Running a mail server via MacPorts on macOS Monterey

[Bill Cole]

On 2022-03-03 at 08:38:47 UTC-0500 (Thu, 3 Mar 2022 14:38:47 +0100)
Gerben Wierda via macports-users <gerben.wierda at rna.nl>
is rumored to have said:

> Apart from Steven Smith, are there other users here that run a mail 
> server setup via MacPorts? And is already someone else running on 
> Monterey?

I have run a personal/family mail/web/dns server whose componentry* is 
almost all built by MacPorts since ~2006. Current platform is El 
Capitan, because Apple has made macOS increasingly hostile to server 
use. When running ElCap becomes too much of a hassle (or when that 
machine dies,) I expect that I will finally move its functionality to a 
FreeBSD machine.

Catalina and later simply are not fit for server duty. The deliberate 
breaking of standard logging, broad locking of the system, and breakage 
in the legacy implementation of 'cron' make it clear that Apple doesn't 
want people fiddling around with their Macs "under the hood" or using 
them as unattended utility machines.


(*) Apache HTTPD, Postfix, Dovecot, BIND, SpamAssassin, and a bunch of 
tools that I use for administrative/research work on that machine. Also 
MIMEDefang, which is hand-built because it's got some (originally 
intentional and explicit)  Mac-hostility and there's no port. Yet.

-- 
Bill Cole
bill at scconsult.com or billcole at apache.org
(AKA @grumpybozo and many *@billmail.scconsult.com addresses)
Not Currently Available For Hire