Article View: comp.mail.misc
Article #2210Re: a!b@c
From: Kevin Darcy
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 00:55
Date: Thu, 12 Nov 1992 00:55
73 lines
3331 bytes
3331 bytes
In article <1992Nov11.171241.20094@news.acns.nwu.edu> skrenta@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Rich Skrenta) writes:
>I used to think that a!b@c meant "give the message to a with address
>b@c" (Perhaps that's what smail 2.5 did?). Lately I've been seeing
>lots of address binding @ the other way: "deliver to c with address a!b".
>
>In other words, which is it:
>
> a!b@c -> @c:a!b
> a!b@c -> @a:b@c
From RFC 976:
2.1 Hybrid Addresses
There are (among others) two major kinds of mailing address syntax
used in the UUCP world. The a!b!c!user ("bang paths") is used by
older UUCP software to explicitly route mail to the destination. The
user@domain ("domain") syntax is used in conformance to RFC-822.
Under most circumstances, it is possible to look at a given address
and determine which sort of address it is. However, a hybrid address
with a ! to the left of an @, such as a!b@c, is ambiguous: it could
be interpreted as (a!b)@c.d or a!(b@c.d). Both interpretations can
be useful. The first interpretation is required by RFC-822, the
second is a de-facto standard in the UUCP software.
Because of the confusion surrounding hybrid addresses, we recommend
that all transport layer software avoid the use of hybrid addresses
at all times. A pure bang syntax can be used to disambiguate, being
written c.d!a!b in the first case above, and a!c.d!b in the second.
We recommend that all implementations use this "bang domain" syntax
unless they are sure of what is running on the next machine.
In conformance with RFC-822 and the AT&T Message Transfer
Architecture, we recommand that any host that accepts hybrid
addresses apply the (a!b)@c.d interpretation.
---
There you go -- RFC 976 tells you that
a!b@c -> @c:a!b
amidst whining about not using hybrid addresses at all. :-)
>And what of:
>
> b%a@c
>
>Is there a standard which addresses this? Are most sites giving
>@ higher precedence, or !?
RFC 1123, Section 5.2.16:
---
An embedded source route is sometimes encoded in the
"local-part" using "%" as a right-binding routing
operator. For example, in:
user%domain%relay3%relay2@relay1
the "%" convention implies that the mail is to be routed
from "relay1" through "relay2", "relay3", and finally to
"user" at "domain". This is commonly known as the "%-
hack".
---
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
kevin@cfc.com | Kevin Darcy, Unix Systems Administrator
...heifetz!cfctech!kevin | Technical Services (CFC)
Voice: (313) 759-7140 | Chrysler Corporation
Fax: (313) 758-8173 | 25999 Lawrence Ave, Center Line, MI 48015
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Technical Details
Message-ID:
<1992Nov12.005508.15452@cfctech.cfc.com>Path:
arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!charon.amdahl.com!pacbell.com!sgiblab!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rphroy!cfctech!kevinReferences:
<1992Nov11.171241.20094@news.acns.nwu.edu>Show Full Headers
Complete Article Headers
Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!charon.amdahl.com!pacbell.com!sgiblab!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rphroy!cfctech!kevin From: kevin@cfctech.cfc.com (Kevin Darcy) Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc Subject: Re: a!b@c Message-ID: <1992Nov12.005508.15452@cfctech.cfc.com> Date: 12 Nov 92 00:55:08 GMT References: <1992Nov11.171241.20094@news.acns.nwu.edu> Organization: Chrysler Financial Corp., Southfield, MI Lines: 73