Re: [Exim] Exim and RFC 2821 compliance

"Nils Puhlmann" wrote, Friday, November 21, 2003 10:13 AM

> I have a question in regards to the RFC 2821 compliance of Exim.
> It seems that Exim blocks messages with an empty return-path.
> For example this from the error log:
> F=<> rejected after DATA: syntax error in 'From:' header
> >when scanning for sender: missing or malformed local part in "" AV
> >Service" <>"
> >Envelope-from: <>
> But RFC 2821 says explicitly in chapter 3.7 relaying:
[snip discussion of null envelope sender]
> So now I wonder if Exim really is RFC compliant in this regard or not?

It is. An empty return path is:

MAIL FROM: <>

which is perfectly valid. What Exim is objecting to is:

From: "AV Service" <>

which is *not* valid, since `<>' is not a valid local part. The envelope
sender should be <>, but the `From' header should contain a real e-mail
address (usually something like Mailer-Daemon@domain).

Adam