procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

I'm having an issue where there is an email address setup
(email@domain.com) and there is a .forward file with another email
address (forwarder@domain.com) that the emails sent to email@domain.com
are forwarded to. This user is going away on vacation and would like
an auto-reply setup. In the procmailrc file, I have what is listed
below set up and it should work, but doesn't. If I send an email to
email@domain.com, it gets forwarded properly, but the auto-reply never
gets sent out. I would greatly appreciate any help on this. THANK YOU
VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!!!

# AUTOREPLY TEST
:0:
* ^To:email@domain.com
* !^X-Loop: email@domain.com
| (formail -r -A"X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt) |
sendmail -t


p.s. -- I have spent the better part of 2 days trying to fix this and
searched high and low and found nothing. I would greatly appreciate
any help, thanks.

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:
> I'm having an issue where there is an email address setup
> (email@domain.com) and there is a .forward file with another email
> address (forwarder@domain.com) that the emails sent to email@domain.com
> are forwarded to. This user is going away on vacation and would like
> an auto-reply setup. In the procmailrc file, I have what is listed
> below set up and it should work, but doesn't. If I send an email to
> email@domain.com, it gets forwarded properly, but the auto-reply never
> gets sent out. I would greatly appreciate any help on this. THANK YOU
> VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!!!
>
> # AUTOREPLY TEST
> :0:
> * ^To:email@domain.com
> * !^X-Loop: email@domain.com
> | (formail -r -A"X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt) |
> sendmail -t
>
>
> p.s. -- I have spent the better part of 2 days trying to fix this and
> searched high and low and found nothing. I would greatly appreciate
> any help, thanks.
>

I see a couple syntax problems with the above. The first is the test on
the To: header, which normally needs a space between the colon and the
start of the email address.

Second is that Procmail has this weird little syntax rule that says if
you want to have commands on an action line be treated as commands
instead of as folder names you need to have some shell meta characters
somewhere on the line so that the line will be evaluated as a set of
commands instead of as a set of folder names. Also, you don't need to
use an implied lockfile when the destination is just a pipe to another
program instead of to a file. So in this case the 2nd colon at the
beginning of the recipe isn't necessary since there is no delivery to a
file involved.

This can be done by making a variable out of at least one of the
commands, then use the variable in place of that one command.

The following adjustments should get your recipe to work as intended.
---------------cut here-------------

# define a procmail logfile
LOGFILE=${HOME}/procmail.log

# Define a newline variable for use in procmail LOG lines.
NL="
"

# Define a command so that procmail will evaluate the action line as
# a set of commands instead of folder names.
FORMAIL=formail

# Set a variable for use in various places.
REASON="Vacation auto-reply"


:0 Wic
* ^To: email@domain\.com
* !^X-Loop: email@domain\.com
| ( ${FORMAIL} -rt\
-I "From: ${LOGNAME}@${HOST}"\
-I "Subject: ${REASON}"\
-A "X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt ) |sendmail -oi -t

# If the above recipe completed with no errors, record the fact
:0 a
{ ERROR=no }

# Else the above recipe failed.
:0 E
{ ERROR=yes }

# Save the return code from the last command executed.
RET=$?

:0
* ERROR ?? ^yes$
{
LOG="[$$]$_: Got sendmail error return code=${RET} when attempting to
send vacation auto-reply${NL}"
}

# The following is optional. It is an example of a technique I use in my
# own procmail recipes for some things.
#
# Retry the failed delivery using the sendmail delivery to queue.
# Sometimes this happens if there are network issues. Delivery to the
# queue will have sendmail queue the message for later delivery.

:0
* ERROR ?? ^yes$
{
LOG="[$$]$_: Retrying delivery to sendmail queue${NL}"
:0 Wic
* ^To: email@domain\.com
* !^X-Loop: email@domain\.com
| ( ${FORMAIL} -rt\
-I "From: ${LOGNAME}@${HOST}"\
-I "Subject: ${REASON}"\
-A "X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt )\
|sendmail -O DeliveryMode=q -oi -t

:0 a
{ ERROR=no }
:0 E
{ ERROR=yes }

RET=$?

:0
* ERROR ?? ^no$
{
LOG="[$$]$_: Sucessful delivery of ${REASON} to sendmail outbound
queue${NL}"
}

# Else
:0 E
{
LOG="[$$]$_: Got sendmail error return code ${RET} when attepting to
deliver to queue. Giving up.${NL}"
}
}

# Else
:0 E
{
LOG="[$$]$_: ${REASON} sent${NL}"
}

------------cut here-----------

You can also turn on verbose output then examine the procmail log file
when testing and debugging recipes, which will often point out the problem.

ie: VERBOSE=yes

Note that vacation auto-responders or any other type of auto-responder
can end up having a system being reported to blocklist maintainers if
the from address was forged. So you should also be careful to avoid such
auto-responder messages unless you are reasonably certain that the
auto-responder message will be sent to an appropriate valid destination.

Hope this helps

--
Garen

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> rezzz wrote:
>> I'm having an issue where there is an email address setup
>>[snip]
> [snip]

After giving this some further thought I made a couple of adjustments to
this recipe by adding a variable to switch the recipe on/off, moving the
regex tests, and adding some procmail nesting blocks in appropriate
places. Some other enhancements could be to move the actual responder
code into to a separate file, then use a procmail

INCLUDERC=${HOME}/vacation_responder.rc

to call that file as needed in your procmail recipes.

---------------cut here-------------

# define a procmail logfile
LOGFILE=${HOME}/procmail.log

# Set this to yes to enable the auto-responder
VACATIONREPLY=yes

# Define a newline variable for use in procmail LOG lines.
NL="
"

# Define a command so that procmail will evaluate the action lines as
# sets of commands instead of as a list of folder names.
FORMAIL=formail

# Set a variable for use in various places.
REASON="Vacation auto-reply"

ERROR=no

:0
* ^To: email@domain\.com
* !^X-Loop: email@domain\.com
* VACATIONREPLY ?? ^yes$
{
:0 Wic
| ( ${FORMAIL} -rt\
-I "From: ${LOGNAME}@${HOST}"\
-I "Subject: ${REASON}"\
-A "X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt ) |sendmail -oi -t

# If the above recipe completed with no errors, record the fact
:0 a
{ ERROR=no }

# Else the above recipe failed.
:0 E
{ ERROR=yes }

# Save the return code from the last command executed.
RET=$?

:0
* ERROR ?? ^yes$
{
LOG="[$$]$_: Got sendmail error return code=${RET} when attempting to
send vacation auto-reply${NL}"
}

# Else
:0 E
{
LOG="[$$]$_: ${REASON} sent${NL}"
}
}

# The following is optional. It is an example of a technique I use in my
# own procmail recipes for some things.
#
# Retry the failed delivery using the sendmail delivery to queue.
# Sometimes this happens if there are network issues. Delivery to the
# queue will have sendmail queue the message for later delivery.

:0
* ERROR ?? ^yes$
* ^To: email@domain\.com
* !^X-Loop: email@domain\.com
* VACATIONREPLY ?? ^yes$
{
LOG="[$$]$_: Retrying delivery to sendmail queue${NL}"
:0 Wic
| ( ${FORMAIL} -rt\
-I "From: ${LOGNAME}@${HOST}"\
-I "Subject: ${REASON}"\
-A "X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt )\
|sendmail -O DeliveryMode=q -oi -t

:0 a
{ ERROR=no }
:0 E
{ ERROR=yes }

RET=$?

:0
* ERROR ?? ^no$
{
LOG="[$$]$_: Sucessful delivery of ${REASON} to sendmail outbound
queue${NL}"
}

# Else
:0 E
{
LOG="[$$]$_: Got sendmail error return code ${RET} when attepting to
deliver to queue. Giving up.${NL}"
}
}

------------cut here-----------

--
Garen

Challenge-Response Systems (was: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working)

On comp.mail.misc, in <1152559560.665070.224720@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, "rezzz" wrote:

http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
rezzz
Results 1 - 3 of 3 posts in the last year
1 adsense-help-basics
1 comp.mail.misc
1 hr.comp.mreze.p2p

Why hide your true posting history by creating a sockpuppet for
these few groups alone?

And what is someone as experienced with the Usenet and computers
as you obviously are doing posting through google, which is a
bummer compared to using a real newsreader?

Bet you are real handy with Xnews. And have accounts on NSPs
that hide the posting IP.

I have to assume that you are a serious troll (Usenet vermin)
looking to branch out into that related field, spamming.

Would that be what the "adsense" group above is about? Looks
like it.

Too bad for you. I am pretty good with procmail.

And forget about spamming _me_. I use a challeng-response
system (and an even harsher filter on my Usenet address) and
it can't be beaten by spammers or trolls. See here for
a brief introduction and a few links:

http://home.earthlink.net/~alanconnor/elrav1/cr.html

Here's one of my regular addresses, protected in this case
by Earthlink's challenge-response system:

fudbal3

AT

earthlink

DOT

net

It is much cruder than the one I wrote for myself and use
on most of my mailboxes. That web interface sucks. But
it is still a very good system.

Note: I won't be downloading any articles on this thread.

Alan

--
See my headers.

Re: Challenge-Response Systems

Alan Connor wrote:

> On comp.mail.misc, in <1152559560.665070.224720@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, "rezzz" wrote:
>
> http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
> rezzz
> Results 1 - 3 of 3 posts in the last year
> 1 adsense-help-basics
> 1 comp.mail.misc
> 1 hr.comp.mreze.p2p
>
> Why hide your true posting history by creating a sockpuppet for
> these few groups alone?
>
> And what is someone as experienced with the Usenet and computers
> as you obviously are doing posting through google, which is a
> bummer compared to using a real newsreader?
>
> Bet you are real handy with Xnews. And have accounts on NSPs
> that hide the posting IP.
>
> I have to assume that you are a serious troll (Usenet vermin)
> looking to branch out into that related field, spamming.
>
> Would that be what the "adsense" group above is about? Looks
> like it.
>
> Too bad for you. I am pretty good with procmail.
>
> And forget about spamming _me_. I use a challeng-response
> system (and an even harsher filter on my Usenet address) and
> it can't be beaten by spammers or trolls. See here for
> a brief introduction and a few links:
>
> http://home.earthlink.net/~alanconnor/elrav1/cr.html
>
> Here's one of my regular addresses, protected in this case
> by Earthlink's challenge-response system:
>
> fudbal3
>
> AT
>
> earthlink
>
> DOT
>
> net
>
> It is much cruder than the one I wrote for myself and use
> on most of my mailboxes. That web interface sucks. But
> it is still a very good system.
>
> Note: I won't be downloading any articles on this thread.
>
> Alan
>

Alan,

Save your bandwith and don't download the articles, but why do you see
the need to post your irrelavent gibrish. If you have something to
contribute to the discussion, do so.

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a
fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." -- Mark Twain

AK

Re: Challenge-Response Systems

"AK" wrote in message
news:LLSdnUQCyKe9nC7ZnZ2dnUVZ_qudnZ2d@comcast.com

> Alan,
> Save your bandwith and don't download the articles, but why do you see
> the need to post your irrelavent gibrish.

And why do *you* repost his assinine gibberish in its entirety? Most of us
would never have have to see it because we have him killfiled. Maybe you
should join the plonkfile, idiot.

Re: Challenge-Response Systems (was: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not

This is a MIME GnuPG-signed message. If you see this text, it means that
your E-mail or Usenet software does not support MIME signed messages.
The Internet standard for MIME PGP messages, RFC 2015, was published in 1996.
To open this message correctly you will need to install E-mail or Usenet
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--=_mimegpg-commodore.email-scan.com-22392-1152584613-0012
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Usenet Beavis writes:

> On comp.mail.misc, in <1152559560.665070.224720@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, "rezzz" wrote:
>
> http://groups.google.com/advanced_group_search
> rezzz
> Results 1 - 3 of 3 posts in the last year

Results 1 - 10 of 23,900 for usenet beavis (0.20 seconds)

You're still the champ, Beavis.

> Why make a normal posting, that nobody will pay attention to, when
> you can become famous for posting kookfarts.

Good question, Beavis.

> And what is someone as experienced with the Usenet and computers
> as you obviously are doing posting through google, the purpose of
> which I do not understand because I'm a stupid Usenet Beavis, and a
> well-known kookbag?

He likes to confuse you, Beavis, I suppose.

>
> Bet you are my mental superior. And have accounts on NSPs that hide
> the posting IP, which always causes me kookfarts.

Try Preparation H.

> I have to assume that you are much smarter than me, which is a safe guess,
> looking to make fun of my miserable, worthless life, of doing nothing
> but sitting around all day and posting kookfarts to Usenet.

That doesn't sound so bad, Beavis, look, you're rather thriving at it.

> Would that be what the "adsense" group above is about? Looks
> like it, so I'm going to have a kookfart RIGHT NOW.

You're already in a middle of one, it seems.

> Too bad for me. I am pretty good at posting kookfarts.

You're the champ, Beavis.

>
> And forget about making sense out of my kookfarts. I use a
> challeng-response system, which has been discredited by now, and
> is widely considered to be network abuse, and grounds for getting
> myself blacklisted. I don't care, I'm the Beavis. See here for
> a brief introduction and a few links:
>
> http://www.pearlgates.net/nanae/kooks/ac/

I've seen that one already.

> Here's one place normal people complain about my kookfarts:
>
> abuse
>
> AT
>
> earthlink
>
> DOT
>
> net


Beavis, that's a rather bizarre way of writing an E-mail address.

Stop whatever you're smoking, right now. If you're not smoking, you better
start, then.

> I am such a Beavis that I believe that I know better than everyone
> else on the Internet. Of course, I know that I'm wrong, but I will
> never admit it. That is the Usenet Beavis credo.

I thought your credo is "two kookfarts are better than one"?

> Note: I will be downloading every article in this thread.

And you will love every byte of each and every one.

> Beavis
>
> --
> See my kookfarts.

*SMACK*


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Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> rezzz wrote:
> > I'm having an issue where there is an email address setup
> > (email@domain.com) and there is a .forward file with another email
> > address (forwarder@domain.com) that the emails sent to email@domain.com
> > are forwarded to. This user is going away on vacation and would like
> > an auto-reply setup. In the procmailrc file, I have what is listed
> > below set up and it should work, but doesn't. If I send an email to
> > email@domain.com, it gets forwarded properly, but the auto-reply never
> > gets sent out. I would greatly appreciate any help on this. THANK YOU
> > VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!!!
> >
> > # AUTOREPLY TEST
> > :0:
> > * ^To:email@domain.com
> > * !^X-Loop: email@domain.com
> > | (formail -r -A"X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt) |
> > sendmail -t
> >
> >
> > p.s. -- I have spent the better part of 2 days trying to fix this and
> > searched high and low and found nothing. I would greatly appreciate
> > any help, thanks.
> >
>
> I see a couple syntax problems with the above. The first is the test on
> the To: header, which normally needs a space between the colon and the
> start of the email address.
>
> Second is that Procmail has this weird little syntax rule that says if
> you want to have commands on an action line be treated as commands
> instead of as folder names you need to have some shell meta characters
> somewhere on the line so that the line will be evaluated as a set of
> commands instead of as a set of folder names. Also, you don't need to
> use an implied lockfile when the destination is just a pipe to another
> program instead of to a file. So in this case the 2nd colon at the
> beginning of the recipe isn't necessary since there is no delivery to a
> file involved.
>
> This can be done by making a variable out of at least one of the
> commands, then use the variable in place of that one command.
>
> The following adjustments should get your recipe to work as intended.
> ---------------cut here-------------
>
> # define a procmail logfile
> LOGFILE=${HOME}/procmail.log
>
> # Define a newline variable for use in procmail LOG lines.
> NL="
> "
>
> # Define a command so that procmail will evaluate the action line as
> # a set of commands instead of folder names.
> FORMAIL=formail
>
> # Set a variable for use in various places.
> REASON="Vacation auto-reply"
>
>
> :0 Wic
> * ^To: email@domain\.com
> * !^X-Loop: email@domain\.com
> | ( ${FORMAIL} -rt\
> -I "From: ${LOGNAME}@${HOST}"\
> -I "Subject: ${REASON}"\
> -A "X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt ) |sendmail -oi -t
>
> # If the above recipe completed with no errors, record the fact
> :0 a
> { ERROR=no }
>
> # Else the above recipe failed.
> :0 E
> { ERROR=yes }
>
> # Save the return code from the last command executed.
> RET=$?
>
> :0
> * ERROR ?? ^yes$
> {
> LOG="[$$]$_: Got sendmail error return code=${RET} when attempting to
> send vacation auto-reply${NL}"
> }
>
> # The following is optional. It is an example of a technique I use in my
> # own procmail recipes for some things.
> #
> # Retry the failed delivery using the sendmail delivery to queue.
> # Sometimes this happens if there are network issues. Delivery to the
> # queue will have sendmail queue the message for later delivery.
>
> :0
> * ERROR ?? ^yes$
> {
> LOG="[$$]$_: Retrying delivery to sendmail queue${NL}"
> :0 Wic
> * ^To: email@domain\.com
> * !^X-Loop: email@domain\.com
> | ( ${FORMAIL} -rt\
> -I "From: ${LOGNAME}@${HOST}"\
> -I "Subject: ${REASON}"\
> -A "X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt )\
> |sendmail -O DeliveryMode=q -oi -t
>
> :0 a
> { ERROR=no }
> :0 E
> { ERROR=yes }
>
> RET=$?
>
> :0
> * ERROR ?? ^no$
> {
> LOG="[$$]$_: Sucessful delivery of ${REASON} to sendmail outbound
> queue${NL}"
> }
>
> # Else
> :0 E
> {
> LOG="[$$]$_: Got sendmail error return code ${RET} when attepting to
> deliver to queue. Giving up.${NL}"
> }
> }
>
> # Else
> :0 E
> {
> LOG="[$$]$_: ${REASON} sent${NL}"
> }
>
> ------------cut here-----------
>
> You can also turn on verbose output then examine the procmail log file
> when testing and debugging recipes, which will often point out the problem.
>
> ie: VERBOSE=yes
>
> Note that vacation auto-responders or any other type of auto-responder
> can end up having a system being reported to blocklist maintainers if
> the from address was forged. So you should also be careful to avoid such
> auto-responder messages unless you are reasonably certain that the
> auto-responder message will be sent to an appropriate valid destination.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> --
> Garen


Thank you very much Garen, when I implemented your suggestions I get a
return code of 0 in the logfile and still do not recieve the
auto-reply, any ideas??

Thanks again!!

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:

> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
>
>>rezzz wrote:
>>
>>>I'm having an issue where there is an email address setup
>>>(email@domain.com) and there is a .forward file with another email
>>>address (forwarder@domain.com) that the emails sent to email@domain.com
>>>are forwarded to. This user is going away on vacation and would like
>>>an auto-reply setup. In the procmailrc file, I have what is listed
>>>below set up and it should work, but doesn't. If I send an email to
>>>email@domain.com, it gets forwarded properly, but the auto-reply never
>>>gets sent out. I would greatly appreciate any help on this. THANK YOU
>>>VERY MUCH IN ADVANCE!!!
>>>
>>># AUTOREPLY TEST
>>>:0:
>>>* ^To:email@domain.com
>>>* !^X-Loop: email@domain.com
>>>| (formail -r -A"X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt) |
>>>sendmail -t
>>>
>>>
>>>p.s. -- I have spent the better part of 2 days trying to fix this and
>>>searched high and low and found nothing. I would greatly appreciate
>>>any help, thanks.
>>>
>>
>>I see a couple syntax problems with the above. The first is the test on
>>the To: header, which normally needs a space between the colon and the
>>start of the email address.
>>
>>Second is that Procmail has this weird little syntax rule that says if
>>you want to have commands on an action line be treated as commands
>>instead of as folder names you need to have some shell meta characters
>>somewhere on the line so that the line will be evaluated as a set of
>>commands instead of as a set of folder names. Also, you don't need to
>>use an implied lockfile when the destination is just a pipe to another
>>program instead of to a file. So in this case the 2nd colon at the
>>beginning of the recipe isn't necessary since there is no delivery to a
>>file involved.
>>
>>This can be done by making a variable out of at least one of the
>>commands, then use the variable in place of that one command.
>>
>>The following adjustments should get your recipe to work as intended.
>>---------------cut here-------------
>>
>># define a procmail logfile
>>LOGFILE=${HOME}/procmail.log
>>
>># Define a newline variable for use in procmail LOG lines.
>>NL="
>>"
>>
>># Define a command so that procmail will evaluate the action line as
>># a set of commands instead of folder names.
>>FORMAIL=formail
>>
>># Set a variable for use in various places.
>>REASON="Vacation auto-reply"
>>
>>
>>:0 Wic
>>* ^To: email@domain\.com
>>* !^X-Loop: email@domain\.com
>>| ( ${FORMAIL} -rt\
>> -I "From: ${LOGNAME}@${HOST}"\
>> -I "Subject: ${REASON}"\
>> -A "X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt ) |sendmail -oi -t
>>
>># If the above recipe completed with no errors, record the fact
>>:0 a
>>{ ERROR=no }
>>
>># Else the above recipe failed.
>>:0 E
>>{ ERROR=yes }
>>
>># Save the return code from the last command executed.
>>RET=$?
>>
>>:0
>>* ERROR ?? ^yes$
>>{
>> LOG="[$$]$_: Got sendmail error return code=${RET} when attempting to
>>send vacation auto-reply${NL}"
>>}
>>
>># The following is optional. It is an example of a technique I use in my
>># own procmail recipes for some things.
>>#
>># Retry the failed delivery using the sendmail delivery to queue.
>># Sometimes this happens if there are network issues. Delivery to the
>># queue will have sendmail queue the message for later delivery.
>>
>>:0
>>* ERROR ?? ^yes$
>>{
>> LOG="[$$]$_: Retrying delivery to sendmail queue${NL}"
>> :0 Wic
>> * ^To: email@domain\.com
>> * !^X-Loop: email@domain\.com
>> | ( ${FORMAIL} -rt\
>> -I "From: ${LOGNAME}@${HOST}"\
>> -I "Subject: ${REASON}"\
>> -A "X-Loop: email@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt )\
>> |sendmail -O DeliveryMode=q -oi -t
>>
>> :0 a
>> { ERROR=no }
>> :0 E
>> { ERROR=yes }
>>
>> RET=$?
>>
>> :0
>> * ERROR ?? ^no$
>> {
>> LOG="[$$]$_: Sucessful delivery of ${REASON} to sendmail outbound
>>queue${NL}"
>> }
>>
>> # Else
>> :0 E
>> {
>> LOG="[$$]$_: Got sendmail error return code ${RET} when attepting to
>>deliver to queue. Giving up.${NL}"
>> }
>>}
>>
>># Else
>>:0 E
>>{
>> LOG="[$$]$_: ${REASON} sent${NL}"
>>}
>>
>>------------cut here-----------
>>
>>You can also turn on verbose output then examine the procmail log file
>>when testing and debugging recipes, which will often point out the problem.
>>
>>ie: VERBOSE=yes
>>
>>Note that vacation auto-responders or any other type of auto-responder
>>can end up having a system being reported to blocklist maintainers if
>>the from address was forged. So you should also be careful to avoid such
>>auto-responder messages unless you are reasonably certain that the
>>auto-responder message will be sent to an appropriate valid destination.
>>
>>Hope this helps
>>
>>--
>>Garen
>
>
>
> Thank you very much Garen, when I implemented your suggestions I get a
> return code of 0 in the logfile and still do not recieve the
> auto-reply, any ideas??
>
> Thanks again!!
>

Does your setup include verbose logging?

Look for the line where sendmail is executed. It is possible that
sendmail is not in the path.

Man procmailrc there is an exmple there or in one of the other
procmailex man pages dealing with setting up autoreponders that will
maintain a cache of senders to whom they already replied to avoid
generating many auto-replies to the same individual or to a mailing list.

AK

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:
> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
>> rezzz wrote:
>>[snip]
>> Hope this helps
>>
>> --
>> Garen
>
>
> Thank you very much Garen, when I implemented your suggestions I get a
> return code of 0 in the logfile and still do not recieve the
> auto-reply, any ideas??
>
> Thanks again!!
>

If the path to sendmail isn't in your search path, you may need to
specify the full path to the command. ie: /usr/sbin/sendmail -oi -t . I
think it's already defined in procmail as the $SENDMAIL variable. Try
using $SENDMAIL (the variable) in place of 'sendmail' the actual
command. It should expand to the full absolute path for the command.

One of the things you can do is to test portions of the recipe you are
trying to create or debug in the shell to see how it builds the
auto-response

For example, to generate what the procmail action line is sending you
can, save a raw copy of a sample message in a file "email.txt"

Then do this from the command line.

cat email.txt |formail -r
cat email.txt |formail -rt
cat email.txt |formail -rt -I "From: someemail@example.com"
cat email.txt |formail -rt -A "X-loop: someemail@example.com"

and so on.

Once you get an email that can be piped to sendmail from the command
line then you should be good to go using that same syntax in procmail.

ie:
cat email.txt |( formail -rt -I "From: someemail@example.com" ; cat
autoreply.txt ) | /usr/sbin/sendmail -oi -t

--
Garen

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

AK wrote:
> rezzz wrote:
>
>> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
>>
>>> rezzz wrote:
>>>[snip]

>
> Man procmailrc there is an exmple there or in one of the other
> procmailex man pages dealing with setting up autoreponders that will
> maintain a cache of senders to whom they already replied to avoid
> generating many auto-replies to the same individual or to a mailing list.
>

That's a good point. The recipe is in man procmailex

In that example they create a cache file of senders then only execute
the auto-reply if the sender is not in the cache file yet.



:0 Whc: vacation.lock
# Perform a quick check to see if the mail was addressed to us
* $^To:.*\<$\LOGNAME\>
# Don’t reply to daemons and mailinglists
* !^FROM_DAEMON
# Mail loops are evil
* !^X-Loop: your@own.mail.address
| formail -rD 8192 vacation.cache

:0 ehc # if the name was not in the cache
| (formail -rI"Precedence: junk" \
-A"X-Loop: your@own.mail.address" ; \
echo "I received your mail,"; \
echo "but I won’t be back until Monday."; \
echo "-- "; cat $HOME/.signature \
) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t



--
Garen

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> AK wrote:
> > rezzz wrote:
> >
> >> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> >>
> >>> rezzz wrote:
> >>>[snip]
>
> >
> > Man procmailrc there is an exmple there or in one of the other
> > procmailex man pages dealing with setting up autoreponders that will
> > maintain a cache of senders to whom they already replied to avoid
> > generating many auto-replies to the same individual or to a mailing list.
> >
>
> That's a good point. The recipe is in man procmailex
>
> In that example they create a cache file of senders then only execute
> the auto-reply if the sender is not in the cache file yet.
>
>
>
> :0 Whc: vacation.lock
> # Perform a quick check to see if the mail was addressed to us
> * $^To:.*\<$\LOGNAME\>
> # Don't reply to daemons and mailinglists
> * !^FROM_DAEMON
> # Mail loops are evil
> * !^X-Loop: your@own.mail.address
> | formail -rD 8192 vacation.cache
>
> :0 ehc # if the name was not in the cache
> | (formail -rI"Precedence: junk" \
> -A"X-Loop: your@own.mail.address" ; \
> echo "I received your mail,"; \
> echo "but I won't be back until Monday."; \
> echo "-- "; cat $HOME/.signature \
> ) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t
>
>
>
> --
> Garen

Well I've come to the conclusion that the filter isn't working. I took
out the formail part and just wanted to dump it to a file, but it's not
even making the file. Any ideas why

:0 Wic
* ^To: user@domian\.com
* !^X-Loop: user@domian\.com
/tmp/dump.txt

wouldn't work?

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:
> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> > AK wrote:
> > > rezzz wrote:
> > >
> > >> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> > >>
> > >>> rezzz wrote:
> > >>>[snip]
> >
> > >
> > > Man procmailrc there is an exmple there or in one of the other
> > > procmailex man pages dealing with setting up autoreponders that will
> > > maintain a cache of senders to whom they already replied to avoid
> > > generating many auto-replies to the same individual or to a mailing list.
> > >
> >
> > That's a good point. The recipe is in man procmailex
> >
> > In that example they create a cache file of senders then only execute
> > the auto-reply if the sender is not in the cache file yet.
> >
> >
> >
> > :0 Whc: vacation.lock
> > # Perform a quick check to see if the mail was addressed to us
> > * $^To:.*\<$\LOGNAME\>
> > # Don't reply to daemons and mailinglists
> > * !^FROM_DAEMON
> > # Mail loops are evil
> > * !^X-Loop: your@own.mail.address
> > | formail -rD 8192 vacation.cache
> >
> > :0 ehc # if the name was not in the cache
> > | (formail -rI"Precedence: junk" \
> > -A"X-Loop: your@own.mail.address" ; \
> > echo "I received your mail,"; \
> > echo "but I won't be back until Monday."; \
> > echo "-- "; cat $HOME/.signature \
> > ) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Garen
>
> Well I've come to the conclusion that the filter isn't working. I took
> out the formail part and just wanted to dump it to a file, but it's not
> even making the file. Any ideas why
>
> :0 Wic
> * ^To: user@domian\.com
> * !^X-Loop: user@domian\.com
> /tmp/dump.txt
>
> wouldn't work?

nevermind -- I realized that along with this auto-reply, I have in
place a .forward and the .forward takes priority over all the filters
and that's why that filter wasn't working

BUT, now I'm trying to send out that auto-reply and the forward is in
place after the filter goes through, but the auto-reply doesn't seem to
be working

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:
> rezzz wrote:
> > Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> > > AK wrote:
> > > > rezzz wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> > > >>
> > > >>> rezzz wrote:
> > > >>>[snip]
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Man procmailrc there is an exmple there or in one of the other
> > > > procmailex man pages dealing with setting up autoreponders that will
> > > > maintain a cache of senders to whom they already replied to avoid
> > > > generating many auto-replies to the same individual or to a mailing list.
> > > >
> > >
> > > That's a good point. The recipe is in man procmailex
> > >
> > > In that example they create a cache file of senders then only execute
> > > the auto-reply if the sender is not in the cache file yet.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > :0 Whc: vacation.lock
> > > # Perform a quick check to see if the mail was addressed to us
> > > * $^To:.*\<$\LOGNAME\>
> > > # Don't reply to daemons and mailinglists
> > > * !^FROM_DAEMON
> > > # Mail loops are evil
> > > * !^X-Loop: your@own.mail.address
> > > | formail -rD 8192 vacation.cache
> > >
> > > :0 ehc # if the name was not in the cache
> > > | (formail -rI"Precedence: junk" \
> > > -A"X-Loop: your@own.mail.address" ; \
> > > echo "I received your mail,"; \
> > > echo "but I won't be back until Monday."; \
> > > echo "-- "; cat $HOME/.signature \
> > > ) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > Garen
> >
> > Well I've come to the conclusion that the filter isn't working. I took
> > out the formail part and just wanted to dump it to a file, but it's not
> > even making the file. Any ideas why
> >
> > :0 Wic
> > * ^To: user@domian\.com
> > * !^X-Loop: user@domian\.com
> > /tmp/dump.txt
> >
> > wouldn't work?
>
> nevermind -- I realized that along with this auto-reply, I have in
> place a .forward and the .forward takes priority over all the filters
> and that's why that filter wasn't working
>
> BUT, now I'm trying to send out that auto-reply and the forward is in
> place after the filter goes through, but the auto-reply doesn't seem to
> be working

OK - nevermind again -- I got it to work the way I want it to, but not
I'm trying to understand how the .procmailrc and the /etc/procmailrc
files work with each other, because I removed the recipes from the
/etc/procmailrc file and put it in the user's ./procmailrc file, but I
don't get anything back. I checked the log file and it says suspicous
rcfile. Any thoughts on that? And I'd love to learn how the 2 files
interact with each other. THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!!

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:
> rezzz wrote:
> > rezzz wrote:
> > > Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> > > > AK wrote:
> > > > > rezzz wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > >> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> > > > >>
> > > > >>> rezzz wrote:
> > > > >>>[snip]
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Man procmailrc there is an exmple there or in one of the other
> > > > > procmailex man pages dealing with setting up autoreponders that will
> > > > > maintain a cache of senders to whom they already replied to avoid
> > > > > generating many auto-replies to the same individual or to a mailing list.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > That's a good point. The recipe is in man procmailex
> > > >
> > > > In that example they create a cache file of senders then only execute
> > > > the auto-reply if the sender is not in the cache file yet.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > :0 Whc: vacation.lock
> > > > # Perform a quick check to see if the mail was addressed to us
> > > > * $^To:.*\<$\LOGNAME\>
> > > > # Don't reply to daemons and mailinglists
> > > > * !^FROM_DAEMON
> > > > # Mail loops are evil
> > > > * !^X-Loop: your@own.mail.address
> > > > | formail -rD 8192 vacation.cache
> > > >
> > > > :0 ehc # if the name was not in the cache
> > > > | (formail -rI"Precedence: junk" \
> > > > -A"X-Loop: your@own.mail.address" ; \
> > > > echo "I received your mail,"; \
> > > > echo "but I won't be back until Monday."; \
> > > > echo "-- "; cat $HOME/.signature \
> > > > ) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > Garen
> > >
> > > Well I've come to the conclusion that the filter isn't working. I took
> > > out the formail part and just wanted to dump it to a file, but it's not
> > > even making the file. Any ideas why
> > >
> > > :0 Wic
> > > * ^To: user@domian\.com
> > > * !^X-Loop: user@domian\.com
> > > /tmp/dump.txt
> > >
> > > wouldn't work?
> >
> > nevermind -- I realized that along with this auto-reply, I have in
> > place a .forward and the .forward takes priority over all the filters
> > and that's why that filter wasn't working
> >
> > BUT, now I'm trying to send out that auto-reply and the forward is in
> > place after the filter goes through, but the auto-reply doesn't seem to
> > be working
>
> OK - nevermind again -- I got it to work the way I want it to, but not
> I'm trying to understand how the .procmailrc and the /etc/procmailrc
> files work with each other, because I removed the recipes from the
> /etc/procmailrc file and put it in the user's ./procmailrc file, but I
> don't get anything back. I checked the log file and it says suspicous
> rcfile. Any thoughts on that? And I'd love to learn how the 2 files
> interact with each other. THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!!

Also any ideas on the X-Loop with respects to aliases. Like, if the
email address for the TO is an alias of a mailbox, what should the
email address in the X-Loop be so that there's not some infinite loop
happening?

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:

> rezzz wrote:
>
>>rezzz wrote:
>>
>>>Garen Erdoisa wrote:
>>>
>>>>AK wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>rezzz wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>Garen Erdoisa wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>rezzz wrote:
>>>>>>>[snip]
>>>>
>>>>>Man procmailrc there is an exmple there or in one of the other
>>>>>procmailex man pages dealing with setting up autoreponders that will
>>>>>maintain a cache of senders to whom they already replied to avoid
>>>>>generating many auto-replies to the same individual or to a mailing list.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>That's a good point. The recipe is in man procmailex
>>>>
>>>>In that example they create a cache file of senders then only execute
>>>>the auto-reply if the sender is not in the cache file yet.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>:0 Whc: vacation.lock
>>>># Perform a quick check to see if the mail was addressed to us
>>>>* $^To:.*\<$\LOGNAME\>
>>>># Don't reply to daemons and mailinglists
>>>>* !^FROM_DAEMON
>>>># Mail loops are evil
>>>>* !^X-Loop: your@own.mail.address
>>>>| formail -rD 8192 vacation.cache
>>>>
>>>> :0 ehc # if the name was not in the cache
>>>> | (formail -rI"Precedence: junk" \
>>>> -A"X-Loop: your@own.mail.address" ; \
>>>> echo "I received your mail,"; \
>>>> echo "but I won't be back until Monday."; \
>>>> echo "-- "; cat $HOME/.signature \
>>>> ) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>--
>>>>Garen
>>>
>>>Well I've come to the conclusion that the filter isn't working. I took
>>>out the formail part and just wanted to dump it to a file, but it's not
>>>even making the file. Any ideas why
>>>
>>>:0 Wic
>>>* ^To: user@domian\.com
>>>* !^X-Loop: user@domian\.com
>>>/tmp/dump.txt
>>>
>>>wouldn't work?
>>
>>nevermind -- I realized that along with this auto-reply, I have in
>>place a .forward and the .forward takes priority over all the filters
>>and that's why that filter wasn't working
>>
>>BUT, now I'm trying to send out that auto-reply and the forward is in
>>place after the filter goes through, but the auto-reply doesn't seem to
>>be working
>
>
> OK - nevermind again -- I got it to work the way I want it to, but not
> I'm trying to understand how the .procmailrc and the /etc/procmailrc
> files work with each other, because I removed the recipes from the
> /etc/procmailrc file and put it in the user's ./procmailrc file, but I
> don't get anything back. I checked the log file and it says suspicous
> rcfile. Any thoughts on that? And I'd love to learn how the 2 files
> interact with each other. THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!!
>
The /etc/procmailrc is executed by procmail when it is running as root
provided procmail was installed suid. This is the global file and
applies the same way to any and all incoming emails where procmail in
envoked.

if you have /etc/procmailrc, there should not be any delivery attempts
there.

~/.procmailrc is a local per user file.

man procmail I believe includes the information you seek.

if you plan to use GLOBAL /etc/procmailrc make sure to provide per user
customization such that after you drop priv in the /etc/procmailrc you
INCLUDERC=$HOME/.procmailrc to handle the final delivery or user
customized scripts
followed by default system delivery handlers.
:0
$DEFAULT

Where $DEFAULT will be The user's location for the Mailbox/Maildir.

AK

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:

> rezzz wrote:
>
>>rezzz wrote:
>>
>>>rezzz wrote:
>>>
>>>>Garen Erdoisa wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>AK wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>rezzz wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Garen Erdoisa wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>rezzz wrote:
>>>>>>>>[snip]
>>>>>
>>>>>>Man procmailrc there is an exmple there or in one of the other
>>>>>>procmailex man pages dealing with setting up autoreponders that will
>>>>>>maintain a cache of senders to whom they already replied to avoid
>>>>>>generating many auto-replies to the same individual or to a mailing list.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>That's a good point. The recipe is in man procmailex
>>>>>
>>>>>In that example they create a cache file of senders then only execute
>>>>>the auto-reply if the sender is not in the cache file yet.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>:0 Whc: vacation.lock
>>>>># Perform a quick check to see if the mail was addressed to us
>>>>>* $^To:.*\<$\LOGNAME\>
>>>>># Don't reply to daemons and mailinglists
>>>>>* !^FROM_DAEMON
>>>>># Mail loops are evil
>>>>>* !^X-Loop: your@own.mail.address
>>>>>| formail -rD 8192 vacation.cache
>>>>>
>>>>> :0 ehc # if the name was not in the cache
>>>>> | (formail -rI"Precedence: junk" \
>>>>> -A"X-Loop: your@own.mail.address" ; \
>>>>> echo "I received your mail,"; \
>>>>> echo "but I won't be back until Monday."; \
>>>>> echo "-- "; cat $HOME/.signature \
>>>>> ) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>--
>>>>>Garen
>>>>
>>>>Well I've come to the conclusion that the filter isn't working. I took
>>>>out the formail part and just wanted to dump it to a file, but it's not
>>>>even making the file. Any ideas why
>>>>
>>>>:0 Wic
>>>>* ^To: user@domian\.com
>>>>* !^X-Loop: user@domian\.com
>>>>/tmp/dump.txt
>>>>
>>>>wouldn't work?
>>>
>>>nevermind -- I realized that along with this auto-reply, I have in
>>>place a .forward and the .forward takes priority over all the filters
>>>and that's why that filter wasn't working
>>>
>>>BUT, now I'm trying to send out that auto-reply and the forward is in
>>>place after the filter goes through, but the auto-reply doesn't seem to
>>>be working
>>
>>OK - nevermind again -- I got it to work the way I want it to, but not
>>I'm trying to understand how the .procmailrc and the /etc/procmailrc
>>files work with each other, because I removed the recipes from the
>>/etc/procmailrc file and put it in the user's ./procmailrc file, but I
>>don't get anything back. I checked the log file and it says suspicous
>>rcfile. Any thoughts on that? And I'd love to learn how the 2 files
>>interact with each other. THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!!
>
>
> Also any ideas on the X-Loop with respects to aliases. Like, if the
> email address for the TO is an alias of a mailbox, what should the
> email address in the X-Loop be so that there's not some infinite loop
> happening?
>

It depends on whether you can determine whether the message is being
delivered to an alias to to the real mailbox.

There are different ways you can approach it such that the auto-reply
will reference the alias to which the mailing was sent versus the actual
mailbox which is what happens by default.

Relying on the To or Cc fields to determine the recipient is not as
reliable as if there were an entry in the message headers from your mail
server detailing the information to whom the message is addressed
(Envelope recipient). Some mail server use the Delivered-To: line to
designate to whom the message was addressed/delivered. using that entry
you can extract the information and act accordingly.

In the absense of information, I am unable to suggest alternatives.

AK

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:
> rezzz wrote:
>> rezzz wrote:
>>> rezzz wrote:
>>>> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
>>>>> AK wrote:
>>>>>> rezzz wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Garen Erdoisa wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> rezzz wrote:
>>>>>>>> [snip]

>> interact with each other. THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!!
>
> Also any ideas on the X-Loop with respects to aliases. Like, if the
> email address for the TO is an alias of a mailbox, what should the
> email address in the X-Loop be so that there's not some infinite loop
> happening?
>

I would think that in most cases the email address contained in an
X-Loop: header is irrelevant. The fact that the header is present at
all, suggests that the email being evaluated was generated by an
auto-responder of some sort, so there is no need to send an
auto-response to an auto-response...

I would suggest just test to see if that header is present or not. If it
is, then don't reply to the mail, regardless of what email address the
X-loop: header contains. That information might be interesting for other
reasons in some cases.

ie:

# If an X-loop: header is present, switch off the auto-responder.
:0
* ^X-loop:
{ VACATIONREPLY=no }

....

It looks like AK answered your other questions already.

Glad you got it working.

--
Regards;
Garen

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

AK wrote:
> rezzz wrote:
>
> > rezzz wrote:
> >
> >>rezzz wrote:
> >>
> >>>rezzz wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>>AK wrote:
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>rezzz wrote:
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>>>Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>rezzz wrote:
> >>>>>>>>[snip]
> >>>>>
> >>>>>>Man procmailrc there is an exmple there or in one of the other
> >>>>>>procmailex man pages dealing with setting up autoreponders that will
> >>>>>>maintain a cache of senders to whom they already replied to avoid
> >>>>>>generating many auto-replies to the same individual or to a mailing list.
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>That's a good point. The recipe is in man procmailex
> >>>>>
> >>>>>In that example they create a cache file of senders then only execute
> >>>>>the auto-reply if the sender is not in the cache file yet.
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>:0 Whc: vacation.lock
> >>>>># Perform a quick check to see if the mail was addressed to us
> >>>>>* $^To:.*\<$\LOGNAME\>
> >>>>># Don't reply to daemons and mailinglists
> >>>>>* !^FROM_DAEMON
> >>>>># Mail loops are evil
> >>>>>* !^X-Loop: your@own.mail.address
> >>>>>| formail -rD 8192 vacation.cache
> >>>>>
> >>>>> :0 ehc # if the name was not in the cache
> >>>>> | (formail -rI"Precedence: junk" \
> >>>>> -A"X-Loop: your@own.mail.address" ; \
> >>>>> echo "I received your mail,"; \
> >>>>> echo "but I won't be back until Monday."; \
> >>>>> echo "-- "; cat $HOME/.signature \
> >>>>> ) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>>--
> >>>>>Garen
> >>>>
> >>>>Well I've come to the conclusion that the filter isn't working. I took
> >>>>out the formail part and just wanted to dump it to a file, but it's not
> >>>>even making the file. Any ideas why
> >>>>
> >>>>:0 Wic
> >>>>* ^To: user@domian\.com
> >>>>* !^X-Loop: user@domian\.com
> >>>>/tmp/dump.txt
> >>>>
> >>>>wouldn't work?
> >>>
> >>>nevermind -- I realized that along with this auto-reply, I have in
> >>>place a .forward and the .forward takes priority over all the filters
> >>>and that's why that filter wasn't working
> >>>
> >>>BUT, now I'm trying to send out that auto-reply and the forward is in
> >>>place after the filter goes through, but the auto-reply doesn't seem to
> >>>be working
> >>
> >>OK - nevermind again -- I got it to work the way I want it to, but not
> >>I'm trying to understand how the .procmailrc and the /etc/procmailrc
> >>files work with each other, because I removed the recipes from the
> >>/etc/procmailrc file and put it in the user's ./procmailrc file, but I
> >>don't get anything back. I checked the log file and it says suspicous
> >>rcfile. Any thoughts on that? And I'd love to learn how the 2 files
> >>interact with each other. THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!!!
> >
> >
> > Also any ideas on the X-Loop with respects to aliases. Like, if the
> > email address for the TO is an alias of a mailbox, what should the
> > email address in the X-Loop be so that there's not some infinite loop
> > happening?
> >
>
> It depends on whether you can determine whether the message is being
> delivered to an alias to to the real mailbox.
>
> There are different ways you can approach it such that the auto-reply
> will reference the alias to which the mailing was sent versus the actual
> mailbox which is what happens by default.
>
> Relying on the To or Cc fields to determine the recipient is not as
> reliable as if there were an entry in the message headers from your mail
> server detailing the information to whom the message is addressed
> (Envelope recipient). Some mail server use the Delivered-To: line to
> designate to whom the message was addressed/delivered. using that entry
> you can extract the information and act accordingly.
>
> In the absense of information, I am unable to suggest alternatives.
>
> AK

Well here's the recipe I wrote, but for some reason the auto-responder
comes back repeatedly, and the actual message sent to the person is
sent repeatedly as well

:0
* ^To:.*alias@domain.com
{

:0 c
! real_person@domain.com, real_person2@domain.com,
real_person3@domain.com

:0:
* !^X-Loop: alias@domain.com
| (formail -r -A"From: Someone Else"
-A"X-Loop: alias@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt) | sendmail -t

}

any reason why this is happening?

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

rezzz wrote:
> [snip]
>
> Well here's the recipe I wrote, but for some reason the auto-responder
> comes back repeatedly, and the actual message sent to the person is
> sent repeatedly as well
>
> :0
> * ^To:.*alias@domain.com
> {
>
> :0 c
> ! real_person@domain.com, real_person2@domain.com,
> real_person3@domain.com

This part is sending a Cc: to the listed recipients resulting in one
copy of the original message to each.

>
> :0:
> * !^X-Loop: alias@domain.com
> | (formail -r -A "From: Someone Else"
> -A"X-Loop: alias@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt) | sendmail -t

In this recipe, formail will generate an auto-reply header based on the
original message, with the target of the reply being the address in the
Return-path: header, instead of the address in the From: header. If the
two addresses are different, then it could generate an unexpected
result. Also, procmail will stop processing the mail at this point
because the auto-reply recipe isn't using the "c" (carbon copy) flag.

The 2nd colon tells procmail to use an implied lockfile, however there
is no delivery to a file here, it's a delivery to a program, so procmail
will be unable to intuit a lockfile name.

Procmail will treat this as a delivering recipe with an action, which
may cause some other issues. Among them the original mail will be lost
to the intended recipient since formail will discard the original
message body and most of the original message headers in favor of the
auto-reply header it's being asked to generate.

If you want the auto-responder to go to the address in the From: header
use formail -rt instead of formail -r

It's also important to use the -oi switch on sendmail if you are
appending a file as the body of the message. That tells sendmail to
expect an EOF instead of a .CR. to terminate the message body.

>
> }
>
> any reason why this is happening?
>

So, all that said, here are some suggested corrections to your recipe.

:0
* ^To:.*alias@domain.com
{

# Send carbon copies of the incoming message to the following people
:0 c
! real_person@domain.com, real_person2@domain.com, real_person3@domain.com

# Generate an autoreply to the envelope sender
# Note use formail -rt to reply to the From: header instead
:0c
* !^X-Loop: alias@domain.com
| ( formail -r -A "From: Someone Else" \
-A "X-Loop: alias@domain.com" ; \
cat autoreply.txt) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t

}

:0
$DEFAULT

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

Garen Erdoisa wrote:
> rezzz wrote:
> > [snip]
> >
> > Well here's the recipe I wrote, but for some reason the auto-responder
> > comes back repeatedly, and the actual message sent to the person is
> > sent repeatedly as well
> >
> > :0
> > * ^To:.*alias@domain.com
> > {
> >
> > :0 c
> > ! real_person@domain.com, real_person2@domain.com,
> > real_person3@domain.com
>
> This part is sending a Cc: to the listed recipients resulting in one
> copy of the original message to each.
>
> >
> > :0:
> > * !^X-Loop: alias@domain.com
> > | (formail -r -A "From: Someone Else"
> > -A"X-Loop: alias@domain.com" ; cat autoreply.txt) | sendmail -t
>
> In this recipe, formail will generate an auto-reply header based on the
> original message, with the target of the reply being the address in the
> Return-path: header, instead of the address in the From: header. If the
> two addresses are different, then it could generate an unexpected
> result. Also, procmail will stop processing the mail at this point
> because the auto-reply recipe isn't using the "c" (carbon copy) flag.
>
> The 2nd colon tells procmail to use an implied lockfile, however there
> is no delivery to a file here, it's a delivery to a program, so procmail
> will be unable to intuit a lockfile name.
>
> Procmail will treat this as a delivering recipe with an action, which
> may cause some other issues. Among them the original mail will be lost
> to the intended recipient since formail will discard the original
> message body and most of the original message headers in favor of the
> auto-reply header it's being asked to generate.
>
> If you want the auto-responder to go to the address in the From: header
> use formail -rt instead of formail -r
>
> It's also important to use the -oi switch on sendmail if you are
> appending a file as the body of the message. That tells sendmail to
> expect an EOF instead of a .CR. to terminate the message body.
>
> >
> > }
> >
> > any reason why this is happening?
> >
>
> So, all that said, here are some suggested corrections to your recipe.
>
> :0
> * ^To:.*alias@domain.com
> {
>
> # Send carbon copies of the incoming message to the following people
> :0 c
> ! real_person@domain.com, real_person2@domain.com, real_person3@domain.com
>
> # Generate an autoreply to the envelope sender
> # Note use formail -rt to reply to the From: header instead
> :0c
> * !^X-Loop: alias@domain.com
> | ( formail -r -A "From: Someone Else" \
> -A "X-Loop: alias@domain.com" ; \
> cat autoreply.txt) | $SENDMAIL -oi -t
>
> }
>
> :0
> $DEFAULT

Thank you for all your help!

Re: procmail forward and auto-reply to the same address not working

On comp.mail.misc, in <1152559560.665070.224720@75g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, "rezzz" wrote: