1 $Cambridge: exim/doc/doc-txt/NewStuff,v 1.62 2005/08/08 10:48:26 ph10 Exp $
6 This file contains descriptions of new features that have been added to Exim,
7 but have not yet made it into the main manual (which is most conveniently
8 updated when there is a relatively large batch of changes). The doc/ChangeLog
9 file contains a listing of all changes, including bug fixes.
14 TK/01 Added the "success_on_redirect" address verification option. When an
15 address generates new addresses during routing, Exim will abort
16 verification with "success" when more than one address has been
17 generated, but continue to verify a single new address. The latter
18 does not happen when the new "success_on_redirect" option is set, like
20 require verify = recipient/success_on_redirect/callout=10s
22 In that case, verification will succeed when a router generates a new
25 PH/01 Support for SQLite database lookups has been added. This is another
26 query-style lookup, but it is slightly different from the others because
27 a file name is required in addition to the SQL query. This is because an
28 SQLite database is a single file and there is no daemon as in other SQL
29 databases. The interface to Exim requires the name of the file, as an
30 absolute path, to be given at the start of the query. It is separated
31 from the query by white space. This means that the path name cannot
32 contain white space. Here is a lookup expansion example:
34 ${lookup sqlite {/some/thing/sqlitedb \
35 select name from aliases where id='ph10';}}
37 In a list, the syntax is similar. For example:
39 domainlist relay_domains = sqlite;/some/thing/sqlitedb \
40 select * from relays where ip='$sender_host_address';
42 The only character affected by the ${quote_sqlite: operator is a single
43 quote, which it doubles.
45 The SQLite library handles multiple simultaneous accesses to the database
46 internally. Multiple readers are permitted, but only one process can
47 update at once. Attempts to access the database while it is being updated
48 are rejected after a timeout period, during which the SQLite library
49 waits for the lock to be released. In Exim, the default timeout is set
50 to 5 seconds, but it can be changed by means of the sqlite_lock_timeout
53 Note that you must set LOOKUP_SQLITE=yes in Local/Makefile in order to
54 obtain SQLite support, and you will also need to add -lsqlite3 to the
55 EXTRALIBS setting. And of course, you have to install SQLite on your
58 PH/02 The variable $message_id is now deprecated, to be replaced by
59 $message_exim_id, which makes it clearer which ID is being referenced.
61 PH/03 The use of forbid_filter_existstest now also locks out the use of the
62 ${stat: expansion item.
64 PH/04 The IGNOREQUOTA extension to the LMTP protocol is now available in both
65 the lmtp transport and the smtp transport running in LMTP mode. In the
66 lmtp transport there is a new Boolean option called ignore_quota, and in
67 the smtp transport there is a new Boolean option called
68 lmtp_ignore_quota. If either of these options is set TRUE, the string
69 "IGNOREQUOTA" is added to RCPT commands when using the LMTP protocol,
70 provided that the server has advertised support for IGNOREQUOTA in its
71 response to the LHLO command.
73 PH/05 Previously, if "verify = helo" was set in an ACL, the condition was true
74 only if the host matched helo_try_verify_hosts, which caused the
75 verification to occur when the EHLO/HELO command was issued. The ACL just
76 tested the remembered result. Now, if a previous verification attempt has
77 not happened, "verify = helo" does it there and then.
83 TF/01 Support for checking Client SMTP Authorization has been added. CSA is a
84 system which allows a site to advertise which machines are and are not
85 permitted to send email. This is done by placing special SRV records in
86 the DNS, which are looked up using the client's HELO domain. At this
87 time CSA is still an Internet-Draft.
89 Client SMTP Authorization checks are performed by the ACL condition
90 verify=csa. This will fail if the client is not authorized. If there is
91 a DNS problem, or if no valid CSA SRV record is found, or if the client
92 is authorized, the condition succeeds. These three cases can be
93 distinguished using the expansion variable $csa_status, which can take
94 one of the values "fail", "defer", "unknown", or "ok". The condition
95 does not itself defer because that would be likely to cause problems
98 The error messages produced by the CSA code include slightly more
99 detail. If $csa_status is "defer" this may be because of problems
100 looking up the CSA SRV record, or problems looking up the CSA target
101 address record. There are four reasons for $csa_status being "fail":
102 the client's host name is explicitly not authorized; the client's IP
103 address does not match any of the CSA target IP addresses; the client's
104 host name is authorized but it has no valid target IP addresses (e.g.
105 the target's addresses are IPv6 and the client is using IPv4); or the
106 client's host name has no CSA SRV record but a parent domain has
107 asserted that all subdomains must be explicitly authorized.
109 The verify=csa condition can take an argument which is the domain to
110 use for the DNS query. The default is verify=csa/$sender_helo_name.
112 This implementation includes an extension to CSA. If the query domain
113 is an address literal such as [192.0.2.95], or if it is a bare IP
114 address, Exim will search for CSA SRV records in the reverse DNS as if
115 the HELO domain was e.g. 95.2.0.192.in-addr.arpa. Therefore it is
116 meaningful to say, for example, verify=csa/$sender_host_address - in
117 fact, this is the check that Exim performs if the client does not say
118 HELO. This extension can be turned off by setting the main
119 configuration option dns_csa_use_reverse = false.
121 If a CSA SRV record is not found for the domain itself, then a search
122 is performed through its parent domains for a record which might be
123 making assertions about subdomains. The maximum depth of this search is
124 limited using the main configuration option dns_csa_search_limit, which
125 takes the value 5 by default. Exim does not look for CSA SRV records in
126 a top level domain, so the default settings handle HELO domains as long
127 as seven (hostname.five.four.three.two.one.com) which encompasses the
128 vast majority of legitimate HELO domains.
130 The dnsdb lookup also has support for CSA. Although dnsdb already
131 supports SRV lookups, this is not sufficient because of the extra
132 parent domain search behaviour of CSA, and (as with PTR lookups)
133 dnsdb also turns IP addresses into lookups in the reverse DNS space.
134 The result of ${lookup dnsdb {csa=$sender_helo_name} } has two
135 space-separated fields: an authorization code and a target host name.
136 The authorization code can be "Y" for yes, "N" for no, "X" for explicit
137 authorization required but absent, or "?" for unknown.
139 PH/01 The amount of output produced by the "make" process has been reduced,
140 because the compile lines are often rather long, making it all pretty
141 unreadable. The new style is along the lines of the 2.6 Linux kernel:
142 just a short line for each module that is being compiled or linked.
143 However, it is still possible to get the full output, by calling "make"
148 The value of FULLECHO defaults to "@", the flag character that suppresses
149 command reflection in "make". When you ask for the full output, it is
150 given in addition to the the short output.
152 TF/02 There have been two changes concerned with submission mode:
154 Until now submission mode always left the return path alone, whereas
155 locally-submitted messages from untrusted users have the return path
156 fixed to the user's email address. Submission mode now fixes the return
157 path to the same address as is used to create the Sender: header. If
158 /sender_retain is specified then both the Sender: header and the return
161 Note that the changes caused by submission mode take effect after the
162 predata ACL. This means that any sender checks performed before the
163 fix-ups will use the untrusted sender address specified by the user, not
164 the trusted sender address specified by submission mode. Although this
165 might be slightly unexpected, it does mean that you can configure ACL
166 checks to spot that a user is trying to spoof another's address, for
169 There is also a new /name= option for submission mode which allows you
170 to specify the user's full name to be included in the Sender: header.
173 accept authenticated = *
174 control = submission/name=${lookup {$authenticated_id} \
175 lsearch {/etc/exim/namelist} }
177 The namelist file contains entries like
181 And the resulting Sender: header looks like
183 Sender: Tony Finch <fanf@exim.org>
185 TF/03 The control = fakereject ACL modifier now has a fakedefer counterpart,
186 which works in exactly the same way except it causes a fake SMTP 450
187 response after the message data instead of a fake SMTP 550 response.
188 You must take care when using fakedefer because it will cause messages
189 to be duplicated when the sender retries. Therefore you should not use
190 fakedefer if the message will be delivered normally.
192 TF/04 There is a new ratelimit ACL condition which can be used to measure
193 and control the rate at which clients can send email. This is more
194 powerful than the existing smtp_ratelimit_* options, because those
195 options only control the rate of commands in a single SMTP session,
196 whereas the new ratelimit condition works across all connections
197 (concurrent and sequential) to the same host.
199 The syntax of the ratelimit condition is:
201 ratelimit = <m> / <p> / <options> / <key>
203 If the average client sending rate is less than m messages per time
204 period p then the condition is false, otherwise it is true.
206 The parameter p is the smoothing time constant, in the form of an Exim
207 time interval e.g. 8h for eight hours. A larger time constant means it
208 takes Exim longer to forget a client's past behaviour. The parameter m is
209 the maximum number of messages that a client can send in a fast burst. By
210 increasing both m and p but keeping m/p constant, you can allow a client
211 to send more messages in a burst without changing its overall sending
212 rate limit. Conversely, if m and p are both small then messages must be
213 sent at an even rate.
215 The key is used to look up the data used to calcluate the client's
216 average sending rate. This data is stored in a database maintained by
217 Exim in its spool directory alongside the retry database etc. For
218 example, you can limit the sending rate of each authenticated user,
219 independent of the computer they are sending from, by setting the key
220 to $authenticated_id. The default key is $sender_host_address.
221 Internally, Exim includes the smoothing constant p and the options in
222 the lookup key because they alter the meaning of the stored data.
223 This is not true for the limit m, so you can alter the configured
224 maximum rate and Exim will still remember clients' past behaviour,
225 but if you alter the other ratelimit parameters Exim will effectively
226 forget their past behaviour.
228 Each ratelimit condition can have up to two options. The first option
229 specifies what Exim measures the rate of, and the second specifies how
230 Exim handles excessively fast clients.
232 The per_mail option means that it measures the client's rate of sending
233 messages. This is the default if none of the per_* options is specified.
235 The per_conn option means that it measures the client's connection rate.
237 The per_byte option limits the sender's email bandwidth. Note that it
238 is best to use this option in the DATA ACL; if it is used in an earlier
239 ACL it relies on the SIZE parameter on the MAIL command, which may be
240 inaccurate or completely missing. You can follow the limit m in the
241 configuration with K, M, or G to specify limits in kilobytes,
242 megabytes, or gigabytes respectively.
244 The per_cmd option means that Exim recomputes the rate every time the
245 condition is processed, which can be used to limit the SMTP command rate.
246 The alias per_rcpt is provided for use in the RCPT ACL instead of per_cmd
247 to make it clear that the effect is to limit the rate at which recipients
248 are accepted. Note that in this case the rate limiting engine will see a
249 message with many recipients as a large high-speed burst.
251 If a client's average rate is greater than the maximum, the rate
252 limiting engine can react in two possible ways, depending on the
253 presence of the strict or leaky options. This is independent of the
254 other counter-measures (e.g. rejecting the message) that may be
255 specified by the rest of the ACL. The default mode is leaky, which
256 avoids a sender's over-aggressive retry rate preventing it from getting
259 The strict option means that the client's recorded rate is always
260 updated. The effect of this is that Exim measures the client's average
261 rate of attempts to send email, which can be much higher than the
262 maximum. If the client is over the limit it will be subjected to
263 counter-measures until it slows down below the maximum rate.
265 The leaky option means that the client's recorded rate is not updated
266 if it is above the limit. The effect of this is that Exim measures the
267 client's average rate of successfully sent email, which cannot be
268 greater than the maximum. If the client is over the limit it will
269 suffer some counter-measures, but it will still be able to send email
270 at the configured maximum rate, whatever the rate of its attempts.
272 As a side-effect, the ratelimit condition will set the expansion
273 variables $sender_rate containing the client's computed rate,
274 $sender_rate_limit containing the configured value of m, and
275 $sender_rate_period containing the configured value of p.
277 Exim's other ACL facilities are used to define what counter-measures
278 are taken when the rate limit is exceeded. This might be anything from
279 logging a warning (e.g. while measuring existing sending rates in order
280 to define our policy), through time delays to slow down fast senders,
281 up to rejecting the message. For example,
283 # Log all senders' rates
285 ratelimit = 0 / 1h / strict
287 Sender rate $sender_rate > $sender_rate_limit / $sender_rate_period
289 # Slow down fast senders
291 ratelimit = 100 / 1h / per_rcpt / strict
292 delay = ${eval: 10 * ($sender_rate - $sender_rate_limit) }
294 # Keep authenticated users under control
296 ratelimit = 100 / 1d / strict / $authenticated_id
298 # System-wide rate limit
300 message = Sorry, too busy. Try again later.
301 ratelimit = 10 / 1s / $primary_hostname
303 # Restrict incoming rate from each host, with a default rate limit
304 # set using a macro and special cases looked up in a table.
306 message = Sender rate $sender_rate exceeds \
307 $sender_rate_limit messages per $sender_rate_period
308 ratelimit = ${lookup {$sender_host_address} \
309 cdb {DB/ratelimits.cdb} \
310 {$value} {RATELIMIT} }
312 Warning: if you have a busy server with a lot of ratelimit tests,
313 especially with the per_rcpt option, you may suffer from a performance
314 bottleneck caused by locking on the ratelimit hints database. Apart from
315 making your ACLs less complicated, you can reduce the problem by using a
316 RAM disk for Exim's hints directory, /var/spool/exim/db/. However this
317 means that Exim will lose its hints data after a reboot (including retry
318 hints, the callout cache, and ratelimit data).
320 TK/01 Added an 'spf' lookup type that will return an SPF result for a given
321 email address (the key) and an IP address (the database):
323 ${lookup {tom@duncanthrax.net} spf{217.115.139.137}}
325 The lookup will return the same result strings as they can appear in
326 $spf_result (pass,fail,softfail,neutral,none,err_perm,err_temp). The
327 lookup is armored in EXPERIMENTAL_SPF. Currently, only IPv4 addresses
330 Patch submitted by Chris Webb <chris@arachsys.com>.
332 PH/02 There's a new verify callout option, "fullpostmaster", which first acts
333 as "postmaster" and checks the recipient <postmaster@domain>. If that
334 fails, it tries just <postmaster>, without a domain, in accordance with
335 the specification in RFC 2821.
337 PH/03 The action of the auto_thaw option has been changed. It no longer applies
338 to frozen bounce messages.
340 TK/02 There are two new expansion items to help with the implementation of
341 the BATV "prvs" scheme in an Exim configuration:
344 ${prvs {<ADDRESS>}{<KEY>}{[KEYNUM]}}
346 The "prvs" expansion item takes three arguments: A qualified RFC2821
347 email address, a key and an (optional) key number. All arguments are
348 expanded before being used, so it is easily possible to lookup a key
349 and key number using the address as the lookup key. The key number is
350 optional and defaults to "0". The item will expand to a "prvs"-signed
351 email address, to be typically used with the "return_path" option on
352 a smtp transport. The decision if BATV should be used with a given
353 sender/recipient pair should be done on router level, to avoid having
354 to set "max_rcpt = 1" on the transport.
357 ${prvscheck {<ADDRESS>}{<SECRET>}{<RETURN_STRING>}}
359 The "prvscheck" expansion item takes three arguments. Argument 1 is
360 expanded first. When the expansion does not yield a SYNTACTICALLY
361 valid "prvs"-scheme address, the whole "prvscheck" item expands to
362 the empty string. If <ADDRESS> is a "prvs"-encoded address after
363 expansion, two expansion variables are set up:
365 $prvscheck_address Contains the "prvs"-decoded version of
366 the address from argument 1.
368 $prvscheck_keynum Contains the key number extracted from
369 the "prvs"-address in argument 1.
371 These two variables can be used in the expansion code of argument 2
372 to retrieve the <SECRET>. The VALIDITY of the "prvs"-signed address
373 is then checked. The result is stored in yet another expansion
376 $prvscheck_result Contains the result of a "prvscheck"
377 expansion: Unset (the empty string) for
378 failure, "1" for success.
380 The "prvscheck" expansion expands to the empty string if <ADDRESS>
381 is not a SYNTACTICALLY valid "prvs"-scheme address. Otherwise,
382 argument 3 defines what "prvscheck" expands to: If argument 3
383 is the empty string, "prvscheck" expands to the decoded version
384 of the address (no matter if it is CRYPTOGRAPHICALLY valid or not).
385 If argument 3 expands to a non-empty string, "prvscheck" expands
394 PRVSCHECK_SQL = ${lookup mysql{SELECT secret FROM batv_prvs WHERE \
395 sender='${quote_mysql:$prvscheck_address}'}{$value}}
399 # Bounces: drop unsigned addresses for BATV senders
400 deny message = This address does not send an unsigned reverse path.
402 recipients = +batv_recipients
404 # Bounces: In case of prvs-signed address, check signature.
405 deny message = Invalid reverse path signature.
407 condition = ${prvscheck {$local_part@$domain}{PRVSCHECK_SQL}{1}}
408 !condition = $prvscheck_result
414 data = ${prvscheck {$local_part@$domain}{PRVSCHECK_SQL}{}}
416 Transport (referenced by router that makes decision if
421 return_path = ${prvs {$return_path} \
422 {${lookup mysql{SELECT \
423 secret FROM batv_prvs WHERE \
424 sender='${quote_mysql:$sender_address}'} \
427 PH/04 There are two new options that control the retrying done by the daemon
428 at startup when it cannot immediately bind a socket (typically because
429 the socket is already in use). The default values reproduce what were
430 built-in constants previously: daemon_startup_retries defines the number
431 of retries after the first failure (default 9); daemon_startup_sleep
432 defines the length of time to wait between retries (default 30s).
434 PH/05 There is now a new ${if condition called "match_ip". It is similar to
435 match_domain, etc. It must be followed by two argument strings. The first
436 (after expansion) must be an IP address or an empty string. The second
437 (after expansion) is a restricted host list that can match only an IP
438 address, not a host name. For example:
440 ${if match_ip{$sender_host_address}{1.2.3.4:5.6.7.8}{...}{...}}
442 The specific types of host list item that are permitted in the list are
443 shown below. Consult the manual section on host lists for further
446 . An IP address, optionally with a CIDR mask.
448 . A single asterisk matches any IP address.
450 . An empty item matches only if the IP address is empty. This could be
451 useful for testing for a locally submitted message or one from specific
452 hosts in a single test such as
454 ${if match_ip{$sender_host_address}{:4.3.2.1:...}{...}{...}}
456 where the first item in the list is the empty string.
458 . The item @[] matches any of the local host's interface addresses.
460 . Lookups are assumed to be "net-" style lookups, even if "net-" is not
461 specified. Thus, the following are equivalent:
463 ${if match_ip{$sender_host_address}{lsearch;/some/file}...
464 ${if match_ip{$sender_host_address}{net-lsearch;/some/file}...
466 You do need to specify the "net-" prefix if you want to specify a
467 specific address mask, for example, by using "net24-".
469 PH/06 The "+all" debug selector used to set the flags for all possible output;
470 it is something that people tend to use semi-automatically when
471 generating debug output for me or for the list. However, by including
472 "+memory", an awful lot of output that is very rarely of interest was
473 generated. I have changed this so that "+all" no longer includes
474 "+memory". However, "-all" still turns everything off.
480 PH/01 The format in which GnuTLS parameters are written to the gnutls-param
481 file in the spool directory has been changed. This change has been made
482 to alleviate problems that some people had with the generation of the
483 parameters by Exim when /dev/random was exhausted. In this situation,
484 Exim would hang until /dev/random acquired some more entropy.
486 The new code exports and imports the DH and RSA parameters in PEM
487 format. This means that the parameters can be generated externally using
488 the certtool command that is part of GnuTLS.
490 To replace the parameters with new ones, instead of deleting the file
491 and letting Exim re-create it, you can generate new parameters using
492 certtool and, when this has been done, replace Exim's cache file by
493 renaming. The relevant commands are something like this:
497 # chown exim:exim new.params
498 # chmod 0400 new.params
499 # certtool --generate-privkey --bits 512 >new.params
500 # echo "" >>new.params
501 # certtool --generate-dh-params --bits 1024 >> new.params
502 # mv new.params params
504 If Exim never has to generate the parameters itself, the possibility of
507 PH/02 A new expansion item for dynamically loading and calling a locally-
508 written C function is now provided, if Exim is compiled with
512 set in Local/Makefile. The facility is not included by default (a
513 suitable error is given if you try to use it when it is not there.)
515 If you enable EXPAND_DLFUNC, you should also be aware of the new redirect
516 router option forbid_filter_dlfunc. If you have unprivileged users on
517 your system who are permitted to create filter files, you might want to
518 set forbid_filter_dlfunc=true in the appropriate router, to stop them
519 using ${dlfunc to run code within Exim.
521 You load and call an external function like this:
523 ${dlfunc{/some/file}{function}{arg1}{arg2}...}
525 Once loaded, Exim remembers the dynamically loaded object so that it
526 doesn't reload the same object file in the same Exim process (but of
527 course Exim does start new processes frequently).
529 There may be from zero to eight arguments to the function. When compiling
530 a local function that is to be called in this way, local_scan.h should be
531 included. The Exim variables and functions that are defined by that API
532 are also available for dynamically loaded functions. The function itself
533 must have the following type:
535 int dlfunction(uschar **yield, int argc, uschar *argv[])
537 Where "uschar" is a typedef for "unsigned char" in local_scan.h. The
538 function should return one of the following values:
540 OK Success. The string that is placed in "yield" is put into
541 the expanded string that is being built.
543 FAIL A non-forced expansion failure occurs, with the error
544 message taken from "yield", if it is set.
546 FAIL_FORCED A forced expansion failure occurs, with the error message
547 taken from "yield" if it is set.
549 ERROR Same as FAIL, except that a panic log entry is written.
551 When compiling a function that is to be used in this way with gcc,
552 you need to add -shared to the gcc command. Also, in the Exim build-time
553 configuration, you must add -export-dynamic to EXTRALIBS.
555 TF/01 $received_time is a new expansion variable containing the time and date
556 as a number of seconds since the start of the Unix epoch when the
557 current message was received.
559 PH/03 There is a new value for RADIUS_LIB_TYPE that can be set in
560 Local/Makefile. It is RADIUSCLIENTNEW, and it requests that the new API,
561 in use from radiusclient 0.4.0 onwards, be used. It does not appear to be
562 possible to detect the different versions automatically.
564 PH/04 There is a new option called acl_not_smtp_mime that allows you to scan
565 MIME parts in non-SMTP messages. It operates in exactly the same way as
568 PH/05 It is now possible to redefine a macro within the configuration file.
569 The macro must have been previously defined within the configuration (or
570 an included file). A definition on the command line using the -D option
571 causes all definitions and redefinitions within the file to be ignored.
572 In other words, -D overrides any values that are set in the file.
573 Redefinition is specified by using '==' instead of '='. For example:
577 MAC1 == updated value
579 Redefinition does not alter the order in which the macros are applied to
580 the subsequent lines of the configuration file. It is still the same
581 order in which the macros were originally defined. All that changes is
582 the macro's value. Redefinition makes it possible to accumulate values.
587 MAC1 == MAC1 and something added
589 This can be helpful in situations where the configuration file is built
590 from a number of other files.
592 PH/06 Macros may now be defined or redefined between router, transport,
593 authenticator, or ACL definitions, as well as in the main part of the
594 configuration. They may not, however, be changed within an individual
595 driver or ACL, or in the local_scan, retry, or rewrite sections of the
598 PH/07 $acl_verify_message is now set immediately after the failure of a
599 verification in an ACL, and so is available in subsequent modifiers. In
600 particular, the message can be preserved by coding like this:
602 warn !verify = sender
603 set acl_m0 = $acl_verify_message
605 Previously, $acl_verify_message was set only while expanding "message"
606 and "log_message" when a very denied access.
608 PH/08 The redirect router has two new options, sieve_useraddress and
609 sieve_subaddress. These are passed to a Sieve filter to specify the :user
610 and :subaddress parts of an address. Both options are unset by default.
611 However, when a Sieve filter is run, if sieve_useraddress is unset, the
612 entire original local part (including any prefix or suffix) is used for
613 :user. An unset subaddress is treated as an empty subaddress.
615 PH/09 Quota values can be followed by G as well as K and M.
617 PH/10 $message_linecount is a new variable that contains the total number of
618 lines in the header and body of the message. Compare $body_linecount,
619 which is the count for the body only. During the DATA and
620 content-scanning ACLs, $message_linecount contains the number of lines
621 received. Before delivery happens (that is, before filters, routers, and
622 transports run) the count is increased to include the Received: header
623 line that Exim standardly adds, and also any other header lines that are
624 added by ACLs. The blank line that separates the message header from the
625 body is not counted. Here is an example of the use of this variable in a
628 deny message = Too many lines in message header
630 ${if <{250}{${eval: $message_linecount - $body_linecount}}}
632 In the MAIL and RCPT ACLs, the value is zero because at that stage the
633 message has not yet been received.
635 PH/11 In a ${run expansion, the variable $value (which contains the standard
636 output) is now also usable in the "else" string.
638 PH/12 In a pipe transport, although a timeout while waiting for the pipe
639 process to complete was treated as a delivery failure, a timeout while
640 writing the message to the pipe was logged, but erroneously treated as a
641 successful delivery. Such timeouts include transport filter timeouts. For
642 consistency with the overall process timeout, these timeouts are now
643 treated as errors, giving rise to delivery failures by default. However,
644 there is now a new Boolean option for the pipe transport called
645 timeout_defer, which, if set TRUE, converts the failures into defers for
646 both kinds of timeout. A transport filter timeout is now identified in
653 The documentation is up-to-date for the 4.50 release.