Subject: Mailing list and reverse DNS (was Re: Colour scheme of debconf dialogs)
On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 23:25:30 -0600, David Wright wrote:
On Mon 16 Feb 2026 at 15:40:28 (-0500), Greg Wooledge wrote:
On Mon, Feb 16, 2026 at 15:24:09 -0500, Davidson wrote:
FWIW: From apt's logs it looks as though whiptail was installed, and
had been installed long before I began any investigation into the
topic.
It's part of the core installation package set.
I wouldn't have posted my reply if your email server hadn't taken
around 32 hours to relay yours to the list!
Yeah, about that... I didn't know there was an issue until I got a
bounce message last night about a post I had made on the 12th. The
bounce itself was mysterious about the underlying issue, but on a
whim I ran "mailq" and found that I had a second message still queued
up, and the cause was plainly displayed: bendel didn't like the fact
that it couldn't resolve my IP to a hostname.
I don't know whether this was a policy change on the Debian list side,
or a configuration issue with my VPS hosting provider. I confirmed
that my VPS had no "reverse DNS", as they call it:
hobbit:~$ host 199.231.184.176
Host 176.184.231.199.in-addr.arpa. not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)
So I logged in to the VPS provider's web site, found the place where I
could set up a reverse DNS, and did so:
hobbit:~$ host 199.231.184.176
176.184.231.199.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer wooledge.org.
After that, the queued email went through.
The one that bounced isn't worth re-sending, in my opinion. Other people already posted similar responses in that thread, so it would be redundant
now.
--- PyGate Linux v1.5.11
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)