Path: utzoo!yunexus!ists!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!usc!orion.oac.uci.edu!meggers
From: meggers@orion.oac.uci.edu (mark eggers)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: SMTP and multiple messages with one connection
Keywords: one QUIT, many messages
Message-ID: <3674@orion.cf.uci.edu>
Date: 16 Nov 89 20:23:52 GMT
Article-I.D.: orion.3674
Organization: University of California, Irvine
Lines: 44

Folks,
     I have an  annoying mail compatibility problem. I am running a Macintosh
set up to do SMTP-QuickMail bridging. For the most part, things work well.
I can send and receive mail from the Internet (even uses MX records). The
problem appears when the Macintosh software has to receive more than one
mail message from the same host. An example sequence follows:

S:	helo remote-host
R:	250
S:	mail from:<remote-person>
R:	250
S:	rcpt to:<local-person>
R:	250
S:	data
R:	354
S:	blah, blah, blah
S:	.
R:	250
S:	mail from:<remote-person>
R:	500
S:	RSET

and die.

     The Macintosh software is expecting a helo - quit pair for each
mail message (I guess). The mail log on the Macintosh complains about
missing a QUIT. The mail eventually gets delivered, but for some hosts
and mail systems (not mentioned to protect the guilty), this behavior
can block the remote mail channel. Needless to say, the remote host
operators are not real pleased.

     I noticed that in RFC 821 multiple messages should be deliverable
with one TCP connection (Appendix F, Scenario 10, Too Many Recipients
Scenario). This mode seems efficient - so is the Macintosh software
brain-dead in this instance, or the remote host for doing this (or most
likely, the Macintsoh, but the remote host should not care).

Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Mark Eggers, Network Communications Analyst, UCI

phone:       (714) 856-6845

/mde/