I would like an allocation request please

An allocation request has been emailed over and over again. So many rejected. Have you got my request for a module called TWimp?

By rejected… They said no or the enroll server said no?

Maybe calling them on phone is more efficient.

Maybe calling them on phone is more efficient.

Sending them an email is usually easiest for everyone, and results in a reply within a day or two. There may be a “we aim to respond within…” period, though, so check that before sending follow-up emails.

It’s tricky to transmit an Allocate file over a phone call, too (though I accept that it can be done over a dialup modem connection).

If emails are actually bouncing, checking why they’re bouncing and seeing if that can be fixed is usually a smart move – especially if the problems are DMARC-related.

especially if the problems are DMARC-related

I don’t think there has been any change of the DMARC setup on the riscosopen.org domain since the last discussion about failures of mail to ROOL.
So you’re probably right to highlight that.

emailed over and over again. So many rejected.

Graeme, exactly what are you seeing? Is there a bounce message? If so, can you share details?

Thanks. The first three I sent were all bounced back ERROR CODE :550 – Could not deliver mail. This was from two different email addresses, a hotmail one was sent via a client one time and on the webmail the second time. The bounce back takes three days to be returned each time.

The fourth one I sent, I changed IP address and so far there has been no bounced back message. It was sent on 12th and they say they usually get back to you within five days, so it says. It would be nice to know it has got there!

ERROR CODE :550 – Could not deliver mail.

There are a variety of reasons for a 550 error on a mail in this instance, I suspect it was the use of hotmail and whatever generic webmail, which may be blocked.

Differences between behaviour on specific IPs would likely be due to one IP being on an internet blocklist.

all bounced back ERROR CODE :550 – Could not deliver mail

There seems to be some sort of redirect from ROOL to personal email, so if you check the error message it might say where it was attempting to send the email. That’s what I did when allocate@ bounced.
And since the person was on GMail, I used my own GMail because Google are [REDACTED].

would likely be due to one IP being on an internet blocklist

One of the problems of dynamic IP. The address you get could have been used for spammy purposes.
But, then, some blocklists are known to block out entire IP ranges as some sort of blackmail to lackadaisical providers.

That being said, was the bounce from GMail? Pulling apart my own bounce message, it seems as if the problem is with ROOL, in that it’s trying to forward a message that was sent to someone else (@riscosopen) and Google are starting to clamp down on unusual behaviour. I think it needs, as was pointed out above, some change to DMARC to inform GMail that this action is legit, otherwise it’ll keep on bouncing messages.

I think it needs, as was pointed out above, some change to DMARC to inform GMail that this action is legit, otherwise it’ll keep on bouncing messages.

I think that was pointed out previously, and nothing has changed.

In the past I have when an allocation request had no response I sent an email to all the contact emails for ROOL.

That’s why I suggested this in the past

That being said, was the bounce from GMail? Pulling apart my own bounce message, it seems as if the problem is with ROOL, in that it’s trying to forward a message that was sent to someone else (@riscosopen) and Google are starting to clamp down on unusual behaviour.

AFAIK they’re simply doing an SPF check on the mail arriving at GMail, using the from address of the original sender and the server running the ROOL mail services (because for a straight mail forwarder, that’s what Gmail sees).

A few people that I mail on a regular basis use Hotmail or Yahoo! addresses externally, but forward them to Gmail behind the scenes. Experience suggests that this isn’t enough to flag a mail as junk on its own, but presumably adds a weighting which can tip things over the edge if other bits of the mail are also less than “perfect” (eg. add in a PDF attachment, or a mailing to a lot of other Gmail users, or both).

I think it needs, as was pointed out above, some change to DMARC to inform GMail that this action is legit, otherwise it’ll keep on bouncing messages.

It would be better to use Gmail’s facility for running alternative mail addresses. It will happily fetch from external POP3 boxes, and send mail out via external SMTP relays based on the From field, and that seems to work fairly well. SPF will be satisfied, at least.

Since setting this up effectively requires 2FA when configuring the SMTP server, Google can also be as confident as they can be that they’re not being set up to spam people.

For my first new try, the email that was rejected had a different email address in it. It starts with ‘rool’ so I have just emailed directly to that address to see if all the DMARC/SPF/etc can be avoided when redirecting.

Three bounce backs all received this morning from emails sent on 12th and 21st June. It is more than just my IP address that is the problem and as far as I can see it must be ROOL that have the issue. I guess when people talk of DMARC/SPF they are talking about on the ROOL domain name and there is nothing I can do about it?

So far I’ve sent from a trying different variations of hotmail, my own domain, via landline IP, via mobile IP.

I’ve been trying to get an allocation since June 3rd. The contact page only shows emails and an address you can’t write to!

Try all the email addresses letting them know perhaps one will get through?

Thanks, I have just sent to the webmaster email. Let’s see what happens with this one now. All the others have taken at least three days to be rejected.

When Graeme mentioned this issue on the recent fireside chat, I suggested he send the details of his allocation request to me and that I’d then send it to ROOL on his behalf. Amongst other things, I wondered if the source of the problem might have been the email service he was using. (I hadn’t read this thread at that point, though the link was posted to the chat).

That allocation request yielded a NDR as follows (I’ve completely removed email addresses, bar one which is munged, but should keep it obvious).

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error.

rool-addy-at-Ben’s-domain, ERROR CODE :550 – Could not deliver mail

Reporting-MTA: dns; mx.zohomail.eu
Arrival-Date: Mon, 8 Jul 2024 20:02:51 +0100

Original-Recipient: rfc822; rool-addy-at-Ben’s-domain
Final-Recipient: rfc822; rool-addy-at-Ben’s-domain
Status: 550
Action: failed
Last-Attempt-Date: 11 Jul 2024 20:34:24 GMT
Diagnostic-Code: Could not deliver mail

Return-Path:<SRS0=WP_yxi=OI=softrock.co.uk=vince at srs dot arachsys dot com> Received:from beta.arachsys.com (beta.arachsys.com [91.203.57.27]) by mx.zoho.eu

with SMTPS id 1720467136973999.115913707525; Mon, 8 Jul 2024 21:32:16 +0200 (CEST)
Message-ID:Message-ID – removed because it works as an email address
Date:Mon, 8 Jul 2024 20:02:51 +0100
From:Vince M Hudd my email address
To:The official allocations email address
Subject:Allocation request
Content-Type:multipart/mixed; boundary=“-————-c0xUIVUNnM0iZSoMIiizoqna”
User-Agent:Mozilla Thunderbird

I asked Graeme at this point to forward me one of his NDR’s so I could compare – but what he forwarded didn’t include that latter block, so I assume his email system is getting confused by a bunch of email headers in the body of an email.

The reason I asked for that is because of something in that latter block that immediately jumped out at me. My name being Vince (duh) and my business name being Soft Rock Software, the vince at srs… made me do a double take. It’s probably just a red herring, though – chance are there is (or was) someone at Arachsys called Vince, and SRS is a subdomain they happen to use. :)

Anyway, I followed that initial request by sending it directly to the rool-addy-at-Ben’s-domain – if the issue was with the forwarding from ROOL, that would have worked.

It didn’t:

This message was created automatically by mail delivery software.
A message that you sent could not be delivered to one or more of its recipients. This is a permanent error.

rool-addy-at-Ben’s-domain, ERROR CODE :550 – Could not deliver mail

Reporting-MTA: dns; mx.zohomail.eu
Arrival-Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2024 19:12:33 +0100

Original-Recipient: rfc822; rool-addy-at-Ben’s-domain
Final-Recipient: rfc822; rool-addy-at-Ben’s-domain
Status: 550
Action: failed
Last-Attempt-Date: 17 Jul 2024 20:36:24 GMT
Diagnostic-Code: Could not deliver mail

Return-Path:My email address Received:from mout.kundenserver.de (mout.kundenserver.de [212.227.17.24]) by mx.zoho.eu

with SMTPS id 1721067155368351.7346495805642; Mon, 15 Jul 2024 20:12:35 +0200 (CEST)
Message-ID:message ID
Date:Mon, 15 Jul 2024 19:12:33 +0100
From:Vince M Hudd My email address
To:rool-addy-at-Ben’s-domain
Subject:Allocation request
Content-Type:multipart/mixed; boundary=“-————-x33r6zf8G46bBM00Oc0vLzTC”
User-Agent:Mozilla Thunderbird, ERROR CODE :550 – Could not deliver mail

IMO, this needs to be sorted pronto. An official means of making allocation requests that doesn’t work is kind of pointless. I’ll send an email to ROOL’s info address – that probably forwards as well, but hopefully to more than just Ben.

Just asked for an allocation today (the application name !Locking and the associated <Locking$Dir> variables) and received the reply today.

Yes, just “to add further confusion” (Ben’s words), I’ve just had a reply from him to the email to the info@ address noting just that – which confirms things are working, at least for some people and/or some of the time.

He included a screen grab of his server logs showing my second attempt at sending the allocation request on Graeme’s behalf being rejected, wondering if I was possibly just unlucky. It possibly seems that way given that my info@ email got through – but presumably I was unlucky twice! Unfortunately his logs don’t go far enough back to check that first try, or Graeme’s own attempts.

Because of that he can’t investigate Graeme’s problem unless he tries again – so it would probably be a good idea for him to do that – and perhaps email me immediately he does so I can let Ben know to check? (Assuming my own email doesn’t go the same way again!) I’ll reply to Ben first, then send the suggestion Graeme’s way in case he reads the forum even less frequently than me. ;)

Good news! I received an allocation last night! Thanks for the help Vince.