On 06/18/2011 10:57 AM, Vince Sabio wrote:
I am running a list server that uses Postfix 2.0.18 (yes, it's a little bit 
creaky) as its MTA. On one of the lists, users are complaining that they are 
receiving repeats of one specific message from one specific person; the repeats 
are being sent out every 70 minutes. (Sounds like a requeue interval.)

Not really.
The incremental queue backoff times postfix uses means no 2 intervals are likely to be the same.

When I check /var/log/maillog, I see entries like this (I've replaced the local-part of 
each address with "LOCALUSER"):

Jun 18 00:24:16 ares postfix/qmgr[874]: 587564A7357: 
from=<localu...@crs.loc.gov>, size=4031, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Jun 18 00:24:16 ares postfix/local[1935]: warning: 587564A7357: trace service 
failure

Oops.
Of course, this is documented; http://www.postfix.org/trace.8.html says:

*DESCRIPTION*
       The*bounce*(8)  <http://www.postfix.org/bounce.8.html>  daemon maintains 
per-message log files with
       delivery status information. Each log file is named  after
       the  queue  file  that it corresponds to, and is kept in a
       queue subdirectory named after the  service  name  in  the
       *master.cf*  <http://www.postfix.org/master.5.html>  file 
(either*bounce*,*defer*  or*trace*).  This pro-
       gram expects to be run from the*master*(8)  
<http://www.postfix.org/master.8.html>  process manager.

       The*bounce*(8)  <http://www.postfix.org/bounce.8.html>   daemon  
processes  two  types  of  service
       requests:

       *o*       Append a recipient (non-)delivery status record  to
              a per-message log file.

       *o*       Enqueue  a  delivery  status  notification message,
              with a copy of a per-message log file  and  of  the
              corresponding  message.   When  the delivery status
              notification message is enqueued successfully,  the
              per-message log file is deleted.


Note that DSN support was added in 2.3, so you don't have the "trace" option of the bounce(8) daemon.

Just locate the offending queue file and kill it.


Jun 18 00:24:16 ares postfix/local[1935]: 587564A7357: 
to=<localu...@ares.hva-va.org>, relay=local, delay=116238, 
delays=116238/0.03/0/0.05, dsn=4.3.0, status=deferred (587564A7357: trace service 
failed)

That's all there is (every 70 minutes). The e-mail messages are identical, right down to the 
Message-ID header. The log entries all have the same transaction ID of 587564A7357. There is no 
"connect from" or "disconnect from" line associated with each new entry -- 
which makes it appear that the repeats are being generated by Postfix, not the MX at crs.loc.gov.

While I was still thinking that these were coming from the external server, I 
put a rule into header_checks to block anything with crs.loc.gov on the From: 
line -- Draconian, but temporary. However, it didn't change anything -- lending 
credence to the indication that these repeats are being generated internally 
somehow, not arriving from the Blue Yonder.

Any idea what's up? And sure, I'd be happy to upgrade Postfix ASAP if this is a 
known bug in 2.0.18. Else, while I realize that I really should upgrade to the 
current release, I'd prefer to wait until I have more time. (Postfix has been 
humming along flawlessly for so long, I'd damned near forgotten about it.)

__________________________________________________________________________
Vincent Sabio                                                vi...@vjs.org

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--
J.

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