Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!umich!umeecs!msi-s0.msi.umn.edu!cs.umn.edu!thelake!steve From: steve@thelake.mn.org (Steve Yelvington) Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp Subject: How bad From_ lines are handled Message-ID: Date: 22 Jul 90 05:14:06 GMT Organization: Otter Lake Leisure Society Lines: 34 X-Member-Of: STdNET I noticed a problem tonight with some mail that came in from a Fidonet gateway. The error message was: ======= command failed ======= COMMAND: /bin/lmail steve ======= standard error follows ======= lmail.ttp: Missing or bad From_ line -- no mail delivered. ======= text of message follows ======= >From bungia!umn-cs!plains!uunet.UU.NET!m2xenix!puddle!f4.n320.z2.fidonet.org!Vincent.Pomey Received: by bungia.MN.ORG (smail2.5 (MN.ORG)) id AA13392; 21 Jul 90 15:05:16 CDT (Sat) et cetera. Apparently the "From " line in all the mail I've received from Vincent does not include the date-time information that normally follows the path. So I have a couple of questions: * Is this a known problem with Fidonet gateways? Or is it possible that an intermediate site is truncating the line? The message headers say X-Mailer: mailout v1.26 released. * Is it common for delivery agents to be this picky? I don't know why the date would be so darned important. If I had failed to define aliases for bad-mail and bounced-mail, I probably would not have received the messages. I'd rather get them with bad headers than not get them at all. We're using lmail as a delivery agent and Smail 2.5 as a smart mailer. Both have been ported to TOS (Atari ST) from Un*x sources. -- Steve Yelvington at the lake in Minnesota steve@thelake.mn.org