On    Thu,    18    Aug     1994    11:34:24    -0500    Joan    Korenman
<[log in to unmask]> said:
 
>        So, my  question is,  what IS the  proper way  for undeliverable
>list mail to be handled by a postmaster if the list is Send= Private and
>there's a REPLY-TO  address pointing back to the  list? My understanding
>is that in such a situation bounces should NOT be sent to the address in
>the FROM  line but rather  to the REPLY-To  address, where they  will be
>rejected and sent on to the Errors-To address. Am I right?
 
Unfortunately, there is  no simple answer to this question.  If you check
the RFC's, they say that the error must go to the SMTP MAIL FROM: address
(and never to the RFC822 Reply-To:  or From: address, unless of course it
happens to be  the same). Now, the  problem with RFC's is  that they only
apply to the  Internet and generally assume everyone  is running Internet
protocols.  The  reality is  very  different.  Consider the  very  common
example  of a  mail gateway  between  the Internet  and another  network.
ALASKA.EDU is such a mail gateway (the other network being a local DECNET
network). Well, RFC821/822  provides all sorts of addresses  to which all
sorts of  things should be  sent. MAIL FROM:, Sender:,  From:, Reply-To:,
and so  on. DECNET (and  most LAN mail  systems) provides one  address to
which  everything is  sent. Period.  So  you have  three options:  change
DECNET (or MS Mail or whatever), don't run a gateway, or violate the RFC.
Of  course, most  people violate  the RFC.  Now, no  matter what  you do,
you'll be  wrong, but you can  choose *when* you're wrong.  For instance,
you can make delivery errors go to the right address, but then when users
reply it goes to the wrong address and the correspondent may never get to
see the message. Or  you can make replies go where  they should, but then
delivery errors go to  the wrong address. And so on,  I've only covered 2
of the 4 fields the RFCs define.
 
  Eric