pop3 changes

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I'm not a POP user, but I do support a POP3 server and have found what
I see as a very large gap in it's functionality.  Right now, POP3 does
not allow for a POP client to hand it mail to have sent out.  That
means that every single PC, Mac, etc. that runs a POP mail client has
to be configured to know how to send mail, or where to send it so that
it gets routed properly.  It also has to get the headers correct, etc.
It would seem to me that a way for a POP client to hand mail to the POP
server and have it do the trick of getting it delivered would be a much
preferable method.  The server can be configured for what should be in
the headers, and where to actually send the mail to have it delivered.
The only thing the POP client would need to know is where the POP server
is.  Right now POP clients on our campus have to know where the POP server
is, where the mail router machine is, and how to configure the headers.

In case you are wondering, we do not run the POP server on our main
mail router.  The machine that runs the POP server is configured to
accept incoming mail and hand it off to the mail router, but that means
we have to run both the POP server and an SMTP server on that machine,
and it means that POP clients have to know how to speak SMTP to send
mail.

I suppose this is something that would be better suited for POP4, but it
seems like something that should be there.  You normally pick up and send
mail at the postoffice.  Why should that not be the case for POP?

Brett McCoy, UNIX Systems Administrator
Computing and Network Services
Kansas State University,  Manhattan KS  66506
vox: [phone] / fax: [phone] / e-mail: [e-mail]