Pegasus Mail, Frequently-asked question resources
        Copyright (c) 1994-95 David Harris, all rights reserved.

                      Mercury Mail Transport System


* What is the current version of Mercury and how can I get it?

  The current version is 1.21. It is available via FTP from risc.ua.edu
  in /pub/network/pegasus/merc121.zip, or on CompuServe in the NOVUSER
  area.


* I can't send to or receive mail from Mercury

  This and numerous variants of it make up over 95% of the problems
  reported with Mercury. In general, this is a configuration problem,
  in NetWare TCP/IP, in MERCURY.INI, or in your smart mailer. Things
  to check include:

  - Make sure you are actually loading TCPIP.NLM on the server
  - Make sure your netmask is correct - it must agree with every
    other host on your network.
  - Make sure you have the correct address specified in [MercuryC]
    for your smart relay host.
  - If you have a name server, make sure it is advertising the
    correct IP address for your server.
  - If you have used Charon in the past, make sure you don't have
    invalid MX entries lying around on the network.


* I get "Loader could not find symbol 'inet_addr'" or similar loader
  errors from NetWare when I try to load MercuryS or MercuryC

  You have not loaded NetWare TCP/IP (TCPIP.NLM). Examine MGUIDE.EXE for
  a brief description of installing and configuring TCP/IP on your
  server, and in the NetWare Red manual entitled "NetWare TCP/IP
  Transport Supervisor's Guide" for more detailed information.


* Jobs just sit in the outgoing mail queue and go no further

  Examine the queue; if you can see messages with any Form number other
  than 101 or 110, then you have the problem described in IMPORTAN.T!!
  supplied with Mercury (a bug in the NetWare CLIB.NLM library). Upgrade
  to Mercury 1.11 or later to fix the problem.


* "Socket read/write timeout or error"???
* "Connection error during handshake with xx.xx.xx.xx"???
* "TCP/IP error during processing"???

  These errors all typically indicate a routing or traffic problem on
  your IP network. Make sure that the "BIND IP" line of your server's
  AUTOEXEC.NCF includes a "GATE=" parameter (we suggest you ignore the
  Novell recommendation not to use GATE= when using RIP), and that all IP
  routers on your network are aware of your server and how to find it.


* I get errors like "503 Need recipient" from Mercury

  This error (and any error like it starting with a digit) is actually
  being issued by the mail host which Mercury uses to relay mail, not by
  Mercury. It usually indicates an addressing problem in your message,
  but you should refer it to the system manager on the mail host


* I can send mail out, but no-one can send mail to me

  This usually means that your server's Internet name is not being
  advertised on the Internet. You must have an entry in a DNS (Domain
  Name Server) system somewhere which allows other sites to work out your
  server's address from its name. Contact your IP network manager or
  Internet Service Provider for details.


* Mail goes out with the wrong "From" address even though I've changed
  the MYNAME value in MERCURY.INI's [General] section.

  You also need to change the Pegasus Mail configuration information to
  reflect the new Internet name. Use the Pegasus Mail PCONFIG program to
  do this.


* Every time I receive a mail message I get a "message loop" - the
  message just bounces around between the smart host and Mercury
  until eventually one of them discards it.

  You almost certainly have an incomplete or inaccurate [Domains] section
  in MERCURY.INI. You must list in your [Domains] section every possible
  Internet name by which your file server could be addressed. Mercury uses
  the [Domains] section to determine whether mail is local or remote: if
  you omit a possible name for your server then Mercury will not know that
  the mail is local and will refer it back to the smart host, which in
  turn will send it back to Mercury... and so on.


* Error messages from mailing lists are returned to the sender of the 
  original message.

  This is an area where usage is vague on the Internet and it is
  difficult to provide a general solution. Try adding an "Errors-to:"
  field to the definition for the list in Mercury's "List of Lists". This
  will force error notifications to go to the specified address in many
  cases, but unfortunately not all Internet mail systems follow the
  rules.