[Mailman-Developers] FW: [Mailman-Users] DirecPC, MailShield and VERP

[Richard Barrett]

On Wednesday, October 8, 2003, at 06:58  pm, Jeff Hahn wrote:

> I'm still trying to figure a way around this problem...  Any ideas on 
> a way
> to say "don't VERP this address"?
>

Maybe if you restrict VERP'ing to personalised deliveries (in 
mm_cfg.py) and do not personalise mail for a list with problem 
subscriber addresses then the list's outgoing messages will not be 
VERP'ed and hence rejected. Pity to lose the benefits of 
personalization and VERP but it may the only solution if you cannot 
persuade the destination mail domain's postmaster to fix his MTA/Spam 
filter.

> Thanks!
>
> -Jeff
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> In their infinite wisdom, DirecWay/DirecPC appear to be using a 
> program that
> rejects VERP'd from addresses.
>

A VERP'ed address is just a valid mail alias @ a mail domain. It is 
either a bug or misconfiguration that causes refusal to accept a 
perfectly valid mail address as the envelope return path or in the 
From: header. From the non-VERP'ed message it looks as though the 
problem may be with something called MailShield ??maybe this being the 
Lyris spam filter product - all X,000 dollar license of it??.

The whole point of a VERP'ed return address is that, because it is just 
a valid email address, it only has to be 'understood' and 'decoded' by 
the originating system's MTA if it is returned. For all the MTAs 
between originator and recipient's MUA, the presence/absence of 
VERP'ing is irrelevant and not their concern.

What appears to be causing your problem is a badly 
implemented/configured spam filter which is applying an invalid policy 
to reject you messages; I suspect it may be some rule about the length 
of the mail alias in the return path or, heaven forfend, the From: 
header. The VERP'ed alias may be longer than some arbitrary limit being 
applied.

> The non-VERP'd messages are delivered by exim...
>
> 2003-10-03 08:38:38 1A5Q8F-0005zh-00 => xxxxxxxx at direcway.com 
> R=lookuphost
> T=remote_smtp H=mx1.direcpc.com [66.82.4.72] C="250 2.5.0 Ok. (relayed 
> by
> MailShield)"
>
> The VERP'd messages are rejected...
>
> 2003-10-03 08:35:43 1A5Q5u-0005vu-02 ** xxxxxxxx at direcway.com 
> R=lookuphost
> T=remote_smtp: SMTP error from remote mailer after MAIL
> FROM:<listname-bounces+xxxxxxxx=direcway.com at lists.gryphongardens.com>
> SIZE=4682: host mx1.direcpc.com [66.82.4.72]: 550 SMTP session aborted;
> 2
>
> Is there anyway to disable VERP (which has proved very useful in 
> handling
> bounces) on a per recipient or per list basis????
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------
>
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Richard Barrett                               http://www.openinfo.co.uk