Recently, Somebody Somewhere wrote these words
> On Tue, Nov 22, 2005 at 10:33:53AM +0000, Declan Moriarty wrote:
> >
> > and of course it bombed, in the following way. Fetchmail threw an
> > smtp error when the message was rejected (smtp protocol error),
> > stopped
>
> Fetchmail is for pop3, imap, etc.. Not smtp. I fail to understand
> where postfix would come in to the situation when receiving mail.
>
> -- Archaic
>
I never thought it through either. But here's why.
Fetchmail is pop3 in, smtp out.
IOL.ie --> fetchmail --> 127.0.0.1:25, a.k.a. postfix :-|.
Postfix then decides it's local mail, assigns it to a user, and sends it
to procmail -d $USER. Fetchmail doesn't (can't afaik) call procmail.
With smtp restrictions, the path is
IOL.ie --> fetchmail --> 127.0.0.1:25, which says NO, and fetchmail is
'gobsmacked' and left holding the email. Then it will not get the next
message. It doesn't delete, so the one rejected message blocks the flow.
There's a theoretical 'fallback to procmail' but procmail can only
deliver to the fetchmail process owner. And if the smtp client is there,
it will never look for procmail. I'm open to correction if anyone read
up on this more recently than I did.
In fact, with POP3, smtp rejection means not collecting. It has nothing
to do with giving a spammer back his junk. Pity.
--
With best Regards,
Declan Moriarty.
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