[Pkg-exim4-users] Interpreting verbose output

Sebastian Tennant
Tue, 30 Dec 2008 19:04:50 -0000

Hello,

I need to implement a one-way (announcement only) mailing list and I''m
testing the water by piping messages to exim with a thousand or so email
addresses in the Bcc header like so:

 cat <msg-file> | usr/sbin/exim4 -bm -t -f<envelope-from> -N

-N implies -v and as a result I''m noticing lines like these amongst the
other thousand or so lines of ''normal'' log output on stdout
(domains
hidden to protect the owners):

 23024 T: remote_smtp for @
 23025 T: remote_smtp for @
 23026 T: remote_smtp for ozgeeyu@<hidden>
 23027 T: remote_smtp for ozgeeyu@
 23028 T: remote_smtp for ubuckley@<hidden>
 23029 T: remote_smtp for buketc@<hidden>
 23030 T: remote_smtp for catherine@<hidden>
 23031 T: remote_smtp for catherine@<hidden>
 23032 T: remote_smtp for catherine@<hidden>
 23033 T: remote_smtp for nezih@<hidden>
 23034 T: remote_smtp for nil@<hidden>
 23035 T: remote_smtp for nil@<hidden>
 23036 T: remote_smtp for jeremy.thompson@<hidden>
 23037 T: remote_smtp for jeremy.thompson@<hidden>
 23038 T: remote_smtp for dean@<hidden>
 23039 T: remote_smtp for dean@<hidden>
 23040 T: remote_smtp for lcs2v07@<hidden>
 23041 T: remote_smtp for lcs2v07@
 23042 T: remote_smtp for mdalayman@<hidden>
 23043 T: remote_smtp for nyuzer@<hidden>
 23044 T: remote_smtp for palomablanca@<hidden>
 23045 T: remote_smtp for rsoble@<hidden>
 23046 T: remote_smtp for rsoble@<hidden>
 23047 T: remote_smtp for ella.zhernosek@<hidden>
 23048 T: remote_smtp for guliyevvugar@<hidden>
 23049 T: remote_smtp for guliyevvugar@<hidden>
 23050 T: remote_smtp for zeyne@<hidden>
 23051 T: remote_smtp for arendz.triple.a@<hidden>
 23052 T: remote_smtp for mhochstedler@<hidden>
 23053 T: remote_smtp for okanbolukbas@<hidden>
 23054 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>
 23055 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>
 23056 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>
 23057 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>
 23058 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>
 23059 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>
 23060 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>
 23065 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>
 23066 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>
 23067 T: remote_smtp for soberrocker@<hidden>

Clearly these are process ids for remote_smtp transports so my first
question is why are processes spawned for these addresses and not
others?  These lines appear in completely random places amongst the
other lines, sometimes bunched up, sometimes spread out.

My second question is why do processes 23024, 23035, 23027 and 23041
appear to be attempting to deliver to clearly broken email addresses,
which I''m 100% sure didn''t come from the database looking like
they do?

Thirdly, any performance/best practice tips or advice on bulk mailing
using exim would be very much appreciated.

A happy New Year to all,

Sebastian