OT--How to ask aquestion, an example

[Gary Turner <kk5st@sbcglobal.net>]

While Googlin' for a similar error I ran across this post.  It struck me
as a near perfect example of how to do it.  Interestingly, ESR, of
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html fame was the first
respondent :)

<quote>
Subj:  fetchmail: couldn't find canonical DNS name of [...]

Short description
=================
Today, when launching fetchmail, I get the error:

        telperion:~ # fetchmail -v
        fetchmail: couldn't find canonical DNS name of pop3.[...].com

and exits after some seconds. That server is the last of the list, and
no server is polled. There is no syslog reporting.

Long description
================

The fetchmailrc file has not been modified, and worked a few hours
earlier. System has not been modified (it was switched of, it is my home
computer). It seems there is some kind of dns problem, as server
pop3.[...].com does not resolve today. The entry for that mailserver is
the last in the list; however, fetchmail does not poll any of the other
servers, and writes nothing to syslog, just exits. If the entry for that
server is comented out, fetchmail works ferfectly - as has done for more
than a year - and polls all servers, fetching pending mail, as expected.

root .fetchmailrc file (called usually from ip-up), has the following...
</quote>

deles, shown as "[...]", are mine.

This well done query made it easier to determine that I had a similar
problem, and made the rather cryptic answer useful.

The next time I ask a half-assed question (which will be my first, of
course :)), bring me up on it.  Please be gentle.
--
gt                  kk5st@sbcglobal.net
 If someone tells you---
 "I have a sense of humor, but that's not funny." 
                                  ---they don't.