In a previous life I wrote the software that controlled my physics experiments. That software had to deal with all kinds of possible failures in equipment. That is probably where I learned to rely on multiple safety nets inside and around my systems.

Wietse Venema

Around Controlled Deal Equipment Experiments Failures Had Inside Kinds Learned Life Multiple Nets Physics Possible Previous Rely Safety Software Systems Where Wrote

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Coming back to the topic of computer security, the TCP Wrapper is an example of such a safety net. I wrote it when my systems were under attack by someone who appeared to walk through walls.

— Wietse Venema

AppearedAttackBack

For many people my software is something that you install and forget. I like to keep it that way.

— Wietse Venema

ForgetInstallKeep

I want to avoid locking people into solutions that work only with Postfix. People should have a choice in what software they want to use with Postfix, be it anti-virus or otherwise.

— Wietse Venema

Anti-VirusAvoidChoice

However, writing software without defects is not sufficient. In my experience, it is at least as difficult to write software that is safe - that is, software that behaves reasonably under adverse conditions.

— Wietse Venema

AdverseBehavesConditions

Qmail out of the box works fine, so people will want to use it regardless of licensing restrictions, even when the software does not ship with their system software.

— Wietse Venema