[plug] NewbieQ:Easy Graphical Setup/Management tools forSendmail/Qmail/etc?

[Steve Vertigan]

daniel at iinet.net.au wrote:

> I would like to set up a Linux box (currently on loan) to get mail from
> ISP, deal with spam, then be accessed from other machines to get mail.
> 
> I am daunted by the seeming complexity when I read of Sendmail, Qmail,
> Postfix, Fetchmail,Exim(&SAUCE),Courier, Blackmail( antispam on top of main
> MTAs) and procmail ...  it all gets a bit mind boggling for me.
> 
> Do any of them have an easy graphical install and options for tackling spam
> (and include IMAP)?

You're going to be configuring several different programs so no there
won't be one grand unified GUI, but it's more fun without them anyway.
:-)

If I were you I would start with setting up the MTA and IMAP, then worry
about spam filtering and procmail later, rather than treating as one
project.  In regard to Ksendmail or SWAT I think that sendmail's general
cruftiness and insecure history won't make up for the availibility of
GUI tools and you should go for the more modern qmail or postfix.  These
are the tools that I would use but other people may have different
opinions.

1) Set up qmail for local mail using Maildir (not mailboxes).  Also set
up DJB's pop3 server if you want this also, it's the only one that will
work with Maildir to my knowledge.  The install process isn't like most
programs but if you follow the README file that comes with the main
distribution religously you shouldn't have any problems.  Make sure you
can succesfully send mail to local users.

2) Set up Courier Imap or Cyrus Imap.  I use Cyrus but I set up my
machine before Courier existed.  Cyrus does everything under it's own
user directory but Courier should integrate better with your existing
system.  I've heard it can have problems with Netscape's mail client
while Cyrus and netscape work flawlessly for me so that might be a
consideration.

3) Set up fetchmail in multidrop mode.  This is tricky but people on
this list should be able to help.  Works nicely when it's set up, the
main thing to remember is use --keep while you're testing or else test
on a junk pop3 account that you don't care if mail gets deleted and lost
from.

4) Tack on your anti-spam measures.  You could use procmail which has
many pre-written recipes for spam-filtering around or have a look at the
qmail site's section on anti-spam tools.

HTH,
Steve

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