Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site sdcsvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!sdcsvax!jww From: jww@sdcsvax.UUCP (Joel West) Newsgroups: net.unix-wizards,net.mail,net.bugs.uucp Subject: Re: Avoiding expansion of mail's metacharacters Message-ID: <1043@sdcsvax.UUCP> Date: Fri, 16-Aug-85 11:26:10 EDT Article-I.D.: sdcsvax.1043 Posted: Fri Aug 16 11:26:10 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 21:38:55 EDT References: <1391@cbosgd.UUCP> <2637@sun.uucp> Organization: CACI, Inc - Federal, La Jolla Lines: 47 Xref: watmath net.unix-wizards:14449 net.mail:1054 net.bugs.uucp:578 > There's an obvious and easy way to fix this problem. > > Put ALL the information in the input file! > > The only information that needs to go over the uucp link is "run this > program on this input file". No argv. The shell is happy to > deal with that, and the program is free to place any interpretation > on the input file. This won't always work. Suppose you've got a message To: ihnp4!cbosgd!bill, decvax!decwrl!june, sdcsvax!sdcc3!george, ucbvax!ucbfunky!ellen When ihnp4 gets this message, what should it conclude? That it should only try to deliver the copy to "ihnp4..."? Even if it has direct paths to sdcsvax and ucbvax? Or should it just try to deliver to everyone? Of course, if I write just To: ihnp4!bill on my home site (gould9), it will get there because of a smart pathalias mailer. This mailer does not rewrite the mail headers, only change the UUX machine routing list. Another example is blind carbon copies. A really smart mailer will distribute two copies of the message, one with the "bcc" line in the text for the "bcc" recipients; the other with "bcc" omitted for everyone else. However, most mailers seem to leave the "bcc" line out for all users, which makes it impossible to deduce in which direction the message is heading. Finally, at least some mailers do not expand a mailing list in the "To:" line but leave it as is (I think this is good). This means that the message To: mac-users@sdcsvax.UUCP can only be decoded by the explicit name expansion done at the original host site, which was carried in the delivery instructions (either via uux or SMTP.) It's actually a lot easier to write a mailer that doesn't require explicit delivery instructions, but just looks at the contents of the message. However, at this point, that approach just won't cut it. Joel West CACI, Inc. - Federal (c/o UC San Diego) {ucbvax,decvax,ihnp4}!sdcsvax!jww jww@SDCSVAX.ARPA