Pkg exim4 users - Jan 2010 - can't send e-mail with mutt using exim4

Hi to Everyone,

I have been using Mutt for several years, first on RedHat 7.2, then on 
Debian Sarge. It worked, but since I used it only on occasional basis, I 
can''t say that I was familiar with it. Sending mail was based on smtp, 
then on esmtp, now on exim4. I''ve not yet gotten it to work on my new 
Debian Lenny system with exim4, at least for mail sending (it seems to 
work for receiving).

I have spent a lot of time dpkg-reconfiguring exim4-config and testing 
various things, with no results. In most cases, I get a local mail 
message saying that the distant mail address is "unreacheable". I have
tried to introduce my ISP smtp login and password into the file : 
/etc/exim4/passwd.client, using the shown syntax, but nothing worked so 
far. Since I have three ISP with three smtp addresses, I tried each in 
turn, modifying the other parameters in accordance, but I had no 
success, mail never got to destination.

What am I missing in my exim config, or in my .muttrc conf file, or 
elsewhere ?

Thanks in advance for you help

Dear Bernard,


Am Sonntag, den 03.01.2010, 23:15 +0100 schrieb Bernard:

[?]
> What am I missing in my exim config, or in my .muttrc conf file, or 
> elsewhere ?
I have not the knowlegde to help you, but I guess the others cannot
either without having your `.muttrc` and Exim 4 configuration files.
Probably it is also good to know the versions you are using.


Thanks,

Paul
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Paul Menzel wrote:
> Dear Bernard,
>
>
> Am Sonntag, den 03.01.2010, 23:15 +0100 schrieb Bernard:
>
> [?]
>
>   
>> What am I missing in my exim config, or in my .muttrc conf file, or 
>> elsewhere ?
>>     
>
> I have not the knowlegde to help you, but I guess the others cannot
> either without having your `.muttrc` and Exim 4 configuration files.
> Probably it is also good to know the versions you are using.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Paul
>   
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Pkg-exim4-users mailing list
> Pkg-exim4-users at lists.alioth.debian.org
> http://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/pkg-exim4-users
Thanks for replying.

My relevant files are available as stated below :

http://www.teaser.fr/~bdebreil/point_muttrc

and

http://www.teaser.fr/~bdebreil/update-exim4.conf.conf

On Sun, 2010-01-03 at 23:15 +0100, Bernard wrote:
> Hi to Everyone,
> 
> I have been using Mutt for several years, first on RedHat 7.2, then on 
> Debian Sarge. It worked, but since I used it only on occasional basis, I 
> can''t say that I was familiar with it. Sending mail was based on
smtp,
> then on esmtp, now on exim4. I''ve not yet gotten it to work on my
new
> Debian Lenny system with exim4, at least for mail sending (it seems to 
> work for receiving).
> 
> I have spent a lot of time dpkg-reconfiguring exim4-config and testing 
> various things, with no results.
If you want all your email delivered through one ISP, pick the smarthost
configuration (for dpkg-reconfigure) and answer questions accordingly.

Anything more complicated will, I think, require you to customize the
exim configuration file(s).  If you do so, be sure to notice whether you
set up (via dpkg) for split config or monolothic.

See /usr/share/doc/exim4-base/README.Debian.{gz,html} for more about
exim under Debian.  However, for more complex delivery options you''ll
need to read the exim documentation.
>  In most cases, I get a local mail 
> message saying that the distant mail address is "unreacheable". I
have
> tried to introduce my ISP smtp login and password into the file : 
> /etc/exim4/passwd.client, using the shown syntax, but nothing worked so 
> far. 
I think that uses the password if delivery is attempted to that host,
but by itself it does not cause messages to be delivered
there.
> Since I have three ISP with three smtp addresses, I tried each in 
> turn, modifying the other parameters in accordance, but I had no 
> success, mail never got to destination.
> 
> What am I missing in my exim config, or in my .muttrc conf file, or 
> elsewhere ?
My guess is this is an exim rather than mutt issue, unless you''ve
messed
around with your mutt setup.  The exim manual and the faq on the web
suggest various ways to diagnose delivery or routing problems using exim
without an email client.  That would help isolate the problem area.  My
guess is you have a routing issue, i.e., exim doesn''t know where to
send
the mail when it receives it.

Ross Boylan

On Mon, 2010-01-04 at 00:58 +0100, Bernard wrote:
> Paul Menzel wrote:
> 
> My relevant files are available as stated below :
> http://www.teaser.fr/~bdebreil/update-exim4.conf.conf
> 
I see you have selected smarthost.  But I see you''ve listed the IP of
your smart host (smtp.free.fr) as a local interface.  That''s probably
not correct.

Ross

Ross Boylan wrote:
> On Sun, 2010-01-03 at 23:15 +0100, Bernard wrote:
>   
>> Hi to Everyone,
>>
>> I have been using Mutt for several years, first on RedHat 7.2, then on 
>> Debian Sarge. It worked, but since I used it only on occasional basis,
I
>> can''t say that I was familiar with it. Sending mail was based
on smtp,
>> then on esmtp, now on exim4. I''ve not yet gotten it to work on
my new
>> Debian Lenny system with exim4, at least for mail sending (it seems to 
>> work for receiving).
>>
>> I have spent a lot of time dpkg-reconfiguring exim4-config and testing 
>> various things, with no results.
>>     
> If you want all your email delivered through one ISP, pick the smarthost
> configuration (for dpkg-reconfigure) and answer questions accordingly.
>   
this is the config I have. Questions are sometimes rather hard to 
interpretate, especially about domain names and IP addresses. I messed 
too much around exim config, and I wish I could restore the original 
default values so as to start again from scratch, since it did work 
better at the start ; some - not all - of the numerous attempts to send 
distant mail did work then, but I changed things and nothing works 
anymore. I tried apt-get remove exim4 and then installed again in the 
hope that I would recover default values, but the trick proved useless.
> Anything more complicated will, I think, require you to customize the
> exim configuration file(s).  If you do so, be sure to notice whether you
> set up (via dpkg) for split config or monolothic.
>
> See /usr/share/doc/exim4-base/README.Debian.{gz,html} for more about
> exim under Debian. 
I will re-read this - more carefully - and see if I find something that 
I may have overlooked
>
> My guess is this is an exim rather than mutt issue, unless you''ve
messed
> around with your mutt setup.  The exim manual and the faq on the web
> suggest various ways to diagnose delivery or routing problems using exim
> without an email client.  
I will try to find a way to use exim without an e-mail client, and I 
will report the obtained results

Ross Boylan wrote:
> On Mon, 2010-01-04 at 00:58 +0100, Bernard wrote:
>   
>> Paul Menzel wrote:
>>     
>
>   
>> My relevant files are available as stated below :
>>     
>
>   
>> http://www.teaser.fr/~bdebreil/update-exim4.conf.conf
>>
>>     
> I see you have selected smarthost.  But I see you''ve listed the IP
of
> your smart host (smtp.free.fr) as a local interface.  That''s
probably
> not correct.
>
> Ross
>   
I just tried to remove this, leaving a blank instead. I got same results 
as before : unreacheable address
>
>

On Seg, 04 Jan 2010, Bernard wrote:
> I just tried to remove this, leaving a blank instead. I got same  
> results as before : unreacheable address
What does /var/log/exim4/mainlog say for a failed message?



-- 
Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!
All the king''s horses,
And all the king''s men,
Had scrambled eggs for breakfast again!

Eduardo M KALINOWSKI
eduardo at kalinowski.com.br

On Mon, 2010-01-04 at 13:30 +0100, Bernard wrote:
> anymore. I tried apt-get remove exim4 and then installed again in the 
> hope that I would recover default values, but the trick proved
> useless.
You need purge, not just remove, to get rid of config files.  Also, the
controlling package is exim4-config.

The exim4-doc-* packages have the upstream reference material in various
formats.  You''ll need to go to the web for the upstream FAQ.

Ross

Ross Boylan wrote:
> On Mon, 2010-01-04 at 13:30 +0100, Bernard wrote:
>   
>> anymore. I tried apt-get remove exim4 and then installed again in the 
>> hope that I would recover default values, but the trick proved
>> useless.
>>     
> You need purge, not just remove, to get rid of config files.  Also, the
> controlling package is exim4-config.
>   
Just done it, and recuperated the default config.

Results are now different, but no success so far in sending mail. No 
more "unreacheable address" though.

With that new config, my first test sent this : "mailing to remote 
address not supported". No surprise, since I now recall that this was 
the default config ; I already had this a few days ago, during my first 
attempts.

So: dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config ==> smarthost relay selected instead 
of local mail only. However, I decided to leave 127.0.0.1 in the list of 
IP addresses where exim will listen to incoming smtp connexions, since 
the explanation seems to indicate that it is the right choice in my case.

This being done, I made a new attempt to send mail to a distant address. 
/var/log/mainlog said : ''smarthost defer (-36). Host lookup for 
mail.free.fr did not complete (DNS timeout ?)

Then I replaced ''mail.free.fr'' by
''smtp.free.fr'' in both exim4 conf file
(using dpkg-reconfigure) and in the /etc/exim4/passwd.client file, 
setting up login and passwd as shown in the example. This time, my new 
remote mail sending trial did not generate a message, at least not right 
away. Mainlog said this :

2010-01-04 15:12:24 1NRnfU-0004SL-L2 <= bd at free.fr U=bd P=local S=500 
id=20100104141224.GA17124 at free.fr

nothing more. No message arrived at the destination e-mail address. 
Three minutes later, a new message arrived at mainlog :

2010-01-04 15:15:33 1NRnfU-0004SL-L2 smtp.free.fr [212.27.48.4] 
Connection timed out
2010-01-04 15:15:33 1NRnfU-0004SL-L2 == jacques.julien78 at orange.fr 
R=smarthost T=remote_smtp_smarthost defer (110): Connection timed out.

I will keep trials and keep you informed. By the way, I recalled that, 
at the very beginning (before Xmas), the few attempts that had lead to 
positive results in sending mail to remote addresses, had not required 
any smtp login and passwd.
> The exim4-doc-* packages have the upstream reference material in various
> formats.  You''ll need to go to the web for the upstream FAQ.
>
> Ross
>
>
>

Bernard wrote:
> Ross Boylan wrote:
>> On Mon, 2010-01-04 at 13:30 +0100, Bernard wrote:
>>> anymore. I tried apt-get remove exim4 and then installed again in 
>>> the hope that I would recover default values, but the trick proved
>>> useless.
>> You need purge, not just remove, to get rid of config files. Also, the
>> controlling package is exim4-config.
> Just done it, and recuperated the default config.
>
> Results are now different, but no success so far in sending mail. No 
> more "unreacheable address" though.
>
> With that new config, my first test sent this : "mailing to remote 
> address not supported". No surprise, since I now recall that this was 
> the default config ; I already had this a few days ago, during my 
> first attempts.
>
> So: dpkg-reconfigure exim4-config ==> smarthost relay selected instead 
> of local mail only. However, I decided to leave 127.0.0.1 in the list 
> of IP addresses where exim will listen to incoming smtp connexions, 
> since the explanation seems to indicate that it is the right choice in 
> my case.
>
> This being done, I made a new attempt to send mail to a distant 
> address. /var/log/mainlog said : ''smarthost defer (-36). Host
lookup
> for mail.free.fr did not complete (DNS timeout ?)
>
> Then I replaced ''mail.free.fr'' by
''smtp.free.fr'' in both exim4 conf
> file (using dpkg-reconfigure) and in the /etc/exim4/passwd.client 
> file, setting up login and passwd as shown in the example. This time, 
> my new remote mail sending trial did not generate a message, at least 
> not right away. Mainlog said this :
>
> 2010-01-04 15:12:24 1NRnfU-0004SL-L2 <= bd at free.fr U=bd P=local S=500
> id=20100104141224.GA17124 at free.fr
>
> nothing more. No message arrived at the destination e-mail address. 
> Three minutes later, a new message arrived at mainlog :
>
> 2010-01-04 15:15:33 1NRnfU-0004SL-L2 smtp.free.fr [212.27.48.4] 
> Connection timed out
> 2010-01-04 15:15:33 1NRnfU-0004SL-L2 == jacques.julien78 at orange.fr 
> R=smarthost T=remote_smtp_smarthost defer (110): Connection timed out.
>
> I will keep trials and keep you informed. By the way, I recalled that, 
> at the very beginning (before Xmas), the few attempts that had lead to 
> positive results in sending mail to remote addresses, had not required 
> any smtp login and passwd.
Something new : ONE message has arrived to distant e-mail address. But 
not from free.fr. As said, I manage 3 e-mail addresses on this computer, 
on three different ISPs, and my tests are being carried from one address 
to the other. Since I so often received mainlog notices that 
smtp.free.fr kept defferring my messages, I tried changing my exim 
config so that ''teaser.fr'' was taken into account instead of
free. For
the first trial, I did not settle any login and password for 
smtp.teaser.fr, and I even renamed the /etc/exim4/passwd.client so that 
it be not taken into account. The sent message did arrive, this time ! 
However, I am supposed to use a login and passwd to connect to 
smtp.teaser.fr, but, maybe something in my general config says that 
teaser is my default mailbox... Still, my wish is to send mails from 
free.fr whenever I use mutt : how shall I do that ? smtp.free.fr does 
not seem to be an alias :

$ host smtp.free.fr
smtp.free.fr has address 212.27.48.4

maybe I could use the IP address in the conf files... As for the port 
number, it is supposed to be default, that is 25, while for teaser.fr it 
is 587, and I had to write this in reconfiguring exim4-config, that is : 
smtp.teaser.fr::587, it wouldn''t operate without that. Port 587 did not
work with smtp.free.fr, so I left default, but this wouldn''t work
either.

On Mon, Jan 04, 2010 at 03:46:43PM +0100, Bernard wrote:
> 2010-01-04 15:12:24 1NRnfU-0004SL-L2 <= bd at free.fr U=bd P=local S=500
> id=20100104141224.GA17124 at free.fr
> 2010-01-04 15:15:33 1NRnfU-0004SL-L2 smtp.free.fr [212.27.48.4]  
> Connection timed out
> 2010-01-04 15:15:33 1NRnfU-0004SL-L2 == jacques.julien78 at orange.fr  
> R=smarthost T=remote_smtp_smarthost defer (110): Connection timed out.
Your exim tried to reach smtp.free.fr on 212.27.48.4 for three minutes
and then gave up. This says that your exim is configured correctly and
that your DNS works, but you seem to have a connectivity problem. Does
your ISP block outgoing port 25?

Greetings
Marc

-- 
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