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[fetchmail] [Fwd: 'From' problems]

2002-09-16 11:48:43
Can anyone give me some feedback on this in not-too-technical language?
I am quite unfamiliar with fetchmail and the configuration on the
Internet appliance is off-limits to the end user, so we cannot config it
ourselves. I need to establish whether the ISP is right in saying
sendmail will accept emails that have an empty or invalid From: address
or whether the Instagate people are right in saying "No, fetchmail will
not work with such messages".

Thanks

--- Begin Message ---
Hi,

This is my first post to this list. Recently our company installed an
Instagate EX2 firewall/gateway/mail server appliance from eSoft. This
appliance is running Red Hat Linux and includes fetchmail to retrieve
mail from our remote server (hosted)

We're using the appliance to download email from mirrored mailboxes. The
appliance works with a Euro-ISDN connection and the admin interface
allows us to configure an idle time timeout so that the system
disconnects when not in use. After noticing that the system never
disconnected despite noone being online, I ran a tail on the
/usr/log/messages file in our remote server and noticed that the
Instagate was constantly trying to download mail and was caught up in
some sort of endless loop.

A closer examination of the fetchmail log on the Instagate shows
something like this (I've replaced the actual domain name of the remote
POP3 & SMTP server with ourmailserver.com):

fetchmail: POP3< +OK 128499 octets
reading message 1 of 4 (128499 octets)
fetchmail: SMTP< 220 ourmailserver.com ESMTP Exim 3.35 #1 Tue, 10 Sep
2002 17:55:54 -0400
fetchmail: SMTP> EHLO localhost
fetchmail: SMTP< 250-ourmailserver.com Hello localhost [127.0.0.1]
fetchmail: SMTP< 250-SIZE 20971520
fetchmail: SMTP< 250-PIPELINING
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 HELP
fetchmail: SMTP> MAIL FROM:<NCAAB_20000317_PEPPER(_at_)IN_1(_dot_)htm> 
SIZE=128499
fetchmail: SMTP< 501 <NCAAB_20000317_PEPPER(_at_)IN_1(_dot_)htm>: malformed
address: _1.htm> may not follow <NCAAB_20000317_PEPPER(_at_)IN
fetchmail: SMTP error: 501 <NCAAB_20000317_PEPPER(_at_)IN_1(_dot_)htm>: 
malformed
address: _1.htm> may not follow <NCAAB_20000317_PEPPER(_at_)IN
fetchmail: SMTP< 220 ourmailserver.com ESMTP Exim 3.35 #1 Tue, 10 Sep
2002 17:55:54 -0400
fetchmail: SMTP> HELO localhost
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 ourmailserver.com Hello localhost [127.0.0.1]
fetchmail: SMTP> MAIL FROM:<FETCHMAIL-DAEMON(_at_)instagate>
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 <FETCHMAIL-DAEMON(_at_)instagate> is syntactically
correct
fetchmail: SMTP> RCPT TO:<NCAAB_20000317_PEPPER(_at_)IN_1(_dot_)htm>
fetchmail: SMTP< 501 <NCAAB_20000317_PEPPER(_at_)IN_1(_dot_)htm>: malformed
address: _1.htm> may not follow <NCAAB_20000317_PEPPER(_at_)IN
fetchmail: SMTP> RSET
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 Reset OK
 not flushed
fetchmail: POP3> RETR 2
fetchmail: POP3< +OK 939 octets
reading message 2 of 4 (939 octets)
fetchmail: SMTP> MAIL FROM:<@ourmailserver.com> SIZE=939
fetchmail: SMTP< 501 <@ourmailserver.com>: no local part
fetchmail: SMTP error: 501 <@ourmailserver.com>: no local part
fetchmail: SMTP< 220 ourmailserver.com ESMTP Exim 3.35 #1 Tue, 10 Sep
2002 17:56:12 -0400
fetchmail: SMTP> HELO localhost
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 ourmailserver.com Hello localhost [127.0.0.1]
fetchmail: SMTP> MAIL FROM:<FETCHMAIL-DAEMON(_at_)instagate>
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 <FETCHMAIL-DAEMON(_at_)instagate> is syntactically
correct
fetchmail: SMTP> RCPT TO:<@ourmailserver.com>
fetchmail: SMTP< 501 <@ourmailserver.com>: no local part
fetchmail: SMTP> RSET
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 Reset OK
 not flushed
fetchmail: POP3> RETR 3
fetchmail: POP3< +OK 937 octets
reading message 3 of 4 (937 octets)
fetchmail: SMTP> MAIL FROM:<@ourmailserver.com> SIZE=937
fetchmail: SMTP< 501 <@ourmailserver.com>: no local part
fetchmail: SMTP error: 501 <@ourmailserver.com>: no local part
fetchmail: SMTP< 220 ourmailserver.com ESMTP Exim 3.35 #1 Tue, 10 Sep
2002 17:56:12 -0400
fetchmail: SMTP> HELO localhost
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 ourmailserver.com Hello localhost [127.0.0.1]
fetchmail: SMTP> MAIL FROM:<FETCHMAIL-DAEMON(_at_)instagate>
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 <FETCHMAIL-DAEMON(_at_)instagate> is syntactically
correct
fetchmail: SMTP> RCPT TO:<@ourmailserver.com>
fetchmail: SMTP< 501 <@ourmailserver.com>: no local part
fetchmail: SMTP> RSET
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 Reset OK
 not flushed
fetchmail: POP3> RETR 4
fetchmail: POP3< +OK 937 octets
reading message 4 of 4 (937 octets)
fetchmail: SMTP> MAIL FROM:<@ourmailserver.com> SIZE=937
fetchmail: SMTP< 501 <@ourmailserver.com>: no local part
fetchmail: SMTP error: 501 <@ourmailserver.com>: no local part
fetchmail: SMTP< 220 ourmailserver.com ESMTP Exim 3.35 #1 Tue, 10 Sep
2002 17:56:13 -0400
fetchmail: SMTP> HELO localhost
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 ourmailserver.com Hello localhost [127.0.0.1]
fetchmail: SMTP> MAIL FROM:<FETCHMAIL-DAEMON(_at_)instagate>
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 <FETCHMAIL-DAEMON(_at_)instagate> is syntactically
correct
fetchmail: SMTP> RCPT TO:<@ourmailserver.com>
fetchmail: SMTP< 501 <@ourmailserver.com>: no local part
fetchmail: SMTP> RSET
fetchmail: SMTP< 250 Reset OK
 not flushed
fetchmail: POP3> QUIT
fetchmail: POP3< +OK Pop server at ourmailserver.com signing off.

The message that caused the above problem has the following header:

From nobody(_at_)www02(_dot_)capitalsites(_dot_)net Mon Sep  9 14:21:21 2002
X-UIDL: 3413159639728993c20c5ed7885acb17
From nobody(_at_)www02(_dot_)capitalsites(_dot_)net  Mon Sep  9 14:21:21 2002
Received: from www02.capitalsites.net (www02.capitalsites.net
[64.14.87.229]) by visitaruba.com (8.8.5) id OAA27247; Mon, 9 Sep 2002
14:21:20 -0400 (AST)
Received: (from nobody(_at_)localhost)
        by www02.capitalsites.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) id OAA16896;
        Mon, 9 Sep 2002 14:18:42 -0400 (EDT)
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 14:18:42 -0400 (EDT)
Message-Id: 
<200209091818(_dot_)OAA16896(_at_)www02(_dot_)capitalsites(_dot_)net>
To: hollysdestiny(_at_)hotmail(_dot_)com, engjumper(_at_)yahoo(_dot_)com, 
engjw(_at_)yahoo(_dot_)com,
        daphne(_at_)caribmedia(_dot_)com, 
santiago(_dot_)dgf(_at_)iberdrola(_dot_)es,
daphne(_at_)ce-1(_dot_)com,
        brady(_at_)twtmail(_dot_)com, brady(_at_)usinternet(_dot_)com, 
kellyd(_at_)agt(_dot_)net
From: (ermav6x8d@)
Subject: Information You Requested!
Status: RO


According to Instagate tech support this is the fault of our ISP in that
the MTA is not trapping for a malformed From: address that appeared as
'(ermav6x8d@)'. Our ISP on the otherhand says that SMTP is not supposed
to check for a malformed from address.

Does anyone know who is correct and what should in fact happen under the
above scenario?

Thanks for any help you can provide.


Mark Cesareo





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