> > > As configured on most older OS', sendmail is an open relay - an opportunity
> > > for a spammer to use your computer to do their dirty work.
> >
> > Check out sendmail V8.9 available at sendmail.org.
>
> Yes. With spam being a problem that's only gotten worse in the last 4
> years, sendmail has only *just* gotten anti-spam capabilities included
> in the distribution.
It's only gotten really bad in the past year. The first unauthorised
relaying incident that affected me personally was about 6 months ago.
At which point I added a check_rcpt ruleset and the problem was
solved.
> So.... which vendor ships 8.9 standard? Or are those old linux CD's
> that friends pass around still perpetuating the mistakes made in the
> 1980's?
I have 8.9 installed for testing. It's not going to be getting
installed for real use until I've done a lot more analysis of the new
anti-spam features. Personally, I think that the pendulum has swung
too far the other way.
Given a choice between relaying spam, or bouncing valid email from
(paying) clients, I'll live with relaying spam. Configuring a system
to do neither requires a certain amount of understanding whichever MTA
you use.
> > By the way, I'll second the
> > motion on the O'Reilly book (ora.com). She is sitting by my feet as I type
> > this.
>
> That's too bad. I like a mailer that I can do everything with by
> reading the sources and the man pages, and not need anything else.
Personally, I don't like reading 500-page text files; I'd rather have
a book.
-- Glynn Clements <glynn@sensei.co.uk> - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-net" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu