Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site hou3c.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!hou3c!wcwells%ucbopal.CC@Berkeley.ARPA From: wcwells%ucbopal.CC@Berkeley.ARPA (William C. Wells) Newsgroups: net.mail.headers Subject: Re: smtp, errors and delivery Message-ID: <8403081948.AA02084@ucbopal.CC.Berkeley.ARPA> Date: Thu, 8-Mar-84 14:48:17 EST Article-I.D.: hou3c.401 Posted: Thu Mar 8 14:48:17 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 10-Mar-84 10:31:26 EST Sender: ka@hou3c.UUCP (Kenneth Almquist) Lines: 41 To: Header-People@MIT-MC Military message systems operate on three basic principles: reliability, speed, and security. Of the three, "reliability is paramount". I think you will find that an electronic mail system that permits messages to "drop into a black hole" will not be acceptable for Defense Data Network (ie. MILNET) use. Mail transport agents should be responsible for ensuring the FROM in SMTP and the "From" in the mail header are correct both when received and when transmitted. This may require that gateway mail transport agents modify the address when the message is transmitted by a gateway into a different mail domain or mail system. For non-Internet mail addresses, this means transforming the address into an address that is acceptable to the Internet world. It may mean adding the source "route" (eg. @host.domain:) of the gateway mail transport agent to the front of the From address, or changing the address into the form: "off-net-address"@mail-gateway-id.registered-top-domain-name where the address to the right of the "@" sign is a valid Internet mail domain name. Receiving mail transport agents should check the FROM field, if the syntax is correct, but the domain name is not, then they should add the domain name of the sending mail transport agent to the front of the source "route" in the address to ensure a reply path. --- Hmmmm. That would imply the addresses of the form: <@mail-gate.Internet-top-domain:local-address@hostid.non-ARPA-domain-name> for example: <@mail-relay.ARPA:userid@hostid.local-netid> should be legal within the Internet mail world. That is, if the first domain-name in the source "route" is known and valid within the current mail domain, and the syntax of the address is correct, then the address should be accepted by the receiving mail transport agent. Bill Wells, Computing Services, UC Berkeley wcwells@Berkeley.ARPA or ...!ucbvax!wcwells