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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!lll-lcc!unisoft!hoptoad!academ!killer!elg
From: elg@killer.UUCP (* Airwick *)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc,comp.mail.uucp
Subject: Re: Bracketing in mail addresses - NO NO NO NO NO
Message-ID: <995@killer.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 13-Jun-87 14:52:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: killer.995
Posted: Sat Jun 13 14:52:11 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 21-Jun-87 05:50:47 EDT
References: <654@vixie.UUCP>
Organization: Bayou Telecommunications
Lines: 39
Xref: mnetor comp.mail.misc:363 comp.mail.uucp:624

in article <654@vixie.UUCP>, paul@vixie.UUCP (Paul Vixie Esq) says:
> Xref: killer comp.mail.misc:348 comp.mail.uucp:616
> Now the fact is that there IS NO SUCH THING as a bang address.  Bangs are
> used in routes, not addresses.  At-signs are used in addresses.  There is
> such a thing as a 'route-addr', which uses colons and commas, but I really
> don't understand much of that (which is too bad, since my sendmail.cf does!)

Gee, I'll have to tell that to the mailer here at machine "killer". It doesn't
understand @ signs at ALL. Doesn't ihnp4!foo!bar mean the same thing as
bar@foo, as far as differentiating the machine and ID of the reciever goes?
The only difference is that ihnp4!foo!bar also includes a little routing
info....  

If we define an "address" as a "unique identifier identifying a) the machine
of the recipient, and b), the ID of the recipient", then it's obvious that
both "bang" paths and "at" addresses are, in fact, both addresses, even though
one includes more information than the other.

>>A user of the ! syntax, whose mailer does not understand @ syntax, treats all
>>addresses as made up of components separated by bangs.  Even programs that
>>understand both types of addresses may arbitrarily choose one over the other.
> 
> A user of the ! syntax can get SMAIL for free, and join the internet.  A
> program that understands both bangs and at-signs can either do it the way
> the standards tell us to do it, or do it some other way.  If the program
> adheres to the standard, everybody's mail will get through.

There's one problem with this. The vast majority of system operators out there
are NOT mail gurus. Their machine comes with /bin/mail and /bin/mailx, their
mailer is rmail (which talks to uux), and they're busy doing their JOB instead
of trying to keep up with the latest "standards" to come out. Call it "head in
the sand" if you will, but most of these people don't even KNOW that SMAIL
exists. 

  --
Eric Green   elg%usl.CSNET     CS student, University of SW Louisiana
{cbosgd,ihnp4}!killer!elg      Apprentice Haquer, Bayou Telecommunications
Snail Mail P.O. Box 92191      BBS phone #: 318-984-3854  300/1200 baud
Lafayette, LA 70509            I disclaim my existence, and yours, too.