[Mailman-Users] probe message

Sean sean at sweetbourbon.com
Thu Feb 24 13:50:35 CET 2005



On Wed, 23 Feb 2005 enyc at sheer.us wrote:

> > I'm running Mailman 2.1.5 and postfix 2.0.15.  I noticed some strange
> > bounce addresses in the mail logs:
> > list_name_bounces+435fdd33f52d0f2ebeaafbb611ce73add36eaa3d at tld
> > Is this how probe messages sent the reply-to/from header to?
>
> kind of,
> listname-bounces+[code]@[domain]
> is the VERP return-path used...
> I.e. the Variable Envelope Return Path.
>
> This is the ''return path'' used on the ENVELOPE, i.e. the
>   address used in "MAIL FROM:" SMTP command.
> This is the address to which bounces are delivered...
>
> Hence, probes use such 'silly' Envelope FROM: addresses with
>   a ''random'' hex. code whatnot in the address to have a reliable
>   way of checking that address really does bounce.

Thanks, thats what I thought but wanted confirmation.

>
> The snag is, your MTA/alias-files/etc MAY not be delivering mail
>   with the listname-bounces+45894735478574893 code piped to mailman
>   like it's supposed to unless configured correctly.
> Unless this is working, this will break 'automatic disabling and
>   unsubscribing' of users with broken/bouncing email addresses.
>
> I don't know postfix....

Yeah, the snag was that Postfix wasn't configured to handle these.  At
some point the 'recipient_delimiter = +' parameter got removed from the
main.cf file.  I've added it back in some these should be processed
correctly now.

Sean




More information about the Mailman-Users mailing list