[Mimedefang] RE: Re: Inline attachments

[Dirk the Daring]

On Mon, 2 Oct 2006, mimedefang-request at lists.roaringpenguin.com wrote:

> From: "Paul Murphy" <pjm at ousekjarr.org>
>
>>    OK, the latest code is v7.0.1. You might be tripping over a known bug,
>> fixed in the current code. Try applying Support Pack 1.
>
> That could indeed be the issue - from the Readme:
>
> 14.9  Internet Agent Fixes
>
> 	- The Internet Agent can correctly process Internet domain names 
>		that contain dashes (-).

> Maybe I'm being overly critical, but any Internet mail system which barfs on
> domain names which contain a hyphen is pretty poor, as is the testing regime
> which allowed this to be released...

   Yes, I think you ARE being overly critical. How many code regressions 
have had to be patched recently in both sendmail and MIMEDefang? Were 
those products tested before release? Do you consider their developers 
retarded or their testing regimes grossly deficient? I don't.

   In 10 years of dealing with GroupWise, since v4.1, I've never seen it 
have a problem handling a "-" in a Domain Name. Doesn't mean the problem 
didn't exist or that you didn't get bitten, but it's the first time I've 
heard of that specific issue.

   Obviously, in the major code overhaul between v6.5 and v7.0, this 
particular bug crept in. A programmer goofed, and a test case was either 
flawed or missing. Happens to the best of products, and I think you're 
holding Novell to an unreasonable standard based on a single litmus test.

   Personally, as a _collaboration_package_, I like GroupWise. It's not 
chained to a single platform or Directory Service, its web interface is 
browser-agnostic, its got a pretty good feature-set for the price, and 
it's not the high-overhead management pain that Exchange is.

   That said, the GWIA is probably the weakest component Agent. I've said 
that and more to the developers, face-to-face. Frankly, I'd like to see 
them take the SMTP-to-LIN ("LIN" is the internal GroupWise message format) 
translation code and make it into a sendmail MAILER program, leveraging 
sendmail's adaptability and offering a chance to get rid of GWIA entirely 
(unless it's used for IMAP, POP or iCal). They could take the LIN-to-SMTP 
translation code and put it into the GroupWise MTA and have it drop the 
outgoing message directly into a sendmail queue (since GroupWise Agents 
run quite well on Linux).

   Who knows, maybe they'll do it. But I'll bet quite a chunk of change 
that Redmond would *never* do anything like that with Exchange. Try 
running Exchange without being *forced* to use AD for user authentication, 
try using something other than IE for the web interface (sorta works, but 
crippled), try using something other than IIS as the web server, and try 
running any Exchange Server component on anything other than Windoze (if 
you succeed, try getting support for it). GroupWise gives you choices in 
all those areas.

>>     Interesting. Have you tried performing an action_rebuild
>> on inbound mail and seeing if that makes a difference?
>
> No, but I'll give it a try on e-mail from the problem domains.

   Given that you've identified a known issue that's fixed in the latest 
release, I doubt action_rebuild will solve the particular problem you 
started with. However, I freqently front my GroupWise systems with 
sendmail/MIMEDefang - I get better anti-spam, and I only have to run 
anti-virus in GroupWise System Domains that host Post Offices - I 
don't have to bother with it at the GWIA's Domain. Again, GWIA is probably 
the weakest Agent, and doing an action_rebuild on inbound mail will 
probably completely eliminate "problem" messages.

Dirk

P.S. No, I *don't* work for Novell, never have. Just setting the record 
straight based on my experience.