Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-lcc!ames!haven!adm!cmcl2!phri!ccnysci!jeffrey From: jeffrey@ccnysci.UUCP (Jeffrey L Bromberger) Newsgroups: comp.mail.uucp Subject: funny address causes strange things Summary: Novice asks question about address Keywords: sendmail infinite loop Message-ID: <1139@ccnysci.UUCP> Date: 4 Jan 89 22:08:07 GMT Reply-To: jeffrey@ccnysci.UUCP (Jeffrey L Bromberger) Followup-To: comp.mail.uucp Organization: City College of New York Lines: 57 I got a bounced message back from a machine, and it specified _my_ address like this: <@cmcl2.NYU.EDU:ccnysci!ccnysci.UUCP!jeffrey@cmcl2.NYU.EDU> Just for fun, I tried to send mail to me at that address, and did sendmail ever have a fit! I got 2 messages back, as follows: ================message # 1==================== From MAILER-DAEMON Wed Jan 4 16:43:51 1989 Received: by ccnysci.UUCP (5.51/1.00.UUCP-MOD.11-2-88) id AB11753; Wed, 4 Jan 89 16:43:45 EST Date: Wed, 4 Jan 89 16:43:45 EST From: Mail Delivery Subsystem Subject: Returned mail: Unable to deliver mail Message-Id: <8901042143.AB11753@ccnysci.UUCP> To: jeffrey@ccnysci.UUCP Status: RO ----- Transcript of session follows ----- 554 sendall: too many hops (17 max) ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: by ccnysci.UUCP (5.51/1.00.UUCP-MOD.11-2-88) id AA11753; Wed, 4 Jan 89 16:43:45 EST [another 16 times deleted] ================message # 2==================== From MAILER-DAEMON Wed Jan 4 16:43:52 1989 Received: by ccnysci.UUCP (5.51/1.00.UUCP-MOD.11-2-88) id AA11750; Wed, 4 Jan 89 16:43:41 EST Date: Wed, 4 Jan 89 16:43:41 EST From: Mail Delivery Subsystem Subject: Returned mail: Internal error Message-Id: <8901042143.AA11750@ccnysci.UUCP> To: jeffrey@ccnysci.UUCP Status: RO ----- Transcript of session follows ----- resolve '@cmcl2.NYU.EDU:ccnysci!ccnysci.UUCP!jeffrey@cmcl2.NYU.EDU' = @cmcl2.NYU.EDU:ccnysci!ccnysci.UUCP!jeffrey@cmcl2.NYU.EDU @ (1) COMMAND: /usr/lib/sendmail -em -fccnysci.UUCP!jeffrey '@cmcl2.NYU.EDU:ccnysci!ccnysci.UUCP!jeffrey@cmcl2.NYU.EDU' 554 @cmcl2.NYU.EDU:ccnysci!ccnysci.UUCP!jeffrey@cmcl2.NYU.EDU... Internal error ----- Unsent message follows ----- [same message as before] =============================================== Would somebody be so kind as to explain exactly what I told the mailer to do (besides get confused)? I have only seen addresses like this in nightmarish letters, and they are almost impossible to reply to. I believe there is a RFC that explains what all this means, but I'm a bit unsure about that. Any help clarifying this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. -- Jeffrey L. Bromberger System Operator---City College of New York---Science Computing Facility Anywhere!{cmcl2,philabs,phri}!ccnysci!jeffrey jeffrey@ccnysci.BITNET