notqmail.org

What It Is

notqmail is a collaborative open-source successor to qmail and netqmail. In essence, it is a Mail Transport Agent for running email servers. The project does not claim to be qmail, and it explicitly states that it has no approval or endorsement from DJB or the netqmail authors; qmail’s original security guarantees also do not apply to notqmail. Its practical positioning is clear: it first serves system administrators already running qmail-based mail systems, rather than trying to persuade everyone to migrate from mature MTAs such as Postfix.

Core Capabilities and Ecosystem

notqmail’s core strategy is to start with “stable, compatible, small releases,” allowing existing qmail users to update more safely. The text notes that existing build scripts should continue to work, and that most custom patchsets can still be applied. Over time, those patchsets may shrink as common features and fixes are incorporated upstream. The roadmap and wishlist include modern mail-system capabilities such as SMTP recipient validation, TLS, AUTH, IPv6, SPF, SRS, DKIM, DMARC, ARC, EAI, SNI, DANE, and MTA-STS, but in the captured text these are presented mainly as future plans. The project repository and issue tracker are hosted on GitHub, and community communication channels include the qmail mailing list and the #qmail IRC channel on Libera Chat.

Pricing and Deployment

The text only indicates that notqmail is an Open Source project; it does not mention commercial pricing, hosted services, or paid support. Its natural use case is self-hosted mail servers, aimed at administrators who are capable of maintaining an MTA and who understand the qmail architecture and patch ecosystem.

Pros, Cons, and Who It’s For

Its advantages are a conservative migration path, friendliness to the qmail ecosystem, fairly complete documentation sections, and a willingness to gradually integrate scattered patches into a more maintainable version. The downsides are also clear: its target audience is narrow, and many modern email features are not shown in the text as completed capabilities. The project is also candid that if you are not sure why you should not use Postfix, you are probably right. As such, it is better suited to existing qmail users, teams maintaining legacy mail systems, and contributors who want to participate in the development of a qmail successor project.

Access from China

The text does not state the accessibility of the official website or GitHub, so this is unknown. Users in mainland China who rely on GitHub collaboration may encounter network stability issues. Payment is not a major concern, as no commercial paid offering is mentioned. Alternatives to consider include Postfix, the original qmail, or netqmail.