Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!wiley!david From: david@wiley.UUCP (David Hull) Newsgroups: news.software.nntp Subject: Re: What do I put in Path? Message-ID: <9031@wiley.UUCP> Date: 4 Mar 90 08:51:31 GMT References: <8950@wiley.UUCP> <8988@wiley.UUCP> <1990Mar1.044342.2928@haven.umd.edu> Organization: TRW Inc., Redondo Beach, CA Lines: 34 In article <1990Mar1.044342.2928@haven.umd.edu> louie@sayshell.umd.edu (Louis A. Mamakos) writes: >These newsreaders are fundamentally hosed if they [use Path: to route >replies]. Almost all of our news links are via NNTP, and you can't use >the Path: line to send mail back; its not a valid UUCP (or otherwise) >mail path. vnews (part of the B news distribution) and rn will both use Path: for the reply if INTERNET is not defined. However, my guess is that even most UUCP-only sites define INTERNET and have their mail systems forward addresses they don't understand to some site which does. That's what we do. In article emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti) writes: >[Quoting RFC1036:] > The "Path" line is not used for replies, and should not be taken as > a mailing address. It is intended to show the route the message > traveled to reach the local host. Ah, but you left out the last paragraph in this section: Special upward compatibility note: Since the "From", "Sender", and "Reply-To" lines are in Internet format, and since many USENET hosts do not yet have mailers capable of understanding Internet format, it would break the reply capability to completely sever the connection between the "Path" header and the reply function. It is recognized that the path is not always a valid reply string in older implementations, and no requirement to fix this problem is placed on implementations. However, the existing convention of placing the host name and an "!" at the front of the path, and of starting the path with the host name, an "!", and the user name, should be maintained when possible. -David