Mario Rups wrote:
 
> Winship wrote:
>
> > but the possible errors are so many, and the possible variations on
> > the error messages so enormous, and there are so many brain-dead systems
>
> Like the one that calmly explained that it was "not a typewriter" ... We're
> still trying to figure that one out.  <grin>
 
A very old UNIX error, comes from trying to do certain operations on
a file (e.g., set baud rate) when the file is a disk file rather than
a terminal.  From /usr/include/sys/errno.h here:
 
#define ENOTTY          25              /* Not a typewriter */
 
Still exists!
 
 
Now, as to why you might have received it in a mail bounce, I suspect
the mail was forwarded to some processing which was inappropriate, in
that it made some assumption that it was dealing with a terminal.
 
Cheers,
Stan.