From: Alberto González Palomo <alberto@matracas.org>
  To  : <masqmail@marmaro.de>
  Date: Mon, 31 May 2010 00:15:15 +0200

Re: [masqmail] Plans for a 0.3 dev branch

markus schnalke wrote: (30/05/10 21:54)
> [2010-05-30 14:53] Juergen Daubert <jue@jue.li>
>[...]
>> That means pipe remains the only method to detect online status? 
> 
> Yes, that's what I have in mind.
>[...]
>> But is the additional code needed for
>> the file method that large? It's more effort to create a script and
>> might be less secure as well.
> 
> I think it would be good to not specify a executable file for
> online_pipe but a command line. It could still be the path to an
> executable file then, but also something like:
> 
> 	online_pipe = "cat /some/file"
> or
> 	online_pipe = "echo foo"
> 
> I think from the security point of view, the case would be not
> different to the current situation.

       Reading from the file excludes the possibility of launching the
wrong executable, either by mistake or as part of an attack.
       I'd prefer to have the file method just the same as it's now.
       I've been using it since 2000, copying the configuration files
from one computer to the next. :-)

>[...]
>>> - Think about excluding the get function into a separate program. Does
>>>   anyone uses it at all?
>> The main reason for Oliver to implement the get function might have 
>> been the POP-before-SMTP usage.
> 
> Ah okay, that makes sense.
> 
>> Don't know if we still need that 
>> nowadays, if not I'd remove it.
> 
> Haven't heard of anyone needing that. I'll try to find out if it's
> still relevant.

       I did use it years ago, but not any more.
       Nowadays I have a decent SMTP server, but masqmail's versatility
has saved my ass many times when using the laptop in different places.
       This feature in particular is not so critical because in case
of need I can run fetchmail before sending with masqmail.

>[...]
> @all: If you run them on your computers, please let me know if they
> went well.

       Since one year ago I'm using the version packaged with Ubuntu,
but I'll see if I get the courage to install this version during the
week.
       I even used it for several years in MacOS X (10.2, 10.3 and 10.5)
after doing a few changes around "make install", and it worked well.
       Last year I lost some messages, apparently because masqmail could
not write somewhere. I'm not sure yet what was the cause, but one thing
that gave me error messages was that the directory "/var/run/masqmail"
did not exist. I got "could not write pid file: No such file or directory".
       After creating the directory manually it all worked fine again,
but there was also a software update in MacOS X which is why I'm not
sure whether that was the issue or not.


       About other features, one "problem" I have is that masqmail
has been running fine for so long that I don't remember which features
I'm using. :-)
       Looking at masqmail's configuration files I see the old "get.*",
the "connect_route.*" entries (22 of them, for different places) and
the online_file="/tmp/connect_route"
       In the route file I use now I have auth_name, auth_login,
auth_secret, do_correct_helo, and wrapper (for openssl).
       In the others I have mail_host, map_return_path_addresses,
last_route, and expand_h_sender_domain.
       I then use the options "-bp" and "-qo `cat /tmp/connect_route`" in
the scripts I made for handling email.


       Thank you for taking care of masqmail.

       Cheers,
-- 
	Alberto González Palomo
	Toledo, España / Saarbrücken, Deutschland
	http://www.matracas.org