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Subject: Re: Broken SMTP Notifications in Postfix RPMs
From: Simon J Mudd (sjmuddpobox.com)
Date: Fri Aug 25 2000 - 00:33:13 CDT

k-ellricksctech.co.jp ("Karen Ellrick") writes:

> > In principle the only "patch" I include to smtpd now is one to allow for
> > multiline EHLO greetings, which the standard smtpd doesn't provide. The
> > solution I used, pending a better one, wasn't 100% "nice" and that's why
> > Wietse didn't adopt it within the standard sources.
> >
> > > Transcript of session follows.
> > >
> > > In: helo dude
> > > In: mail from:<bugaphid.net>
> > > In: rcpt to:<weenerwee.com>
> > > In: quit
>
> This is probably a dumb question about this, but... Is this bug something
> that affects everyone, or just those doing something special? I do have the
> pl07 rpm running on my RH 6.1 server, but I don't know enough about EHLO
> greetings (in fact I don't even know what they are) to know whether I
> normally get single line ones, multiple lines ones, or none at all. I infer
> from the dialog on this that most EHLO greetings are single line, otherwise
> Wietse would have supported multiple line ones, right?

correct.

The error is in _my_ changes to smtp_chat_reply().

Note: there is more than one redhat rpm for postfix floating around, so you
may not be afected. Use rpm to give you the packager information:

My packages show:

[rootphoenix sjmudd]# rpm -qi postfix
Name : postfix Relocations: (not relocateable)
Version : 20000531 Vendor: None -- see packager
Release : 1 Build Date: Wed Jul 5 20:55:06 2000
Install date: Wed Jul 5 20:58:30 2000 Build Host: phoenix.ea4els.ampr.org
Group : System Environment/Daemons Source RPM: postfix-20000531-1.src.rpm
Size : 2582706 License: IBM Public License -- see LICENSE for details
Packager : Simon J Mudd <sjmuddpobox.com> but see description below
URL : http://www.postfix.org
Summary : Postfix Mail Transport Agent
Description :
Postfix, see http://www.postfix.org, aims to be an alternative to the
widely-used sendmail program, which is responsible for 70 percent of
all e-mail delivered on the Internet.

Although IBM supported the Postfix development, it abstains from control
over its evolution. The goal is to have Postfix installed on as many
systems as possible. To this end, the software is given away with no
strings attached, so that it can evolve with input from and under control
of its users.

Be sure to read http://www.moongroup.com/postfix-faq/c22.html which
covers steps which should be taken prior to and after the installation
of Postfix.

The binary and source rpms are currently stored on
        http://www.alltrading.es/postfix
but this location is likely to change as it is hosted by my former
employer.

You can contact the authors of the binary rpms built as follows:
   i386: Simon J Mudd <sjmuddpobox.com> (built on RH 5.1 & rpm 2.5.3)
   s390: Klaus Jaehne <klaus.jaehneto.com> (for S/390-Linux)
  alpha: Klaus Jaehne <klaus.jaehneto.com>
[rootphoenix sjmudd]#

> But my question is,
> should us "simple folks" be worried about this? (I generally hesitate about
> compiling from source, feeling like I don't necessarily get everything
> installed correctly.)

Unfortunately this will affect (as far as I can see) all smtp replies, ie
all parts which should show "Out: ...". I'm sure that this worked before
or I would have noticed the mistake. Perhaps after some change in smtp_chat.c
by Wietse, I wasn't bright enough to alter the patches accordingly.

Regarding the multiline replies:

For the helo greetings it is often useful to be able to give information about
your server (and company) in the HELO greeting, just in case someone wants
to get in touch with you.

This is easier to read in a multiline reply, which is what I was attempting
to achieve. The standard postfix EHLO greeting of

[rootphoenix snapshot-20000531]# telnet unicorn smtp
Trying 44.133.228.2...
Connected to unicorn.ea4els.ampr.org.
Escape character is '^]'.
220 unicorn.ea4els.ampr.org ESMTP Postfix

Is simple

The patch allows you to do something like:

[rootphoenix snapshot-20000531]# telnet phoenix smtp
Trying 44.133.228.5...
Connected to phoenix.ea4els.ampr.org.
Escape character is '^]'.
220-phoenix.ea4els.ampr.org ESMTP Postfix (Snapshot-20000531)
220-Postfix mail server running a multiline patch
220-Telephone +34-91-408 4878
220 Please don't send me SPAM here - I don't like it

or similar (this is my home machine)

I think Wietse would have included the patch (and probably seen
my mistake) if we could find an obvious way to include newlines
within the smtp_greeting. Currently the postfix parsing routings
treat all whitespace the same and so the "important" line separators
get lost. changing this may affect other things where currently
postfix doesn't expect to separate parameter elements in this
way.

Simon 

-- 
Simon J Mudd, Madrid SPAIN    Tel: +34-91-408 4878    email: sjmuddpobox.com