[Exim] Possibly misleading rejection message

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Author: Paul Walsh
Date:  
To: Exim Users
Subject: [Exim] Possibly misleading rejection message
Not a problem as such, but something to bear in mind.


Running Exim 3.12 on Solaris 2.5.1

RBL settings are:
rbl_domains = rbl.maps.vix.com/reject : dialups.mail-abuse.org/reject :
relays.mail-abuse.org/reject

rbl_reject_recipients
rbl_warn_header
rbl_log_headers
rbl_log_rcpt_count

I have +warn_unknown set in host_reject_recipients and sender_reject to
allow mail through from hosts without a reverse-DNS entry

There are occasions when an originating host is on one of the RBL lists AND
it doesn't have a reverse-DNS. In such cases, Exim bounces the message with
the following:

Recipient: <user@???>
Reason:    Open relay problem - see
<URL:http://www.mail-abuse.org/cgi-bin/nph-rss?xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx>
           mail from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx rejected: administrative prohibition
(failed to find host name from IP address)



While most of us would react to the "Open relay" bit, the wording indicates
to the sender that the mail is being rejected because of a lack of
reverse-DNS. Is there anything that can be done so that the message could
read

           mail from xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx rejected: administrative prohibition
(host is blacklisted)


or words to that effect?

Paul Walsh

Senior Systems Programmer, Information Services,
University of Central England, BIRMINGHAM B42 2SU, UK
Tel: +44 (0)121 331 5708    Fax: +44 (0)121 356 2875