Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!oneb!kmcvay
From: kmcvay@oneb.wimsey.bc.ca (Ken McVay)
Subject: Smail alias errors: good mail bouncing
Organization: 1B Systems Management Limited
Message-ID: <1991Jun05.173758.25551@oneb.wimsey.bc.ca>
Date: Wed, 05 Jun 91 17:37:58 GMT

I've been running smail (version 3.?) on my XENIX box for about a year
without problems, but good mail has been bouncing lately, and I can't
determine why.

In the first case, mail aliased to 'ecuador' bounced, although 'ecuador'
was included in ~/aliases. The aliases file contained some unused aliases
which I had commented out using the pound sign (#), so I removed them
entirely and ran local tests - mail addressed to ecuador was dealt with
properly during the tests...

I then discovered that mail to my userid has been bouncing, which would
seem to eliminate the aliases file as the culprit.

Checking ~/log/paniclog showed only a zero-byte file, so no help there..
nothing appears in /usr/spool/smail/error, either. The messages from
the mailer daemon (on the bounced mail) simply say that the user 
doesn't exist... 

Something's obviously gone bump, but I don't know what, and can't think
of anything I've changed that might cause this problem.

Most mail addressed to users at my site delivers as it should, and most
mail aliased is delivered as it should be - the errors/bounces seem
almost random in nature.

Would errors in the aliases file, unrelated to the user whose mail
is bounced, create this sort of random error? Here's the smail aliases
file:

anita:		"| /u/waffle/bin/mailin anita"
anonymous:	kmcvay
bmcvay:	        onebdos!89!85!0!Bill.McVay
celtic:		onebdos!89!681!25!Terry.Boyle
		"| /usr/lib/newsbin/input/recvnews mlist.celtic-l"
chile-list:	maddog, twaugh@patch
		"| /usr/lib/newsbin/input/recvnews mlist.chile-l"
drumbeat:       "| /usr/lib/newsbin/input/recvnews native.drumbeat"	
ecuador:	maddog, twaugh@patch.uucp
		"| /usr/lib/newsbin/input/recvnews mlist.ecuador-l"
elder1:         "| /u/waffle/bin/mailin elder1"
maddog:         onebdos!89!681!1!Neil.Davis
news:		kmcvay
pacdata:	"| /u/waffle/bin/mailin pacdata"
peru:		maddog
		"| /usr/lib/newsbin/input/recvnews mlist.peru-l"
postmaster:	kmcvay
root:		kmcvay
saudinet:      	onebdos!89!681!1!Saudi.Arabia
terri:		onebdos!89!682!32!Terri.Kelly
tflamand:       root@minman.UUCP
thrasher:	onebdos!89!688!17!Michael.Thasher
usenet:		kmcvay
uucp:		kmcvay
wtplunet:	"| /u/waffle/bin/mailin wtplunet"

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