rblsmtpd using maps.vix.com by default

[Jeremy Kister]

Recently, Paul Vixie, owner of vix.com, has realized that one possible
reason for an unexpected amount of traffic on the
decommissioned-since-1999 maps.vix.com is because of ucspi-tcp-0.88's
rblsmtpd program.

see http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg04513.html

I suggest everyone who's running rblsmtpd from ucspi-tcp-0.88 with no -r
flag reinstall ucspi-tcp with Charles Cazabon's fix, available at
http://pyropus.ca/software/misc/rblsmtpd-nodefaultrbl.patch.

I realize there's a short blurb about this on lifewithqmail.org -- i'll
be emailing dave shortly in an effort to emphasize the patch's importance.

[Sami Farin]

Post by Jeremy Kister
Recently, Paul Vixie, owner of vix.com, has realized that one possible
reason for an unexpected amount of traffic on the
decommissioned-since-1999 maps.vix.com is because of ucspi-tcp-0.88's
rblsmtpd program.
see http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg04513.html
I suggest everyone who's running rblsmtpd from ucspi-tcp-0.88 with no -r
flag reinstall ucspi-tcp with Charles Cazabon's fix, available at
http://pyropus.ca/software/misc/rblsmtpd-nodefaultrbl.patch.

Why do you think those idiots maintain their mail server or read
this mailing list or read NANOG?

Post by Jeremy Kister
I realize there's a short blurb about this on lifewithqmail.org -- i'll
be emailing dave shortly in an effort to emphasize the patch's importance.

Better idea is to tell Mr. Vix to return some nice TXT record
for *.rbl.maps.vix.com so the idiots notice that rblsmtpd needs tuning.

--

[Jeremy Kister]

Post by Sami Farin
Why do you think those idiots maintain their mail server or read
this mailing list or read NANOG?

I realize not all sysops read nanog these days, hence the repost.
Wishful thinking about people reading the qmail list though, I suppose :)

Post by Sami Farin
Better idea is to tell Mr. Vix to return some nice TXT record
for *.rbl.maps.vix.com so the idiots notice that rblsmtpd needs tuning.

That's actually my bigger worry. With the headache that ordb just
caused, I could imagine the noise on the qmail list being much higher
about maps.vix.com serving wildcard 127.0.0.1 RRs -- especially when
they look in their startup script, don't see rblsmtpd using any rbl, and
scratch their head.

[Sami Farin]

Post by Jeremy Kister

Post by Sami Farin
Why do you think those idiots maintain their mail server or read
this mailing list or read NANOG?

I realize not all sysops read nanog these days, hence the repost.
Wishful thinking about people reading the qmail list though, I suppose :)

Post by Sami Farin
Better idea is to tell Mr. Vix to return some nice TXT record
for *.rbl.maps.vix.com so the idiots notice that rblsmtpd needs tuning.

That's actually my bigger worry. With the headache that ordb just
caused,

It did?

Post by Jeremy Kister
I could imagine the noise on the qmail list being much higher
about maps.vix.com serving wildcard 127.0.0.1 RRs -- especially when
they look in their startup script, don't see rblsmtpd using any rbl, and
scratch their head.

You are assuming they find the startup script.

But do you assume they're so idiots that they
1) can't read from rblsmtpd homepage that
"If you do not supply any -r options, rblsmtpd tries an
RBL source of rbl.maps.vix.com."
2) can't RTFS? (probably not...)

Considering the fact that rbl.maps.vix.com
has been down for ~8 years, and Mr. Vix has tried to stop
the traffic by configuring nameserver "." for rbl.maps.vix.com,
setting up a wildcard is the only thing which will work.
I mean, eight years of using rblsmtpd and not a single blocked
email due to it?

If they notice the wildcard, they might even start using
something that works, like zen.spamhaus.org.
Nobody is going to die because of a couple of
"553 I used rbl.maps.vix.com for 8 years and all I got was this lousy error"
-messages.

Some versions of sendmail seem to default to rbl.maps.vix.com, too,
concluding from a little google search.

--

[Amitai Schlair]

Post by Jeremy Kister
Recently, Paul Vixie, owner of vix.com, has realized that one
possible reason for an unexpected amount of traffic on the
decommissioned-since-1999 maps.vix.com is because of ucspi-
tcp-0.88's rblsmtpd program.
see http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg04513.html
I suggest everyone who's running rblsmtpd from ucspi-tcp-0.88 with
no -r flag reinstall ucspi-tcp with Charles Cazabon's fix,
available at http://pyropus.ca/software/misc/rblsmtpd-
nodefaultrbl.patch.

I've added an "ucspi-tcp-nodefaultrbl" compile option to pkgsrc's
ucspi-tcp package that applies Charles's patch, and enabled the
option by default. This should solve the problem once and for all!...
for people using ucspi-tcp from pkgsrc, anyway. :-)

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[Nick Leverton]

Post by Jeremy Kister
see http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg04513.html
I suggest everyone who's running rblsmtpd from ucspi-tcp-0.88 with no -r
flag reinstall ucspi-tcp with Charles Cazabon's fix, available at
http://pyropus.ca/software/misc/rblsmtpd-nodefaultrbl.patch.

I contacted the Debian maintainer with the NANOG link, and he's
incorporated Charles's patch into the next version of the Debian package
ucspi-tcp-src.

Charles I hoped that your GPL statement applied to the patches as well as
your own software, but I've since seen http://pyropus.ca/copyright.html
and I just want to double-check which applies to the patch ?

Thanks,

Nick

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[Charles Cazabon]

Post by Jeremy Kister
see http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg04513.html
I suggest everyone who's running rblsmtpd from ucspi-tcp-0.88 with no -r
flag reinstall ucspi-tcp with Charles Cazabon's fix, available at
http://pyropus.ca/software/misc/rblsmtpd-nodefaultrbl.patch.

I contacted the Debian maintainer with the NANOG link, and he's incorporated
Charles's patch into the next version of the Debian package ucspi-tcp-src.
Charles I hoped that your GPL statement applied to the patches as well as
your own software, but I've since seen http://pyropus.ca/copyright.html and
I just want to double-check which applies to the patch ?

I hereby place that patch into the public domain; in jurisdictions where that
cannot be done, I grant a permanent, non-exclusive license to all allowing
any and all redistribution, modification, use, etc.

Charles
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[Nick Leverton]

Post by Charles Cazabon

Post by Jeremy Kister
see http://www.merit.edu/mail.archives/nanog/msg04513.html

...snips...

Post by Charles Cazabon
I hereby place that patch into the public domain; in jurisdictions where
that cannot be done, I grant a permanent, non-exclusive license to all
allowing any and all redistribution, modification, use, etc.

Excellent, thank you very much.

Nick

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