What were they thinking?

Last week I had the joy of setting up email using Exim on a new Debian box. Usually you find the configuration in /etc/exim4/exim4.conf or a similar location. But Debian does it differently. To quote the Exim faqs:

The Debian Exim 4 package uses a quite uncommon, but elegant, method of configuration where the “real” Exim configuration file is assembled from a tree of snippets by a script invoked just before the daemon is started.

Stuff like that makes me sick. Why on Earth can't they do it as everybody does? Screw elegance, I want it easy. Not only does it Debian differently, they also chose to document it poorly. Eventually, you'll find everything in /usr/share/doc/exim4/README.Debian.gz, but this file is a disorganized pile of I-don't-know-what. I wasted 4 hours with this crap.

All I wanted was having emails delivered.

Sun, 29 Jan 2006, 09:15 | Technology | PermaLink
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