The command line option for setting an alternate exchange when creating an exchange is not handled correctly. The option as described in the usage (--altern-ex <NAME>) results in the usage statement, --altern_ex <NAME> allows declare to go ahead but doesn't use the specified argument. See also: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/QPID-1890
Fixed by r781498 (option is now --alternate-exchange). To test: qpid-config add exchange fanout dead-letter qpid-config add exchange direct primary --alternate-exchange dead-letter qpid-config add queue dlq qpid-config bind dead-letter dlq echo unrouted | ./src/tests/sender --exchange primary --send-eos 1 ./src/tests/receiver --queue dlq and the receiver should see the unrouted message.
The issue is resolved, qpid-config's --alternate-exchange option works as expected now. Tested on RHEL 4.8 / 5.5 i386 / x86_64 on packages: python-qmf-0.7.946106-13.el5 python-qpid-0.7.946106-14.el5 qmf-*0.7.946106-16.el5 qpid-cpp-*-0.7.946106-16.el5 qpid-dotnet-0.4.738274-2.el5 qpid-java-*-0.7.946106-10.el5 qpid-tools-0.7.946106-11.el5 -> VERIFIED
Technical note added. If any revisions are required, please edit the "Technical Notes" field accordingly. All revisions will be proofread by the Engineering Content Services team. New Contents: Attempting to set an alternate exchange when creating an exchange using the "--altern-ex [NAME]" syntax as was detailed in the usage information, resulted in the usage information being displayed again. Using "-s-altern_ex [NAME]" resulted in the specified [NAME] argument not being used.
An advisory has been issued which should help the problem described in this bug report. This report is therefore being closed with a resolution of ERRATA. For more information on therefore solution and/or where to find the updated files, please follow the link below. You may reopen this bug report if the solution does not work for you. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2010-0773.html