Why is sendmail is part of the system and not a package?

[RW]

On Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:08:24 +0200
Giorgos Keramidas <keramida at ceid.upatras.gr> wrote:


> What is nice about Sendmail today is that with minimal changes to a
> base FreeBSD installation (the rc.conf(5) variable called
> "sendmail_enable" and a SMART_HOST value in sendmail.mc) one can
> quickly get up and running with a local-only MTA that:
> 

sendmail_enable exposes sendmail to the world. You don't need
to set anything for a local relay. 


> Having a local MTA, even in a SOHO network may be useful.  Instead of
> going through the same hoops to configure 4 different email clients,
> you can set up the local MTA and tell all your local mailer programs
> "send any of your messages to `localhost' and they will be delivered
> as usual".

It's also potentially a  useful interface for spammers and viruses
that bypasses remote authentication, in particular if the MTA is
misconfigured as an open-relay.