rickert@CS.NIU.EDU (Neil Rickert) (07/11/90)
I don't normally see this news group, but a friend who has been forwarding me
excerpts suggested I add my $.02 worth.
I have been particularly interested in the comments on RFC1123.
Now, let's see if I have it straight.
If I understand RFC1123 correctly, I may change the address (which I extracted
from a recent syslog entry):
<@UICVM.uic.edu:Y03CLS1@NIU>
into the address:
Y03CLS1@NIU
and never mind the fact that mail to the final address may be undeliverable.
If I understand it correctly, I am not supposed to use routing, but if I
must, then instead of using source routes with an awkward syntax which
discourages use, but a well defined semantics, I am instead supposed to use
the %-hack with a much more user friendly syntax that encourages use of routes
even though they are officially discouraged, but with no defined
semantics -- only a suggested interpretation.
As I interpret RFC1123, a host which does not understand the '!' character,
but which needs a route for delivery, should not use the address
@a:c!u@b
with its clear interpretation of delivery -> a -> b ->c -> u but the host
should instead format the address as
c!u%b@a
with a suggested interpretation of -> a -> c -> b -> u. (Note that since
the host does not understand !, it treats 'c!u' as merely a single mailbox
name).
According to my understanding of RFC1123, if my mailer sees the address
user%mcdchg%clout@gargoyle.uchicago.edu
it may not touch the local part, and must forward the mail to gargoyle, even
though experience tells me the mail will bounce. My mailer must not under
any circumstances reformat the address as
clout!mcdchg!user@gargoyle.uchicago.edu
although with this address the mail would probably be correctly delivered.
----------------------------
Boy, I am sure glad to have read RFC1123. Before reading it I was greatly
confused. I used to think that the whole purpose was to ensure correct and
efficient delivery of the mail. But RFC1123 has cleared that up. I now
realize that this is like a chess game, where the pieces of the address are
moved around according to a strict set of rules, and final delivery of the
mail, if it ever occurs, is merely an incidental side effect.
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Neil W. Rickert, Computer Sci Dept, Northern Illinois U., DeKalb IL 60115
InterNet, unix: rickert@cs.niu.edu Bitnet, VM: T90NWR1@NIUCS
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