Navigate > about rachel > your account > Versatile email forwarding


In Feb. 2006 we switched from Qmail to Postfix. Qmail fell into disrepair because of its stupid copyright, and is no longer up to the job.

I converted everybody's forwarding files. Few users could deal with them anyway.

If you need to manage your domains own email forwarding, let me know and we'll give you your own Postfix virtual alias table.

  • Forwarding. When I create your account, I will put your email address in .forward in your home directory. Usually this will be the address you used when you asked for the account. All your you@greens.org mail will be forwarded to that address.
  • Mailbox on rachel In a few cases it makes sense to store your mail on petra-k. We have a POP3/IMAP/S server.
  • Filtering You can use the Procmail program to process your mail before it is delivered.
  • Mailman mailing lists

    We use GNU Mailman for new mailing lists. It's got a Web interface where most people can subscribe and unsubscribe themselves. List owners can deal with their moderation tasks through the Web.

    About the spam blocking

    Rachel uses three ``blacklists'' to refuse incoming email connections from likely sources of junk email.
    1. zen.spamhaus.org lists IP address ranges with a chronic spam problem.
    2. Not Just Another Block List lists hosts whose email software is misconfigured so it can be abused by spammers, and HAS BEEN SO ABUSED.
    3. My personal list of networks that emit spam. Part of it is served as a DNSBL from an undisclosed location. Other parts are programmed into the Linux kernel's "netfilter" firewall, and into Postfix client and sender restrictions.
    If you sign up for a commercial mailing list, and you're not receiving the mail at your GREENS.ORG address, that's one possible reason. It's also possible your mail is getting lost by your ISP.

    Recently I had to figure out how to block a newsletter to one forwarding alias, while letting other users receive it. The newsletter is sent from a bogus address, so returning it with Procmail was not an option. I used Postfix Restriction Classes and the terse documentation made it harder than it should have been. Here is the writeup. It's ironic that Qmail has the same problem. It's all there, but it's not task oriented enough to make sense.


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