"Long delays after the <CRLF>.<CRLF> is received can
result in timeouts and duplicate messages. Deferring
detailed message analysis until after the SMTP
connection has closed can result in non-delivery
notifications, possibly sent to incorrect addresses. A
receiver-SMTP MUST carefully balance these two
considerations, i.e., the time required to respond to
the final <CRLF>.<CRLF> end of data indicator and the
desirable goal of rejecting undeliverable or
unacceptable messages at SMTP time."
I like this text. I think it reflects current operational realities quite
nicely.
I agree. The only suggestion I have is that an informational referenece to
Craig Partridge's oringal document on the timeout issue might be helpful to
include after the first sentence. There's no reason to have a lengthy
discussion here of why timeouts can lead to duplicates, but a reference to such
a discussion makes sense IMO.
Ned