[Exim] literal domains in Exim 4 / local_domains_include_hos…

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Author: David Burton
Date:  
To: exim-users
Subject: [Exim] literal domains in Exim 4 / local_domains_include_host_literals / "domain literals not allowed"
When I uncomment this line in exim.conf...

    # local_domains_include_host_literals


....exim 4.30 won't run. It reports an error and quits:

    main option "local_domains_include_host_literals" unknown


Obviously, the local_domains_include_host_literals option has
been removed in Exim 4.

The desupport of that option doesn't seem to be mentioned
anywhere in the documentation on the exim.org web site. At
least google can't find it:

http://www.google.com/search?q=local_domains_include_host_literals+site%3Aexim.org

But it certainly does seem to be gone. (Maybe this change is
documented in the Exim 4 book -- I only have the Exim 3 book.)

I wish it hadn't been removed. But the comment with it
suggests an alternative approach:

    # If you want to accept mail addressed to your host's literal IP address, for
    # example, mail addressed to "user@???", then uncomment the
    # following line, or supply the literal domain(s) as part of "local_domains"
    # above. You also need to comment "forbid_domain_literals" below. This is not
    # recommended for today's Internet.


    # local_domains_include_host_literals


The alternative approach, of adding the literal domain to the
local_domains list, isn't as flexible or convenient as having
local_domains_include_host_literals work, because it can't
easily be used with a dynamic IP address. (You could argue
that literal domains shouldn't be used with dynamic IP
addresses anyhow, but I would disagree, because my "dynamic"
IP address hasn't changed in over 13 months.)

Anyhow, my other IP address is static, so I added that one to
local_domains. Also, as the instructions say, I commented out
forbid_domain_literals:

    # forbid_domain_literals


But it doesn't work. Exim is still rejecting emails sent to
the literal IP domain. The emails bounce with this error:

    209.170.129.106 does not like recipient.
    Remote host said: 501 <user@???>: domain literals not allowed


The documentation is unclear about how the literal domain IP
address should be specified in local_domains (i.e., with or
without the [square brackets]). So I tried adding it both
ways. That is, I tried adding both [209.170.129.106] and
209.170.129.106 to local_domains. But it didn't help.

Exim didn't report an error, but it still doesn't work. Exim
4.30 is still rejecting emails sent to user@???,
saying "domain literals not allowed."

How can this be made to work? The RFCs require it!

-Dave