Exim v4 Packages for Debian

Exim4 is the MTA (Mail Transfer Agent) installed by default on new debian installations. On this web page, the Debian exim4 maintainers would like to deliver information important for users and developers.

Debian 4.0 (stable, codename etch) has exim4 4.63-17 Debian 3.1 (oldstable, codename sarge) has exim4 4.50-8sarge2.

There are lots of excellent documentation for exim. The first file to read under debian is README.Debian (linked below) Then one ought to read the specification file; /usr/share/doc/exim4-base/spec.txt

Please note that the debian configuration is different from the default exim4 configuration found on other systems. This is why it is imperative that one read the debian documentation when setting up exim.

This page is accessible via http://pkg-exim4.alioth.debian.org/. This URL will not change even if the actual page might move out of the Debian wiki at a later time. Please bookmark http://pkg-exim4.alioth.debian.org/. Do not bookmark this page under http://wiki.debian.org/.

User Information

• The file "README.Debian" distributed with exim4 has a lot of useful information. Go read it.

  • README.Debian can be found on your system in /usr/share/doc/exim4-base/README.Debian.gz. This version is guaranteed to fit your installation.

  • The README.Debian shipped with Debian etch (Version 4.63.17) can be found on the Web ([http://pkg-exim4.alioth.debian.org/README/README.Debian.etch.html html] [http://pkg-exim4.alioth.debian.org/README/README.Debian.etch text]).

  • The README.Debian shipped with Debian sarge (Version 4.50-8) can be found in the [http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-exim4/exim/tags/4.50-8sarge2/debian/README.Debian?op=file&rev=0&sc=0 Subversion Repository].

  • The current README.Debian can be found on the Web ([http://pkg-exim4.alioth.debian.org/README/README.Debian.html html] [http://pkg-exim4.alioth.debian.org/README/README.Debian text]). These two files are generated each night from the XML Source in the [http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-exim4/exim/trunk/debian/README.Debian.xml?op=file&sc=1 Subversion Repository] and might not be appropriate to any packaged version since Development might be ahead of packaging.

• The man pages of the current development version are [http://pkg-exim4.alioth.debian.org/README/ published as well.]

• NEWS.Debian (/usr/share/doc/exim4-(base||config||daemon-(light||heavy))/NEWS.Debian.gz) is another must-read which currently contains information that should be moved to the Debconf templates in due time.

• [http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/e/exim4/ Packages for Sid, Etch, Lenny and Sarge]

• [http://www.backports.org/package.php?search=exim4 Backported Packages for Sarge]

• [http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/pkg-exim4-users User-Level Discussion Mailing List.] Please note that you're going to be flamed to hell and back if you ask questions that are clearly answered in the docs. This especially goes for the information given in README.Debian as mentioned above.

• There is also the IRC channel #exim on the freenode IRC network. When you come there, please say that you're a Debian user and read whatever is mentioned in the channel topic.

• [wiki:PkgExim4UserFAQ A FAQ list]

• [http://shearer.org/MTA_Comparison Do you really need exim? Find a MTA Comparision here.]

Package Hints

• [wiki:?PkgExim4KnownBugsInEtch Known Issues and Bugs in the Packages for Debian Etch]

• [wiki:?PkgExim4KnownBugsInSarge Known Issues and Bugs in the Packages for Debian Sarge]

• To repeat the debconf configuration, use dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config.

Developer Information

• [http://alioth.debian.org/projects/pkg-exim4/ Alioth Project Home Page]

• [http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/pkg-exim4-devel Development Mailing List]

• [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?src=exim4 BTS]

• [http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?src=exim4;user=exim4@packages.debian.org;nam0=Status;pri0=pending:pending,forwarded,pending-fixed,fixed,done,absent;ttl0=Outstanding,Forwarded,Pending%20Upload,Fixed%20in%20NMU,Resolved,From%20other%20Branch,Unknown%20Pending%20Status;ord0=0,1,2,3,4,5,6;nam1=Tag;pri1=tag:wontfix,valid-bug,gnutls,pending-maintainer-discussion,pending,patch,moreinfo,unreproducible,patch-appreciated,send-patch,debconf-rework,config-ng,on-upstreams-wishlist,help,;ord1=14,13,2,1,3,5,6,7,8,9,4,10,11,12,0 BTS with Usertags.] The exim4 package maintainers make extensive use of [http://wiki.debian.org/bugs.debian.org/usertags BTS usertags.] The link to the BTS gives a suggested view to the BTS page with a user categorization. People more acquainted with BTS user categories are invited to put their suggestions for a BTS query here.

• [http://alioth.debian.org/tracker/?atid=411651&group_id=30055&func=browse TODO Tracker]

• [http://packages.qa.debian.org/exim4 PTS]

• [http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-exim4/exim/trunk/debian/po/ Latest Debconf .po files]

• [http://www.exim.org/ Upstream Web Site]

Developer's Discussion

• [wiki:EtcMailName Discussion and attempt of a Definition to handle /etc/mailname]

Current information

• The documentation we deliver seems to be overwhelming for the novice user. We'd appreciate patches simplifying the docs, and/or adding information that is missing.
• At the moment, exim4-config-simple and exim4-config-medium are outdated. We appreciate patches that apply against current svn.
• We are in dire need of help from somebody who is familiar with GnuTLS. There are numerous bugs concerning TLS behavior of the Exim daemon, and upstream seems to have lost their GnuTLS knowledge when the helper who delivered the GnuTLS code vanished.

Subversion Repository

The Debian Exim 4 packages are developed in [http://packages.debian.org/subversion Subversion.]

• [http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-exim4/ Web Interface]

  • http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-exim4/

  • http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-exim4/exim/

  • http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-exim4/exim/trunk

• Cut&Paste Shortcuts for checkout

  • svn co svn://svn.debian.org/srv/svn.debian.org/svn/pkg-exim4/exim/trunk
  • svn co svn://svn.debian.org/srv/svn.debian.org/svn/pkg-exim4/eximdoc4/trunk
  • svn co svn://svn.debian.org/srv/svn.debian.org/svn/pkg-exim4/exim4-config-simple/trunk
  • svn co svn://svn.debian.org/srv/svn.debian.org/svn/pkg-exim4/exim4-config-medium/trunk

  • svn co svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/srv/svn.debian.org/svn/pkg-exim4/exim/trunk

  • svn co svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/srv/svn.debian.org/svn/pkg-exim4/eximdoc4/trunk

  • svn co svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/srv/svn.debian.org/svn/pkg-exim4/exim4-config-simple/trunk

  • svn co svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/srv/svn.debian.org/svn/pkg-exim4/exim4-config-medium/trunk

For Tags and Branches, replace trunk with tags or branches. Especially for exim4, the tags directory is huge!

The svn repository only holds the debian/ subdir of the source package. [http://packages.debian.org/svn-buildpackage svn-buildpackage] and [http://packages.debian.org/dpatch dpatch] can handle this case, allowing nearly transparent work with a much smaller repository.

You can subscribe to repository change notifications through the CVS feature in the [http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/developers-reference/ch-resources.en.html#s-pkg-tracking-system Debian PTS]. The svn repository for exim4 is appropriately set up.