and the security guarantee (500 USD) denied. If you + really intend to continue using it, read Dave Sill's Life with qmail + [http://www.lifewithqmail.org/] which contains instructions to work around + some of qmail's security issues. + * HALON [https://halon.io/] is a commercial MTA, which supports Dovecot Auth + and LMTP. It's based on FreeBSD with anti-spam/virus, DKIM, DMARC, DANE, + etc. + +Some people also subsume mail fetching utilities under the MTA category, among +them: + + * fetchmail [http://www.fetchmail.info/] a fast mail retriever for the POP2, + POP3/KPOP/SDPS, IMAP2/IMAP4, ODMR and ETRN protocols, SSL and Kerberos + capable. It forwards the retrieved messages to SMTP/ESMTP, LMTP servers or + into an <LDA.txt>. Developed out of Carl Harris's popclient by Eric S. + Raymond. Fetchmail is now maintained by <MatthiasAndree.txt> and Rob F. + Funk. + * getmail [http://pyropus.ca/software/getmail/] a POP3/SDPS and IMAP4 (with + SSL) enabled mail retrieval utility written in Python. Developed by Chales + Cazabon. + +These mail fetching utilities can be used to store mail for later retrieval by +dovecot. + + Contrast this to the <message delivery agent (MDA)> [MDA.txt], sometimes +called local delivery agent (LDA). + +(This file was created from the wiki on 2019-06-19 12:42) |