[ntp:hackers] Some NTP services to be terminated or relocated at UDel

Brad Knowles brad.knowles at skynet.be
Wed Aug 20 08:21:54 PDT 2003


At 2:53 AM +0000 2003/08/20, David L. Mills wrote:

>  3. I am extremely irritated at the mail condition on maccarony. I have
>  insisted, read that required, that incoming mail behave as incoming mail
>  on UDel machines. Harlan and Brad have sandbagged that to the max and I
>  won't stand for that.

	We have not sandbagged.  We have asked that we hear what the 
official UDel EECIS mail policy is, directly from the people who set 
that policy.  That is all we have ever asked to do, since this topic 
first came up.

	I am perfectly happy to implement whatever UDel EECIS policy may 
exist.  But I want to hear what that policy is from the people who 
set that policy, before I go blindly trying to do something.  I 
prefer not to use the "Ready, Fire, Aim" method, or to blindfold the 
people with the weapons, as opposed to the person to be executed.


	We have pointed out that simply using the previous postfix 
configuration file or the previous binary will not work, because 
there are pre-compiled defaults included with the binary, and using a 
binary with a mis-matching configuration file is likely to result in 
behaviour that is undesirable.

	Furthermore, using both the previous configuration file and 
binary will not work, because that won't reflect the new 
mailman-based mailing list structure, etc....


	I'm looking at the machine right now, and I'm having trouble 
finding a functional postfix configuration other than the one we're 
currently using.  There is a /usr/local/postfix, but it is using the 
very ancient postfix-20010228-pl08, and the main.cf and master.cf 
configuration files don't seem to have been changed since May 17 and 
Apr 27 2001, respectively.

	Moreover, there is no inclusion of SpamAssassin or Anomy in these 
configuration files, or any of the other things that I know are 
standard on UDel mail servers, because I've gotten messages from them 
(such as whimsy and mail.eecis.udel.edu) with headers that prove what 
they're running.

	There is no other postfix installation anywhere on the machine 
that I can find.

>                         I have set a deadline of Wednesday for conforming
>  to the UDel model, but from mail received today, it hasn't happened.

	I could implement the postfix configuration I found, but if I did 
that basically all e-mail on the system would go away.  If we're 
going to do that, we might as well just shut down e-mail completely, 
until such time as we can get a configuration running that meets with 
the approval of EECIS.

>                                                                       It
>  would be much better if Brad or Harlan could do this, since that would
>  be minimal impact on NTP mail.

	Harlan is not available for the next several days, something 
which I believe that he previously mentioned to you in private.

	Basically, when it comes to the mail system on maccarony, I'm it 
for the moment.  That is, unless you're willing to wait for Harlan to 
become available again, or you want to bring in someone else.

>                                 However, if that hasn't happend by
>  Wednesday afternoon, I will ask the department staff to reconfigure the
>  mail as per UDel practice.

	Given the state of what I've been able to find, I believe that we 
are going to need the involvement of EECIS, no matter what.

	If they can give me the policy, I can construct a suitable 
configuration.  Alternatively, if they can give me up-to-date 
configurations (including binaries), I can put those into the 
appropriate place.

-- 
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles at skynet.be>

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
     -Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.

GCS/IT d+(-) s:+(++)>: a C++(+++)$ UMBSHI++++$ P+>++ L+ !E-(---) W+++(--) N+
!w--- O- M++ V PS++(+++) PE- Y+(++) PGP>+++ t+(+++) 5++(+++) X++(+++) R+(+++)
tv+(+++) b+(++++) DI+(++++) D+(++) G+(++++) e++>++++ h--- r---(+++)* z(+++)



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