--On 24 April 2009 12:24:04 +0100 "Chambers, Phil"
<P.A.Chambers@???> wrote:
> I have just been dealing with an issue where we are blocking messages
> because the message header contains 'To: GroupName'. We reject at the
> end of the DATA phase with 'Unqualified address not permitted'. I
> believe this comes from 'verify = header_syntax' in my DATA ACL.
We have the same problem, occasionally. Except that we qualify unqualified
addresses when using local submissions. Of course, that's not the intended
effect and can screw up replies. If the groupname has a space, you end up
with an illegal header which we reject.
> The sender of the message is using Apple Mail and 'GroupName' is the name
> of an address group. He has ticked a box which says 'hide addresses of
> recipients' (or some such). I don't have Apple Mail available to look at
> the details.
That's about right. "Preferences...Composing...When sending to a group,
show all member addresses" will be unticked. I believe it's ticked by
default.
> I have explained that the proper syntax for this is 'To: GroupName:;' but
> the sender's response is predictably 'Apple can't be wrong'. I have also
> suggested he use the Bcc: header instead of the To: header. The response
> is 'you are the only site which rejects my mail, so you must be wrong'.
Apple have had this as a known bug for several years now. I reported it
many, many years ago - I think the first release of Mail with the OSX
public Beta.
They've actually made the situation worse - it used to be that you could
name your group "groupname:;", but they don't permit that now!
They did make an attempt to fix this, but using the (also illegal) syntax
"To: groupname:<>;". It's astonishingly incompetent that such a trivial fix
waited several years, and was then cocked up. I think they'll only properly
fix it when enough people make a bug report at <
https://bugreport.apple.com>
> I find it hard to believe that the sender is not getting this problem
> from other sites, so I am looking to find out if I am unusual in
> rejecting messages with unqualified addresses in the header (as opposed
> to the envelope). Would you allow such a message in?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Phil.
> --------------------
> Phil Chambers
> Postmaster
> University of Exeter
--
Ian Eiloart
IT Services, University of Sussex
01273-873148 x3148
For new support requests, see
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/its/help/
