Postfix was developed as a replacement for Sendmail and is known to compile on almost every flavor of Unix including Mac O/S X. Wietse Venema, program founder and security specialist, several years developing the application while working as a researcher at IBM's T.J. Research lab. Postfix is the free version of IBM's commercial Mailer, Secure Mailer. It was released in 1998 and dubbed IBM's Christmas present to the Internet. Postfix became especially popular during the Linux revolution by enthusiasts who were looking for open source code that would compile on a free operating system.

Postfix attempts to be fast, easy to administer, and secure, while at the same time being compatible enough with Sendmail so as not to upset existing users. Thus, the outside has a Sendmailish flavor, but the inside is completely different. With this in mind, let's take a closer look at Postfix.

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