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Grok the Change

The change of mind-set from sendmail where everything is done in one humungous /etc/sendmail.cf to the qmail approach where there are small utilities and you are encouraged to use the Unix toolbox is a large step.

As an example, mail from a broken mailer would be delivered to a local filter that fixes it up and re-submits the mail to qmail. You can write this filter in your site's preferred programming language.

While perl and /bin/sh are popular for such tools, there is nothing to stop you using Python, C++ or Emacs Lisp if you desire.

Similar tricks are used to stop people sending to the outgoing alias of moderated mailing lists.

giles@nemeton.com.au