[comp.mail.elm] RFC822 compatibility

doug@ve7apu.UUCP ( VE7APU) (05/20/89)

I am using elm 2.2 pl2 with smail 2.3. and I am also using the smtp 
in the KA9Q tcp/ip package.   When I try to open a folder which
contains SMTP messages, I get the response, "Folder is corrupt!! I can't
read it!"  This message is coming from newmail.c which requires the first
line in the folder to start with "From ".

The rfc 822 specifications do not list "From " as a possible header.  The
smtp messages contain "From:" headers however but not as the first line.
The Overview document says that one of the objectives of 2.2 was, "to have
a mailer that was 100% correct when dealing with network mail (ie RFC-822)."

Here is a sample header from an SMTP message:

Received: from ve7apu-1.ampr by ve7apu.ampr with SMTP
	id 1 ; Fri, 20 May 88 02:14:42 PST
Date: Thu, 19 May 88 19:07:38 PDT
Message-Id: <7@ve7apu.pc.ampr>
From: doug@ve7apu.pc.ampr (Douglas Lockhart)
To: doug
Subject: SMTP testing

My questions are:
1. Am I doing something wrong?
2. What is the extent of ELM 2.2 compatibility with RFC822?
3. Is the requirement to have all messages starting with "From "
   compatible with RFC 822?
4. How do I get ELM to read my smtp messages?

Doug Lockhart, VE7APU
uunet!van-bc!ve7apu!doug  or  ubc-cs!van-bc!ve7apu!doug

jos@idca.tds.PHILIPS.nl (Jos Vos) (05/26/89)

In article <300@ve7apu.UUCP> doug@ve7apu.UUCP ( VE7APU) writes:

>I am using elm 2.2 pl2 with smail 2.3. and I am also using the smtp 
>in the KA9Q tcp/ip package.   When I try to open a folder which
>contains SMTP messages, I get the response, "Folder is corrupt!! I can't
>read it!"  This message is coming from newmail.c which requires the first
>line in the folder to start with "From ".

>The rfc 822 specifications do not list "From " as a possible header.  The
>smtp messages contain "From:" headers however but not as the first line.
>The Overview document says that one of the objectives of 2.2 was, "to have
>a mailer that was 100% correct when dealing with network mail (ie RFC-822)."

>My questions are:
>1. Am I doing something wrong?

No. Except that it is not designed to work in such a way :-)

>2. What is the extent of ELM 2.2 compatibility with RFC822?

Elm is a UNIX mail User Agent, being designed to work nicely with
RFC822 format mail messages. Storing messages starting
with "From " followed by the sender's envelope address is a behaviour
of UNIX (until System V.4, when mail will be stored in another format).
It is in fact the separator (together with an optional newline, I think)
between mail messages in a UNIX mailbox.
Elm can only handle UNIX (!) mailboxes.
(Note: it is NOT possible to store ANY RFC882 mail in a UNIX mailbox:
Any line of the body starting with "From " will be prefixed by a ">".)

>3. Is the requirement to have all messages starting with "From "
>   compatible with RFC 822?

The RFC822 mail message, headers and message body, FOLLOWS the "From "
line in a UNIX mailbox. The "From " line (and optionally subsequent
">From " lines do NOT belong to the mail message itself.

>4. How do I get ELM to read my smtp messages?

Convert your SMTP messages to a UNIX mailbox format.

-- 
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