* Wietse Venema <wie...@porcupine.org>: > Normally the queue manager deletes a defer logfile when it brings > a message into the active queue, and the bounce daemon deletes the > defer logfile after sending a "mail too old" bounce message. > > If the defer file still exists without the message file, some of > the following happened: > > - The queue file was deleted by hand without deleting the bounce/defer > logfile for that message. In this case, nothing is list since the > message would not be delivered. > > - After restoring a mail queue from elsewhere, postsuper was renaming > files to make the 'queue id' match the message file inode number, > and was interrupted before it got to rename the defer file. In this > case nothing is lost, because at least one more mail delivery attempt > will be made. > > - The message was renamed with "postsuper -r". Again, nothing lost > since there will be at last one more delivery attempt. > > - It it's none of the above, someone lost mail. > > Postfix is as careful about not losing mail, as it is about not > losing information about delivery errors. Losing a delivery error > is like losing the message itself - in both cases the recipient > does not receive the message, and the sender is not notified.
That means chances are good that I did something stupid that the long term storage logs don't show, and that said act of stupidity did not cause harm. I think I can live with my presumed occasional stupor, as log as it only resurfaces every four years. As always, thank you for the insightful technical explanations. Stefan
