Commit | Line | Data |
---|---|---|
e3419641 C |
1 | .\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1987 The Regents of the University of California. |
2 | .\" All rights reserved. | |
14858994 | 3 | .\" |
e3419641 C |
4 | .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted |
5 | .\" provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are | |
6 | .\" duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation, | |
7 | .\" advertising materials, and other materials related to such | |
8 | .\" distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed | |
9 | .\" by the University of California, Berkeley. The name of the | |
10 | .\" University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived | |
11 | .\" from this software without specific prior written permission. | |
12 | .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR | |
13 | .\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED | |
14 | .\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. | |
7c7a59c8 | 15 | .\" |
e3419641 C |
16 | .\" @(#)mailaddr.7 6.5 (Berkeley) 2/14/89 |
17 | .\" | |
18 | .TH MAILADDR 7 "February 14, 1989" | |
14858994 KM |
19 | .UC 5 |
20 | .SH NAME | |
21 | mailaddr \- mail addressing description | |
22 | .SH DESCRIPTION | |
aa00d055 KB |
23 | Mail addresses are based on the ARPANET protocol listed at the end of this |
24 | manual page. These addresses are in the general format | |
14858994 KM |
25 | .PP |
26 | user@domain | |
27 | .PP | |
aa00d055 KB |
28 | where a domain is a hierarchical dot separated list of subdomains. For |
29 | example, the address | |
30 | .PP | |
31 | eric@monet.berkeley.edu | |
32 | .PP | |
33 | is normally interpreted from right to left: the message should go to the | |
34 | ARPA name tables (which do not correspond exactly to the physical ARPANET), | |
35 | then to the Berkeley gateway, after which it should go to the local host | |
36 | monet. When the message reaches monet it is delivered to the user ``eric''. | |
37 | .PP | |
38 | Unlike some other forms of addressing, this does not imply any routing. | |
39 | Thus, although this address is specified as an ARPA address, it might | |
40 | travel by an alternate route if that were more convenient or efficient. | |
41 | For example, at Berkeley, the associated message would probably go directly | |
42 | to monet over the Ethernet rather than going via the Berkeley ARPANET | |
43 | gateway. | |
312dc825 | 44 | .SS Abbreviation. |
14858994 | 45 | .PP |
aa00d055 KB |
46 | Under certain circumstances it may not be necessary to type the entire |
47 | domain name. In general, anything following the first dot may be omitted | |
14858994 | 48 | if it is the same as the domain from which you are sending the message. |
aa00d055 KB |
49 | For example, a user on ``calder.berkeley.edu'' could send to ``eric@monet'' |
50 | without adding the ``berkeley.edu'' since it is the same on both sending | |
51 | and receiving hosts. | |
52 | .PP | |
53 | Certain other abbreviations may be permitted as special cases. For | |
54 | example, at Berkeley, ARPANET hosts may be referenced without adding | |
55 | the ``berkeley.edu'' as long as their names do not conflict with a local | |
56 | host name. | |
312dc825 | 57 | .SS Compatibility. |
14858994 | 58 | .PP |
aa00d055 KB |
59 | Certain old address formats are converted to the new format to provide |
60 | compatibility with the previous mail system. In particular, | |
61 | .PP | |
62 | user@host.ARPA | |
63 | .PP | |
64 | is allowed and | |
14858994 KM |
65 | .PP |
66 | host:user | |
67 | .PP | |
68 | is converted to | |
69 | .PP | |
70 | user@host | |
71 | .PP | |
aa00d055 | 72 | to be consistent with the \fIrcp\fP(1) command. |
14858994 | 73 | .PP |
aa00d055 | 74 | Also, the syntax |
14858994 KM |
75 | .PP |
76 | host!user | |
77 | .PP | |
78 | is converted to: | |
79 | .PP | |
80 | user@host.UUCP | |
81 | .PP | |
aa00d055 KB |
82 | This is normally converted back to the ``host!user'' form before being sent |
83 | on for compatibility with older UUCP hosts. | |
14858994 | 84 | .PP |
aa00d055 KB |
85 | The current implementation is not able to route messages automatically through |
86 | the UUCP network. Until that time you must explicitly tell the mail system | |
87 | which hosts to send your message through to get to your final destination. | |
312dc825 | 88 | .SS Case Distinctions. |
14858994 | 89 | .PP |
aa00d055 KB |
90 | Domain names (i.e., anything after the ``@'' sign) may be given in any mixture |
91 | of upper and lower case with the exception of UUCP hostnames. Most hosts | |
92 | accept any combination of case in user names, with the notable exception of | |
93 | MULTICS sites. | |
312dc825 | 94 | .SS Route-addrs. |
14858994 | 95 | .PP |
aa00d055 KB |
96 | Under some circumstances it may be necessary to route a message through |
97 | several hosts to get it to the final destination. Normally this routing | |
98 | is done automatically, but sometimes it is desirable to route the message | |
99 | manually. Addresses which show these relays are termed ``route-addrs.'' | |
14858994 KM |
100 | These use the syntax: |
101 | .PP | |
102 | <@hosta,@hostb:user@hostc> | |
103 | .PP | |
aa00d055 KB |
104 | This specifies that the message should be sent to hosta, from there to hostb, |
105 | and finally to hostc. This path is forced even if there is a more efficient | |
106 | path to hostc. | |
107 | .PP | |
108 | Route-addrs occur frequently on return addresses, since these are generally | |
109 | augmented by the software at each host. It is generally possible to ignore | |
110 | all but the ``user@domain'' part of the address to determine the actual | |
111 | sender. | |
312dc825 | 112 | .SS Postmaster. |
14858994 | 113 | .PP |
aa00d055 | 114 | Every site is required to have a user or user alias designated ``postmaster'' |
14858994 | 115 | to which problems with the mail system may be addressed. |
312dc825 | 116 | .SS Other Networks. |
14858994 | 117 | .PP |
aa00d055 KB |
118 | Some other networks can be reached by giving the name of the network as the |
119 | last component of the domain. \fIThis is not a standard feature\fP and may | |
120 | not be supported at all sites. For example, messages to CSNET or BITNET sites | |
121 | can often be sent to ``user@host.CSNET'' or ``user@host.BITNET'' respectively. | |
49f305b7 | 122 | .SH BUGS |
aa00d055 KB |
123 | The RFC822 group syntax (``group:user1,user2,user3;'') is not supported |
124 | except in the special case of ``group:;'' because of a conflict with old | |
125 | berknet-style addresses. | |
312dc825 EA |
126 | .PP |
127 | Route-Address syntax is grotty. | |
128 | .PP | |
129 | UUCP- and ARPANET-style addresses do not coexist politely. | |
14858994 KM |
130 | .SH SEE ALSO |
131 | mail(1), sendmail(8); | |
132 | Crocker, D. H., | |
133 | .ul | |
134 | Standard for the Format of Arpa Internet Text Messages, | |
135 | RFC822. |