[conspire] Re: HELP - Can't Get Ethernet Card Working in Debian on Laptop

[Rick Moen]

(Mark, I hope you don't mind my CCing this mail to conspire@, because 
the information is important to members.)

Quoting Mark Srebnik (msrebnik at earthlink.net):

> Hi Rick,
> 
> Since I got several 'Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender'
> messages trying to send mail to  the conspire list, I gave up and changed my
> subscribed email to my underlying earthlink address, then resent my email
> again. Looks that one got through.
> 
> Just checked and I'd subscribed with my other address back on May 16, 2005
> as mark at marksrebnikarchitect.com.....
> 
> Thanks for your help.

Glad to be of help -- but please be aware that
"mark at marksrebnikarchitect.com" is _not_ on the membership roster.  
You should have no trouble joining that address, however, if you wish, 
and you are very welcome to do so.

The usual reason people are unable to send from particular addresses to
linuxmafia.com is that their sending SMTP servers fail some of my
antispam tests, e.g., my SMTP server verifies that the sending domain 
accepts return mail to the required "postmaster" and "abuse" accounts
(required by the SMTP RFCs), before it will accept mail from that
domain.

Indeed, that turns out to be the case, here:

  $ dig -t mx INBOUND.MARKSREBNIKARCHITECT.COM.NETSOLMAIL.NET +short
  $ telnet INBOUND.MARKSREBNIKARCHITECT.COM.NETSOLMAIL.NET smtp
  Trying 205.178.149.7...
  Connected to INBOUND.MARKSREBNIKARCHITECT.COM.NETSOLMAIL.NET.
  Escape character is '^]'.
  220 ns-mr4.netsolmail.com ESMTP
  HELO linuxmafia.com
  250 ns-mr4.netsolmail.com Hello linuxmafia.COM [198.144.195.186],
  pleased to meet you
  MAIL FROM: rick at linuxmafia.com
  250 2.1.0 rick at linuxmafia.com... Sender ok
  RCPT TO: postmaster at marksrebnikarchitect.com                       
  550 5.2.1 postmaster at marksrebnikarchitect.com... Mailbox disabled for this recipient
  RCPT TO: abuse at marksrebnikarchitect.com
  550 5.2.1 abuse at marksrebnikarchitect.com... Mailbox disabled for this recipient
  quit
  221 2.0.0 ns-mr4.netsolmail.com closing connection
  Connection closed by foreign host.
  $ 

Mail servers are required by RFC822 section 6.3, RFC1123 section 5.2.7, 
and RFC2821 section 4.5.1 (those being the Internet standards documents
that define SMTP) to accept mail to the "postmaster" account.  They're 
required by RFC2124 to accept mail to the "abuse" account.  Yours
doesn't (yet) accept either of those, and you should consider fixing
that.

I should hasten to mention that I'm _not_ trying to beat people up over 
standards compliance.  ;->  It's just that, since almost all spam _also_
violates the RFCs, refusing RFC-noncompliant mail is a good antispam
heuristic.  

If you'd looked a few lines down below the top-line "Mail delivery
failed: returning message to sender" diagnostic, you'd probably have
seen this:

   We apologise if you have sent a legitimate
   message and it has been blocked.  If this is
   the case, please re-send adding verified- to
   the beginning of the e-mail address of each
   recipient, cc to postmaster at linuxmafia.com.
   If you do this, your message will
   get through these restrictions.

   If your message has been incorrectly blocked,
   please let us know at the above contact address.

   Please ask the administrator of your mail server(s)
   to check the following:

   The MX (Mail Exchanger) record is set correctly
   for your domain name (This *MUST* be a hostname,
   not an IP address.)

   <> bounces are accepted.  This is a standard
   mechanism of SMTP for returning undeliverable
   messages and *MUST NOT* be blocked or rejected.
   It's also utilised by 'callback' probes.

   A 'postmaster' account or alias exists and is
   able to accept incoming messages.  This is a
   standard requirement for SMTP Internet mail.

   If you have a static IP address, please ensure
   that the reverse DNS (PTR) lookup record is set
   correctly, if possible (Contact your ISP.)

   Please contact your IT department or Internet
   Service Provider (ISP) for assistance.


I mention all this for two reasons:  (1) to clarify what happened.
I've now whitelisted your sending address, so your mail from 
mark at marksrebnikarchitect.com _will_ be accepted categorically -- 
but you should be aware of the problem at your SMTP host because
it could very well cause you problems elsewhere.

(2) To remind CABAL members that I'm always glad to whitelist particular 
sending addresses or domains upon request.  _Please_ do let me know
if you hear of people having problems reaching us, and I'll fix them.