[share receive-email] functionality not delivering emails (https://exe.dev/docs/receive-email)

GitHub issue #185 Feature Shipped jeroendeevia github Apr 15, 2026 View original

Want

Emails being delivered to ~/Maildir/new when the feature, through subcommand share receive-email {vmname} on, is activated as per the instructions in: https://exe.dev/docs/receive-email

Or

[!NOTE] Am I misinterpreting how this functionality should work.

Got

Given I've actually followed the instructions in the manual: https://exe.dev/docs/receive-email

When I tried several times to send emails to that vm (with multiple email providers). Then the emails bounce. Example below is from the fastmail service:

There are 3 *.eml files available but these are all from the exe.dev system itself. Apparently example emails are being delivered when share receive-email on is being executed.

Supporting info:

"My" VM's are now located in Region: fra (Frankfurt, Germany) Originally they were humming somewhere in the US. I put in a support request for them to be migrated to Frankfurt.

7 Comments

ianlancetaylorvia github Apr 15, 2026

I just tested the functionality, and it is working.

Perhaps there is some DNS issue here. Can you show the output of dig VMNAME.exe.xyz mx?

jeroendeevia github Apr 16, 2026

@ianlancetaylor thank you for looking into this issue I'm having.

When running the command from my computer: dig vector-sigma.exe.xyz mx (assuming VMNAME is my chosen machine name) this is the output:

; <<>> DiG 9.10.6 <<>> vector-sigma.exe.xyz mx
;; global options: +cmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 16811
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 1, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 1

;; OPT PSEUDOSECTION:
; EDNS: version: 0, flags:; udp: 512
;; QUESTION SECTION:
;vector-sigma.exe.xyz.          IN      MX

;; ANSWER SECTION:
vector-sigma.exe.xyz.   300     IN      MX      10 mail.exe.xyz.

;; Query time: 170 msec
;; SERVER: 100.100.100.100#53(100.100.100.100)
;; WHEN: Thu Apr 16 07:34:20 CEST 2026
;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 70

I asked Pi (GPT-5.4 xhigh) to interpret the above, and it proposed to do further analysis. I've asked it to write it up in a markdown file. I don't want to confront you with a wall of text in this issue. So I'll attach it as a file. Maybe it contains some helpful information for you.

I've also fed it the Fastmail bounce messages.

vector-sigma-exe-xyz-mail-report.md

“Authoritative DNS for vector-sigma.exe.xyz currently returns both MX 10 mail.exe.xyz and CNAME na013.exe.xyz. Fastmail’s DSN shows it is attempting SMTP delivery directly to vector-sigma.exe.xyz [161.210.92.13]:25 instead of the MX host. This strongly suggests the invalid CNAME + MX publication is causing some MTAs to bypass or mishandle the MX. Could you remove the CNAME from the mail-receiving name, or publish direct A/AAAA for the VM name instead?”

jeroendeevia github Apr 16, 2026

I've tried another VM as well, and the same situation exists. No mail being delivered.

ianlancetaylorvia github Apr 16, 2026

Thanks for the info. Which email providers did you test with? You've mentioned Fastmail. I've tried GMail, Postfix, and qmail, and they all deliver the mail as expected.

jeroendeevia github Apr 17, 2026

I've tested through the following email providers:

❌ = email didn't get delivered ✅ = email got delivered in ~/Maildir/new/

  • Fastmail (my primary email service) ❌
  • Outlook (work, enterprise) ❌
  • Vivaldi Mail ✅
  • Apple Mail ✅
  • Proton Mail ✅

Supporting info

Outlook is providing the following bounce information:

4/16/2026 7:56:42 PM - Server at {redacted}.PROD.OUTLOOK.COM returned '550 5.4.316 Message expired, connection refused(Socket error code 10061)'
4/16/2026 7:46:38 PM - Server at vector-sigma.exe.xyz (161.210.92.13) returned '450 4.4.316 Connection refused [Message=Socket error code 10061] [LastAttemptedServerName=vector-sigma.exe.xyz] [LastAttemptedIP=161.210.92.13:25] [SmtpSecurity=-2;-2] [{redacted}.prod.outlook.com 2026-04-16T19:46:42.931Z 08DE971964C12684](Socket error code 10061)'
ianlancetaylorvia github Apr 17, 2026

Thanks. We've adjusted the name server settings so that we don't serve both a CNAME and an MX record for boxes. That should fix this problem. Please let us know if it is still not working.

jeroendeevia github Apr 18, 2026

Fixed!