Controlling 'From' in mail headers? Help!

[Tom Fitzgerald]

> On 22 Apr 91 18:51:41 GMT, peter at java.sophia.com (Peter Espen) said:
> Peter> When this message goes out from the internet connected machine, the
> Peter> 'From' line in the header looks like this:
> Peter>         netmachine!uucpmachine!peter
>
> Peter> I want it to look like this:
>
> Peter>         uucpmachine!peter at domain.com

maine at altair.dfrf.nasa.gov (Richard Maine) writes:
> I suggest you
> try to make the from line show something more like
>
>      peter%uucpmachine at domain.com
>
> The form you suggested, with mixed uucp-style and domain-style addressing
> is not standard and does not work with some mailers.

Unfortunately the % form fails just as often.  In fact, we generally have
more luck with !-format addresses than %-addresses.  The problem is, if
the % address is ever given to a UUCP-only site running a smart mailer, it
will rewrite the address to pass through UUCP links, and wind up with:

	path!to!domain.com!peter%uucpmachine

If either of the machines 'path' or 'to' obey RFC 1123, they will try to
pass it directly to uucpmachine, skipping over domain.com entirely, and
the mail will fail.  Only machines that violate RFC 1123 in this respect
will forward the mail properly.

There are 2 rules of thumb here:

1) If the mail is destined to be forwarded through an ancient Sys V
   UUCP-only machine using the vendor's mailer, then  a!b at c  won't work.

2) If the mail is destined to be forwarded through a UUCP-only machine
   running a smart mailer, then through a site that obeys RFC 1123, then
   b%a at c  won't work.

In my experience, case #2 is much more frequent than case #1, making !-form
addresses more reliable than %-form addresses.

---
Tom Fitzgerald   Wang Labs        fitz at wang.com
1-508-967-5278   Lowell MA, USA   ...!uunet!wang!fitz