[BlueOnyx:16619] Re: yum update with postfix?

[Michael Stauber]

Hi Larry,

> Hmmm, seem to recall a discussion not long (*year*) ago about adding
> postfix as quite a few of us prefer its granularity and filtering 
> capabilities.  Take it we (blueonyx) are now moving back to just
> sendmail ??

BlueOnyx has always used Sendmail, so we didn't change anything in that
regards.

But yeah: I explored the option of switching from Sendmail to Postfix
and had considered Postfix as MTA of choice for 5207R/5208R and onwards.

So I did a bit of exploring and experimenting while I was creating the
new GUI. The "basic setup" of a Postfix using BlueOnyx 5207R or 5208R
got hammered out and I stated to write the GUI for it. After progressing
a bit on that front two things became clear to me:

a.) Porting the existing (old) Sendmail related GUI would be a plain and
simple 3-4 day job with absolutely no surprises, glitches or problems.
We'd simply be immediately as good (or better) as we were with the old
GUI. Simply because the new GUI would use the same Constructors,
Handlers, Schemas, CODB database definitions and Perl modules as before.
Just the "visualization" and form processing would be done slightly
different. The actual trash hauling and heavy duty work would be done by
the same scripts that we've used for years with great results.

b.) Creating a new Postfix aware base-email module for the new BlueOnyx
GUI meant starting on a fresh sheet of paper. A basic set of options
that would need to be configurable needed to be determined. Possible
values for these options needed to be established ("bool", "integer",
"word", certain pre-dertermined strings, etc.), the CODB database
structure would need to be created via new Schema files. Handlers and
Constructors for that needed to be created. Perl modules to parse and
edit the Postfix config needed to be created from scratch. So from top
to bottom the entire "base-email" module would need to be redone. Not
just the GUI for it, but everything else, too. I had made a good
headstart there, but just getting the very basic feature set in there
would mean four to five weeks of coding. And it would still come short
to the functionality that we already had for Sendmail. Plus I'd need
two, three or four weeks of testing and bugfixing. And then it might
just work for me and you (the users) would find things that probably
wouldn't work for you and that this or that urgently needed a fixing or
you'd not be receiving/sending any emails.

With that in mind I stepped back, grabbed the shovel, the shotgun and
then Mr. Postfix and I took a stroll behind the garden shack, where he
met an untimely end in a shallow and unmarked grave beneath the rose
bushes. \o/

The thing here was like this: I knew that upon release BlueOnyx 520XR
would have issues. A project that complex and that big with so much new
code simply couldn't be expected to run flawlessly from the get go. The
testing before the release had pretty much eliminated the really massive
show-stopping bugs, but there were still enough glitches to keep me
*really* busy for a while.

Had we started with an untried and unproven Postfix implementation
("untried" as far as BlueOnyx is concerned), we would have risked to
ship BlueOnyx 520XR with a potentially faulty MTA. Which is a direct and
massive show-stopper and would have ruined the usage experience
massively. You only get *one* attempt at making a good initial "first
impression". If you blow that, then you're fighting an uphill battle
from then on.

Nobody really likes Sendmail - that's clear. I don't like it one bit
either. But there are also BlueOnyx users out there who have never used
Postfix before, but who (more or less) know how to hit Sendmail on the
head with a hammer to get it going again. With a potentially buggy
Postfix implementation these users would have felt kinda helpless or
even alienated.

So bundling the new GUI with Postfix would for sure have slowed down the
release of a working 520XR GUI and (on top of it) would have lead to a
slower adaption by the user base due to more (and more critical) initial
bugs, which would have resonated with the users even a long time after
these bugs would (eventually) have been fixed.

Like said: Ruined first impression = uphill battle from then on onwards.

There you have my reasoning for keeping Sendmail. At least for now.

FWIW: Just last night the installation count of BlueOnyx 5207R and 5208R
(according to YUM updates) went over 500 for the first time. So in the
100 days since the release date we've had 500 adopters. That's like five
a day.

To put that into perspective: In the same timeframe we've had 154 new
5106R installs, 63 new 5107R and 523 new 5108R. So just 5108R did have
more new installs in the last 100 days than 5207R and 5208R combined.
Which means despite the good first impression people (at least for now)
are in slight favor of opting for 5108R over 5208R for new installs. My
hope is that this changes soon, as I no longer see a good reason to use
the old GUI instead of the new.

Right now I'm working on BlueOnyx 5209R. Again we have a chance there to
implement Postfix from the get go as only "supported" MTA. This time I'm
not even trying - for the same reasons. 5209R will have enough issues
already from the onset. Thanks to RedHat switching to Systemd. We also
already have a new unwanted step-child aboard in the form of MariaDB
(instead of MySQL). Plus there are a lot of other fundamental platform
changes, which (at the current early state of development) throw shovels
of sand into the gearbox at every turn and bend of the road.

I'd like to keep things as smooth as humanly possible. Hence I'm yet
again delaying the move to Postfix, as it would rock the boat too much
for no good reason at all. Yes, Postfix does all the things in less
arcane manners and (once you know it) with recognizably less effort. But
at the end of the day it's just the MTA and both Sendmail and Postfix
get the job done.

So for now let's just stick with "the devil we know". And with that I
don't mean the old GUI. :o)

-- 
With best regards

Michael Stauber