[Alpine-info] two SMTP servers in .pinerc, plus a "role"

[Asheesh Laroia]

On Mon, 16 Jun 2008, Jacob Wegelin wrote:


> My .pinerc file contains the following lines

>

> # List of SMTP servers for sending mail. If blank: Unix Alpine uses sendmail.

> smtp-server=smtp.gmail.com/user=jacob.wegelin at gmail.com/novalidate-cert,

> 	cedar.vcu.edu/ssl/user=jwegelin/novalidate-cert

>

> Gmail is first on the list because colleagues at VCU complain that the

> emails they send using the local server frequently disappear in the

> ether. Also I figure that a huge organization like google, for which

> servers are its very life, would be more

> likely to keep its servers up and running than Virginia Commonwealth

> University.

>

> My .pinerc also contains the following "role," because the VCU IMAP server 

> appears to be easier to handle in Alpine than the google IMAP server. (With 

> gmail I frequently get the "message to save shrank!" message.)

>

> # Patterns and their actions are stored here.

> patterns-roles=LIT:pattern="/NICK=Always Use!/FLDTYPE=ANY" 

> action="/ROLE=1/FROM=Jacob Wegelin 

> <jwegelin at vcu.edu>/RTYPE=NC/FTYPE=NC/CTYPE=NC"

>

> But in spite of the fact that google is a much bigger organization, etc., 

> recently, several times when I attempted to send an email, I got a message 

> that said that the gmail server had "gone away," and the email got sent out 

> (apparently) through cedar.vcu.edu.  For instance, when I was at a bed and 

> breakfast in Casper, Wyoming recently, connecting through the B&B's wireless 

> internet, my emails apparently all went through cedar.vcu.edu.


I have no idea what's up with that.


> Is there any way to understand why the gmail server would be unavailable, and 

> why it would be consistently unavailable from a wireless connection in 

> Casper, Wyoming? Am I naming the server incorrectly in my .pinerc?


It could be due to firewall rules at your ISP.


> Is there a foolproof way to tell from the header of an email by which server 

> it was sent? For instance, I thought that I got a "gmail server unavailable" 

> message right before the following email went out, yet I don't see where it 

> says that it went through gmail:

>

> [begin embedded email]

>> From jwegelin at vcu.edu Mon Jun 16 09:58:52 2008

> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:58:50 -0400 (EDT)

> From: Jacob Wegelin <jwegelin at vcu.edu>

> X-X-Sender: user at SPHBSTR3083.local

> To: wegelin at u.washington.edu

> Subject: second test

> Message-ID: <alpine.OSX.1.00.0806160956520.343 at SPHBSTR3083.local>

> User-Agent: Alpine 1.00 (OSX 882 2007-12-20)

> MIME-Version: 1.0

> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII

>

>

> By which server does this go out?

> Really?

> [end of embedded email]


Alpine doesn't record it; the SMTP server itself records it and sometimes 
chooses to modify the message.


> Then I quit and re-opened Alpine and sent the following email, which I 

> thought went out using the gmail server:

>

> [begin embedded email]

>> From jwegelin at vcu.edu Mon Jun 16 10:00:25 2008

> Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:59:59 -0400 (EDT)

> From: Jacob Wegelin <jwegelin at vcu.edu>

> X-X-Sender: user at SPHBSTR3083.local

> To: wegelin at u.washington.edu

> Subject: third attempt to send using gmail server SMTP

> Message-ID: <alpine.OSX.1.00.0806160959330.351 at SPHBSTR3083.local>

> User-Agent: Alpine 1.00 (OSX 882 2007-12-20)

> MIME-Version: 1.0

> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII

>

> This is the third attempt.

> Hmm.

> [end of embedded email]

>

> In neither of these emails do I see something that says through what server 

> it was sent.


Right.  If you view the headers of this message you're reading now, you'll 
see that the first SMTP server that touched it added a Received: header, 
and so on.


> In spite of the fact that I cannot see what SMTP server was used, the 

> email clients used by people to whom I send emails, must be able to 

> recognize what server was used. I know this because often, when people 

> reply to my emails, they send them to my gmail address, even though I do 

> not give out that address.  How does someone's email client figure out 

> that I sent the email via gmail?


Gmail has to be configured to allow setting the "From" address to your 
VACU address in its web UI.  Otherwise it'll modify the message so that it 
is "From" the gmail address.

-- Asheesh.

-- 
If you want to read about love and marriage you've got to buy two separate
books.
 		-- Alan King