Annotation of 43BSDReno/share/man/man7/mailaddr.7, revision 1.1.1.1

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                     18: .\"     @(#)mailaddr.7 6.6 (Berkeley) 6/24/90
                     19: .\"
                     20: .Dd June 24, 1990
                     21: .Dt MAILADDR 7
                     22: .Os BSD 4.2
                     23: .Sh NAME
                     24: .Nm mailaddr
                     25: .Nd mail addressing description
                     26: .Sh DESCRIPTION
                     27: Mail addresses are based on the ARPANET protocol listed at the end of this
                     28: manual page.  These addresses are in the general format
                     29: .Pp
                     30: .Dl user@domain
                     31: .Pp
                     32: where a domain is a hierarchical dot separated list of subdomains.  For
                     33: example, the address
                     34: .Pp
                     35: .Dl [email protected]
                     36: .Pp
                     37: is normally interpreted from right to left: the message should go to the
                     38: ARPA name tables (which do not correspond exactly to the physical ARPANET),
                     39: then to the Berkeley gateway, after which it should go to the local host
                     40: monet.  When the message reaches monet it is delivered to the user ``eric''.
                     41: .Pp
                     42: Unlike some other forms of addressing, this does not imply any routing.
                     43: Thus, although this address is specified as an ARPA address, it might
                     44: travel by an alternate route if that were more convenient or efficient.
                     45: For example, at Berkeley, the associated message would probably go directly
                     46: to monet over the Ethernet rather than going via the Berkeley ARPANET
                     47: gateway.
                     48: .Ss Abbreviation.
                     49: Under certain circumstances it may not be necessary to type the entire
                     50: domain name.  In general, anything following the first dot may be omitted
                     51: if it is the same as the domain from which you are sending the message.
                     52: For example, a user on ``calder.berkeley.edu'' could send to ``eric@monet''
                     53: without adding the ``berkeley.edu'' since it is the same on both sending
                     54: and receiving hosts.
                     55: .Pp
                     56: Certain other abbreviations may be permitted as special cases.  For
                     57: example, at Berkeley, ARPANET hosts may be referenced without adding
                     58: the ``berkeley.edu'' as long as their names do not conflict with a local
                     59: host name.
                     60: .Ss Compatibility.
                     61: .Pp
                     62: Certain old address formats are converted to the new format to provide
                     63: compatibility with the previous mail system.  In particular,
                     64: .Pp
                     65: .Dl [email protected]
                     66: .Pp
                     67: is allowed and
                     68: .Pp
                     69: .Dl host:user
                     70: .Pp
                     71: is converted to
                     72: .Pp
                     73: .Dl user@host
                     74: .Pp
                     75: to be consistent with the
                     76: .Xr rcp 1
                     77: command.
                     78: .Pp
                     79: Also, the syntax
                     80: .Pp
                     81: .Dl host!user
                     82: .Pp
                     83: is converted to:
                     84: .Pp
                     85: .Dl [email protected]
                     86: .Pp
                     87: This is normally converted back to the ``host!user'' form before being sent
                     88: on for compatibility with older UUCP hosts.
                     89: .Pp
                     90: The current implementation is not able to route messages automatically through
                     91: the UUCP network.  Until that time you must explicitly tell the mail system
                     92: which hosts to send your message through to get to your final destination.
                     93: .Ss Case Distinctions.
                     94: .Pp
                     95: Domain names (i.e., anything after the ``@'' sign) may be given in any mixture
                     96: of upper and lower case with the exception of UUCP hostnames.  Most hosts
                     97: accept any combination of case in user names, with the notable exception of
                     98: MULTICS sites.
                     99: .Ss Route-addrs.
                    100: .Pp
                    101: Under some circumstances it may be necessary to route a message through
                    102: several hosts to get it to the final destination.  Normally this routing
                    103: is done automatically, but sometimes it is desirable to route the message
                    104: manually.  Addresses which show these relays are termed ``route-addrs.''
                    105: These use the syntax:
                    106: .Pp
                    107: .Dl <@hosta,@hostb:user@hostc>
                    108: .Pp
                    109: This specifies that the message should be sent to hosta, from there to hostb,
                    110: and finally to hostc.  This path is forced even if there is a more efficient
                    111: path to hostc.
                    112: .Pp
                    113: Route-addrs occur frequently on return addresses, since these are generally
                    114: augmented by the software at each host.  It is generally possible to ignore
                    115: all but the ``user@domain'' part of the address to determine the actual
                    116: sender.
                    117: .Ss Postmaster.
                    118: .Pp
                    119: Every site is required to have a user or user alias designated ``postmaster''
                    120: to which problems with the mail system may be addressed.
                    121: .Ss Other Networks.
                    122: .Pp
                    123: Some other networks can be reached by giving the name of the network as the
                    124: last component of the domain.
                    125: .Em This is not a standard feature
                    126: and may
                    127: not be supported at all sites.  For example, messages to CSNET or BITNET sites
                    128: can often be sent to ``[email protected]'' or ``[email protected]'' respectively.
                    129: .Sh SEE ALSO
                    130: .Xr mail 1 ,
                    131: .Xr sendmail 8 ;
                    132: .br
                    133: Crocker, D. H.,
                    134: .Em Standard for the Format of Arpa Internet Text Messages,
                    135: RFC822.
                    136: .Sh HISTORY
                    137: .Nm Mailaddr
                    138: appeared in 4.2 BSD.
                    139: .Sh BUGS
                    140: The RFC822 group syntax (``group:user1,user2,user3;'') is not supported
                    141: except in the special case of ``group:;'' because of a conflict with old
                    142: berknet-style addresses.
                    143: .Pp
                    144: Route-Address syntax is grotty.
                    145: .Pp
                    146: UUCP- and ARPANET-style addresses do not coexist politely.

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