Re: [exim] Bounce message not containing :fail: message

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Author: Fred Viles
Date:  
To: exim-users
Subject: Re: [exim] Bounce message not containing :fail: message
On 9 Sep 2005 at 16:15, Pieter Ennes wrote about
    "[exim] Bounce message not containin":


| I'm :fail:-ing some addresses of unemployed people in a virtual users 
| list, like this:
| 
| sjoerd@???:        :fail: Not employed at Q-go anymore


I do that too. It's very handy.

| Philip's excellent Exim4 book mentions:
|
| "If :fail: is encountered while a message is being delivered, the text
| is included in the bounce message that Exim generates; the text for
| :defer: appears in the log line for the deferral, but is not otherwise
| used."


Actually that's not relevant, since you are not doing a delivery. In
spec.txt, see section 22.6 (Special items in redirection lists),
which includes:

  * An attempt to deliver a particular address can be deferred or forced to
    fail by redirection items of the form


    :defer:
    :fail:
...
    In the case of an address that is being verified from an ACL or as the
    subject of a VRFY command, the text is included in the SMTP error response
    by default. The text is not included in the response to an EXPN command.


| However, i'm seeing this in the bounce message:
| 
|    sjoerd@???
|      SMTP error from remote mailer after RCPT TO:<sjoerd@???>:
|      host angie.q-go.net [212.72.55.132]: 550 unknown user


As you've already figured out, that message was generated by the
offering MTA, not your exim.

| While the log does give it correctly:
|
| 2005-09-09 16:01:43 H=host-213-201-236-212.argeweb.nl (pooh.febe.nl)
| [213.201.236.212] F=<test@???> rejected RCPT
| <sjoerd@???>: Not employed at Q-go anymore
|
| Why would the 'Not employed anymore' text not be included in the
| generated bounce message?


Because the offering MTA is, how to put this, not as well written as
exim. It is ignoring the text you sent, rather than passing it back
to the sender where it may do some good.

Your exim is already doing what you want, that's the best you can do.
You are not responsible for all the lameware out there.

- Fred