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Re: header-munging

"D. J. Bernstein" <djb@koobera.math.uic.edu> Sat, 21 September 1996 22:44 UTC

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From: "D. J. Bernstein" <djb@koobera.math.uic.edu>
To: ietf-smtp@list.cren.net
Subject: Re: header-munging
X-Listprocessor-Version: 8.1 -- ListProcessor(tm) by CREN

I've found that for abstraction it's helpful to focus on the _objects_
involved: in particular, how an e-mail message evolves over time.


At one end is a message ``mailed'' by the sender. This message must
comply with RFC 822. Date is the moment when the sender authorized
mailing---e.g., by pressing a Send button.

At the other end is a message ``delivered'' to its envelope recipient.
The meaning of delivery is defined by the owner of the recipient's
domain.

The evolution of a mailed message into a delivered message is defined by
RFC 821 and RFC 974. MTAs have to do one transformation along the way:
prepend Received fields. Other transformations here are corruption.


In this model, passing a message through the SUBMIT port is a command
from the client to the SUBMIT server saying ``Fix up this message and
mail the result.''

---Dan

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