From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.emacs.gnus.general/60410 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: David Abrahams Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.gnus.general Subject: Re: Gnus with Exim Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2005 16:43:04 -0400 Message-ID: References: <83k6lagmx8.fsf@torus.sehlabs.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1118090543 15535 80.91.229.2 (6 Jun 2005 20:42:23 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 20:42:23 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: ding-owner+M8937@lists.math.uh.edu Mon Jun 06 22:42:21 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from malifon.math.uh.edu ([129.7.128.13]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DfOPS-0003G9-9P for ding-account@gmane.org; Mon, 06 Jun 2005 22:41:22 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.math.uh.edu ident=lists) by malifon.math.uh.edu with smtp (Exim 3.20 #1) id 1DfORJ-0003Ev-00; Mon, 06 Jun 2005 15:43:17 -0500 Original-Received: from util2.math.uh.edu ([129.7.128.23]) by malifon.math.uh.edu with esmtp (Exim 3.20 #1) id 1DfOR7-0003Ej-00 for ding@lists.math.uh.edu; Mon, 06 Jun 2005 15:43:05 -0500 Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by util2.math.uh.edu with esmtp (Exim 4.30) id 1DfOR4-0003Lh-Gn for ding@lists.math.uh.edu; Mon, 06 Jun 2005 15:43:02 -0500 Original-Received: from smtp04.mrf.mail.rcn.net ([207.172.4.63]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1DfOR3-0001wC-00 for ; Mon, 06 Jun 2005 22:43:01 +0200 Original-Received: from 146-115-127-135.c3-0.smr-ubr2.sbo-smr.ma.cable.rcn.com (HELO I9300.boost-consulting.com) (146.115.127.135) by smtp04.mrf.mail.rcn.net with ESMTP; 06 Jun 2005 16:43:00 -0400 X-IronPort-AV: i="3.93,174,1115006400"; d="scan'208"; a="43804097:sNHT23167674" Original-To: ding@gnus.org In-Reply-To: (Steven E. Harris's message of "Mon, 06 Jun 2005 12:59:21 -0700") User-Agent: Gnus/5.110004 (No Gnus v0.4) Emacs/22.0.50 (windows-nt) X-Spam-Score: -4.9 (----) Precedence: bulk Original-Sender: ding-owner@lists.math.uh.edu Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.gnus.general:60410 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.gnus.general:60410 "Steven E. Harris" writes: > David Abrahams writes: > >> Well, actually that's probably enough. I don't normally have errors; >> it just seems like my emacs session sometimes locks up for up to a >> minute when trying to send mail. > > That was my original motivation for setting up exim too. But after > running exim for several years, I have seen sending errors arise where > the queuing and retrying capability turns out to be very convenient. I > run my exim daemon with a queue run interval of 10 minutes. Given that > my queue is usually empty, the daemon does virtually no work. On the > other hand, on the odd chance that a message can't be sent out right > away, I don't have to worry much about attending to it later. That's probably a good idea for me, too. >> The only thing that worries me is what happens in the rare case where >> sending *does* actually fail. > > Exim will send a message back to the sender (you) when it's ready to > give up on delivery, or if delivery is taking a very long time. To > discuss failure behavior, though, we need to distinguish between > transient failures and permanent failures. > >> Actually, I think there's a better answer. See the enclosed message. >> I just need to figure out how to apply what he says there. You might >> want to modify your use of &/+ accordingly. > > I don't think the intentions are the same. While it is nice that the > fallback_hosts option can accept multiple hosts, you have to go > through the sure-to-fail direct DNS lookup first, wait for that to > fail, and only then start trying the list of obliging servers. I don't care *too* much how long long it takes as long as it's going on in the background. >> It's called exim-config on cygwin ;-) > > No, the exim4-config package on Debian goes way, way beyond the > exim-config in Cygwin. For my setup at home in Debian, the only > hand-tweaking I had to do was to get my ISP's unusual SMTP server port > specified; at present, despite a few bug reports to the contrary, the > server port is not considered to be an important configurable setting. OK. >> The ideal thing would be to get the fallback stuff working. >> Unfortunately I have to take my computer down the block to test it ;-) > > I have the fallback stuff set up on my computer at work ("=3D" for > "fallback on FAIL only"), but the fallback scenario never gets > triggered. The work setup is different than the one I shared with > you. I can make direct connections to /almost/ any SMTP server out > there, but, paradoxically, I can't send mail to my coworkers by coming > back in to our own SMTP server as pointed to in the public MX > records. So, for internal mail, I use a corporate server as a "smart > host", but for external mail I use the dnslookup driver to connect > directly, and fallback on FAIL to our internal "smart host". > >> Oh, well *that* might be a better option. I could get the guy who >> administers smtp.boost-consulting.com to open a different port for >> outgoing SMTP so I can send email that way. > > That will work in environments that block port 25, and that do /not/ > block all ports besides, say, HTTP and HTTPS. Panix runs on port > 2525=B9. I have yet to find that port blocked anywhere I use my computer. Cool, telnet works from here. I'll try sending you this message on that port. 220 mailspool3.panix.com ESMTP Postfix=0D EHLO I9300.boost-consulting.com=0D 250-mailspool3.panix.com=0D 250-PIPELINING=0D 250-SIZE 27525120=0D 250-VRFY=0D 250-ETRN=0D 250-STARTTLS=0D 250-AUTH PLAIN LOGIN=0D 250 8BITMIME=0D MAIL FROM: SIZE=3D5781=0D 250 Ok=0D RCPT TO:=0D 554 : Recipient address rejected: Access denied= =0D QUIT=0D 221 Bye=0D Heh, that was my Bcc: to myself. I guess it won't let me send to anyone outside Panix unless I can login there? >> Then I wouldn't need exim at all, would I? > > I would still recommend running it. It solves problems that your MUA > alone doesn't solve. You started out this inquiry looking for > asynchronous sending behavior from Gnus, and getting that extra SMTP > port opened won't grant you that behavior.=20 Yeah, but if it's responsive enough, I don't care much. What am I missing? > It will make configuring exim to fit your roaming scenario easier. >> In fact, I could probably test this by going through smtp.panix.com >> if you tell me what port you're using. > > It's mail.panix.com on port 2525, but you'll need to authenticate if > you're not coming in through a Panix connection. Hum, you mean I'd need a Panix username and password? > [...] > >> Maybe the enclosed will help. > > Oh, I see they changed the "+ for DEFER or FAIL" to "&". Yah. > It looks to me as though your ISP is blocking port 25 traffic,=20 Unless it goes to their server, yes. > so it doesn't make sense to even try using the dnslookup router when > you're stuck behind this connection. I'm not always stuck there. When I roam, won't I want that in effect? > The "smart host" one is a short-circuit pessimistic version of your > dnslookup+fallback: Don't even bother trying to connect directly, > and just send it out through smtp.rcn.com. --=20 Dave Abrahams Boost Consulting www.boost-consulting.com