Xref: utzoo comp.mail.sendmail:2795 comp.mail.headers:641 comp.mail.misc:4978 comp.mail.uucp:5974 Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!noao!ncar!gatech!utkcs2!moore From: moore@cs.utk.edu (Keith Moore) Newsgroups: comp.mail.sendmail,comp.mail.headers,comp.mail.misc,comp.mail.uucp Subject: Re: Use of Errors-To: Message-ID: <1991Mar5.004324.22018@cs.utk.edu> Date: 5 Mar 91 00:43:24 GMT References: <88419@sgi.sgi.com> <1991Mar2.212126.3567@cs.utk.edu> Sender: usenet@cs.utk.edu (USENET News Poster) Organization: University of Tennessee, Knoxville - CS Department Lines: 37 In article mib@wookumz.ai.mit.edu (Michael I Bushnell) writes: >In article <1991Mar2.212126.3567@cs.utk.edu> moore@chili.cs.utk.edu (Keith Moore) writes: > > Errors-to: is not officially sanctioned by the RFCs, which dictate > that errors should be reported to the *envelope* From: address (which > is supposed to be copied to the Return-path: header during final > delivery). So just because sendmail recognizes the Errors-to: header > and does something useful with it does not relieve it of its > obligation to report errors to the envelope From: address. > >Ack! No! The errors go to the Sender:, and if that field isn't there, >to the From:. > > -mib Okay, I'll elaborate to make myself clearer. RFC821 clearly says that any errors in message transfer should get reported to the argument to the SMTP MAIL FROM command, which is copied to the RFC822 Return-path header on delivery. Of course, this only applies to SMTP transfers. RFC822 does indeed say that errors should be reported to the address in the Sender header, if present. Therefore, if a Sender: address is present in the original message, that address should appear in SMTP's MAIL FROM command instead of the From: address. Similarly, when RFC822 style messages are used with other kinds of mail transport, the Sender address from the header, if present, should be copied to the envelope From: address (e.g. the UUCP "From " line) so that errors will be sent to whoever actually sent the message. MTAs (other than gateways) should probably not even look at headers, and should certainly not send error messages to header addresses. Keith -- -- Keith Moore / U.Tenn CS Dept / 107 Ayres Hall / Knoxville TN 37996-1301 Internet: moore@cs.utk.edu BITNET: moore@utkvx