Avery Pennarun wrote:
> The problem here is an inconsistency in exim, made annoying by a
> poorly-implemented Windows NT POP server.
>
> The POP server includes the From_ "header" in each message, and fetchmail
> (probably correctly) passes it through unchanged. Now the inconsistent
> part:
>
> - this used to work with smail.
>
> - this works fine if I send the message from fetchmail into
> /usr/sbin/sendmail, instead of via SMTP.
>
> - if I send the message to exim via SMTP, exim thinks the From_
> header is the beginning of the message.
Yep. My company's product uses fetchmail and exim, and used to use
fetchmail and smail. We hit exactly the same problem with some
brain-dead ISPs who use Window$ NT.
> Now, the program violating any RFC's is most likely the broken POP server.
Got it in one. Unfortunately, the ISP refused to admit it, so I had to
hack fetchmail to throw out the offending line. It already throws out
lines starting with ">From" to avoid becoming an "accessory after the
fact" to certain broken sendmail configurations. I just added a second
test to throw out lines starting with "From ", when they occur at the
beginning of the headers.
I'm not sure fetchmail was correct in passing those lines through. They
are clearly not part of RFC822, and since fetchmail uses SMTP to deliver
messages, it should take some trouble to look for that sort of
brokenness. Exim is being inconsistent, but it _should_ be
inconsistent. Messages received through SMTP are expected to be
correct, and the sort of brain-damage-checking done on the command line
is just a waste of resources.
--Galen Hazelwood
--
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http://www.exim.org/ ***
