GOLDMAN_S@VAXC.STEVENS-TECH.EDU (SALLY D. GOLDMAN) (06/29/88)
We are having a problem here with receiving mail from UNIX systems.
It appears that many UNIX systems or their mailers interpret a '$' as some
sort of control/special character.
The Background:
We are using VMS usernames which are comprised of a prefix + '$' + first
initial + last name. For example, John Jones could have a username
TST$JJONES. The new username format has been in effect for just a couple
of months.
The Problem:
Some of our users with this username format are having difficulty receiving
mail from UNIX systems. Or, more precisely, some of their UNIX collegues
are unable to send mail to users with this username format. The problem
appears to be the '$' in the middle of the username. The mailer parses off
the string before the '$' and puts it somewhere.
My Question:
Does anyone know if there is something in UNIX or the UNIX mailer that
interprets a '$' in some strange and wondrous way?? (I know this is not a
VMS question, but it does have certain implications for those of us who are
VMS programmers and managers.) It seems to me that if a UNIX mailer is
sending to TST$SGOLDMAN@SITVXC that it should never worry about the '$'.
Please mail responses directly to me.
Thanks in advance.
Sally Goldman
Systems Programmer
Stevens Institute of Technology
INTERNET: goldman_s@vaxc.stevens-tech.edu
BITNET: goldman_s@sitvxc.bitnet
USMail: Computer Center ATT: 201-420-5472
Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken, NJ 07030
------------carl@CitHex.Caltech.EDU (Carl J Lydick) (07/04/88)
> We are having a problem here with receiving mail from UNIX systems. > > It appears that many UNIX systems or their mailers interpret a '$' as some > sort of control/special character. > > The Background: > We are using VMS usernames which are comprised of a prefix + '$' + first > initial + last name. For example, John Jones could have a username > TST$JJONES. The new username format has been in effect for just a couple > of months. > > The Problem: > Some of our users with this username format are having difficulty receiving > mail from UNIX systems. Or, more precisely, some of their UNIX collegues > are unable to send mail to users with this username format. The problem > appears to be the '$' in the middle of the username. The mailer parses off > the string before the '$' and puts it somewhere. > > My Question: > Does anyone know if there is something in UNIX or the UNIX mailer that > interprets a '$' in some strange and wondrous way?? (I know this is not a > VMS question, but it does have certain implications for those of us who are > VMS programmers and managers.) It seems to me that if a UNIX mailer is > sending to TST$SGOLDMAN@SITVXC that it should never worry about the '$'. There are two places that $ is special in the BSD mailer. If you issue, for example, the command: $ mail c$lyd@cithex < /dev/null the mailer tries to send to c@cithex, the $ and the following field having been eaten. If you're familiar with UNIX, this immediately suggests that you should try escaping the $: $ mail c\$lyd@cithex < /dev/null In this case, the mailer reports that it is trying to send to c$lyd@cithex. However, when the two machines start talking to each other, the RCPT To: field becomes: <cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom cFrom > so that doesn't work either. I checked the delimiter macro in sendmail.cf, and $ wasn't one of the listed delimiters. The problem is built into the sendmail executable, so it looks like you're out of luck on this one. Your best bet would probably to change the $ to an _ in these usernames, or to do something like: $ MAIL MAIL> SET FORWARD/USER=C_LYD C$LYD and let people outside your system send mail using the _ version. This, of course, will make it impossible for UNIX users to use the reply facility.
carl@CITHEX.CALTECH.EDU (Carl J Lydick) (07/06/88)
It seems I was a little hasty in concluding that the BSD mailer couldn't be coerced into sending mail to an address like C$LYD@CITHEX.CALTECH.EDU. I'd tried escaping the $ with one, then three backslashes, then given up. It turns out that the trick is to escape the "$" with 5 (yes, five!) backslashes. E.g., mail c\\\\\$lyd@cithex.caltech.edu < /dev/null actually got the mail through. And some people say VMS is cumbersome! Sally Goldman: Please let me know if this works for the UNIX users who were having trouble sending mail to your users. Thanks.
GOLDMAN_S@VAXC.STEVENS-TECH.EDU (SALLY D. GOLDMAN) (07/08/88)
>It seems I was a little hasty in concluding that the BSD mailer couldn't >be coerced into sending mail to an address like C$LYD@CITHEX.CALTECH.EDU. >I'd tried escaping the $ with one, then three backslashes, then given up. >It turns out that the trick is to escape the "$" with 5 (yes, five!) >backslashes. E.g., > mail c\\\\\$lyd@cithex.caltech.edu < /dev/null >actually got the mail through. And some people say VMS is cumbersome! > >Sally Goldman: Please let me know if this works for the UNIX users who > were having trouble sending mail to your users. Thanks. Yes, it is true that the BSD mailer may be convinced to send to the a username with a $ imbedded in it. However, it is real difficult for people to know how many UNIX machines a mail message will pass before reaching it's destination. Also, it is difficult to disseminate information regarding special rules in mailing to a site. Sally Goldman Systems Programmer Stevens Institute of Technology E-Mail: INTERNET: GOLDMAN_S@VAXC.STEVENS-TECH.EDU BITNET: GOLDMAN_S@SITVXC CCNET: SITVXC::GOLDMAN_S USMail: Computer Center ATT: 201-420-5472 Stevens Institute of Technology Hoboken, NJ 07030 ------------
allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon S. Allbery) (07/12/88)
As quoted from <88528173247.2060011f.GOLDMAN_S> by GOLDMAN_S@VAXC.STEVENS-TECH.EDU (SALLY D. GOLDMAN): +--------------- | We are having a problem here with receiving mail from UNIX systems. | | It appears that many UNIX systems or their mailers interpret a '$' as some | sort of control/special character. +--------------- "$" indicates a variable substitution to most Unix shells. Even if the character makes it past the user's shell, if the message traverses a UUCP link it will end up as the command rmail user$name@host.domain passed to /bin/sh, which will silently eat the $name and substitute whatever is in the shell of environment variable of that name. If there is no such variable that part of the address simply disappears. I haven't checked, but if sendmail on Unix systems invokes a shell to run the mailer, the same problem could occur before the message even leaves the system. -- Brandon S. Allbery, uunet!marque!ncoast!allbery DELPHI: ALLBERY For comp.sources.misc send mail to ncoast!sources-misc
pdb@sei.UUCP (07/12/88)
In article <8237@ncoast.UUCP> allbery@ncoast.UUCP (Brandon S. Allbery) writes: >I haven't checked, but if sendmail on Unix systems invokes a shell to run the >mailer, the same problem could occur before the message even leaves the >system. I seem to remember that older versions of sendmail would treat the "$" symbol as part of a sendmail.cf macro, and would try to expand it as such. The end result was the same - part of the address would disappear. Usenet followups redirected to comp.mail.sendmail. --Pat.