On Sat, May 25, 2002 at 07:48:28PM +0200, Robert Ian Smit wrote: | Hi, | | A couple of days ago I asked this group how well Debian can perform as a | desktop. Encouraged by the answers, I am currently building a Debian system | from mainly the testing and a bit from the unstable dists. Most of it went | well.
Cool. Welcome to Debian.
| I am yet undecided how to do mail to and from my system. I know I can
| install a client which logs in to the various pop-accounts I have and
| handle things like I am used to in Windows.
Yeah, you _can_ do that ...
| I read the Mail-adm.-howto and know a little bit about 'how it should be
| done' (tm). If I go down this route I think I will need:
| Exim/qmail/sendmail, fetchmail, procmail. I can then use any mail client I
| want to read and compose mail and change it any time without conversion. Is
| this outline correct?
Pretty much.
| Is it recommended for a single user desktop system to do all this or do
Yes.
| most people just use pop and smtp from within Evolution/Kmail/etc?
I don't. I use mutt.
| And if
| they do, what happens with messages from system-users or cron-jobs or
| whatever else might feel the need to warn/inform (super-) users?
You can't install the cron package without also installing an MTA. If
there is no MTA, then cron can't direct error messages to it, and
that's a Bad Thing.
| Do I have other alternatives than the two I mentioned or am I missing
| something that I'd better know of in advance.
I recommend installing exim and following the directions contained
here :
http://www.mail-archive.com/debian-user%40lists.debian.org/msg82754.html
It's much like configuring the sending part of Evolution or KMail,
except there's no GUI and there's a few more questions (because more
options are available).
Then install fetchmail and read it's manual.
Once you've done this you'll have an MTA (exim) that will handle local
delivery of mail (eg error messages to root or message to your own
user) and outgoing delivery through your ISP's server. You'll also
have a program that can read messages from a POP or IMAP server and
deliver them locally to your local user. This setup is all
independent of your mail client.
This setup also allows flexibility for later expansion, if you choose
to do that. You can also install an IMAP server if you want to be
able to serve messages to remote (or local) IMAP clients.
Now you can choose mutt or evolution or kmail or any other standard
UNIX mail client. You can switch back and forth between them, too,
without losing messages.
HTH,
-D
--
He who scorns instruction will pay for it,
but he who respects a command is rewarded.
Proverbs 13:13
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