mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[gebser]

Funny, sending mail with emacs was set up and working fine some months
ago (just to try it out-- to check it out), but it isn't anymore.  

It's 99.999% certain that there's something not configured in the emacs
MUA.  My regular email tool, pine, has been and still is working just
fine forever.  With ngrep sniffing port 25, I can see that nothing
getting outside.  The logs say

sendmail[4986]: hB725mJ04986: SYSERR(ken): Can't create transcript file 
./xfhB725mJ04986: Permission denied

In emacs' *Messages* buffer I'm seeing

Sending...
Sending...failed with exit value 71

How do I find out what 71 is/means?

Better yet, what needs to be changed?

Re: mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[gebser]

Though I read the whole section on Email already, I thought it might be
hidden somewhere else, so I ran a search on "error code" and on "exit
value" and neither returned a hit.  Nor did a grep of the entire emacs
subtree return anything of consequence.  Googling for 'emacs "exit
value"' returned about 1600 hits; I browsed the first six pages and
didn't see anything that appeared to be relevant.  A search of the Info
pages for emacs also found nothing.  Looking at the manpage and in
doc/emacs likewise yeilded zilch.  I'm sure there's a Table of Exit
Values for Emacs out there somewhere.  It would make a nice addition to 
the supplied documentation, also a handy webpage.  (Nobody can say I 
don't have an Exit Strategy.)

Back to the main topic....

For no particular reason at all, I fired up Xemacs (which I never used
before, though I've been using emacs daily since about 1992) and got an
init error.  Despite this, I wanted to see what the mail interface
looked and worked like.  I sent myself a test email, fully expecting it
to fail just like it did in emacs.  But the mail went through.  It
worked without any error at all.  "Hmmm...", I thought to myself.  
"Xemacs and Emacs are using the same init file (~/.emacs).  So,
probably, because Xemacs horked on my .emacs, it must have stopped
reading it before getting to the various definitions relevant to
handling mail (towards the end of the file).  So it used the defaults
instead... and they worked."  I'm using emacs v.20.7.1 and xemacs v.21.1 
(patch 14) "Cuyahoga Valley" [Lucid] ....  (The latter is called 
"Cuyahoga Valley"?  If so, anyone know why?)

I'll continue to dig into this, but if anyone has a tip or comment on 
any of the above-- or any of the below-- feel free.


tnx,
ken                                                                                                                                                          



At 22:41 (UTC-0500) on Sat, 6 Dec 2003 gebser@speakeasy.net said:

= 
= Funny, sending mail with emacs was set up and working fine some months
= ago (just to try it out-- to check it out), but it isn't anymore.  
= 
= It's 99.999% certain that there's something not configured in the emacs
= MUA.  My regular email tool, pine, has been and still is working just
= fine forever.  With ngrep sniffing port 25, I can see that nothing
= getting outside.  The logs say
= 
= sendmail[4986]: hB725mJ04986: SYSERR(ken): Can't create transcript file 
= ./xfhB725mJ04986: Permission denied
= 
= In emacs' *Messages* buffer I'm seeing
= 
= Sending...
= Sending...failed with exit value 71
= 
= How do I find out what 71 is/means?
= 
= Better yet, what needs to be changed?
= 
= 
= 
= 
= 
= 
= _______________________________________________
= Help-gnu-emacs mailing list
= Help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
= http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-emacs
= 

Re: mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[Glenn Morris]

gebser@speakeasy.net wrote:

> sendmail[4986]: hB725mJ04986: SYSERR(ken): Can't create transcript file 
> ./xfhB725mJ04986: Permission denied
>
> In emacs' *Messages* buffer I'm seeing
>
> Sending...
> Sending...failed with exit value 71
>
> How do I find out what 71 is/means?

It's a sendmail exit code, not an Emacs exit code (after all, Emacs
has not exited). Why not search for "sendmail" + "can't create
transcript file", or somesuch?

Re: mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[gebser]

At 23:37 (UTC-0000) on Sun, 7 Dec 2003 Glenn Morris said:

= gebser@speakeasy.net wrote:
= 
= > sendmail[4986]: hB725mJ04986: SYSERR(ken): Can't create transcript file 
= > ./xfhB725mJ04986: Permission denied
= >
= > In emacs' *Messages* buffer I'm seeing
= >
= > Sending...
= > Sending...failed with exit value 71
= >
= > How do I find out what 71 is/means?
= 
= It's a sendmail exit code, not an Emacs exit code (after all, Emacs
= has not exited). Why not search for "sendmail" + "can't create
= transcript file", or somesuch?


Thanks for your reply.  As I said in my previous posts, I can send mail 
fine with pine and with xemacs.  For that matter, there's no problem 
sending mail with the 'mail' program or with mozilla either.  So the 
source of the problem isn't with sendmail.

Yes, it may be possible that sendmail is just handing off the "exit
value 71" to emacs and emacs is reporting it.  If this is the case (and
I'm not certain that it is), then it isn't very useful-- from
sysexits.h:

#define EX_OSERR        71      /* system error (e.g., can't fork) */

Moreover, the failure to create the "transcript file" by sendmail isn't
a sendmail problem per se, but an indication of an emacs problem.  As
said, I don't get this error or any other error from sendmail when I
send mail using 'mail', 'mozilla', or 'xemacs'-- just with 'emacs'.  So
sendmail is working fine.  I haven't found any emacs configuration
variable for setting the location of the transcript file and I doubt
that there is one.  So, it must be that there's some other configuration
item in emacs which is bombing when it tries to send the mail.

Re: mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[Glenn Morris]

gebser@speakeasy.net wrote:

> So, it must be that there's some other configuration item in emacs
> which is bombing when it tries to send the mail.

Alright then, the crystal ball says:

You have a sendmail installation where the sendmail executable (eg
/usr/sbin/sendmail) is not suid root. Either make it so (chmod u+s
/usr/sbin/sendmail), or if you can't/don't want to do that, try

(setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it  ; for Gnus
      send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it          ; for other things
      smtpmail-debug-info t    ; only while you sort out this issue
      smtpmail-smtp-server "your.mail.server")

Re: mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[gebser]

At 19:45 (UTC-0000) on Mon, 8 Dec 2003 Glenn Morris 
said:

= gebser@speakeasy.net wrote:
= 
= > So, it must be that there's some other configuration item in emacs
= > which is bombing when it tries to send the mail.
= 
= Alright then, the crystal ball says:
= 
= You have a sendmail installation where the sendmail executable (eg
= /usr/sbin/sendmail) is not suid root. Either make it so (chmod u+s
= /usr/sbin/sendmail), or if you can't/don't want to do that, try

I've already got that... and have had it.  It was set up that way from
the original install/upgrade.  As said, since mail works fine in 'pine',
'xemacs', 'mozilla', and 'mail' (that very basic email app which hardly
anyone uses anymore), and fails only when using emacs, sendmail wouldn't
seem to be the place to look for the problem, yes?

Moreover, for simplicity's sake, I'd rather that emacs not even go to my
local sendmail to send mail.  Emacs can connect up to the (remotely
located) mailserver all by itself, yes?

However, this method can really slow down the user interface (because 
elisp can't fork it off... put that at the top of my wishlist).  So this 
would be a reason for countermanding the simplicity principle (above).

However, using my local sendmail sends out my email with a line in the
header saying it's from this host's domain (mousecar) and some email
systems (e.g., AOL's) don't like that and bounce my email to them back
at me.  So I go back to the simplicity principle (i.e., avoid using
sendmail if possible).

Judging from the sendmail error cited in earlier posts, it's apparent 
that emacs is using sendmail.  Though you couldn't tell from the 
aforementioned, I'd rather that emacs didn't do this.  So which 
variable(s) control this?

= 
= (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it  ; for Gnus
=       send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it          ; for other things
=       smtpmail-debug-info t    ; only while you sort out this issue
=       smtpmail-smtp-server "your.mail.server")

Here's what I've had in my .emacs (irrelevant customizations edited 
out):

(custom-set-variables
 '(mail-default-reply-to "gebser@speakeasy.net")
 '(mail-host-address "speakeasy.net")
 '(smtp-default-server "mail.speakeasy.net")
 '(message-send-mail-function (quote smtpmail-send-it))
 '(mail-send-nonascii nil)
 '(smtp-server "mail.speakeasy.net")
 '(user-mail-address "gebser@speakeasy.net")
 '(gnus-secondary-servers (quote ("news.chi.sbcglobal.net")))
 '(smtp-fqdn "mousecar.net")
 '(smtpmail-queue-mail t)
 '(user-full-name "ken")
 '(mail-interactive t)
 '(gnus-nntp-server "news.cle.sbcglobal.net"))

In addition, there's this item in Customize:

----------------------------------------------
Smtpmail Queue Dir: [Hide] ~/Mail/queued-mail/
   [State]: this option is unchanged from its standard setting.
Directory where `smtpmail.el' stores queued mail.
----------------------------------------------

Though I haven't found it documented anywhere, I'm guessing that this is 
the directory used when emacs does it's *own* queuing, i.e., *not* using 
sendmail.  Anyone care to confirm this?

This specified directory is there:

$ ls -ld ~/Mail/queued-mail/
drwxrwxr-x    2 ken  ken    4096 Dec 12  2002 /home/ken/Mail/queued-mail/

but it's empty

So, how's everything look?


Thanks again for the response.

ken

Re: mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[Glenn Morris]

gebser@speakeasy.net wrote:

> At 19:45 (UTC-0000) on Mon, 8 Dec 2003 Glenn Morris 
> said:
>
> = Alright then, the crystal ball says:
> = 
> = You have a sendmail installation where the sendmail executable (eg
> = /usr/sbin/sendmail) is not suid root. Either make it so (chmod u+s
> = /usr/sbin/sendmail), or if you can't/don't want to do that, try
>
> I've already got that... and have had it.  It was set up that way from
> the original install/upgrade. 

Cheap lousy crystal ball. <thump>

>  As said, since mail works fine in 'pine', 'xemacs', 'mozilla', and
> 'mail' (that very basic email app which hardly anyone uses anymore),
> and fails only when using emacs, sendmail wouldn't seem to be the
> place to look for the problem, yes?

It's a sendmail error message and exit code. Caused by a
misconfigured Emacs, no doubt, but a sendmail error nonetheless.
I thought figuring out exactly what the sendmail error message meant
might point towards what to configure in Emacs. 

Anyway, let's not get sidetracked by semantics...

> Moreover, for simplicity's sake, I'd rather that emacs not even go
> to my local sendmail to send mail. Emacs can connect up to the
> (remotely located) mailserver all by itself, yes?

Yes, that's what the code I posted was intended to do. Did you try it?
What happened? What were the contents of the Trace buffer?

> Judging from the sendmail error cited in earlier posts, it's
> apparent that emacs is using sendmail. Though you couldn't tell from
> the aforementioned, I'd rather that emacs didn't do this. So which
> variable(s) control this?
>
> = 
> = (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it  ; for Gnus
> =       send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it          ; for other things

Those two variables control it. The customize code you show below only
sets the one for Gnus. I don't see your Emacs version, or the mail
package you are using in your previous posts. Better post them both if
you still can't make things work.

> =       smtpmail-debug-info t    ; only while you sort out this issue
> =       smtpmail-smtp-server "your.mail.server")
>
> Here's what I've had in my .emacs (irrelevant customizations edited 
> out):
>
> (custom-set-variables
>  '(mail-default-reply-to "gebser@speakeasy.net")
>  '(mail-host-address "speakeasy.net")
>  '(smtp-default-server "mail.speakeasy.net")

That variable does not appear in either Emacs 20.7 or 21.3, AFAICS.
smtpmail-default-smtp-server does though.

>  '(message-send-mail-function (quote smtpmail-send-it))

OK, but that's only for Gnus. Try sticking a:

'(send-mail-function (quote smtpmail-send-it))

in after that.

>  '(mail-send-nonascii nil)
>  '(smtp-server "mail.speakeasy.net")

Again, no such variable. smtpmail-smtp-server, yes.

>  '(user-mail-address "gebser@speakeasy.net")
>  '(gnus-secondary-servers (quote ("news.chi.sbcglobal.net")))
>  '(smtp-fqdn "mousecar.net")

No such variable. Where did you get this? Is it XEmacs stuff or
something? 

>  '(smtpmail-queue-mail t)
>  '(user-full-name "ken")
>  '(mail-interactive t)
>  '(gnus-nntp-server "news.cle.sbcglobal.net"))
>
> In addition, there's this item in Customize:
>
> ----------------------------------------------
> Smtpmail Queue Dir: [Hide] ~/Mail/queued-mail/
>    [State]: this option is unchanged from its standard setting.
> Directory where `smtpmail.el' stores queued mail.
> ----------------------------------------------
>
> Though I haven't found it documented anywhere, I'm guessing that this is 
> the directory used when emacs does it's *own* queuing, i.e., *not* using 
> sendmail.

Yes. Useful if you're not always on-line and want to store mail
before sending it in one go. By setting smtpmail-queue-mail to t as
you have done above, you indicate you want this behaviour.

All I can suggest is to try setting send-mail-function, other than
that, I don't know. Lots more info at:

http://josefsson.org/smtpmail.html


PS I don't need a CC, as the Mail-Copies-To header tries to indicate.

PPS Your messages seem to be explicitly going to both the mailing list
and the newsgroup. This means they show up twice on the newsgroup (and
I guess the mailing list as well), since they are gatewayed and
essentially the same thing.

Re: mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[gebser]

At 01:37 (UTC-0000) on Tue, 9 Dec 2003 Glenn Morris said:

= ...
= 
= Yes, that's what the code I posted was intended to do. Did you try it?
= What happened? What were the contents of the Trace buffer?

That's what I had configured when I first posted about this problem... 
when I first got the "exit value 71" message.  And though I have the 
debug line in .emacs, I'm not getting a Trace buffer.

= ...
= >
= > = (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it  ; for Gnus
= > =       send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it          ; for other things

Yep.  What I had.  And still have.

= ...
= 
= > =       smtpmail-debug-info t    ; only while you sort out this issue

This line isn't giving me a Trace buffer.


= > =       smtpmail-smtp-server "your.mail.server")

The arg here-- assuming a dynamic connection-- would be the remote
machine's (ISP's) server.  I.e., I don't want to point it at my own
sendmail, correct?


= >
= > Here's what I've had in my .emacs (irrelevant customizations edited 
= > out):
= >
= > (custom-set-variables
= >  '(mail-default-reply-to "gebser@speakeasy.net")
= >  '(mail-host-address "speakeasy.net")
= >  '(smtp-default-server "mail.speakeasy.net")
= 
= That variable does not appear in either Emacs 20.7 or 21.3, AFAICS.
= smtpmail-default-smtp-server does though.

I'm running emacs v.20.7.1 and it's there.


= 
= >  '(message-send-mail-function (quote smtpmail-send-it))
= 
= OK, but that's only for Gnus. Try sticking a:
= 
= '(send-mail-function (quote smtpmail-send-it))

Yep, got it.


= 
= in after that.
= 
= >  '(mail-send-nonascii nil)
= >  '(smtp-server "mail.speakeasy.net")
= 
= Again, no such variable. smtpmail-smtp-server, yes.

C-h v smtp-server:

smtp-server's value is 
"mail.speakeasy.net"

Documentation:
The name of the host running SMTP server.
It can also be a function
called from `smtp-via-smtp' with arguments SENDER and RECIPIENTS.

You can customize this variable.

Defined in `smtp'.



= 
= >  '(user-mail-address "gebser@speakeasy.net")
= >  '(gnus-secondary-servers (quote ("news.chi.sbcglobal.net")))
= >  '(smtp-fqdn "mousecar.net")
= 
= No such variable. Where did you get this? Is it XEmacs stuff or
= something? 

C-h v smtp-fqdn:

smtp-fqdn's value is 
"mousecar.net"

Documentation:
Fully qualified domain name used for Message-ID.

You can customize this variable.

Defined in `smtp'.


= ...
= >
= > ----------------------------------------------
= > Smtpmail Queue Dir: [Hide] ~/Mail/queued-mail/
= >    [State]: this option is unchanged from its standard setting.
= > Directory where `smtpmail.el' stores queued mail.
= > ----------------------------------------------
= >
= > Though I haven't found it documented anywhere, I'm guessing that this is 
= > the directory used when emacs does it's *own* queuing, i.e., *not* using 
= > sendmail.
= 
= Yes. Useful if you're not always on-line and want to store mail
= before sending it in one go. By setting smtpmail-queue-mail to t as
= you have done above, you indicate you want this behaviour.

So emacs shouldn't be using the local sendmail at all, should it?  But 
from the error messages we saw, it is.  

Add to this, the creation of a transcript file in sendmail is part of
the queuing process-- what the logged sendmail error mentions.  So this
would seem to be where the smoke is coming from, but without more 
information, it's hard to know what to try next.

There was a thread over the past week or so about the quality of
documentation.  It would seem that this is another area which needs some
work.  Much of what is provided in the Customize section (which is the
same as that provided in the function and variable declarations
themselves) is very brief and not very enlightening.

= 
= All I can suggest is to try setting send-mail-function, other than
= that, I don't know. Lots more info at:
= 
= http://josefsson.org/smtpmail.html

Yeah, I found that with a google and read most of it already.  Emacs 
needs more docs like that.


= 
= 
= PS I don't need a CC, as the Mail-Copies-To header tries to indicate.

Sorry about that.  For some reason that's the default way that pine (my
current MUA)  handles it.  I can change this of course and do change it
occasionally, but sometimes I forget.  I believe that mailman, the
mailing list software, can be set up so that the default reply-to is the
list.  Until it is, we'll just have to rely on my memory to edit the 
headers before sending.


= 
= PPS Your messages seem to be explicitly going to both the mailing list
= and the newsgroup. This means they show up twice on the newsgroup (and
= I guess the mailing list as well), since they are gatewayed and
= essentially the same thing.

My bad.  This is documented at 
<http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-gnu-emacs> but didn't notice 
it until just now.  Thanks for letting me know about it.


Glenn, thanks also for all the time and energy you've put in to trying
to help out.  Much appreciated.


ken

Re: mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[Glenn Morris]

gebser@speakeasy.net wrote:

> = > = (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it  ; for Gnus
> = > =       send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it          ; for other things
>
> Yep.  What I had.  And still have.

Something is very broken if Emacs with those settings is trying to
use sendmail to, err, send mail.

> = > =       smtpmail-smtp-server "your.mail.server")
>
> The arg here-- assuming a dynamic connection-- would be the remote
> machine's (ISP's) server.  I.e., I don't want to point it at my own
> sendmail, correct?

Correct. Give it the name of the machine running the SMTP server.
The same thing as in the "smtp-server" field of your Pine config
(which I think you said was working).

> smtp-server's value is 
> "mail.speakeasy.net"
>
> Documentation:
> The name of the host running SMTP server.
> It can also be a function
> called from `smtp-via-smtp' with arguments SENDER and RECIPIENTS.
>
> You can customize this variable.
>
> Defined in `smtp'.

There is no "smtp" library in the Emacs-20.7 distribution.
There is only smtpmail.el.

New guess: you have got a not-part-of-Emacs package called smtp.el
installed somewhere in your load path, and it is screwing things up.

Can you do:

M-x locate-library smtp 

and move the resulting file (both .el and .elc) somewhere harmless,
out of the Emacs load-path? Googling around, it seems that "smtp.el"
might be associated with a hacked smtpmail.el. You want to get rid of
that too, and make sure you are using the standard Emacs smtpmail.el
(located in share/emacs/20.7/lisp/mail). Once those non-Emacs files
are out of the way, restart Emacs and try again.

> So emacs shouldn't be using the local sendmail at all, should it?
> But from the error messages we saw, it is.

Yes - seems very broken.

Re: mail: Sending...failed with exit value 71

[ken]

> New guess: you have got a not-part-of-Emacs package called smtp.el
> installed somewhere in your load path, and it is screwing things up.

You were absolutely right.  There was a package called flim installed.
I tarred it up, restarted emacs, and the problem went away.  Well, if
this email goes through....


ken