In reply to:
I am actually very much hoping that's possible without causing the conditions for RFC test failure. I do understand that the postmaster addy has to be a full box, but am not clear on whether or not it can *also* be a forward. I don't understand the innards of it, but when someone tests your addy it has to send back all the right "signals" for a pass.
You don't need a fully hosted mailbox for each postmaster@domain address. The RFC says it must be routed to a mailbox where someone will read it, and the local-part case-insensitive.
I guess I should add this to the Wiki, since only a developer would be able to figure it out otherwise ;)
When a mail client goes to send a message, it tells the mail server an address of the sender. For bounces and other system messages this is usually NULL. If it is accepted, the response is "Ok"
Next, it tells the mail server a list of recipient addresses. They mail server gets a chance to reject them as they are entered. If an address is good, the response is "Ok"
Finally the client can transmit message data.
Guess what? It doesn't matter what type of address you enter as a recipient. The DreamHost server will respond "Ok" for a hosted mailbox address or a forward-only address. Or a garbage address too.
These two "signals" are all the tests are about. It can even be done by hand using a telnet client:
server> 235 Authentication successful
client> RSET
server> 250 Ok
client> MAIL FROM: <>
server> 250 Ok
client> RCPT TO: <postmaster@domain>
server> 250 Ok
client> DATA
server> 354 End data with <CR><LF>.<CR><LF>
client> Subject: Test
client> To: <postmaster@domain>
client> From: John Doe <john.doe@domain>
client>
client> Test
client> .
server> 250 Ok: queued as 34FC016D3D4
client> QUIT
server> 221 Bye
openvein.org -//- Edited by Atropos7 on 02/15/09 05:14 PM (server time).