[comp.mail.mh] Preprocessing of mail addresses

mst@mx.csun.edu (Mike Temkin) (12/29/90)

We have a problem here at CSUN.  We have machines that run both UNIX and VMS
and mail travels between them.  The problem is in responding to a message
from VMS using MH, MH doesn't seem to like the "host::user" format.  Since
mail front ends should not touch the addresses (let alone parse them) how
can I get MH to stop parsing them (or *eesh* atleast have them parse the ::)?

(Please don't ask me to have the :: rewritten as @, the problem is the VMS
system is .csun.edu and our UNIX host is .secs.csun.edu.  The rewritten
address comes out as vax.secs.csun.edu, not vax.csun.edu.)

T.I.A.
Mike.
--
Mike Temkin
mst@csun.edu
Cal. State U. Northridge, School of Engineering and Computer Science
Voice phone: (818) 885-3919

jromine@buckaroo.ics.uci.edu (John Romine) (12/29/90)

mst@secs.csun.edu (Mike Temkin) writes:
>We have a problem here at CSUN.  We have machines that run both UNIX and VMS
>and mail travels between them.  The problem is in responding to a message
>from VMS using MH, MH doesn't seem to like the "host::user" format.
>
>(Please don't ask me to have the :: rewritten as @, the problem is the VMS

Well, that's what should happen to fix the problem.  How did the mail
get to your system?  Did it travel over SMTP?  If so, the sending MTS
should be rewriting non-RFC822 headers into the Internet format.
MH is an RFC822 user agent.  It doesn't support message formats which
don't follow that standard.

If your system accepted the mail through DECnet, then it should be
rewriting the headers before it delivers the mail to you, if you want
to use an RFC822 message format.  In any case, whoever moves the mail
from one addressing domain to another must rewrite the headers.

You might try compiling MH with BERK and DUMB defined, but I can't
guarantee that even using both of those will defeat enough of the
address parser to make it work for you.
--
John Romine

mst@mx.csun.edu (Mike Temkin) (12/29/90)

In article <277B92EF.4416@ics.uci.edu> jromine@ics.uci.edu (John Romine) writes:
>mst@secs.csun.edu (Mike Temkin) writes:
>>We have a problem here at CSUN.  We have machines that run both UNIX and VMS
>
>If your system accepted the mail through DECnet, then it should be
>rewriting the headers before it delivers the mail to you, if you want
>to use an RFC822 message format.  In any case, whoever moves the mail
>from one addressing domain to another must rewrite the headers.
>
>You might try compiling MH with BERK and DUMB defined, but I can't
>guarantee that even using both of those will defeat enough of the
>address parser to make it work for you.
>--
>John Romine

Yes, the mail is sent and received via DECnet and the headers cannot
be rewritten by the sender (and as I said, if the receiver rewrites
the headers and puts the sender in the wrong domain).  I guess I will
have to hack the parser routines and get it to recognize "::" as well
as ":" (if possible).

Thanks,
Mike.
--
Mike Temkin
mst@csun.edu
Cal. State U. Northridge, School of Engineering and Computer Science
Voice phone: (818) 885-3919