Re: UnixWare

[perry () snark imsi com (Perry E. Metzger)]

Bennett Todd says:
> Scott Schwartz writes:
> > | needlessly running with root privileges (like sendmail).
> > You think pipes in .forward files should be disallowed, then?
>
> Errh, I think Perry objects (as does everybody else I've ever spoken to) to
> having a big, complex, hairy, MONOLITHIC sendmail. The functionality it
> performs ought to be broken down into smaller, simpler modules.

Indeed it should. Mail delivery need not be done as root, and there is
no point in having one monolithic program get mail, route mail, and
send mail.

However, I object to .forward files, period, because they don't work
well in distributed environments. The concept was very nice in the
days before distributed file systems, but now they are just a pain in
the !@#!@$. What is the semantic meaning of a pipe in a .forward file
if you have no real idea what machine the pipe is being run on or if
the process delivering mail can even GET credentials to access the
home directory of the adressee? In AFS environments this gets
especially bad. When you are running mail for several thousand
machines, as I have, .forward files become a cause for bounced or
misaddressed mail virtually every day. What if you want to run POP in
such an environment? At that point the entire concept has totally lost.

Far better to use a proper database to store delivery information, and
allow users to update their records. Programs can be run -- but not as
root or as the user. Since the mail subsystem is not priviledged,
breaking it at best gives you access to other people's mail.

Perry