Hacker Blogs
Work in progress: 82,651 of 181,233 sites checked so far, more every week · updated 2 Nov 2026Missing a blog? Tell us

Top all-time · #3356

G

Gilles Chehade

Personal blog · poolp.org/postssystemsprogramming

Gilles Chehade's personal blog at poolp.org covers systems and programming. Since 2014, 22 different Hacker News readers have linked it 33 times, most often “The “mail is hard” myth”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-31, and you can follow it by feed.

Visit the blog
33mentions?
22HN people?
2014–2026first – last linked?
Links on Hacker News per year · peak 8 in 2018

I’m Gilles Chehade — author of OpenSMTPD, CTO of Plakar. This is my personal blog: systems, code, music, and the occasional detour. I also take short consulting engagements — architecture review, technical due diligence, mail infrastructure — through aljuna.tech.

Most-linked posts?

  1. The “mail is hard” myth
    4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2019-09-01
  2. OpenSMTPD advisory dissected
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-01-31
  3. Setting Up a Mail Server with OpenSMTPD, Dovecot and Rspamd
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-09-14
  4. Spfwalk - utility to fetch SPF records and whitelist MX for particular domains
    3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2018-01-09
  5. OpenSMTPD libtls conversion and Unix-domain sockets support, nooSMTPD
    2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-01-31
  6. SPF-aware greylisting and filter-greylist
    2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-12-01
  7. OpenSMTPD proc filters and fc-rDNS
    2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2018-12-07

What Hacker News says?

  1. e12e · 2021-07-02
    I haven't used DCC, but it looks like an interesting anti-spam toolkit: https://www.dcc-servers.net/dcc/ It appears to support "weak" IP matching: > All or part of the IP address of the SMTP client can be optionally ignored by DCC clients as far as the greylist triple is concerned. This feature may be useful for legitimate mail systems that shuffle messages among SMTP clients between retransmissions. See the dccm an…

    Comment linking /posts/2019-12-01/spf-aware-greylisting-and-filter-greylist/

    on “Purelymail – cheap, no-nonsense email”
  2. tambourine_man · 2019-09-01

    Submitted The “mail is hard” myth as a story · 435 points

    HN discussion
  3. poolpOrg · 2019-11-20
    Hello, Main developer from the OpenSMTPD project here. I also wrote an article a few weeks ago about running your own mail server which is located here: https://poolp.org/posts/2019-09-14/setting-up-a-mail-server-...

    Comment linking /posts/2019-09-14/setting-up-a-mail-server-with-opensmtpd-dovecot-and-rspamd/

    on “How to run your own mail server (2017)”
  4. soheilpro · 2020-06-30

    Submitted Implementing a System Call for OpenBSD as a story · 96 points

    HN discussion
  5. rodrigo975 · 2019-11-19
    https://poolp.org/posts/2019-08-30/you-should-not-run-your-m... My 2 cents.

    Comment linking /posts/2019-08-30/you-should-not-run-your-mail-server-because-mail-is-hard/

    on “How to run your own mail server (2017)”
  6. Reventlov · 2020-02-01

    Submitted OpenSMTPD advisory dissected as a story · 45 points

    HN discussion
  7. perlgod · 2018-11-15
    I used to run Postfix + Dovecot + Rspamd with all the bells and whistles enabled [1], but I recently switched to OpenSMTPD + spamd on OpenBSD. Unlike rspamd, which has pluggable modules for everything under the sun (RBLs, word filters, Bayesian filtering + learning), spamd uses plain ol' graylisting with some PF integration to throttle spammers connections to 1 character/second for maximum annoyance. With Rspamd, I…

    Comment linking /posts/2018-01-08/spfwalk/

    on “SpamAssassin is back”
  8. sverige · 2019-09-15

    Submitted Setting Up a Mail Server with OpenSMTPD, Dovecot and Rspamd as a story · 36 points

    HN discussion
  9. t0astbread · 2020-11-26
    Here's a great writeup by an OpenSMTPD developer: https://poolp.org/posts/2019-09-14/setting-up-a-mail-server-...

    Comment linking /posts/2019-09-14/setting-up-a-mail-server-with-opensmtpd-dovecot-and-rspamd/

    on “Protect domains that don’t send email”
  10. fcambus · 2016-09-15

    Submitted OpenSMTPD 6.0.0 is released as a story · 27 points

    HN discussion
  11. swixmix · 2022-06-11
    OpenSMTPD is the right answer if you want a general purpose mail server [1] that is secure by default. [2] [1]: https://poolp.org/posts/2021-01-31/january-2021-opensmtpd-li... [2]: https://www.openbsd.org/security.html

    Comment linking /posts/2021-01-31/january-2021-opensmtpd-libtls-conversion-and-unix-domain-sockets-support-noosmtpd/

    on “OpenSMTPD”
  12. fcambus · 2019-09-14

    Submitted Setting Up a Mail Server with OpenSMTPD, Dovecot and Rspamd as a story · 9 points

    HN discussion
  13. ori_b · 2022-06-11
    The postmortem is worth reading: https://poolp.org/posts/2020-01-30/opensmtpd-advisory-dissec... It's worth reading through the systemic mitigations that would make a clone of this bug impossible in the future.

    Comment linking /posts/2020-01-30/opensmtpd-advisory-dissected/

    on “OpenSMTPD”
  14. beefhash · 2020-01-31

    Submitted OpenSMTPD Advisory Dissected as a story · 6 points

    HN discussion
  15. the-anarchist · 2022-04-24
    Chip in with a couple of friends who might be on the lookout for a gmail/proton/whatever alternative as well, get an OpenBSD VPS at 1984 Hosting, C*ckbox, FlokiNET, or basically any other hoster that allows communication via port 25 and set up OpenSMTPd and Dovecot. There are plenty[0] write-ups[1] on how to do so in case you need info. [0] https://poolp.org/posts/2019-08-30/you-should-not-run-your-m... [1] https://…

    Comment linking /posts/2019-08-30/you-should-not-run-your-mail-server-because-mail-is-hard/

    on “Ask HN: Migadu? Postale? Mxroute? Or any other mail services using this model?”
  16. vcoisne · 2026-09-24

    Submitted Preventive Software Maintenance as a story · 3 points

    HN discussion
  17. robwwilliams · 2023-11-24
    Always relevant link on this topic that debunks much of the Why You Should Not… https://poolp.org/posts/2019-08-30/you-should-not-run-your-m...

    Comment linking /posts/2019-08-30/you-should-not-run-your-mail-server-because-mail-is-hard/

    on “Mail-in-a-Box: a mail server in a box”
  18. protomyth · 2018-05-25

    Submitted Switching to OpenSMTPD new config as a story · 3 points

    HN discussion
  19. protomyth · 2018-01-09

    Submitted Spfwalk - utility to fetch SPF records and whitelist MX for particular domains as a story · 3 points

    HN discussion
  20. fcambus · 2015-12-22

    Submitted OpenSMTPD: Home, sweet home as a story · 3 points

    HN discussion
  21. rodrigo975 · 2020-12-24

    Submitted December 2020: OpenSMTPD 6.8.0p1 released – poolp.org as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  22. axiomdata316 · 2020-01-31

    Submitted Decentralised SMTP is for the greater good – poolp.org as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  23. protomyth · 2019-11-25

    Submitted Nov 2019 OpenSMTPD 6.6.1p1, filter-greylist and tons of portable cleanup as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  24. protomyth · 2018-12-07

    Submitted OpenSMTPD proc filters and fc-rDNS as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  25. protomyth · 2018-11-07

    Submitted OpenSMTPD released and upcoming filters preview as a story · 2 points

    HN discussion
  26. rodrigo975 · 2023-07-26

    Submitted Implementing a system call for OpenBSD · poolp.org as a story · 1 points

    HN discussion
  27. rodrigo975 · 2021-03-30

    Submitted March 2021: backups with Plakar – poolp.org as a story · 1 points

    HN discussion
  28. protomyth · 2021-01-31

    Submitted OpenSMTPD libtls conversion and Unix-domain sockets support, nooSMTPD as a story · 1 points

    HN discussion
  29. soheilpro · 2019-12-01

    Submitted SPF-aware greylisting and filter-greylist as a story · 1 points

    HN discussion
  30. ghewgill · 2018-12-10

    Submitted OpenSMTPD proc filters and fc-rDNS as a story · 1 points

    HN discussion

Search all of HN for poolp.org

Linked by the same people?