Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!cica!iuvax!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!cs.niu.edu!rickert
From: rickert@mp.cs.niu.edu (Neil Rickert)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: uucp mail question
Keywords: uucp mail somewhere address paths
Message-ID: <1990Aug13.221553.17992@mp.cs.niu.edu>
Date: 13 Aug 90 22:15:53 GMT
References: <987@fico2.UUCP> <863@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Northern Illinois University
Lines: 72

In article <863@gvlv2.GVL.Unisys.COM> tim@gvlf9.GVL.Unisys.COM (Timothy Scharping) writes:
>In article <987@fico2.UUCP> rca@fico2.UUCP (The OTHER Rick Adams) writes:
>>I'm in the midst of writing a uucp implementation for my home computer.
>>I notice that mail from my site ("ccentral") tends to have the word
>>"somewhere" inserted in the address, by other mailers.  So mail is
>>received as coming from ...!apple!fico2!somewhere!ccentral!rickadams.
>
>The problem that I am having is caused by an improper From (no colon) line
>being received by rmail on the BSD machine.  A proper From line is composed 
>of an address followed by a date.
>
>From chris@ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM Mon Aug 13 15:01:00 1990
>
>When mail is sent via uucp something (uux??) should tack a "remote from"
>piece on the end of the From line.  A correct example looks like:
>
>From ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM!chris  Mon Aug 13 15:00:46 1990 remote from imagine
>
......
>The somewhere entry is created when rmail receives a message that doesn't
>have the "remote from" portion of the From line.  The rmail source is written
>
 I did some test on my rmail.  The following seems to be the story:

 Firstly, neither uux nor rmail provides the 'remote from'.  This comes from
the sending MTA.  For example, in a 'sendmail' based system, it is the
responsibility of 'sendmail' to add the 'remote from' to the end of the
Unix from line.

 Secondly, many versions of 'rmail' do not require the 'remote from'.  In my
4.3 based system, the vendor's version of rmail does not insist on a
'remote from'.  I suspect this is a common state of affairs in BSD systems.

 HOWEVER - rmail DOES insist on having a sending host name.  Because it is
used for UUCP transport, it uses a '!' to determine this system.

 Thus the line:

From chris@ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM Mon Aug 13 15:01:00 1990

does not have a 'remote from' nor a '!'.  Hence many rmail versions will
add a 'remote from somewhere'.

From chris@ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM Mon Aug 13 15:01:00 1990 remote from imagine

will not generate a 'somewhere', but will be converted by rmail into the
incorrect 'imagine!chris@ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM' as the sender.

From ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM!chris Mon Aug 13 15:01:00 1990 remote from imagine

is OK.  It will generate a sender address of 'imagine!ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM!chris'
which is correct, but is not a valid RFC822 address.  If you unleash this as
a sender address some Internet hosts will refuse to accept the mail.

From chris Mon Aug 13 15:01:00 1990 remote from ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM

 This might work.  It is risky with some systems, because of the periods, and
the length of the 'remote from' host name, which violate UUCP standards.

From ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM!chris Mon Aug 13 15:01:00 1990

 This is the best choice in many cases.  Many versions of 'rmail' will accept
it, in spite of their being no 'remote from' because there is at least an '!'.
Furthermore, if this is pumped into 'sendmail', most versions of 'sendmail.cf'
will convert 'ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM!chris' to 'chris@ADMS-RAD.Unisys.COM'
leaving a valid RFC822 address.

-- 
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=
  Neil W. Rickert, Computer Sci Dept, Northern Illinois U., DeKalb IL 60115
  InterNet, unix: rickert@cs.niu.edu              Bitnet, VM: T90NWR1@NIUCS
=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=