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Adopey.154 net.math utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!mcnc!unc!dopey.smb Sun Mar 14 10:55:32 1982 Re: log0 query The problem that Pavel Curtis ran into occurred because news and mail don't know enough about each other's conventions. The article in question came from ARPAnet host KESTREL, user KING. It was shunted onto netnews at SRI-UNIX; from there, it was relayed to UCB-C70, a Berkeley ARPA host. One of two things happened there; I can't tell which. The first possibility is that SRI-UNIX sent the item to Berkeley via the ARPAnet, but didn't hack the return address properly, i.e., using a '@' instead of a '!'. The other, and I think more likely, has to do with the mail address parser at UCB-C70. A string 'a!b@c' is ambiguous if priorities for '!' and '@' are equal. It could mean user 'b@c' at host 'a' -- the usual meaning out here in uucp-land. Or it could mean user 'a!b' at host 'c' -- proper for ARPAnauts. As I recall the tables in the distributed 4.1BSD delivermail, this latter interpretation is preferred; thus, UCB-C70 did the right thing.

Now -- the correct reply address is ucbvax!KING@KESTREL. But that doesn't solve the real problem, which is what to about such screwy addresses. Suggestions, anyone?

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