--On Wednesday, 06 July, 2005 14:58 +0300 Matti Aarnio
<mea(_at_)nic(_dot_)funet(_dot_)fi> wrote:
...
I have a feeling that we need a new part on the specification,
which in itself is informal, but..
Well, or a separate BCP RFC ?
NNN. Pitfalls
Following details have been seen to be escaping client
implementers attention (this includes both user agents,
and servers as SMTP client):
...
- Adding spaces into what specification does not specify
them, most commonly as: "MAIL FROM: <...>"
- Sending MAIL and RCPT without angle brackets
- Sending utter junk and/or wrong syntax in HELO/EHLO line
- Not sending HELO/EHLO greeting at all
- Failing to do reply data collection properly, and just
presuming that single network read will always yield
all of the reply.
...
Matti,
I've got two reactions to your suggestion. The first is that it
should be a separate BCP: 2821 is already too long. Adding
this type of text to it would just further discourage reading,
and "not reading" is the problem in the first place.
The second is, while your list is excellent, virtually every
point could be summarized by saying "before doing an SMTP
implementation, it is really important to RTFM (RTFStandard?),
because some things aren't as obvious as you think they are and
are mostly there for good reasons". That is, for me at least,
profoundly depressing.
john