mailaddr(7) [suse man page]
MAILADDR(7) Linux User's Manual MAILADDR(7) NAME
mailaddr - mail addressing description DESCRIPTION
This manual page gives a brief introduction to SMTP mail addresses, as used on the Internet. These addresses are in the general format user@domain where a domain is a hierarchical dot-separated list of subdomains. These examples are valid forms of the same address: eric@monet.berkeley.edu Eric Allman <eric@monet.berkeley.edu> eric@monet.berkeley.edu (Eric Allman) The domain part ("monet.berkeley.edu") is a mail-accepting domain. It can be a host and in the past it usually was, but it doesn't have to be. The domain part is not case sensitive. The local part ("eric") is often a username, but its meaning is defined by the local software. Sometimes it is case sensitive, although that is unusual. If you see a local-part that looks like garbage, it is usually because of a gateway between an internal e-mail system and the net, here are some examples: "surname/admd=telemail/c=us/o=hp/prmd=hp"@some.where USER%SOMETHING@some.where machine!machine!name@some.where I2461572@some.where (These are, respectively, an X.400 gateway, a gateway to an arbitrary internal mail system that lacks proper internet support, an UUCP gateway, and the last one is just boring username policy.) The real-name part ("Eric Allman") can either be placed before <>, or in () at the end. (Strictly speaking the two aren't the same, but the difference is beyond the scope of this page.) The name may have to be quoted using "", for example, if it contains ".": "Eric P. Allman" <eric@monet.berkeley.edu> Abbreviation. Many mail systems let users abbreviate the domain name. For instance, users at berkeley.edu may get away with "eric@monet" to send mail to Eric Allman. This behavior is deprecated. Sometimes it works, but you should not depend on it. Route-addrs. In the past, sometimes one had to route a message through several hosts to get it to its final destination. 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. Many hosts disregard route-addrs and send directly to hostc. Route-addrs are very unusual now. They occur sometimes in old mail archives. It is generally possible to ignore all but the "user@hostc" part of the address to determine the actual address. Postmaster. Every site is required to have a user or user alias designated "postmaster" to which problems with the mail system may be addressed. The "postmaster" address is not case sensitive. FILES
/etc/aliases ~/.forward SEE ALSO
binmail(1), mail(1), mconnect(1), aliases(5), forward(5), sendmail(8), vrfy(8) RFC 2822 (Internet Message Format) COLOPHON
This page is part of release 3.25 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, and information about reporting bugs, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/. 4.2 Berkeley Distribution 2004-09-15 MAILADDR(7)
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MAILADDR(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual MAILADDR(7) NAME
mailaddr - mail addressing description DESCRIPTION
Mail addresses are based on the ARPANET 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, the address eric@monet.berkeley.edu is normally interpreted from right to left: the message should go to the ARPA name tables (which do not correspond exactly to the physical ARPANET), then to the Berkeley gateway, after which it should go to the local host monet. When the message reaches monet it is delivered to the user ``eric''. Unlike some other forms of addressing, this does not imply any routing. Thus, although this address is specified as an ARPA address, it might travel by an alternate route if that were more convenient or efficient. For example, at Berkeley, the associated message would prob- ably go directly to monet over the Ethernet rather than going via the Berkeley ARPANET 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@monet'' without adding the ``berkeley.edu'' since it is the same on both sending and receiving hosts. Certain other abbreviations may be permitted as special cases. For example, at Berkeley, ARPANET hosts may be referenced without adding the ``berkeley.edu'' as long as their names do not conflict with a local host name. Compatibility. Certain old address formats are converted to the new format to provide compatibility with the previous mail system. In particular, user@host.ARPA is allowed and host:user is converted to user@host to be consistent with the rcp(1) command. Also, the syntax 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. The current implementation is not able to route messages automatically through the UUCP network. Until that time you must explicitly tell the mail system which hosts to send your message through to get to your final destination. 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 host- names. 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 possi- ble to ignore all but the ``user@domain'' part of the address to determine the actual sender. 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. 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 ARPANET-style addresses do not coexist politely. SEE ALSO
mail(1), sendmail(8); Crocker, D. H., Standard for the Format of Arpa Internet Text Messages, RFC822. 4.2 Berkeley Distribution July 27, 1987 MAILADDR(7)