procmail replacement?
I've read that procmail is somewhat deprecated. Is this true? Is anyone still using it regardless? What replacements are there that you recommend? Kevin
On 25/11/2016 1:22 PM, Kevin McGregor wrote:
I've read that procmail is somewhat deprecated. Is this true?
News to me...
Is anyone still using it regardless?
We're still using it in CS, as the default local delivery agent in sendmail. (Of course, that whole setup is rather old, and going to be phased out eventually.)
What replacements are there that you recommend?
Are you just looking at FLOSS, or commercial solutions too? (I'd like to know if you find any free, more up-to-date alternatives to procmail.) -- Gilbert E. Detillieux E-mail: <gedetil@cs.umanitoba.ca> Dept. of Computer Science Web: http://www.cs.umanitoba.ca/~gedetil/ University of Manitoba Phone: (204)474-8161 Winnipeg MB CANADA R3T 2N2 Fax: (204)474-7609
On Nov 25, 2016, at 1:22 PM, Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote:
I've read that procmail is somewhat deprecated. Is this true? Is anyone still using it regardless? What replacements are there that you recommend?
Kevin
I'm using sieve for filtering mine where it does point at my MX. Not b/c I was aware of a deprecation or anything like that, but purely because it was in the recipe for the mail server I run. I actually had to go in and update my sieve rules when the list-id for roundtable list recently :-) Theodore Baschak - AS395089 - Hextet Systems https://ciscodude.net/ - https://hextet.systems/ http://mbix.ca/
On 2016-11-25 14:22, Theodore Baschak wrote:
On Nov 25, 2016, at 1:22 PM, Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com> wrote: I've read that procmail is somewhat deprecated. Is this true? Is anyone still using it regardless? What replacements are there that you recommend?
I'm using sieve for filtering mine where it does point at my MX. Not b/c I was aware of a deprecation or anything like that, but purely because it was in the recipe for the mail server I run.
I actually had to go in and update my sieve rules when the list-id for roundtable list recently :-)
FWIW, I also use Sieve as implemented in my MDA, which is Dovecot. Works just as well as Procmail and a heck of a lot more readable. Implementations of tools to manage the ruleset are a bit... questionable, though. Roundcube has a decent rule editor, and so does Thunderbird (when it works). -Adam
From https://lwn.net/Articles/416901/ Officially, the last stable procmail release <ftp://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/packages/procmail/> was version 3.22, made in September of 2001. As one might expect, there has never been an official "the project is dead" announcement. Instead, only circumstantial evidence exists. Although several of the FTP mirrors include what appear to be development "snapshot" packages as recent as November of 2001, there does not appear to have been any substantial work since that time. The developers' mailing list <http://dir.gmane.org/gmane.mail.procmail.devel> has hardly seen a non-spam blip since 2003.
From https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-ports&m=141634350915839&w=2
Executive summary: delete the procmail port; the code is not safe and should not be used as a basis for any further work.
From me: This is for use at work by me, on our Solaris servers. Procmail is not provided by Oracle, or at least not in the standard install. I was wondering: If I'm going to go to the trouble to locate and install something (i.e. no default is available) should I go with procmail or something else? Maildrop looks reasonable. If I can get OpenCSW working, I'll see what's available there.
Kevin On Fri, Nov 25, 2016 at 2:40 PM, Adam Thompson <athompso@athompso.net> wrote:
On 2016-11-25 14:22, Theodore Baschak wrote:
On Nov 25, 2016, at 1:22 PM, Kevin McGregor <kevin.a.mcgregor@gmail.com>
wrote: I've read that procmail is somewhat deprecated. Is this true? Is anyone still using it regardless? What replacements are there that you recommend?
I'm using sieve for filtering mine where it does point at my MX. Not b/c I was aware of a deprecation or anything like that, but purely because it was in the recipe for the mail server I run.
I actually had to go in and update my sieve rules when the list-id for roundtable list recently :-)
FWIW, I also use Sieve as implemented in my MDA, which is Dovecot. Works just as well as Procmail and a heck of a lot more readable. Implementations of tools to manage the ruleset are a bit... questionable, though. Roundcube has a decent rule editor, and so does Thunderbird (when it works). -Adam
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On 2016-11-25 Kevin McGregor wrote:
From https://lwn.net/Articles/416901/ Officially, the last stable procmail release <ftp://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/packages/procmail/> was version 3.22, made in September of 2001. As one might expect, there
To me this smacks of "it's old, not new and shiny, so let's abandon it". I'm always of the school of thought that old = tried&true = well known = better (contrast systemd). FWIW I've used procmail exclusively on all boxes (quite a few) since 1992. Never had a problem. It has rarely had any sec hole announcements. The fact that it was perfected in 2001 is, to me, a sign of quality, not the opposite. It has to do one small thing and do it well. That it does! (contrast systemd, again) The fact I never have to think about or worry about procmail, even across OS versions and upgrades, is a huge plus in my book.
From https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-ports&m=141634350915839&w=2
Executive summary: delete the procmail port; the code is not safe and should not be used as a basis for any further work.
That would mean something if it wasn't from the "openbsd-ports" people! They have a different idea of "not safe" than nearly everyone else on the planet. Their "not safe" doesn't mean "hackable", it means "we didn't write it". Procmail is widely used, for nearly forever, and has had a lot of hours being hammered in production and lots of eyes looking at the code. I'm sure those so inclined have already tried to find holes in it. Like I said above, I think I can recall one security patch for it in the last 15 years? That's impressive. Compare to, say, phpMyAdmin, ugh. People never keep in mind: new & shiny = bugs/holes have yet to be found; NOT new & shiny = secure!
wondering: If I'm going to go to the trouble to locate and install something (i.e. no default is available) should I go with procmail or
I would say if you and your users already know procmail (i.e. the recipe syntax) then stay with it. If you're greenfield, then go with whatever looks promising to you. Not sure what else fits the bill because I'm completely satisfied with procmail! (P.S. I would add that I wouldn't mind seeing someone compile in pcre into procmail, but that would just be gravy.)
participants (5)
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Adam Thompson -
Gilbert E. Detillieux -
Kevin McGregor -
Theodore Baschak -
Trevor Cordes