@jvw Depends on your subscriber count, really. If it is low then any decent MTA is fine, and you cut down on the number of moving parts needing maintenance. But you have to handle new/leaving/lost subscriptions manually.

Larger subscriber bases is why Mailing List Managers came into existence.

(Full disclosure: #exim dev.)

Its been 9 years since I last published a #blog post on my personal site. I've moved VM at least once since.
Anyway have a blog post about how I am testing and refactoring my #exim filter file with some help from a #LLM. ( I should write a post about how and why I use LLMs)
https://randomness.org.uk/2026/02/01/refactoring-my-exim-filter.html
Testing and Refactoring my exim filter file with Docker and Gemini CLI

Now this is how you do email …

#exim #email #hostyourownemail #catte #catteemail

Decided to have #claude help me solve my problem of #gmailify going away by writing a tool to submit messages to #gmail via their REST API.

So far working okay for me. #Exim calls it for some specific delivery needs, and poof, message shows up in Gmail, filters applied and everything.

https://github.com/ScottESanDiego/gmail-api-client

Eine Frage an die Linux-Admins:
Kennt sich wer mit #SUSE #Linux #Micro 6.1 aus? Konkret mit der Konfiguration eines lokalen #MTA? Laut "zypper search" und "zypper search-package" stehen weder #Postfix noch #Exim oder #Sendmail zur Verfügung? Wie ertüchtige ich das System für die Versendung von E-Mails? So ganz einfache Dinge wie "echo "hello world" | mailx -s TEST [email protected]" wären schon ein Anfang.

Danke schön und verteil das hier sehr gerne weiter. #FollowerPower #GerneBoosten

@stefano

In fairness, it is not "just booting". The screenshot shows exim and an unattended-upgrades script started up.

The world has still yet to shake the idea that every single server in the normal case needs a standalone, monolithic, local queue/delivery, mail system running; it seems.

I wonder why systemd-timesyncd has a larger VIRT value than anything else there.

#Debian #systemd #exim #MorrisWorm

@r1y Self-hosting e-mail just needs #exim and #dovecot, both of which are services directly configurable in #guix. The hard part is establishing a new address, and decommissioning the old one.

I've got this exact set-up myself, and give every organization that needs e-mail contact with me a unique, hard to guess, address. But I don't generally advertise myself as available by e-mail, and insist on contact through https://khleedril.org/dale-mellor/contact.

Dale Mellorʼs Contact Page

Configure nullmailer with a relay host

edafe.de/nullmailer

If you wish to receive status updates from your Debian or Ubuntu system, you need to install and configure a mail transfer agent (MTA). nullmailer is a relay-only forwarding MTA that can be used as an alternative to more complex MTAs, such as Exim, Sendmail or Postfix.

A relay host, also referred to as a smarthost, can be defined as an email server for outgoing mail that is being afforded a good reputation by its peers. In this example, we use Fastmail because email deliverability depends on a number of different factors.

Configuration of nullmailer with Email Service Providers (ESPs) other than Fastmail should be similar, given that all ESPs implement the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

Step 1

Generate an app password

Log into your Fastmail account and set up a new app password for SMTP authentication.

Create an alias

Set up a dedicated Fastmail alias to receive incoming messages.

Step 2

Use copy and paste to enter the following commands. Be careful not to miss any punctuation.

Create the new directory /etc/nullmailer and the file /etc/nullmailer/adminaddr.

$ sudo mkdir /etc/nullmailer && sudo nano /etc/nullmailer/adminaddr

The Fastmail alias you created in Step 1 should be the only entry in /etc/nullmailer/adminaddr.

[email protected]

Step 3

Install the required packages.

$ sudo apt-get install --yes nullmailer mailutils

Step 4

Enter the system mailname. If you are setting up on a home network, you should use home.arpa as the domain name.

Configuring nullmailer

Mailname of your system:

tux.home.arpa

Ok

Configuring the smarthost

Configure nullmailer to use the Fastmail SMTP server as a smarthost. Use your Fastmail username and the app password from Step 1.

Configuring nullmailer Smarthosts: smtp.fastmail.com smtp --port=587 --auth-login --starttls [email protected] --pass=password Ok

Step 5

Test your configuration with the following command.

$ echo "Test mail from nullmailer on tux.home.arpa to the local root user and forwarded on to Fastmail" | mail -s "Test nullmailer" root

Check your inbox!

Step 6

You can reconfigure nullmailer at any time by issuing the following comand.

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure nullmailer #debian #email #exim #fastmail #howto #internet #linux #linuxmint #postfix #raspberrypi #rpi #sendmail #smtp #ubuntu
Configure nullmailer with a relay host

"If you want to receive status updates from your Debian or Ubuntu system, you need to employ the help of a mail tansfer agent (MTA). nullmailer is a relay-only forwarding MTA that can be used as an alternative to more complex MTAs such as Exim, Sendmail or Postfix."

edafe.de

Configure nullmailer with a relay host

If you wish to receive status updates from your Debian or Ubuntu system, you need to install and configure a mail tansfer agent (MTA). nullmailer is a relay-only forwarding MTA that can be used as an alternative to more complex MTAs, such as Exim, Sendmail or Postfix.

In this example, the hostname is debian, the local username bookworm and the Fastmail username [email protected].

Step 1

Because email deliverability depends on a multitude of factors, we use Fastmail as a relay host.

1) log into your Fastmail account and set up a new app password for SMTP authentication

2) set up a new Fastmail alias to receive incoming messages. In this example, we use [email protected]

Step 2

Create the new directory /etc/nullmailer and the file /etc/nullmailer/adminaddr.

$ sudo mkdir /etc/nullmailer && sudo nano /etc/nullmailer/adminaddr

The Fastmail alias is the only entry in /etc/nullmailer/adminaddr.

[email protected]

Step 3

Install the required packages.

$ sudo apt-get install --yes nullmailer mailutils

Step 4

Set the system mail name. If you are setting up on a home network, you should use home.arpa as the domain name.

Configuring nullmailerMailname of your system:debian.home.arpaOk

Configuring the smarthost

Set the Fastmail server as the smarthost. Use the app password you set in Step 1.

Configuring nullmailerSmarthosts:smtp.fastmail.com smtp --port=587 --auth-login --starttls [email protected] --pass=passwordOk

Step 5

Test your configuration with the following command.

$ echo "Test mail from nullmailer on debian.home.arpa to the local root user and forwarded on to Fastmail" | mail -s "Test nullmailer" root

Check your inbox!

Step 6

You can reconfigure nullmailer at any time by using the following comand.

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure nullmailer

#bookworm #debian #email #exim #fastmail #howto #internet #linux #postfix #sendmail #smtp #ubuntu

nullmailer - Debian Wiki

@odc Local deliveries are problematic in general. The details of how #Exim deals with root privilege can be found here:

https://www.exim.org/exim-html-current/doc/html/spec_html/ch-security_considerations.html

#smtp #infosec

56. Security considerations

Exim is a message transfer agent (MTA) developed at the University of Cambridge for use on Unix systems connected to the Internet.