Author: Dave C. Date: To: hoh CC: exim-users Subject: Re: [Exim] Re: Malformed SMTP response
On Wed, 5 Dec 2001 hoh@??? wrote:
> On 5 Dec, Chris Thompson wrote:
>
> > You are missing the point: Exim never got to see the 553 because it is
> > preceded by a blank line. This is a protocol error, and protocol
> > errors are normally taken to be a reason to defer, rather than to
> > fail.
>
> What is the reasoning behind this? Is it common for a MTA to have
> protocol errors only temporarily, perhaps due to network problems?
>
> > It does seem that Exim could have been clearer in its log that the
> > protocol error was in response to a RCPT, even though (because of
> > pipelineing) it had got as far as sending DATA.
>
> Agreed. The reasons for the problems as given by Exim is confusing.
> After the telnet attempt it is clear that the message from Exim
>
> Malformed SMTP response from mx15.nameplanet.com [62.70.3.45] after DATA:
>
> is about the empty line, but that was not obvious from the beginning.
> It seems that Exim properly handles the pipelining but that the
> reporting about the empty line wasn't so obvious (to me at least) :-)
Perhaps exim should quote the response, to make the case of a blank line
(or any other non obvious response) more obvious?