Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Dumbfounded
From: [some customer]
To: [support at The Company]
http://www.XXXXXXXXXXX/subscribe.html
I tested this page with my own email address and did not do what it's suppose to do. Please check.
That's it. No indication of what it's supposed to do or what was wrong with it, just that this random script on this site didn't work. At least I got a link to the script in question.
From: [support at The Company]
To: [some customer]
What is it supposed to do, and what did it actually do?
From: [some customer]
To: [support at The Company]
Anyone who wanted to get on our mailing list could enter their email address on that webpage. Anytime we update our webpage, the people on the mailing list are supposed to be notified via email automatically.
Okay, so I now know what it's supposed to do, but not what it actually does right now. I took an educated guess:
From: [support at The Company]
To: [some customer]
So it's not mailing out notifications when the website is modified? Was it working at one point?
From: [some customer]
To: [support at The Company]
Yes, it was.
Yes, it's not mailing out notifications or yes, it was working at one point? I assumed “yes” to both questions, then checked the page listed:
<form method="post" action="/cgi-bin/cgiemail/mail_list.txt">
Basically, it's trying to run a text file as the script. I then checked
/cgi-bin/cgiemail/mail_list.txt and it didn't exist. Oh, there
was a mail_list.txt file, but it wasn't in the
/cgi-bin directory, nor was it a script, but a literal text
file.
Sigh.
I suppose I could have avoided the little back-and-forth there had I immediately checked into this, but I just hate being told, “It's broke, fix it.” What's broken? Where? What is it supposed to do?
There was some more back and forth clarifying a few issues (“no, you cannot execute a text file”) and this is where we currently stand:
From: [some customer]
To: [support at The Company]
Unfortunately, the one who originally built the website left our office. There's got to be a way to make it work. During the past year or so our ftp folders with you changed several times. Somehow the subscribe webpage got affected. Is there anything you can do on your end to fix it?
It's now a contest to see what's harder, my forehead, or the desk.
Oh, so that's why the mail server blew up
Backing Up and Restoring Your Mail Queue
The bad news about backing up and restoring your mail queue in
/var/qmail/queueis that it's nearly impossible.qmail by John R. Levine
So, looks what what we were attempting to do for “Project White Elephant” can't work.
So far, I think the desk is winning.
Update later today
Woo hoo! [doing the happy dance] The client has finally agreed to scrap the current setup and go with something more sane, which means no more control panel! And no qmail.
Update Tuesday, February 8th, 2005
Boo hoo! [wanting to commit sepiku] The client requires the use of a control panel. Or rather, the admin hired to maintain the machines once they're set up requires a control panel.
Sob!
