sendmail, 4th Edition

Badly Formed qf Filename

V8.6 sendmail always checks the form of the qf file name for correctness. V8.7 through V8.9 sendmail also check the qf filename, but do so only if PICKY_QF_NAME_CHECK is defined when building sendmail (PICKY_HELO_CHECK on page 133). V8.10 and later no longer check the form of the qf filename for correctness.

Prior to V8.10, if the qf filename is incorrectly formed (The Queue Identifier on page 396), sendmail presumes that some other program placed the file in the queue and rejects it:

orderq: bogus qf name bogus name here

For V8.7 through V8.9, sendmail made this check only if PICKY_QF_NAME_CHECK was defined when building sendmail. This was introduced because some sites allow legitimate programs (other than sendmail) to write into sendmail’s queue. To fix this problem, either undefine PICKY_QF_NAME_CHECK when you build sendmail (if your site allows other programs to write into the queue directory), or trace down the process that is placing badly formed qf names in your queue and fix it.