Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!ames!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!nic.MR.NET!slevy
From: slevy@nic.MR.NET (Stuart Levy)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Handling errors on local mail-list expansions
Keywords: "owner-*" doesn't quite do it
Message-ID: <1031@nic.MR.NET>
Date: 7 Jan 89 20:41:28 GMT
Organization: Minnesota Regional Network, Mpls., MN
Lines: 27

We're running sendmail 5.59, and have a batch of aliases for redistributing
Internet mailing lists locally.  We don't control all the redistribuees,
and so sometimes messages bounce.  Although we have "owner-xxx" aliases
for each mailing list "xxx", the owner- aliases often don't receive the
error reports.

There seem to be two problems:
  1) mail passed downstream from such a redistribution is not tagged
     for error reporting to the given owner-* alias, e.g. by changing the
     SMTP Mail From: field or by adding an Errors-to: line to the message.
     That would be nice for limiting redistribution of downstream errors.
     Can anyone see why this shouldn't be done?

  2) (More serious)  If the mail can't be delivered on the first try,
     it's queued of course; *however*, there is no indication in the
     queued copy that the mail was originally sent through an alias
     nor that delivery errors should be sent to owner-alias.
     This appears to be hard to fix.

     So, if say a redistribuee is down for a while and all their mail
     starts timing out, the owner- alias will never see the replies!

Does anybody know how this might be fixed?  Or, how do *you* redistribute
mailing lists?

	Stuart Levy, Minnesota Supercomputer Center
	slevy@uc.msc.umn.edu, slevy@nic.mr.net