Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!att!att!ima!bbn.com!craig
From: craig@bbn.com (Craig Partridge)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: question about SMTP MX records
Message-ID: <60201@bbn.BBN.COM>
Date: 19 Oct 90 12:06:34 GMT
References: <1990Oct18.164200.5699@ecst.csuchico.edu>
Sender: news@bbn.com
Reply-To: craig@ws6.nnsc.nsf.net.BBN.COM (Craig Partridge)
Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc., Cambridge MA
Lines: 30

In article <1990Oct18.164200.5699@ecst.csuchico.edu> robin@csuchico.edu (Robin Goldstone) writes:
>...  As a workaround, I thought I would just
>send to someone%applelink.apple.com@apple.com.  It is my (limited) 
>understanding that addresses are parsed from right to left, so this
>message would be sent to apple.com, who would then be able to forward
>it to applelink.apple.com.

>1) is the syntax of the address I am trying to use valid?

    Yes the syntax is correct.

>2) am I violating any network rules by routing my message through
>another host?

    No, though doing this sort of thing frequently (like sending all
your mail via another system because your system doesn't support MX)
is considered rude.

>3) should this message be getting delivered?  

    Yes.  Apple.com is the MX for applelink.apple.com, so it should
    accept mail for applelink.apple.com.  Note that if Apple.com was
    not the MX for applelink.apple.com, then all bets are off.  You
    should not assume that via j random host using the %-hack is
    safe or reasonable.

    You mention your mail is going into a black hole, that's definitely
    a problem.  Mail should not vanish without a trace...

Craig