SMTP addresses in <>

Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu
Fri Jan 4 20:11:45 UTC 2008


On Fri, 04 Jan 2008 07:51:15 PST, Seth Mattinen said:
> 
> I'm having a bit of an argument with a customer over the command syntax 
> in RFC 2821 that shows command arguments for MAIL/RCPT commands in 
> brackets, i.e.:
> 
> Path = "<" [ A-d-l ":" ] Mailbox ">"
> Mailbox = Local-part "@" Domain
> 
> Our mail servers reject connections that don't follow the RFC. Am I 
> wrong to do this? This guy certainly thinks so, even after I've cited 

The best reason I've come up with for rejecting mail from software so totally
brain-dead that they can't get the < > around an address right is this:

If they botch this, they've probably botched a bunch of other stuff, and
accepting mail from them is almost certain to lead to grief once you send the
'250 OK' after DATA.

If they couldn't get < > *around* the address in the MAIL FROM:, what makes
you think the address is valid?  Where does any ensuing bounce end up?

And more importantly, can you find out what crapware is that brain-dead and
let us know, so that those of us who believe in enforcing standards can shun it?

:)
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