On Wed, 7 May 1997 11:31:39 -0400, Eric Thomas <[log in to unmask]> said: > Source routes in RFC821 headers however remain a useful tool > to date for all sorts of local mail configuration purposes (route > mail for box X to Y even though the MX record says otherwise because > of firewall issue Z, etc). I just can't think of any excuse for not > accepting them, at a minimum they should be ignored but not rejected. There are no RFC 821 headers, just SMTP envelope addresses. Based on the principle outlined in section 7.5 of draft-ietf-drums-smtpupd-04.txt (previously quoted here), we determined that for operational reasons, we cannot afford to accept mail that has source routed envelope addresses (at least, not in the domain part). We recognize the value of testing mail via a third party, and have not turned off support for source-routed addresses in the local part (i.e., the standard "%" hack), but if it becomes enough of an operational issue for us, we may be forced to do that as well. When the health of the AOL email system as a whole is at stake, we'll do whatever we have to in order to protect it (and our customers that depend on it). We'll stick to the letter and spirit of the standards as best we can, but when push comes to shove, we'll fall back on the principle outlined in section 7.5 of draft-ietf-drums-smtpupd-04.txt, as I expect any other reasonable person or site would do. In fact, it is my opinion that we've been considerably more lenient for considerably longer than what I consider to be anywhere close to "reasonable", and now we've been forced to make a larger correction than would otherwise have been necessary. I regret the necessity to make that larger correction, but to paraphrase statements made to me by Internet email experts more knowledgable than I: RFCs 821, 822, and 1123 specify how email should be done in a Perfect World by the Angels, for the Angels, and of the Angels. However, this is 1997 -- there are no more Angels left, and this is about the most imperfect world as could possibly exist. Now, we are forced to be realistic. When the national and international laws have been sufficiently tightened, as well as the Internet mail protocol itself, maybe we'll be able to relax restrictions of this sort. However, I don't see that happening any time soon, if ever. -- Brad Knowles MIME/PGP: [log in to unmask] Senior Unix Administrator <http://www.his.com/~brad/> <http://swissnet.ai.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xE38CCEF1>