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Grex Info Item 348: Returned mail: Decoding Unix codes on bounced mail.
Entered by cmcgee on Fri Jul 5 15:17:26 UTC 2002:

How do I decode the Unix "bounced mail" codes?  I've got the 520 down,
but what does 500 mean.  What do any of those other 5++ codes mean? 
Where can I find info about these codes?  I tried "man mail" but it
didn't help.

14 responses total.

#1 of 14 by mdw on Sat Jul 6 10:11:09 2002:

The "official" list of codes is in RFC 2822.  A web search for "Melvin
dweep Fonebone" will find you many copies of this RFC.  Apparently 520
is not one of the "official" codes.  Generally, 4xx codes are temporary
failures, 5xx are permament failures, 2xx is success, and 3xx is for a
command which requires further imput.  The english text that follows is
for the benefit of humans; the numeric error code is used by SMTP
implementations to tell them what to do next.  FTP and HTTP use a
similar but not identical system of error codes.

#2 of 14 by cmcgee on Sat Jul 6 12:21:12 2002:

Drat, almost all the mysterious codes I can't figure out are 5xx.  
Thanks, I'll go look up the rest.
Is there somewhere else to look for unofficial codes?

#3 of 14 by davel on Sat Jul 6 15:11:39 2002:

The source code of whatever program produced them?

#4 of 14 by cmcgee on Sat Jul 6 17:49:21 2002:

Way beyond my computer abilities.  I'm the List Admins for a 500+
person, majordomo-managed mailing list.  When mail bounces back to me
as list admin, it usually has these codes, often with the English
translation.  

Mailbox full, storage capacity exceeded, etc, I can understand.
Non-existent hosts I can understand.  But some of them bounce for no
apparent reason, and the people can still be reached at that address
by me sending them email.  Some of those bounces have these codes,
but the codes aren't translated.  

So I was looking for a way to "read" the headers, and codes that
would help me know whether they are gone for good ("no such user, no
such login") or if there's another kind of problem.

#5 of 14 by mdw on Mon Jul 8 01:38:55 2002:

If it's not in RFC 2822, you might send mail to the postmaster of the
domain which bounced the mail.  At the very least, any reply you receive
ought to be entertaining.  You might as well ask what software they're
running, and if the error codes they produce are documented anywhere,
besides asking them what the particular error code they gave you meant.

#6 of 14 by cmcgee on Mon Jul 8 11:25:48 2002:

*grin* Ok, I'm going to try this for the entertainment value.  My emails
to "postmaster@domain" have seldom received human responses.

#7 of 14 by yuwa on Mon Oct 14 09:33:44 2002:

what is unix?

#8 of 14 by mdw on Tue Oct 15 11:17:28 2002:

Unix is claimed by some to be an obselete operating system originally
written by a bunch of radical long-hairs who had somehow accidently
been employed by an obscure research lab of a now defunct
telecommunications company in the US, which was somewhat quaintly named
after one of the founders.

#9 of 14 by davel on Tue Oct 15 12:45:47 2002:

<chortle>

#10 of 14 by happyboy on Wed Oct 16 13:34:26 2002:

oh...i thought it was a dr. seuss character.

#11 of 14 by nzpnzp on Thu Oct 31 02:53:52 2002:

ni  men hao !I come  from china
I an a new student
please help me for the linux!
think you very much!

#12 of 14 by happyboy on Fri Nov 1 04:36:54 2002:

haw!

#13 of 14 by riveroll on Thu Nov 7 23:36:32 2002:

Hello i.m Guillermo Riveroll Fuentes from Mexico i want friend for logical
frienship, i nedd you fgriendship for understand english.
bye.

send

#14 of 14 by i on Sat Nov 16 13:34:47 2002:

Hello riveroll.  This is the information conference - not a good place to
meet people.  I suggest that you try the "agora" conference (also called
"general").  There are many more people there, including several who
know spanish.

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