Re: [EXIM] Blank From Field resulting in : 550 sender requir…

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Author: Philip Hazel
Date:  
To: 020shero
CC: exim-users
Subject: Re: [EXIM] Blank From Field resulting in : 550 sender required
On Mon, 19 Oct 1998 020shero@??? wrote:

> Any clues as to why the FROM field is blank when Exim sends the
> following ("A message that you sent has not yet been delivered to all
> its recipients") message, and how to fix it.


It is so because it is supposed to be so. Read RFCs 821 and 1123, from
which the following extract is taken:

      5.2.9  Command Syntax: RFC-821 Section 4.1.2


         The syntax shown in RFC-821 for the MAIL FROM: command omits
         the case of an empty path:  "MAIL FROM: <>" (see RFC-821 Page
         15).  An empty reverse path MUST be supported.


[...]

      5.3.3  Reliable Mail Receipt


         When the receiver-SMTP accepts a piece of mail (by sending a
         "250 OK" message in response to DATA), it is accepting
         responsibility for delivering or relaying the message.  It must
         take this responsibility seriously, i.e., it MUST NOT lose the
         message for frivolous reasons, e.g., because the host later
         crashes or because of a predictable resource shortage.


         If there is a delivery failure after acceptance of a message,
         the receiver-SMTP MUST formulate and mail a notification
         message.  This notification MUST be sent using a null ("<>")
         reverse path in the envelope; see Section 3.6 of RFC-821.  The
         recipient of this notification SHOULD be the address from the
         envelope return path (or the Return-Path: line).  However, if
         this address is null ("<>"),  the receiver-SMTP MUST NOT send a
         notification.  If the address is an explicit source route, it
         SHOULD be stripped down to its final hop.


The message that is sent will have its Reply-To set according to your
configuration.

If some recipient an error message is complaining, then wave the above
quote at them. That's what I do.

Regards,
Philip

-- 
Philip Hazel            University of Cambridge Computing Service,
ph10@???      Cambridge, England. Phone: +44 1223 334714.



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