Matthias Andree wrote:
Rob Funk <rfunk(_at_)funknet(_dot_)net> writes:
Does Eric STILL think that it's appropriate for everyone's machine to
be listening on port 25??
It IS appropriate if configured properly.
That's a BIG "if". It's hard for most people to configure an MTA
properly. (Heck, for most people it's hard to configure them at all,
let alone properly.)
More current mail user agents
will only inject through SMTP, not through /usr/sbin/sendmail, so many
people have SMTP listeners.
Most people will (should) NOT have SMTP listeners. Most people will
configure their MUAs to send outgoing mail through their ISP's mail
server.
There are secure SMTP listeners available, and you can configure most of
them to listen only on the loopback interface ("localhost"), so there is
no problem with this. If you fear about Sendmail security, go for
Postfix.
Sure, but the average fetchmail user doesn't know or care about any of
that. And in my experience it's actually a challenge to get most MTAs
to listen only on localhost anyway.
Meanwhile, fetchmail's encouragement of a local SMTP listener
indirectly encourages spam-friendly mail relays.
--
==============================|"...his hands were doing what they liked to
Rob Funk <rfunk(_at_)funknet(_dot_)net> | do best -- replacing men like
himself with
http://www.funknet.net/rfunk | machines." - Kurt Vonnegut, "Player Piano"