🚀 go-pugleaf

In reply to:

	Date: Sat 25 Aug 84 09:12:21-PDT
	From: Mark Crispin <MRC@SU-SCORE.ARPA>
	Subject: Re:  user-editable mail headers

	....

	     I feel it violates all concepts of modularity to have the
	mail delivery agent know about whatever is inside the message.
	Part of the problem is that the Internet mail protocols still
	insist upon having syntax-checking of this thing called a
	"message header" inside the message, instead of having all that
	stuff be external and/or obtained from the envelope at the
	transport level where it belongs.
	-------

Lets be clear about whether you are talking about mail user agent
or mail transport agent functions. A message composed by a user should
have its headers validated before it is passed to a mail transport
agent to be transmitted.  That is, the header should be full and
complete before it is passed to the envelope builder.

I concur that the envelope should contain the information it needs
to the job.  For example, Precedence and Classification should be
part of the SMTP envelope. But since those fields are user defined
(in the DOD community), they first have to be in the "contents" header.

Within the same mail system, it should not be necessary for intermediate
mail agent program to check or modify the "contents" message header
(with the exception of adding the "Received" audit trail).  However,
when the message is gatewayed into another mail system, format and
address conversion may need to be preformed.

I think some of the problems we have been having are a result of the
unofficial policy of making mail programs liberal in what they are
willing to receive and (hopefully) strict about what they transmit.

I would like to suggest that gateway mail agents enforce the rules.
If you are a gateway into the Internet mail community, you should have
a syntax and address checker between the Internet mail agent program
and the non-Internet mail system. Of course, if you want to be kind
to your non-Internet neighbor, you can put a conversion program
between the non-Internet mail system and the check program.

Bill Wells
wcwells@Berkeley.ARPA
ucbvax!wcwells
WCWELLS@UCBJADE.BITNET