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Re: SMTPPATH LEN to include '<' , '>' or not..

2003-09-11 04:37:21

Dilip Menon wrote:
Hi,
I have a question regarding the maximum path length allowed in RCPT TO as
well as MAIL FROM.    RFC 2821 says, this limit is 256 bytes.
For e.g. if address is abc(_at_)def(_dot_)com

So if we include the '<' and '>' characters,  will the total length be 258.
Or is it 256 inclusive of these characters?

Regards
Dilip Menon

The exact wording in RFC 2821 is:

   path
      The maximum total length of a reverse-path or forward-path is 256
      characters (including the punctuation and element separators).

      Reverse-path = Path
      Forward-path = Path
      Path = "<" [ A-d-l ":" ] Mailbox ">"
      A-d-l = At-domain *( "," A-d-l )
            ; Note that this form, the so-called "source route",
            ; MUST BE accepted, SHOULD NOT be generated, and SHOULD be
            ; ignored.
      At-domain = "@" domain

The 256 character limit includes the angle brackets, @, local-part, domain(s),
(and in the case of deprecated source routes) commas and colon; those are
included in the definition of "Path" and explicitly referenced in the phrase
"including the punctuation and element separators".


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