Re: tlug: flushing the mail queue

[Scott Stone <sstone@example.com>]

On Fri, 6 Mar 1998, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:

> >>>>> "Scott" == Scott Stone <sstone@example.com> writes:
> 
>     Scott> Basically I need a program that can remove entries from the
>     Scott> mail queue.  We have some mailing lists with bad addresses
>     Scott> and I want to get them out of the queue.
> 
> I don't know sendmail at all, but this sounds like you have a
> misconfigured sendmail AND a misconfigured listserv to boot.  Sendmail 
> should be kicking out the bad addresses and either returning to sender 
> (the listserv) or to postmaster or both.  They shouldn't stay in the
> queue.

well, they stay in the queue when there's no name resolution for the other
end.  For example, my dad works at International House of Pancakes
(ihopcorp.com), and their nameserver is down - no MX records, so sendmail
holds it in the queue for 5 days and keeps trying to deliver it.  It
flushes it automatically after 5 days.

> 
> A good listserv can be configured to autoremove addresses that
> bounce.  Of course, it should be arranged that the list owner gets
> some information about this, and it will probably require some extra
> scripting.  One list I know of does this culling separately from
> handling the main list.

well, they're not bouncing, they're just 'deferred' due to NS lookup
problems...

> 
> For your immediate problem, sendmail should have a spool directory and 
> maybe a control file somewhere.  Shut down sendmail (easiest is
> probably to reboot to single user mode) and rm all the messages in the 
> spool directory.  If there's a control file, you'll have to figure out 
> what to do about it.
> 
> Having a program to do this without going to maintenance mode is
> asking for lost mail.
> 

That's what I was worried about.  Maybe I'll just let them auto-die after
5 days.

> HTH
> 
> Steve
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Next TLUG Nomikai: 11 March Wed 1998 Tengu TokyoEkiMae 19:30
> Chuo-ku, Kyobashi 1-1-6, EchiZenYa Bld. B1/B2 03-3275-3691
> Next TLUG Meeting: 11 April 1998 Saturday, Tokyo Station
> Featuring Tague Griffith of Netscape i18n talking on source code
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> a word from the sponsor:
> TWICS - Japan's First Public-Access Internet System
> www.twics.com  info@example.com  Tel:03-3351-5977  Fax:03-3353-6096
> 

--------------------------------------------------
Scott M. Stone <sstone@example.com, sstone@example.com>
               <sstone@example.com>
Linux Developer/Systems Administrator for Pacific HiTech, Inc. 
http://www.pht.com		http://armadillo.pht.co.jp
http://www.pht.co.jp	        http://www.turbolinux.com


---------------------------------------------------------------
Next TLUG Nomikai: 11 March Wed 1998 Tengu TokyoEkiMae 19:30
Chuo-ku, Kyobashi 1-1-6, EchiZenYa Bld. B1/B2 03-3275-3691
Next TLUG Meeting: 11 April 1998 Saturday, Tokyo Station
Featuring Tague Griffith of Netscape i18n talking on source code
---------------------------------------------------------------
a word from the sponsor:
TWICS - Japan's First Public-Access Internet System
www.twics.com  info@example.com  Tel:03-3351-5977  Fax:03-3353-6096