[CrackMonkey] qmites

[Rick Moen]

begin Mark Symonds quotation:

> Qmites REALLY appear to hate Rick Moen's FAQ!

I'm a little disappointed that so few take the attitude that would seem
natural for Qmail fans:  "Sure, it's proprietary, but it's under
generous terms that we find amenable.  Too bad this guy doesn't like its
design and defaults:  That's what makes horse races."  It would be less
disreputable than all this special pleading and non-sequitur
argumentation.

Mark quoted Fred Smith <fps at dividedsky.net> from some other mailing
list:
 
> it is open source software.  anyone who says otherwise is a
> hypocritical moron (like redhat, who will package closed-source
> netscape, but won't package qmail)

Non sequitur.

And you'll observe one of the characteristic traits of DJB acolytes:
They think the term "open source" should mean whatever's convenient for
them, and include software for which nobody may distribute modified
source tarballs if the copyright holder dies or loses interest (such
that it might be maintained thereafter only via patches).

> this is a very stupid conclusion to draw from the fact that qmail is
> the fastest thing out there.

Non sequitur, unresponsive, and, of course, that was _not_ my premise.
And, of couse, he's ignoring my broader point that there's a common
thread among most of the man's software of Not Playing Well with Others.

> djb is simply insisting that his software be installed properly.

<yawn>  Note, again:  Other people's criteria for proper system
architecture be damned, DJB's is the One True Way, because he and his
acolytes say so.

> not to mention the fact that djb has a standing offer up of $1000 cash
> to anyone who finds a security issue with qmail.  no one has taken him
> up on that yet, and i think that says a lot.  allowing people to
> change qmail and re-package it as qmail without djb's 'OK' would
> damage qmail's reputation.

Non sequitur.  Unless we're honestly supposed to believe that putting
conf files in /etc/, libs in /usr/lib, etc., is going to cause security
failures.

> as has been mentioned on this list before, the small files make qmail
> more secure because there is no need for a complex parser.

Non sequitur.

> as i have mentioned, netscape came not only as an option, but
> pre-installed on almost every linux distribution to date, although it
> is now being replaced with mozilla.

Non sequitur.

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