On Mon, 17 Jan 2005, Jim Pazarena wrote:
> In a user forward file I would have:
>
> # Exim filter
>
> deliver alternate@???
> unseen
> finish
>
> ...............
>
> and this was treated as SEEN!
> So I dig in the book, and clearly find that "unseen" must
> precede the deliver command. My bad.
>
> But why would exim even "permit" (without an error message)
> a lone "unseen" line in the filter if it weren't acting on it?
In a filter, whitespace is whitespace is whitespace. So your filter file
contains two commands:
(1) deliver alternate@???
(2) unseen finish
The first command sets up a real delivery. Exim set the "seen" flag. The
second command finishes, with the "unseen" not achieving anything,
because that's the default for "finish" anyway.
> I have always considered that the keyword "unseen" would set
> an unseen flag. This does not appear to be the case.
No, it doesn't work like that. "unseen" is useful on commands that
normally set the "seen" flag; it prevents such a command from setting
the flag. For example
unseen deliver alternate@???
Once set, the flag cannot be unset. It means "a significant delivery has
been specified" and you can't change your mind about that.
> Is the keyword "seen" also not going to be triggering a
> significant delivery if it appears on a line all by itself?
Depends what it precedes. :-)
--
Philip Hazel University of Cambridge Computing Service,
ph10@??? Cambridge, England. Phone: +44 1223 334714.
Get the Exim 4 book: http://www.uit.co.uk/exim-book
