Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue

From	Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca>
Newsgroups	alt.os.linux.slackware
Subject	Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue
Date	2025-12-24 20:12 -0400
Organization	A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID	<slrn10kp0c3.3tn.zsd@x360.localdomain> (permalink)
References	<slrn10k3c8d.3ur.zsd@x360.localdomain> <69426af3$1@news.ausics.net> <slrn10kjebg.9ct.zsd@x360.localdomain> <6949c24d$1@news.ausics.net>

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On 2025-12-22 at 18:12 AST, noel <deletethis@invalid.lan> wrote:
> On Mon, 22 Dec 2025 17:34:40 -0400, Jim Diamond wrote:
>
>
>>> mailq  -  what does it say?
>> 
>> It tells me there are mail message(s) waiting to be sent.
>> 
>>
>> And unfortunately, sendmail -q (I use -v as well) while the network is
>> up has no effect, the mail is not sent, and mailq continues to report
>> that there is mail waiting to be sent.
>
>
> OK first, what is the reason?   tail -n20 maillog   (if you run it 
> through amavis or mailscanner use -n60)

I had to go back in time more than 20 lines.  :-)
See below.

> (you can sanitise your server name, and any email addresses - so long as 
> you are sure there is no typo in the emails - I suggest replace left hand 
> side with xxxxxxxxxxxxx and leave the host/domain part intact)

Here is the message in maillog when it tried to send an email while the
network was down:

------------------
Dec 16 15:05:58 x360 postfix/pickup[1480]: AA6B21E0B4C: uid=1000 from=<MY_ADDR>
Dec 16 15:05:58 x360 postfix/cleanup[2477]: AA6B21E0B4C: message-id=<aUGtlsa5qHdUlcC7@x360.localdomain>
Dec 16 15:05:58 x360 postfix/qmgr[3285]: AA6B21E0B4C: from=<MY_ADDR>, size=2073, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Dec 16 15:05:58 x360 postfix/smtp[2479]: AA6B21E0B4C: to=<ntg-context@ntg.nl>, relay=none, delay=0.05, delays=0.03/0.01/0/0, dsn=4.4.3, status=deferred (Host or domain name not found. Name service error for name=MY_SMTP_SERVER type=A: Host not found, try again)
------------------

Once the network was back, I tried running the queue:

------------------
Dec 16 15:06:17 x360 postfix/postqueue[2613]: name_mask: ipv4
Dec 16 15:06:17 x360 postfix/postqueue[2613]: inet_addr_local: configured 2 IPv4 addresses
Dec 16 15:06:17 x360 postfix/qmgr[3285]: AA6B21E0B4C: from=<MY_ADDR>, size=2073, nrcpt=1 (queue active)
Dec 16 15:06:17 x360 postfix/smtp[2479]: AA6B21E0B4C: to=<ntg-context@ntg.nl>, relay=none, delay=19, delays=19/0/0/0, dsn=4.4.3, status=deferred (Host or domain name not found. Name service error for name=MY_SMTP_SERVER type=A: Host not found, try again)
------------------

However, I am able to do this until the cows come home, and even though new
emails will get out, the one in queue seems to get the status=deferred
response ad infinitum.  (OK, I didn't let it go until infinity, so that
last part is bold hyperbole.  But I previous cases I tried many times, to
no avail.)

Eventually I give up and resend the message from my MUA and manually remove
the two email files from /var/spool.

> This might allow identifying the reason, else the next command will haver 
> to be run again and again and again, when you should never have to.
>
> THEN
>
> postqueue -f

I type
  sendmail -v -q
out of habit, but the sendmail (postfix version) man page leads me to
believe that "sendmail -q" == "postqueue -f".

I don't know if the above bits from maillog tell you anything, aside from
seeing that it was continuing to insist that it couldn't look up my SMTP
server.  If you have some extra insight there, I'm all ears.

Cheers.
                                Jim

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Thread

postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-16 15:20 -0400
  Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2025-12-16 23:06 +0000
    Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-22 17:32 -0400
  Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue noel <deletethis@invalid.lan> - 2025-12-17 18:33 +1000
    Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-22 17:34 -0400
      Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue noel <deletethis@invalid.lan> - 2025-12-23 08:12 +1000
        Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-24 20:12 -0400
          Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2025-12-25 04:25 +0000
            Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-25 11:52 -0400
          Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Sylvain Robitaille <syl@therockgarden.ca> - 2025-12-25 23:37 +0000
            Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Sam <sam@email-scan.com> - 2025-12-25 20:34 -0500
              Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-27 13:11 -0400
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Sam <sam@email-scan.com> - 2025-12-28 07:57 -0500
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-29 20:32 -0400
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Sam <sam@email-scan.com> - 2025-12-31 08:17 -0500
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue jayjwa <jayjwa@atr2.ath.cx.invalid> - 2025-12-31 13:03 -0500
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-31 16:14 -0400
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-31 16:36 -0400
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue noel <deletethis@invalid.lan> - 2026-01-01 23:00 +1000
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2026-01-02 12:05 -0400
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Sam <sam@email-scan.com> - 2026-01-02 19:37 -0500
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2026-01-01 15:46 +0000
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2026-01-02 17:35 -0400
            Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-27 13:04 -0400
          Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue noel <deletethis@invalid.lan> - 2025-12-26 12:13 +1000
            Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-27 13:17 -0400
              Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2025-12-28 05:19 +0000
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-28 23:10 -0400
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2025-12-29 18:06 +0000
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-29 20:34 -0400
                Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue noel <deletethis@invalid.lan> - 2025-12-30 10:53 +1000
  Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue jayjwa <jayjwa@atr2.ath.cx.invalid> - 2025-12-17 11:22 -0500
    Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue noel <deletethis@invalid.lan> - 2025-12-18 14:11 +1000
      Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Henrik Carlqvist <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> - 2025-12-18 06:32 +0000
        Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Marco Moock <mm@dorfdsl.de> - 2025-12-18 16:32 +0100
          Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Henrik Carlqvist <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> - 2025-12-19 18:46 +0000
        Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue noel <deletethis@invalid.lan> - 2025-12-19 12:29 +1000
    Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-22 17:42 -0400
      Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Sylvain Robitaille <syl@therockgarden.ca> - 2025-12-24 22:34 +0000
        Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-24 20:14 -0400
  Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Joseph Rosevear <Mail@JoesLife.org> - 2025-12-19 07:54 +0000
    Re: postfix not sending mail in the queue Jim Diamond <zsd@jdvb.ca> - 2025-12-22 18:03 -0400

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