#581694 exim4: change to retry time has no effect

Package:
exim4
Source:
exim4
Submitter:
Mark Hedges
Date:
2010-05-17 00:03:08 UTC
Severity:
normal
#581694#5
Date:
2010-05-14 23:48:01 UTC
From:
To:
I edited /etc/exim4/conf.d/retry/30_exim4-config to this:

*                      *           F,15m,30s; F,2h,15m; G,16h,1h,1.5; F,4d,6h

and QUEUEINTERVAL = '30s' in /etc/default/exim4.

With the laptop connection down, I send `mail -v`.  It cannot connect
to my smarthost, so mail is properly deferred in the local queue.

Then I connect to the internet.

However, subsequent queue runs do not send the message within 30 seconds
like these settings would seem to indicate.  I cannot send new messages either.

  R=smarthost T=remote_smtp_smarthost defer (-53): retry time not reached for any host

If I `rm /var/spool/exim4/db/*`, then the next queue run sends all mail.

My usual scenario on my laptop is, I hit send (or use reportbug) and
forget that I was not connected.  Then I connect and I want it to go
out promptly so I don't have to wait for 2 hours.

Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks.

Mark
#581694#10
Date:
2010-05-15 07:29:45 UTC
From:
To:
On 2010-05-15 Mark Hedges <hedges@scriptdolphin.com> wrote:
[...]

[...]
[...]

You have been changing the wrong file.

http://pkg-exim4.alioth.debian.org/README/README.Debian.html#id303738
cu andreas
#581694#15
Date:
2010-05-15 08:29:49 UTC
From:
To:
Doh!  Thank you.  --mark--
#581694#20
Date:
2010-05-15 08:29:49 UTC
From:
To:
Doh!  Thank you.  --mark--
#581694#25
Date:
2010-05-16 23:27:24 UTC
From:
To:
reopen 581694
thankyou


I set split configuration, and changed
conf.d/retry/30_exim4-config to read:

   *   *    F,4d,30s

... and ran update-exim4.conf.  But the mail that was in the
queue is still not being sent.
"T=remote_smtp_smarthost_defer (-53): retry time not reached
for any host."

I also went back to unsplit configuration, put this line in
the template, ran update-exim4.conf and verified the new
line appears in /var/lib/exim4/config.autogenerated ... it
still does not send the queued mail.

I thought maybe this was a separate time value for waiting
on the smarthost that has no configuration, because of the
separate db file
/var/spool/exim4/db/wait-remote_smtp_smarthost, but I tried
removing that alone and its lockfile and restarting exim,
but I get the same error.

It does not get sent until I remove
/var/spool/exim4/db/retry (and lockfile) and restart exim.
Then the message unqueues immediately.

As a wishlist item, it would be cool, when it works, if
there could be separate retry settings for AC or battery.
When I'm on AC I want to try frequently to send mail when I
have a connection.  If I'm on battery, I don't want to keep
the disks spinning, especially when the queue is empty.

Let me know if I can check something else.

Mark