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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxn!ihnp4!plus5!hokey
From: hokey@plus5.UUCP (Hokey)
Newsgroups: net.mail
Subject: Re: automatic address rewriting by smart gateways
Message-ID: <806@plus5.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 30-Jul-85 14:43:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: plus5.806
Posted: Tue Jul 30 14:43:24 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 31-Jul-85 20:17:42 EDT
References: <568@decuac.UUCP> <531@down.FUN> <570@decuac.UUCP>
Reply-To: hokey@plus5.UUCP (Hokey)
Organization: Plus Five Computer Services, St. Louis, MO
Lines: 28
Summary: RFC822 header munging in UUCP land

One problem with classic RFC822 header lines in the UUCP environment is that
while there is no parsing ambiguity in an RFC822 header, there is still a
problem with user interfaces.  If I have simple sender and recipient fields
in the header and the mail between the sender and a recipient requires non-
local routing, what does one do about a reply?  The routing information is
not there.

By the same token, it is not really correct to keep the routing information
floating around, as the path will grow and grow with each reply.

Additionally, I think that it it is a good idea to put (at least) the
recipient fields of the 822 header into bang format in UUCP land, as
non-822 mailers still recognize the To: line, and they will produce replies
with hybrid paths.

There is also the issue of >From crushing.  I *like* knowing when a mail
message was sent to me.  We need to either fix sendmail to recognize multiple
>From lines as legal headers, or come up with a way to determine if a site
listed in the >From line has also put a corresponding Received: line in the
header.  It would be *swell* if we could come up with a mechanism to tell
other mailers how smart our mailer is, so that routes between smart mailers
could be optimized.  For example, we talk dorectly to seismo and ihnp4, but
we have mail for us sent through those sites go through another site on its
way to us.

-- 
Hokey           ..ihnp4!plus5!hokey
		  314-725-9492