[Dovecot] Bounce vs. Defer
Hello--
I've noticed that with when using deliver, if there is a misconfiguration in my dovecot configuration file, a permissions problem on the maildir, etc., deliver will bounce the message. I'm using Postfix, and at some point used Maildrop, and I know that maildrop (and I believe also Postfix's virtual transport) instead defer the message if there is some kind of fixable problem (like permissions). Then, when the problem is solved, you can flush the queue.
Would it be possible to add a defer option to deliver? It makes it difficult to try out new options or different configurations because if you have fairly regular incoming mail, the last thing you want is a ten minute period where 20 messages get bounced...
Thanks, Jeff
Jeff Mitchell wrote:
Hello--
I've noticed that with when using deliver, if there is a misconfiguration in my dovecot configuration file, a permissions problem on the maildir, etc., deliver will bounce the message. I'm using Postfix, and at some point used Maildrop, and I know that maildrop (and I believe also Postfix's virtual transport) instead defer the message if there is some kind of fixable problem (like permissions). Then, when the problem is solved, you can flush the queue.
This behaviour is Postfix interpreting the exit codes returned by the LDA, where different exit codes denote different action to be taken. I seem to recall a discussion on deliver's exit codes some months ago, so maybe you could find that in the archives and have a look, or perhaps someone else can provide you with more information.
On Mon, 2007-01-15 at 10:28 -0500, Jeff Mitchell wrote:
Hello--
I've noticed that with when using deliver, if there is a misconfiguration in my dovecot configuration file, a permissions problem on the maildir, etc., deliver will bounce the message. I'm using Postfix, and at some point used Maildrop, and I know that maildrop (and I believe also Postfix's virtual transport) instead defer the message if there is some kind of fixable problem (like permissions). Then, when the problem is solved, you can flush the queue.
Would it be possible to add a defer option to deliver? It makes it difficult to try out new options or different configurations because if you have fairly regular incoming mail, the last thing you want is a ten minute period where 20 messages get bounced...
Dovecot should then reply with EX_TEMPFAIL (75) and Postfix shouldn't be bouncing the messages then. Are the bounces from Dovecot's LDA or Postfix? Dovecot adds "Reporting-UA: ..; Dovecot Mail Delivery Agent" header for its own bounces.
I just tried this by making my Maildir owned by root, and deliver returned correctly with exit code 75.
participants (3)
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Jeff Mitchell
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Peter Fern
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Timo Sirainen