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.