Rt-remind script problem

RT Users
1

We have been using the rt-remind script for a long time.

I have just noticed that it is not working anymore, so I looked at the output of the cron job that starts it weekly, and found a lot of messages like this:

Recipient names must be specified

I have been unable to determine the cause, and a google search (despite a lot of hits) failed to bring light to the issue.
Launching the rt-remind script with the -d parameter outputs the messages that would be sent out, and I cannot see anything wrong.

Anybody else is having or have had this issue?

Thank you in advance
Cris

2

We have been using the rt-remind script for a long time.

I have just noticed that it is not working anymore, so I looked at the output
of the cron job that starts it weekly, and found a lot of messages like this:

Recipient names must be specified

I have been unable to determine the cause, and a google search (despite a lot
of hits) failed to bring light to the issue.
Launching the rt-remind script with the -d parameter outputs the messages that
would be sent out, and I cannot see anything wrong.

rt-remind is not core.
You probably want to provide a link to what you’re running, and try
grepping it for Recipient names must be specified, since that isn’t a
core message.

-kevin

3

Kevin Falcone ha scritto:> On Tue, Jun 10, 2014 at 08:58:05AM +0000, Guadagnino Cristiano wrote:

We have been using the rt-remind script for a long time.

I have just noticed that it is not working anymore, so I looked at the output
of the cron job that starts it weekly, and found a lot of messages like this:

 Recipient names must be specified

I have been unable to determine the cause, and a google search (despite a lot
of hits) failed to bring light to the issue.
Launching the rt-remind script with the -d parameter outputs the messages that
would be sent out, and I cannot see anything wrong.
rt-remind is not core.
You probably want to provide a link to what you’re running, and try
grepping it for Recipient names must be specified, since that isn’t a
core message.

-kevin

Kevin,
the script that I am running comes from here:
http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/tdb/rt3/rt-remind

You can find a reference to this script on Wikia too:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Rt-reminder

The message “Recipient names must be specified” does not come from the
script itself, I guess it is coming from sendmail.
Unfortunately a google search, while finding a few hits, did not turn up
to be enlightening.

Regards
Cris

4

the script that I am running comes from here:
http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/tdb/rt3/rt-remind

You can find a reference to this script on Wikia too:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Rt-reminder

Have you considered asking the author about your problems?

The message “Recipient names must be specified” does not come from the
script itself, I guess it is coming from sendmail.
Unfortunately a google search, while finding a few hits, did not turn up
to be enlightening.

This implies nothing is being passed to sendmail correctly.

Show a debug output, especially the part where it shows how it calls
sendmail and what it passes.

-kevin

5

Kevin Falcone ha scritto:On Wed, Jun 18, 2014 at 10:32:52AM +0000, Guadagnino Cristiano wrote:

the script that I am running comes from here:
http://www.cs.kent.ac.uk/people/staff/tdb/rt3/rt-remind

You can find a reference to this script on Wikia too:
http://requesttracker.wikia.com/wiki/Rt-reminder

Have you considered asking the author about your problems?

No, not until now.

I was not sure if it was a “user error” or a program error, so I wrote to this list to seek other users of this script.

The message “Recipient names must be specified” does not come from the
script itself, I guess it is coming from sendmail.
Unfortunately a google search, while finding a few hits, did not turn up
to be enlightening.

This implies nothing is being passed to sendmail correctly.

Show a debug output, especially the part where it shows how it calls
sendmail and what it passes.

-kevin

I think I found out the problem. I am reporting it here just for documentation if someone has the same problem in the future.

This is an example of invoking “rt-remind -A -d” (i.e. with the debug flag activated):

====== Would call ‘/usr/lib/sendmail -oi’ with this input:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=“ISO-8859-15”
From: RT Reminder dba@amended.itmailto:dba@amended.it
To: “Cristiano Guadagnino” guadagnino.cristiano@amended.itmailto:guadagnino.cristiano@amended.it
Subject: Outstanding RT tickets

This is a summary of all open, new, stalled or future tickets assigned to:

“Cristiano Guadagnino” guadagnino.cristiano@amended.itmailto:guadagnino.cristiano@amended.it

Id Status Pri Created Subject
50993 stalled 50 Thu 09-05-13 I: Quadrivio RMBS 2013 - Analisi storiche - Aggiornamento Aprile 2013

http://rtbkd.amended.bkd/

As you can see, it would call “/usr/lib/sendmail -oi”. I found out that it should be calling “/usr/lib/sendmail -t -oi” so that sendmail picks the address of the recipient from the message itself. Otherwise, sendmail expects to find the address of the recipient as a command-line argument.

The strange this is that it gets the command line from RT configuration (you can see it at line 136 of the script), and RT is sending emails corectly.
And even stranger is the fact that this script has worked for years.

However, I solved the problem amending the script to add “-t” to the command line. Since this is not part of the core product, I guess we can consider this solved.

Thank you!
Cris

6

As you can see, it would call “/usr/lib/sendmail -oi”. I found out that it
should be calling “/usr/lib/sendmail -t -oi” so that sendmail picks the address
of the recipient from the message itself. Otherwise, sendmail expects to find
the address of the recipient as a command-line argument.

The strange this is that it gets the command line from RT configuration (you
can see it at line 136 of the script), and RT is sending emails corectly.
And even stranger is the fact that this script has worked for years.

In RT we automatically add/remove the -t as needed. If you use
sendmailpipe (the default) we add on -t, if you use sendmail, we
remove the -t. Although we documented removing the -t when changing
your MailCommand, users did not, so it was seen as better to just do
it automatically as needed. This change landed in 4.2.0.

You should contact the author so their code can be updated to be 4.2
compatible.

-kevin