On Thu, 20 Nov 1997, Dave Pifke wrote:
> By default, when Exim encounters a .forward file with an error in it (or a
> problem with the permissions/ownership), it defers the message. This is
> presumably so that the user can notice they're not getting any mail and fix the
> problem.
More likely the administrator notices the mail piling up for them. I see
a couple of these a week at busy times.
> Unfortunately, that seems to be a naive assumption, especially at large sites
> where users have no access to the logs on the mail server and no shell account
> to run `exim -bt` on. An alternate behavior is to just ignore the invalid
> .forward file and continue processing the message - this way the user calls
> tech support complaining "my .forward file doesn't work" and doesn't chase the
> tech in circles with "I'm not getting any mail." This also reduces the
> likelihood of bouncing messages due to end-user errors on sites with short
> retry values.
Hmm. The user still has to chase somebody, and meanwhile the mail has
been delivered to the wrong place. The user may not be looking in their
actual mailbox if the forwarding was supposed to send the mail to some
remote host. In many cases I see, the user has gone off to the other
side of the world, and isn't logging on to check.
> To this end, I have patched an additional configuration option into the
> forwardfile director in Exim 1.73, called ignore_dont_defer.
I don't object to the option, which is presumably a small bit of code,
if it is generally wanted.
> Am I overlooking any other problems this might cause? Is this a Good Thing
> that should be included in the next release (it does, after all, default to
> FALSE)? Other thoughts?
Too late for the next release, I'm afraid. [I always get a flurry of
submitted ideas/patches the day after I freeze code for the next
release.]
--
Philip Hazel University Computing Service,
ph10@??? New Museums Site, Cambridge CB2 3QG,
P.Hazel@??? England. Phone: +44 1223 334714
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