13.5.4 To Bounce, Delete, Hold, Retry Messages Using the Conversion Channel Output

This section describes how to use the conversion channel options to bounce, delete, or hold messages. The basic procedure is as follows:

1. Set OVERRIDE-OPTION-FILE=1 in the appropriate conversions file entry. This tells the conversion channel to read the output options from the OUTPUT_OPTIONS file.

2. Use the conversion script to determine what action is required on a particular message body part.

3. In the script, specify the special directive for that action by writing the STATUS=directive_code option in the OUTPUT_OPTIONS file.

A complete listing of special directives can be found in msg-svr-base/include/deprecated/pmdf_err.h. The ones commonly used by the conversion channel are:

We will explain the functions of these directives using examples.

13.5.4.1 To Bounce Messages

To bounce a message using the conversion channel set OVERRIDE-OPTION-FILE=1 in the appropriate conversions file entry and add the following line to your conversion script:

echo "STATUS=178029946" >> $OUTPUT_OPTIONS

If you wish to add a short text string to the bounced message add the following line to the conversion script:

echo OUTPUT_DIAGNOSTIC=text-string >> $OUTPUT_OPTIONS

where text string is something like: “The message sent from your machine contained a virus which has been removed. Be careful about executing email attachments.”

13.5.4.2 To Conditionally Delete a Message or Its Parts

It may be useful to delete parts conditionally, depending on what they contain. This can be done using the output options. By contrast, the DELETE=1 conversion parameter clause unconditionally deletes a message part.

To delete a message part using the output options, set OVERRIDE-OPTION-FILE=1 in the appropriate conversions file entry and add the following line to your conversion script:

echo "STATUS=178030178" >> $OUTPUT_OPTIONS

Similarly, to delete the entire message you could use:

echo "STATUS=178030259" >> $OUTPUT_OPTIONS

13.5.4.3 To Hold a Message

It may be useful to hold messages conditionally, depending on what they contain. To delete a message part using the output options, set OVERRIDE-OPTION-FILE=1 in the appropriate conversions file entry and add the following line to your conversion script:

echo "STATUS=178030250" >> $OUTPUT_OPTIONS

This requests that the conversion channel hold the message as a .HELD file in the conversion channel queue.

13.5.4.4 To Cause Messages to Be Reprocessed

When a converter script encounters a temporary resource problem (for example, the system can't connect to an external server, a needed file is locked, and so on), you can use PMDF_AGN to tell the conversion channel to consider processing messages that have encountered a temporary error. The MTA will record a "Q" status message in the mail.log_current, retain the message in the conversion channel, and retry the processing later.

Add the following line to your conversion script:

echo "STATUS=178028698" >> $OUTPUT_OPTIONS