"pending message" issue

link2xt · December 24, 2020, 10:50am

The server can return a “transient” or “permanent” error:

deltachat/deltachat-core-rust/blob/f98aa0d906ddcf00b8f59aafa93e0b4c8969c680/src/job.rs#L261


    info!(context, "smtp-sending out mime message:");
    println!("{}", String::from_utf8_lossy(&message));
}
match smtp.send(context, recipients, message, job_id).await {
    Err(crate::smtp::send::Error::SendError(err)) => {
        // Remote error, retry later.
        warn!(context, "SMTP failed to send: {}", err);
        self.pending_error = Some(err.to_string());


        let res = match err {
            async_smtp::smtp::error::Error::Permanent(ref response) => {
                // Workaround for incorrectly configured servers returning permanent errors
                // instead of temporary ones.
                let maybe_transient = match response.code {
                    // Sometimes servers send a permanent error when actually it is a temporary error
                    // For documentation see https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3463
                    Code {
                        category: Category::MailSystem,
                        detail: Detail::Zero,
                        ..
                    } => {

My guess is that your server returned a “transient” error, because the server of the new contact was not reachable or similar problem. In this case Delta Chat keeps trying to send the message for 17 tries spanning roughly 3 weeks, so the message appears to be pending forever.

If the error is permanent, a cross is displayed in the corner and Delta Chat stops retrying. So it is up to the server whether it instructs Delta Chat to keep trying or show an error.

Currently only permanent errors are displayed in the “info” of the message. I would indeed be nice to be able to see in the “info” how many tries were made and the relevant error messages, but Delta Chat does not allow this yet.