Re: [gentoo-user] No mailer for Gentoo???

[Canek Peláez Valdés]

On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 11:45 AM, Jarry <mr.jarry@×××××.com> wrote:
> On 06-Sep-13 18:29, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 11:22 AM, Jarry <mr.jarry@×××××.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> On 06-Sep-13 18:14, Canek Peláez Valdés wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 10:51 AM, Jarry <mr.jarry@×××××.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On 06-Sep-13 17:32, Michael Orlitzky wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 09/06/2013 11:23 AM, Jarry wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It wasn't part of @system before, you just removed the thing that
>>>>>>>> pulled
>>>>>>>> it in.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> No I did not. mail-mta/ssmtp was part of stage3. And I did not
>>>>>>> remove now any "thing" that pulled it in. All I did was
>>>>>>> "emerge --ask --update --deep --newuse world".
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As a result, python-exec, python-argparse and libxml2 were
>>>>>>> reinstalled and automake-wrapper, gtk-doc-am, eselect and
>>>>>>> linux-header updated. Nothing else.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> After that I did "emerge --depclean" and the above mentioned
>>>>>>> packages were suddenly removed...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It could be that a package's deps were updated to no longer include
>>>>>> virtual/mta. But it was never part of @system, you can check for
>>>>>> yourself:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://sources.gentoo.org/cgi-bin/viewvc.cgi/gentoo-x86/profiles/base/packages?view=log
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Then something got broken because I have packages installed
>>>>> that need mailer (i.e. app-admin/monit or sys-fs/mdadm are
>>>>> configured to send emails). And these packages do not have
>>>>> "mail" use-flag, because their maintainers apparently expect
>>>>> standard *nix mailer (/usr/bin/sendmail) exists on the system...
>>>>>
>>>>> So now I have "stable" system, updated to the latest level,
>>>>> where a lot of things suddenly do not work. This should *never*
>>>>> happen! If it was some package's dep that caused it, it's clear
>>>>> this change was premature...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I think is a bug in the packages. In my system the only package that
>>>> pulls vitual/mta (and therefore ssmtp) is vixie-cron.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> That is strange. I have sys-process/vixie-cron-4.1-r12 and yet
>>> revdep-rebuild does not want to pull virtual/mta. But It should,
>>> as cron can be configured to send emails too.
>>
>>
>> Read my last mail; they changed the RDEPEND for the cron eclass.
>>
>>> As I wrote: there are *many* packages that expect standard
>>> *nix mailer exists! If it does not, a lot of packages must
>>> be fixed to include mailer as dependency.
>>
>>
>> The devs disagree. I think I'm with them; the packages in question
>> actually work, it just happens that they can't send mails anymore. If
>> you need/want them to send mails, install an MTA.
>>
>
> "Just" can't send mails. So if mdadm detects failed drive in raid1
> and I do not get mail about it, I will discover it at least when
> the 2nd drive fails. That's a relief...

I believe we can trust Gentoo users to know when they have (or not) an MTA.

> Why is there no global use-variable "mta"? Why not even local
> for packages that might use mailer? This goes completely against
> Gentoo-principles, if user has to search which other packages are
> required and install them manually. Is it not what we have
> use-flags for?

The problem with USE flags is that they trigger a recompile when they
change. In this case a recompile is completely unnecessary, since the
package *works* with and without an MTA. As I said, the only
difference is that you can (or not) send mails.

I don't see a problem with that; if you need an MTA, install an MTA.
If you think is a problem, file a bug.

But I think it will be closed as WONTFIX.

Regards.
-- 
Canek Peláez Valdés
Posgrado en Ciencia e Ingeniería de la Computación
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México