Viktor Dukhovni via Postfix-users:
> On Fri, Mar 27, 2026 at 09:35:20AM +0100, Paul Menzel via Postfix-users wrote:
>
> > In our hold queue, there are sometimes messages, that we want to
> > return to the sender via forced expiration and pass a reason, like
> > "SPF failed" or "no unsubscribe link present".
> >
> > According to the manual page postsuper(1), there is currently no such
> > option. Is there another way, or would that need to implemented with a new
> > switch?
>
> There's not much the current postsuper(1) can do here. The content of
> the bounce message is based on the bounce logs, which it does not modify.
>
> There would need to be new code to rewrite the bounce logs (structured data).
There may not be a bounce or defer log. A message may be placed on
hold before any delivery attempt is made (for example, by an smtpd
access rule, header/body_checks rule, or Milter quarantine action).
(The contents of a bounce or defer log are sacred, like the original
message: once Postfix has taken responsibility for delivery, the
bounce or defer logs must not be lost, and the only safe modifications
are 'update in place' or 'append'.)
Alternative A involves a new 'hold reason' record in a bounce or
defer log. This requires multiple small code changes.
1a) When an an smtpd access rule, header/body_checks rule, or Milter
quarantine action, places a message on 'hold', it asks the
bounce daemon to append a 'hold reason' record to a bounce or
defer log.
1b) When "postsuper -h" places a message on hold, it locks a bounce
or defer log, which can hang the postsuper command, and directly
appends a 'hold reason' record (postsuper must work even if
Postfix is stopped).
2a) When the postsuper command releases a message for
normal delivery, it disables the 'hold reason' by updating that
record 'in place'.
2b) When the postsuper command expires a message, it leaves the
'hold reason' record unchanged.
3) When the bounce daemon generates a bounce message, it includes
the 'hold reason' information if present.
Alternative B implements 'forced expire with reason' with a new
postsuper workflow that avoids any changes to bounce/defer logfile
formats or daemon modifications, but does require structural code
changes.
1) Lock the original message file, which can hang the postsuper
command.
2) Create a new message with the expiration reason, the contents
of bounce and defer logs, and the original message. That is a
significant amount of code that would have to be factored out
of the bounce daemon, so that it can be reused in the postsuper
command.
3) If successful, delete the original message and the bounce and
defer logs for that message. This behavior currently exists in
the bounce daemon and in the queue manager.
Wietse
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