Reject vs. bounce

[Ugo Bellavance]

John Rudd wrote:
> Tim Boyer wrote:
>> Apologies if this has been discussed ad infinitum before.  I've been 
>> running a
>> mailserver since 1996, but just heard about MailScanner Saturday, 
>> thanks to
>> Steve Swaney's excellent talk at the Ohio LinuxFest.
>>
>> I've been using DNSBLs and a private blocklist with SpamAssassin, and 
>> ClamAV as
>> milters, so when I reject an email it's rejected, not bounced back to the
>> (99.999% bogus) 'From" address. 
>> I've heard and read that MailScanner has a 'bounce' option.  Is this 
>> what I
>> think it is - a bounce back to the 'From'?  Or is it a reject before the
>> connection's been dropped and the email accepted?
>>
> 
> It is a bounce back to the "From" address, not a rejection during the 
> connection.  Mailscanner doesn't run during the SMTP session, therefore 
> it can't do SMTP rejections nor SMTP tempfails.

And it is not a practice that is encouraged here.  Bouncing has been off 
by default for a while in MailScanner, and can only be set on using a 
ruleset.