68 Mail
- Otherwise, use the name to figure out which user or users the
message is meant for, and put the message into the appropriate
mailboxes or files.
Sendmail manages to blow every step of the process.STEP 1: Figure out what is address and what is body.
This is easy for humans. For example, take the following message:
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 91 17:33:07 -0400
From: Thomas Lawrence <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Sidewalk obstructionThe logs obstructing the sidewalk in front of the building will be
used in the replacement of a collapsing manhole. They will be there
for the next two to three weeks.We have no trouble figuring out that this message was sent from “Thomas
Lawrence,” is meant for the “msgs” mailing list which is based at the MIT
Media Lab, and that the body of the message is about some logs on the
sidewalk outside the building. It’s not so easy for Unix, which manages to
produce:
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 91 17:29:01 -0400
From: Thomas Lawrence <[email protected]>
Subject: Sidewalk obstruction
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected],
logs.obstructing.the.sidewalk.in.front.of.the.building.
[email protected]On occasion, sendmail has been known to parse the entire body of a mes-
sage (sometimes backwards!) as a list of addresses: