[Dovecot] http://wiki2.dovecot.org/MailServerOverview contains poppycock

[William Blunn]

Just having another look at http://wiki2.dovecot.org/MailServerOverview 
, it seems to have some statements in it which are misleading, and some 
which are really ... well ... wrong.

Quote: "With the possible, optional, exception of the deliver MDA, 
Dovecot is not involved with reception, delivery, and storage of mail. 
That function is provided by a MTA such as postfix 
<http://www.postfix.org>. It is the MTA that determines where and how 
mail is stored - Dovecot must then be configured to retrieve the mail 
accordingly." (Entered by user "amfes".)

This contains a significant proportion of poppycock.

Dovecot includes extensive functionality for the storage (as in the 
action of storing) of e-mail as well as retrieval, in the shape of the LDA.

Using Dovecot's LDA is /required/ in the case of Dovecot-specific mail 
storage formats (sdbox, mdbox).

With mbox, use of the Dovecot LDA is advisable since it will guarantee a 
locking strategy which is compatible with Dovecot's mail retrieval 
functionality.

And in any case, use of the Dovecot LDA has merit in that it should 
guarantee line-up between the mailstore configurations used for storage 
and retrieval.

It is NOT the MTA that determines where and how mail is stored. It is 
the PERSON who configures the system who decides this, and codifies that 
configuration into whatever systems carry out local delivery and retrieval.

It IS true that use of Dovecot's LDA is optional, but to say that it is 
a "possible exception" is misleading. People /should/ use the Dovecot 
LDA if they are using Dovecot IMAP/POP, and the /option/ is to use the 
MTA's local delivery system /if/ it is so indicated on a particular system.

Quote: "Again, it bears repeating, Dovecot /is not responsible for mail 
delivery or storage/. Any questions on these issues involve your MTA and 
MDA. Get those working first." (Entered by user "DanielMiller".)

Again, contains quite a lot of misleading nonsense.

"Mail delivery" includes the hand-off of the message by the MTA to the 
LDA, and the storage of the message by the LDA. The LDA should probably 
be Dovecot, so really Dovecot /is/ partially responsible for mail delivery.

"Storage" involves that placing of message into the message store. This 
should be done by Dovecot, so Dovecot is responsible for this.

Bill