ietf-smtp
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Re: handling extraneous 500 level SMTP error codes

1998-04-10 06:50:10
On Thu, 09 Apr 1998 18:28:43 EDT, you said:
Now, in both cases, I could not find (in 821 or 1123) the response
codes listed for the commands.  Matter of fact, user not local for
MAIL FROM does not really make sense unless they have an anti-posting
filter or something out in place.  Seeing as this is list traffic,
it really didnt make sense.

Well.. I often see stuff addressed to 'user(_at_)some(_dot_)isp' going out,
they've botched their MX entries, and it ends up being sent to
a host that is *not* in the mood to forward it.  The other common
occurrence is when there's an *expired* mail forwarding in effect...

So, any input there on how these 500 level response should be
handled?  current usage of any of these responses to these commands?

Appendix E of RFC821 states:

            5yz   Permanent Negative Completion reply

               The command was not accepted and the requested action did
               not occur.  The sender-SMTP is discouraged from repeating
               the exact request (in the same sequence).  Even some
               "permanent" error conditions can be corrected, so the
               human user may want to direct the sender-SMTP to
               reinitiate the command sequence by direct action at some
               point in the future (e.g., after the spelling has been
               changed, or the user has altered the account status).

Bottom line: If the reply code starts with a 5, and you dont
know what the y and z values are supposed to mean, it's appropriate
to insert a .WAV of Dr McCoy saying "Its dead, Jim"...
-- 
                                Valdis Kletnieks
                                Computer Systems Senior Engineer
                                Virginia Tech

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