[ On Saturday, November 8, 2003 at 07:37:09 (-0500), Suresh Ramasubramanian wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: [Exim] Re: OT: Outlook don't support multilines 550 return codes ?!?
>
> Or stop generating multiline error messages / smtp banners - outlook is
> not the only client that breaks with these.
Exim isn't the only mailer that sends multi-line SMTP responses either.
The number of SMTP clients that don't properly handle multi-line SMTP
responses is very small and insignificant in terms of actual
installations in use (Other than M$-Outlook, of course, since including
a monopoly in the comparison makes all the others invisible).
More importantly the number of MTAs that cannot handle multi-line SMTP
responses is also very small and insignificant.
M$-Outlook and the other few rare pieces of junk are so totaly broken in
this respect that they are not worthy of further consideration.
Multi-line responses are probably one of the best and longest known
features of this very long-standing and widely used protocol we call
SMTP.
> "Be conservative in what you send and generous in what you accept" still
> holds good.
That argument is totally bogus and completely invalid in this situation.
In fact it applies far more here to M$-Lookout than anything else!
If your users complain that the error messages they see in their client
programs are wrong or obviously incomplete then it is almost trivial to
show them that the fault lies entirely in their broken software and that
there are multitudes of far more competent and less broken alternatives
that they could use instead.
--
Greg A. Woods
+1 416 218-0098 VE3TCP RoboHack <woods@???>
Planix, Inc. <woods@???> Secrets of the Weird <woods@???>
