Mail Interchange Standards

[Matthew Waugh]

I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I'm just
as sure I haven't seen it!

What is the standard for e-mail interchange in UNIX, and what
if any are the documented references?

Specifically I have a problem with From lines. I had always
believed that if a line started with From, it was the start
of the next message, otherwise it would have been pre-empted
by a >. However we have started receiving mail from an Ultrix
machine which has the bad manners to use From twice in a
message. The UNIX (mailx/mail) software understands, and ignores
the extra From. How does it tell???????

Please e-mail replies, and I'll summarise etc etc.

Thank you,
Matthew

--
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UUCP : {ihnp4|mtuxo}!naples!mjw Matthew Waugh
ATTMAIL: attmail!mjw AT&T IS, Lincroft, N.J.
Telephone : (201) 576-3362

[Edward C. Bennett]

In article <1...@naples.UUCP> m...@naples.UUCP (Matthew Waugh) writes:
>What is the standard for e-mail interchange in UNIX, and what
>if any are the documented references?
>
>Specifically I have a problem with From lines. I had always
>believed that if a line started with From, it was the start
>of the next message, otherwise it would have been pre-empted
>by a >. However we have started receiving mail from an Ultrix
>machine which has the bad manners to use From twice in a
>message. The UNIX (mailx/mail) software understands, and ignores
>the extra From. How does it tell???????
>

I am in the same position as Matthew. It is very hard to learn what
is 'correct' by listening to you experts.

Is there a document (How about the RFC822 standard for starters.) that
explains proper use of 'From' and 'From:', '!', '@', and '%' precedence
and in general explains the 'right' way to do things? Where can we get
a copy?

--
Edward C. Bennett

UUCP: ihnp4!cbosgd!ukma!ukecc!edward

Kentucky: The state that bans books to coerce people to read them.

"Goodnight M.A."