3) the DATA: stage provides the body *AND THE HEADERS*, at which point
we can apply header and body filters. A common misconception I've
seen is that "Received:", "Subject:", "From:", "To:", and all the
"X-" headers are somehow separate from the body of the message.
MUAs display them that way, but in reality, they are sent in the
DATA section along with "the message body".
A Common misconception? Certainly not! The standard frormat for internet
messages is quite clear - a message consists of some header lines
(possibly folded) followed by a null line followed by a message body.
The fact that the headers, the separator, and the message body are all part
of the data phase of the SMTP protocol is neither her nor there. Once you
look at the content of the data phase, you are looking at something which
is structured by RFC2822, not by RFC2821, and RFC2821 has nothing to say
about that structure.
Confusing the levels in a protocl stack is a sure recipe for a spaghetti
implementation resulting in a bug-ridden disaster. Claiming that the
recognition of this very clear separation of levels is "a common
misconception" is nothing but arrant nonsense.
Tom Thomson
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