Mailing List Archive

>
> I'll bite.....what the hell is VERP
>
> I've been catching up on the list and all of a sudden, VERP is everywhere.
> WHAT DOES IT MEAN!? ;)
>

i know! i know!

Variable Envelope Return Path, a name which to me is entirely unevocative
of what it means. it refers to the so-called "owner-hack", and it caused
the return path on my copy of your message to say:
<djb-qmail-return-452-pgf-qmail=foxharp.boston.ma.us@koobera.math.uic.edu>
instead of just
<djb-qmail-owner@koobera.math.uic.edu>,
as an aid to bounce management.

the feature was renamed to eliminate the term "owner-hack", which was
a good idea. but i think "ASRP" would have been _much_ better. :-)
(Addressee-Specific Return Path). i don't think of the return path as
variable, but instead, highly specific.

in writing this, i noticed the "-return-452" in the qmail return path above.
where did _it_ come from?

paul
---------------------
paul fox, pgf@foxharp.boston.ma.us (arlington, ma)

>> in writing this, i noticed the "-return-452" in the qmail return path
>> above.
>> where did _it_ come from?

>I think this is in case you're running a broken SMTP gateway that barfs
>only on some format messages; one seems to get an increasing number (by 1)
>for each message you receive from a list.
>
>RjL

Nope.. It's VERP. You can read all about it in qmail's RFCVERP
file. It has nothing to do with his SMTP server.


-Dustin Marquess

On Wed, 19 Feb 1997, Paul Fox wrote:

> in writing this, i noticed the "-return-452" in the qmail return path above.
> where did _it_ come from?

I think this is in case you're running a broken SMTP gateway that barfs
only on some format messages; one seems to get an increasing number (by 1)
for each message you receive from a list.

RjL

Paul Fox writes:
> in writing this, i noticed the "-return-452" in the qmail return path above.
> where did _it_ come from?

That's ezmlm keeping track of messages. Bounce a few, you'll get a
nice message telling you which messages you didn't receive.

Never mind how I know,
-Sudish

On Wed, 19 Feb 1997, Dustin Marquess wrote:

>
> >> in writing this, i noticed the "-return-452" in the qmail return path
> >> above.
> >> where did _it_ come from?
>
> >I think this is in case you're running a broken SMTP gateway that barfs
> >only on some format messages; one seems to get an increasing number (by 1)
> >for each message you receive from a list.
> >
> >RjL
>
> Nope.. It's VERP. You can read all about it in qmail's RFCVERP
> file. It has nothing to do with his SMTP server.
>
the VERP is different for each message; if the receiver is haveing
problems decodeing the message because it's mime and the list-owner gets a
bounce it is nice to know not only which recipient, but also the
message which caused the problem.

I know of one MIME gateway that breaks when it receives multipart messages
in anything other than "US-ASCII"

RjL

At 08:07 PM 2/19/97 -0500, Paul Fox wrote:

> <djb-qmail-return-452-pgf-qmail=foxharp.boston.ma.us@koobera.math.uic.edu>
>
>in writing this, i noticed the "-return-452" in the qmail return path above.
>where did _it_ come from?

ezmlm adds it. It's the message number in the archive. You can fetch it
out of the archive by sending a message to djb-qmail-mumblefoobar-452.
The real command name may be had by sending mail to djb-qmail-help.
-russ

At 05:58 PM 2/19/97 -0700, you wrote:
>I'll bite.....what the hell is VERP
>I've been catching up on the list and all of a sudden, VERP is everywhere.
>WHAT DOES IT MEAN!? ;)

You obviously haven't seen "Tim Allen Re-Wires America"... he explains it
quite fully there. A VERP is a Vomit Berp. It's when you berp a little too
hard and get some of that stingy, burny, nasty tasting stuff in your throat
that smells like the business end of a horse.

The Dentist's Worst Nightmare.....

"Merch"
Roger "Merch" Merchberger | On the first day of Christmas my True Love
Programmer, NorthernWay | gave to me: A Beer. -- Bob & Doug McKenzie
zmerch@northernway.net | ====> Like, take off, eh hoser!!!! <====
http://home.northernway.net/~zmerch/