mailaddr(7) [netbsd man page]
MAILADDR(7) BSD Miscellaneous Information Manual MAILADDR(7) NAME
mailaddr -- mail addressing description DESCRIPTION
Mail addresses are based on the Internet protocol listed at the end of this manual page. These addresses are in the general format user@domain where a domain is a hierarchical dot separated list of subdomains. For example, a valid address is: eric@CS.Berkeley.EDU Unlike some other (now obsolete) forms of addressing, domains do not imply any routing, or the existence of a particular host. Simply because mail may be sent to ``user@somedomain.com'' does not imply that there is any actual host named ``somedomain.com'', and does not imply a particular routing of the message. Routing is performed by Mail Transport Agents, such as postfix(1), based on policies set in the MTA's configuration. Abbreviation Under certain circumstances it may not be necessary to type the entire domain name. In general, anything following the first dot may be omitted if it is the same as the domain from which you are sending the message. For example, a user on ``calder.berkeley.edu'' could send to ``eric@CS'' without adding the ``berkeley.edu'' since it is the same on both sending and receiving hosts. Whether abbreviation is permitted depends on how your site is configured. Case Distinctions Domain names (i.e., anything after the ``@'' sign) may be given in any mixture of upper and lower case. Most hosts accept any combination of case in user names, although there are exceptions. Postmaster Every site is required to have a user or user alias designated ``postmaster'' to which problems with the mail system may be addressed, for example: postmaster@CS.Berkeley.EDU Obsolete Formats Certain old address formats, such as UUCP ``bang path'' addresses, explicitly routed internet addresses (so-called ``route-addrs'' and the ``percent hack'') and others have been used historically. All these addressing formats are now considered obsolete, and should no longer be used. To some extent, MTAs attempt to provide backward compatibility for these addressing forms, but in practice many of them no longer work. Users should always use standard Internet style addresses. SEE ALSO
mail(1) D. H. Crocker, Standard for the Format of Arpa Internet Text Messages, RFC, 822, August 1982. HISTORY
mailaddr appeared in 4.2BSD. BUGS
The RFC 822 group syntax (``group:user1,user2,user3;'') is not supported except in the special case of ``group:;'' because of a conflict with old berknet-style addresses, not that anyone cares about either berknet or group syntax style addresses any longer. BSD
June 16, 1998 BSD
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MAILADDR(7) BSD Miscellaneous Information Manual MAILADDR(7) NAME
mailaddr -- mail addressing description DESCRIPTION
Mail addresses are based on the Internet protocol listed at the end of this manual page. These addresses are in the general format user@domain where a domain is a hierarchical dot separated list of subdomains. For example, a valid address is: eric@CS.Berkeley.EDU Unlike some other forms of addressing, domains do not imply any routing. Thus, although this address is specified as an Internet address, it might travel by an alternate route if that were more convenient or efficient. For example, at Berkeley, the associated message would proba- bly go directly to CS over the Ethernet rather than going via the Berkeley Internet gateway. Abbreviation. Under certain circumstances it may not be necessary to type the entire domain name. In general, anything following the first dot may be omitted if it is the same as the domain from which you are sending the message. For example, a user on ``calder.berkeley.edu'' could send to ``eric@CS'' without adding the ``berkeley.edu'' since it is the same on both sending and receiving hosts. Compatibility. Certain old address formats are converted to the new format to provide compatibility with the previous mail system. In particular, user@host and user@host.domain are allowed; host.domain!user is converted to user@host.domain and host!user is converted to user@host.UUCP This is normally converted back to the ``host!user'' form before being sent on for compatibility with older UUCP hosts. Case Distinctions. Domain names (i.e., anything after the ``@'' sign) may be given in any mixture of upper and lower case with the exception of UUCP hostnames. Most hosts accept any combination of case in user names, with the notable exception of MULTICS sites. Route-addrs. Under some circumstances it may be necessary to route a message through several hosts to get it to the final destination. Normally this routing is done automatically, but sometimes it is desirable to route the message manually. Addresses which show these relays are termed ``route-addrs.'' These use the syntax: <@hosta,@hostb:user@hostc> This specifies that the message should be sent to hosta, from there to hostb, and finally to hostc. This path is forced even if there is a more efficient path to hostc. Route-addrs occur frequently on return addresses, since these are generally augmented by the software at each host. It is generally possible to ignore all but the ``user@hostc'' part of the address to determine the actual sender. [Note: the route-addr syntax is officially deprecated in RFC 1123 and should not be used.] Many sites also support the ``percent hack'' for simplistic routing: user%hostc%hostb@hosta is routed as indicated in the previous example. Postmaster. Every site is required to have a user or user alias designated ``postmaster'' to which problems with the mail system may be addressed. Other Networks. Some other networks can be reached by giving the name of the network as the last component of the domain. This is not a standard feature and may not be supported at all sites. For example, messages to CSNET or BITNET sites can often be sent to ``user@host.CSNET'' or ``user@host.BITNET'' respectively. SEE ALSO
mail(1), sendmail(8) Crocker, D. H., Standard for the Format of Arpa Internet Text Messages, RFC822. HISTORY
Mailaddr appeared in 4.2BSD. BUGS
The RFC822 group syntax (``group:user1,user2,user3;'') is not supported except in the special case of ``group:;'' because of a conflict with old berknet-style addresses. Route-Address syntax is grotty. UUCP- and Internet-style addresses do not coexist politely. BSD
June 16, 1993 BSD