Mail::CheckUser issue

neilwatson has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

Using Mail::CheckUser I would expect it to make an address as bad if an SMTP lookup fails. This is not happening:

Code snippet:

#timeout on DNS and SMTP network checks
$Mail::CheckUser::Timeout = 10;
$Mail::CheckUser::Treat_Timeout_As_Fail = 1;

foreach $add (@adds){ 
    
    $pm->start and next;

    if (Mail::CheckUser::check_email($add)){
        writeaddr(*GOODADDR, $add); #address is good
        print $add." good ".Mail::CheckUser::last_check()->{reason}."\
+n";
        $pm->finish;
    }else{  
        writeaddr(*BADADDR, $add); #address is bad
        print $add." bad".Mail::CheckUser::last_check()->{reason}."\n"
+;
        $pm->finish;
    }
}
$pm->wait_all_children;
[download]

Output:

$validemail mails 
janedoe@epatra.com good Cannot connect SMTP servers: 65.182.162.90
joeblow@attcanada.com good Cannot connect SMTP servers: 216.21.229.196

validemail is finished
[download]

Neil Watson
watson-wilson.ca

Comment on Mail::CheckUser issue Select or Download Code

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Mail::CheckUser issue by keszler (Priest) on Aug 26, 2004 at 15:51 UTC
Your expectations do not match those of the module's author: `return _result(CU_SMTP_UNREACHABLE, 'Cannot connect SMTP servers: ' . join(', ', @mservers)); ... sub _result($$) { my($code, $reason) = @_; my $ok = 0; $ok = 1 if $code == CU_OK; $ok = 1 if $code == CU_SMTP_UNREACHABLE; ...` [download] The module's author apparantly decided not to assume a bad address if the server cannot be reached. You'll need to add your own test, i.e. `if (Mail::CheckUser::last_check()->{code} == CU_SMTP_UNREACHABLE) { # can't reach server ... }` [download]	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re^2: Mail::CheckUser issue by adrianh (Chancellor) on Aug 27, 2004 at 09:33 UTC
The module's author apparantly decided not to assume a bad address if the server cannot be reached. And, if you want to prevent legal addresses being rejected, it's a good assumption too. An unreachable SMTP server doesn't necessarily mean that the e-mail address is invalid.	[reply]
Re^3: Mail::CheckUser issue by keszler (Priest) on Aug 27, 2004 at 14:08 UTC
I agree, completely. The only value I see in discarding an email address due to CU_SMTP_UNREACHABLE is when checking from the same IP address from which the email will be sent (e.g. routing and/or blocking issues) for email that is worthless if delayed. (Some kind of alert email, perhaps?).	[reply]