From: mailinglists on
> mailinglists(a)belfin.ch:
>> Is there a way to customize the relocated bounce message?
>
> Postfix has configurable "bounce", "delayed", "success" and "trace"
> template text.
>
> Postfix has configurable "relocated_maps" responses

do you mean by this the Section 'Table Format' in
http://www.postfix.org/relocated.5.html?

If yes, I will have to (ab)use the vacation functionality to get
customizable relocation messages that the senders will read.
If such messages look like mailerdaemon error messages (which technically
spoken - that's what they in fact are) I am afraid non-IT people might not
feel addressed because it might look too technical to them. Next, users
come to us and ask us stuff which should be clear already from the
mailer-daemon bounced email.

Talking about bounce templates, "Recipient address rejected: User unknown"
and "Recipient address rejected: User has moved to" seem to use the same
bounce template. Can I separate this?
Can I use for relocated a template like:

failure_template = <<EOF
Charset: us-ascii
From: $recipient
Subject: I have a new email address
Postmaster-Subject: Postmaster Copy: Undelivered Mail

Hi

thank you for your email. I don't work here anymore. Please find my new
address information below.

best regards

EOF
<DIAGNOSTIC STUFF AT THE END>
<user(a)here>: host myhost[ip.address] said: 550 5.1.6
<user(a)here>: Recipient address rejected: User has moved to
newAddress(a)newDomain.somewhere
(in reply to RCPT TO command)
</DIAGNOSTIC STUFF AT THE END>


Philipp

From: Wietse Venema on
mailinglists(a)belfin.ch:
> > mailinglists(a)belfin.ch:
> >> Is there a way to customize the relocated bounce message?
> >
> > Postfix has configurable "bounce", "delayed", "success" and "trace"
> > template text.
> >
> > Postfix has configurable "relocated_maps" responses
....
> Talking about bounce templates, "Recipient address rejected: User unknown"
> and "Recipient address rejected: User has moved to" seem to use the same
> bounce template.

I think already mentioned this before, but perhaps you missed it.

Postfix appends the "relocated maps" non-delivery response to the
same "bounce" template that Postfix also uses for non-delivery
responses from a remote SMTP server or from a local delivery agent.

This is actually a symptom of a general principle, namely, that
Postfix uses the SAME bounce template for ALL non-delivery responses.

Wietse

From: mailinglists on
> mailinglists(a)belfin.ch:
>> > mailinglists(a)belfin.ch:
>> >> Is there a way to customize the relocated bounce message?
>> >
>> > Postfix has configurable "bounce", "delayed", "success" and "trace"
>> > template text.
>> >
>> > Postfix has configurable "relocated_maps" responses
> ...
>> Talking about bounce templates, "Recipient address rejected: User
>> unknown"
>> and "Recipient address rejected: User has moved to" seem to use the same
>> bounce template.
>
> I think already mentioned this before, but perhaps you missed it.
>
> Postfix appends the "relocated maps" non-delivery response to the
> same "bounce" template that Postfix also uses for non-delivery
> responses from a remote SMTP server or from a local delivery agent.
>
> This is actually a symptom of a general principle, namely, that
> Postfix uses the SAME bounce template for ALL non-delivery responses.

Yes, that is exactly what I am trying to point out.
We have several different reasons why mail is not accepted by the
recipient (user unknown, user relocated, etc... you name it). And as the
recipient you would like to tell automated why. That works perfectly and
that is not the issue.

But as we use the same template for all bounce messages (which have
various reasons), I as the rejected sender, have to read the whole bounce
message until I get to know why my email was rejected. Unfortunately, the
reason is stated at the end of the bounce message in a technical manner
perfectly suited for sysadmins. However, our users who receive these
bounce messages are not sysadmins. We are lucky if they somehow are
related to technical topics and most lucky if they are willing to read and
understand the reason why it was rejected. But most often they just ask us
sysadmins. It does not need to be like that.

I have learned today something about (bounce) templates. I now know that
there is only one bounce template covering all types of bounces. This one
template can be modified. But I cannot create for each type of bounce
reason a bounce message that explains "the why" in short words non-IT
people understand at first glance. "... understand at first glance", I
believe, is the key message I am trying to emphasize.

Philipp