On Sun, 08 Sep 1996 16:31:01 PDT, you said:
> My syslog contains lines of the form:
>
> Sep  8 11:17:57 lambda sendmail[8944]: LAA08944: from=<>, size=533,
> class=0, pri
> =30533, nrcpts=1, msgid=<[log in to unmask]>,
> proto=SMTP
> , relay=lambda.ben2.ucla.edu [128.97.62.77]
>
> ie, with from=<> for msgs from listserv.  Other froms contain a userid.  Do
> I have something misconfigured?  System is AIX 4.1 with sendmail 8.6.11
> (Yes, I know I should be running a more recent version).  TIA.
>
 
The RFC821 SMTP 'MAIL FROM:' tag is *required* to be a <> in the case
of a mail delivery error.  This is so that when the remote system
tosses you a bounce notice, you can't get into a mail loop withy
two systems bouncing back at each other's MAIL FROM: value.
 
Of course, this doesn't help things that bounce by looking at
the RFC822 headers.
 
At least you're on 8.6.1 - there's way too many sites still running
the IBM 5.65-derived version.  For those who care, 8.7.5 is the
latest production release, and 8.8 is currently in beta test.
 
                                Valdis Kletnieks
                                Computer Systems Engineer
                                Virginia Tech