[Reportbug-maint] Bug#590306: MTA/smarthost questions don't suggest reportbug works without them

[Andrei Popescu]

Package: reportbug
Severity: wishlist
X-Debbugs-CC: debian-devel at lists.debian.org

Hi (again), here is another wishlist bug inspired by the current thread 
on debian-devel.

As several people noticed, it is not at all obvious that reportbug 
actually works very well without a local MTA or a smarthost. Suggestions 
so far:

- changes in the wording
- skipping the question for "novice" or even "standard"
- both ;)

A quote below of a relevant message in case you didn't follow the 
thread.

Regards,
Andrei

On Vi, 23 iul 10, 16:03:05, Julien Viard de Galbert wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 09:23:12AM +0300, Andrei Popescu wrote:
> > On Vi, 23 iul 10, 02:51:36, brian m. carlson wrote:
> > > On Fri, Jul 23, 2010 at 10:26:47AM +1000, Brian May wrote:
> > > > On 23 July 2010 10:03, brian m. carlson <sandals at crustytoothpaste.net> wrote:
> > > > > You can use "smtphost reportbug.debian.org" in the configuration file.
> > > > > As for blocking direct outgoing SMTP connections:
> > > > 
> > > > This is news for me. Is there any thoughts on making this the default?
> > > 
> > > It's enabled if stupidmode is set.  To do that, say that "no" when
> > > asked if you have an MTA configured and just hit enter when it asks for
> > > your smarthost.  You can always edit the config file as well.  It will
> > > print the same lines regardless, except that they're commented out when
> > > stupidmode is off.
> > 
> > How about not asking at all if the user chooses 'novice', or even 
> > 'standard'.
> 
> Or maybe just making the text explain that the default will actually work.
> I currently reads:
> | Do you have a "mail transport agent" (MTA) like Exim, Postfix or SSMTP
> | configured on this computer to send mail to the Internet? [Y|n|q|?]? n
> | Please enter the name of your SMTP host. Usually it's called something like
> | "mail.example.org" or "smtp.example.org". If you need to use a different port
> | than default, use the <host>:<port> alternative format. Just press ENTER if you
> | don't have one or don't know.
> 
> When I read that, I just though if I hit enter, it will just not be able to
> send mails... So on my laptop I configured my home MTA, but it only works when
> I'm at home... According to what you are saying I should have left it blank
> here.
> 
> What about adding "(It will directly connect to debian)" or something
> similar to the message above ?
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