On Fri, 13 Aug 2004, Philip Hazel wrote:
>
> 1. Exim (which I maintain) removes Bcc: lines if, and only if, it is
> called with the -t option. In that case, it is constructing an
> envelope from the header data, and IMHO in doing so it is fulfilling
> an MUA function. In all other cases it leaves Bcc: lines alone.
I agree that this is correct.
A small note about terminology: There's a trend towards splitting up the
MUA/MTA distinction further. In this part of the message handling process
you can also identify the "MSA" (mail submission agent), which is the
entity responsible for ensuring that the message is well-formed, and which
creates the initial envelope.
In the case of `sendmail -t`, sendmail (or compatible software) is
performing all of the MSA functionality.
In the case of the message submission protocol, the MSA function is split
between the user software (which creates the envelope) and the transport
software (which ensures 2822 conformance, especially w.r.t. Message-ID:
and Sender: headers).
This is an effort in reducing ambiguity, especially because of sendmail's
traditional propensity to "fux-up" messages it is handling. The point of
splitting the submission protocol from the use of SMTP smarthosts is so
that you can have a clear channel on port 25 and shift fix-up behaviour to
another port, where it is desirable rather than counterproductive. It's
obviously useful to have the same distinction in the command-line
interface, and that already exists depending on the presence or otherwise
of -t.
Tony.
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