[Dovecot] Bounce vs. Defer

[Peter Fern]

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.