Problem: exim cannot be removed.

I have a desktop debian and I do not want to run a mailserver but I keep seeing exim in my 'running processes' list.

peter@beastie:~$ ps -A | grep exim
3185 ? 00:00:00 exim4

peter@beastie# apt-get remove exim4
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Package exim4 is not installed, so not removed
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

peter@beastie# apt-get remove exim
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Package exim is not installed, so not removed
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.

aptitude remove exim flushed gnome-desktop and hundreds of packages with it, so I had to reinstall because x didn't start anymore.

When there really isn't a way to remove it how do I kill it automaticly at boottime?Where do I put the command kill -9 `pidof exim4`

I really like debian and I would love to use it as a desktop, with X but without runnning a mailserver, isn't that possible?


I have debian testing

How about this: You would need another MTA to replace exim if you want to use rkhunter or some other program that depends on a MTA.
You will also miss local mails from your system. You could pick another one of these: exim4 | postfix | sendmail | mail-transport-agent

I like msmtp, which is a very small alternative and easy to configure. If you ask aptitude to install "msmtp-mta" it will tell you it needs to remove exim4 (since they conflict). That's one way to get rid of it.

Also, you're not running a mailserver as is. It's just the exim4 daemon, running gently in the background, waiting to send mail. If you don't need to send mail from that box, leave it as is. It won't hurt you. If you want to stop the process from ever starting, install sysv-rc-conf and then invoke it as root with "sysv-rc-conf". Use the arrow keys to move down to exim4 and then you can move left and right with those arrows. You turn off something there by moving onto it and hitting the space bar (to switch on to off or off to on). That will keep it from starting at boot time.

I usually do not install it but even when I did I have removed it without it killing anything....

Thank you so much guys for your professional answers, it explained a lot.

apt-get --purge remove exim4-base -s
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following packages will be REMOVED:
at* exim4-base* exim4-daemon-light* mailx* mutt*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 5 to remove and 85 not upgraded.
Purg at [3.1.10]
Purg mutt [1.5.13-3]
Purg mailx [1:8.1.2-0.20070424cvs-1]
Purg exim4-daemon-light [4.67-1]
Purg exim4-base [4.67-1]

Umm, I'm not sure about how much you know about apt-get, but the "-s" switch is for simulation. Leave it out to actually purge packages.

alternatively you can open synaptic package manager, select exim4-base and do a remove with configuration files