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Re: fetchmail problem (maybe bug)



on Fri, Dec 05, 2003 at 08:28:29PM +0100, Christian Schoenebeck (christian.schoenebeck@epost.de) wrote:
> Es geschah am Freitag, 5. Dezember 2003 17:51 als Karsten M. Self schrieb:
> > on Sun, Nov 30, 2003 at 02:59:55PM +0100, Christian Schoenebeck 
> (christian.schoenebeck@epost.de) wrote:

> > > I'm using fetchmail 5.9.11-6.2 from woody since a while without any
> > > problems, but now mail retrieval fails with the following error messages:
> > >
> > > 	fetchmail: POP3> RETR 1
> > > 	fetchmail: POP3< -ERR cannot open disk file error 2
> > > 	fetchmail: cannot open disk file error 2
> > > 	fetchmail: POP3> QUIT
> > > 	fetchmail: POP3< +OK POP3 server closing connection
> > > 	fetchmail: client/server protocol error while fetching from
> > > mail.epost.de
> >
> > I suspect you're dropping fetchmail output onto your local TMA, possibly
> > exim?
> >
> > In this case, malformed headers in some spam is rejected by your local
> > MTA.  The result is that messages aren't delivered.
> >
> > Two solutions:
> >
> >   - Drop output directly onto a local mda such as procmail with the
> >     "mda" option (man fetchmail).
> >
> >   - Use direct access to your POP box (telnet 110 or pop3browser) to
> >     identify the malignant mail and delete it from the remote server.

> No email client was able to fetch those mails (15 mails) which caused
> the problem, so I had to telnet it. RETR one of those 15 messages
> failed on server side, so I had no chance to look what these mails
> were and where they came from. But at least DELE those mails fixed the
> problem.

Again:  pop3browser may be useful hee.

> But IMHO I still think this can be considered as a bug in fetchmail: 

No.

Exim is refusing to accept the message.  Fetchmail is doing what it
should:  it's telling you that it tried, but was unable, to deliver the
mail.

It *could* phrase the error more clearly to indicate the problem is
local, rather than remote.

I've not been able to convince exim that it should allow these mails,
nor am I sure of a fix which says to simply dump such messages.  Note
that other clients (e.g.:  Eudora) fail rather more dramatically in
situations such as this.

> my other email clients just ignored those couple of mails that were
> stuck on the server, fetchmail just stops processing when it got an
> error while trying to RETR one of those messages. It should just
> ignore these and continue to fetch the next ones.

I'm not sure this is the case -- while fetchmail reports an error, I
seem to recall it actually fetching other mails, if not on first pass,
then eventually.  But I could be wrong, this only happens periodically.

> (please CC me, I'm not subscribed to the list currently)

Second request:  set your Reply-To header to reflect your wishes, or
browse archives or usenet (gmane apparently gateways d-u) yourself.  My
next response will simply be list default.

And moreover:  do *not* CC me.  I *am* subscribed to the list.


Peace.

-- 
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com>        http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
 What Part of "Gestalt" don't you understand?
    Bush/Cheney '04: Four More Wars!

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