Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!munnari!kre
From: kre@munnari.oz (Robert Elz)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.headers
Subject: Re: Apparently-To: and msgs with no To: header
Message-ID: <1355@munnari.oz>
Date: Fri, 5-Dec-86 08:29:59 EST
Article-I.D.: munnari.1355
Posted: Fri Dec  5 08:29:59 1986
Date-Received: Sun, 7-Dec-86 03:31:03 EST
References: <606@mtunf.UUCP> <2338@psuvax1.UUCP> <1375@umd5> <1389@hoptoad.uucp>
Organization: Comp Sci, Melbourne Uni, Australia
Lines: 32

In article <1389@hoptoad.uucp>, gnu@hoptoad.uucp (John Gilmore) writes:
> Apparently-To: is a joke header

I agree with this - adding this header doesn't correct the
problem with the original headers, there is still no proper
destination header, so there doesn't seem to be a lot of
point adding it (its only done if the headers aren't rfc822
compliant, because of having no destination)

> One of the first things I did to sendmail at Sun
> was to fix this to just insert a To: line.

This is OK if the mail originated at your site, but otherwise
this certainly isn't the way to fix it.  This makes it impossible
to tell that the To: line wasn't there all the time, which is why
Eric chose Apparently-To - to make that obvious.  There's no way
a mailer somewhere down the path can insert a "To:" header that is
accurate - in most cases its likely to omit recipients, but it may
also include some who should have been in a bcc: header, and so not
shown at all.  (Apparently-To has this defect as well).

Given that the desire is to make the headers legal rfc822,
my suggestion is to add a header like

	bcc: (adressees unknown)

This satisfies rfc822 (bcc is one of the allowable destination
headers, and it need not carry any address information on it,
unllike the others) while not pretending to state any facts
that can't possibly be guaranteed.

Robert Elz		kre@munnari.oz