Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!uunet!world!kaspar!ires
From: ires@kaspar.ires.com (Bruce R Larson)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.admin
Subject: Re: Controlling 'From' in mail headers? Help!
Summary: rfc1123 is unclear on the precedence of "%"
Message-ID: <110@kaspar.ires.com>
Date: 29 Apr 91 04:53:33 GMT
References: <262@java.sophia.com> <MAINE.91Apr23082910@ra.dfrf.nasa.gov> <b4gzf5.9mo@wang.com>
Reply-To: <ires@kaspar.ires.com>
Organization: Integral Resources, Milton, MA
Lines: 28

In article <b4gzf5.9mo@wang.com> fitz@wang.com (Tom Fitzgerald) writes:
>[ mucho deleted ]
>
>	path!to!domain.com!peter%uucpmachine
>
>If either of the machines 'path' or 'to' obey RFC 1123, they will try to
>pass it directly to uucpmachine, skipping over domain.com entirely, and
>the mail will fail.  Only machines that violate RFC 1123 in this respect
>will forward the mail properly.
>
The meaning of rfc1123 is not crystal clear on this issue.

Here is the offending passage fron Section 5.2.16:
``...  It is suggested that "%" have lower precedence than any
  other routing operator (e.g., "!") hidden in the local-part;
  for example, "a!b%c" would be interpreted as "(a!b)%c".''

On the one hand it suggests that "%" should have lower precedence
than "!", but on the other hand it suggests that "a!b%c" would
be interpreted as "(a!b)%c".  The former make much more sense
when "%"s are interpreted only in the local part of an address.

Bruce
-- 
Bruce R. Larson
Integral Resources, Milton MA
Internet:  blarson@ires.com
Uucp:  ..!{world|uunet}!ires.com!blarson