-$Cambridge: exim/doc/doc-txt/NewStuff,v 1.15 2004/11/24 14:38:13 ph10 Exp $
+$Cambridge: exim/doc/doc-txt/NewStuff,v 1.25 2005/01/04 16:36:27 ph10 Exp $
New Features in Exim
--------------------
file contains a listing of all changes, including bug fixes.
-Version 4.44
+Version 4.50
------------
1. There is a new build-time option called CONFIGURE_GROUP which works like
CONFIGURE_OWNER. It specifies one additional group that is permitted for
the runtime configuration file when the group write permission is set.
- 2. The "control=submission" facility has a new option /retain_sender. This
+ 2. The "control=submission" facility has a new option /sender_retain. This
has the effect of setting local_sender_retain true and local_from_check
false for the incoming message in which it is encountered.
Previously this was a syntax error.
-12. There is now a new "record type" that can be specified in dnsdb lookups. It
+12. There is a new "record type" that can be specified in dnsdb lookups. It
is "zns" (for "zone NS"). It performs a lookup for NS records on the given
domain, but if none are found, it removes the first component of the domain
name, and tries again. This process continues until NS records are found
the name servers for the high-level domains such as .com or .co.uk are not
going to be on such a list.
-13. It is now possible to specify a list of domains or IP addresses to be
+13. Another new "record type" is "mxh"; this looks up MX records just as "mx"
+ does, but it returns only the names of the hosts, omitting the priority
+ values.
+
+14. It is now possible to specify a list of domains or IP addresses to be
looked up in a dnsdb lookup. The list is specified in the normal Exim way,
with colon as the default separator, but with the ability to change this.
For example:
default - see 14 below), in the same way that multiple DNS records for a
single item are handled.
- The lookup fails only if all the DNS lookups fail. As long as at least one
- of them yields some data, the lookup succeeds. However, if there is a
- temporary DNS error for any of them, the lookup defers.
+ The dnsdb lookup fails only if all the DNS lookups fail. If there is a
+ temporary DNS error for any of them, the behaviour is controlled by
+ an optional keyword followed by a comma that may appear before the record
+ type. The possible keywords are "defer_strict", "defer_never", and
+ "defer_lax". With "strict" behaviour, any temporary DNS error causes the
+ whole lookup to defer. With "never" behaviour, a temporary DNS error is
+ ignored, and the behaviour is as if the DNS lookup failed to find anything.
+ With "lax" behaviour, all the queries are attempted, but a temporary DNS
+ error causes the whole lookup to defer only if none of the other lookups
+ succeed. The default is "lax", so the following lookups are equivalent:
+
+ ${lookup dnsdb{defer_lax,a=one.host.com:two.host.com}}
+ ${lookup dnsdb{a=one.host.com:two.host.com}}
+
+ Thus, in the default case, as long as at least one of the DNS lookups
+ yields some data, the dnsdb lookup succeeds.
-14. It is now possible to specify the character to be used as a separator when
+15. It is now possible to specify the character to be used as a separator when
a dnsdb lookup returns data from more than one DNS record. The default is a
newline. To specify a different character, put '>' followed by the new
character at the start of the query. For example:
${lookup dnsdb{>: a=h1.test.ex:h2.test.ex}}
- ${lookup dnsdb{>| mx=<;m1.test.ex;m2.test.ex}}
+ ${lookup dnsdb{>| mxh=<;m1.test.ex;m2.test.ex}}
It is permitted to specify a space as the separator character. Note that
more than one DNS record can be found for a single lookup item; this
The same effect could be achieved by wrapping the lookup in ${tr...}; this
feature is just a syntactic simplification.
-15. It is now possible to supply a list of domains and/or IP addresses to be
+16. It is now possible to supply a list of domains and/or IP addresses to be
lookup up in a DNS blacklist. Previously, only a single domain name could
be given, for example:
2.1.168.192.black.list.tld and a.domain.black.list.tld
Once a DNS record has been found (that matches a specific IP return
- address, if specified), no further lookups are done.
+ address, if specified), no further lookups are done. If there is a
+ temporary DNS error, the rest of the sublist of domains or IP addresses is
+ tried. The dnslists item itself defers only if none of the other DNS
+ lookups in this sublist succeeds. In other words, a successful lookup for
+ any of the items in the sublist overrides a defer for a previous item.
-16. The log selector queue_time_overall causes Exim to output the time spent on
+17. The log selector queue_time_overall causes Exim to output the time spent on
the queue as an addition to the "Completed" message. Like queue_time (which
puts the queue time on individual delivery lines), the time is tagged with
"QT=", and it is measured from the time that the message starts to be
received, so it includes the reception time.
+18. It is now possible to use both -bF and -bf on the same command, in order to
+ test a system filter and a user filter in the same run. For example:
+
+ exim -bF /system/filter -bf /user/filter </test/message
+
+ This is helpful when the system filter adds header lines or sets filter
+ variables that are used by the user filter.
+
+19. The Exiscan patch is now merged into the main source. See src/EDITME for
+ parameters for the build.
+
+20. If the key for a dnsdb PTR lookup is not an IP address, it is used
+ verbatim, without component reversal and without the addition of
+ in-addr.arpa or ip6.arpa.
+
+21. Two changes related to the smtp_active_hostname option:
+
+ (1) $smtp_active_hostname is now available as a variable. Its value
+ sticks with the message and is therefore available in routers and
+ transports at delivery time.
+
+ (2) The default for smtp_banner uses $smtp_active_hostname instead
+ of $primary_hostname.
+
+22. The hosts_max_try_hardlimit option (default 50) is added to the smtp
+ transport. Exim will never try more than this number of IP addresses; if it
+ hits this limit and they are all timed out, the message is bounced, even
+ though not all IP addresses may have been tried. Compare hosts_max_try,
+ which is a "soft" limit, because Exim will exceed it when hosts time out.
+ The new limit is a protection against lunatic DNS configurations with
+ hundreds of IP addresses.
+
Version 4.43
------------