Xref: utzoo comp.mail.misc:3061 comp.mail.sendmail:1435
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!uflorida!ziggy!usfvax2!tct!chip
From: chip@tct.uucp (Chip Salzenberg)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.mail.sendmail
Subject: Re: Bouncing mail for expired users
Message-ID: <25F83AB4.290E@tct.uucp>
Date: 9 Mar 90 23:22:28 GMT
References: <5637@ur-cc.UUCP> <25F514B1.5E18@tct.uucp> <WATSON.90Mar8145125@shinobu.sgi.com>
Organization: ComDev/TCT, Sarasota, FL
Lines: 29

According to watson@shinobu.sgi.com (David M. Watson, Jr.):
>This and the other automatic response schemes create a distressing
>possibility.  In this particular case, the pathological situation arises
>when a user who has just sent mail to an expired user becomes expired
>herself.  Then the two mailboxes exchange mail, never generating errors,
>possibly forever, or at least for a very long time, until the message
>body exceeds some size limit or fills a disk drive.

To answer this objection, I offer this (rather safer) version:

	for u
	do
	    if grep "^${u}$" /usr/lib/mail/expired >/dev/null
	    then
		case "$SENDER" in
		*DAEMON|*daemon|*uucp)
			echo root ;;   # Bouncy bouncy
		*)
			echo "$u?Account expired." ;;
		esac
	    else
		echo "$u"
	    fi
	done

As you can see, a little testing goes a long way...
-- 
Chip Salzenberg at ComDev/TCT   <chip%tct@ateng.com>, <uunet!ateng!tct!chip>
          "The Usenet, in a very real sense, does not exist."