mailaddr

MAILADDR(7)		     Linux User’s Manual		  MAILADDR(7)



NAME
       mailaddr - mail addressing description

DESCRIPTION
       This manual page gives a brief introduction to SMTP mail addresses, as
       used on the Internet.  These addresses are in the general format

	    user@domain

       where a domain is a hierarchical dot  separated	list  of  subdomains.
       For example, the addresses

	    eric@monet.berkeley.edu
	    Eric Allman <eric@monet.berkeley.edu>
	    eric@monet.berkeley.edu (Eric Allman)

       are valid forms of the same address.

       The  domain part (‘‘monet.berkeley.edu’’) may be the name of an inter-
       net host, or it may be a logical mail address.  The domain part is not
       case sensitive.

       The  local  part	 (‘‘eric’’)  is often a user name, but its meaning is
       defined by the local software.  It can be case sensitive, but  usually
       isn’t.  If you see a local-part that looks like garbage, it is usually
       because of a gateway between an internal e-mail system  and  the	 net,
       here are some examples:

	    "surname/admd=telemail/c=us/o=hp/prmd=hp"@some.where
	    USER%SOMETHING@some.where	      machine!machine!name@some.where
	    I2461572@some.where

       (These  are, respectively, an X.400 gateway, a gateway to an arbitrary
       inernal mail system that lacks proper internet support, an UUCP	gate-
       way, and the last one is just boring username policy.)

       The  real-name part (‘‘Eric Allman’’) can either be placed first, out-
       side <>, or last, inside ().  (Strictly speaking the  two  aren’t  the
       same, but the difference is outside the scope of this page.)  The name
       may have to be quoted using "" if it contains certain characters, most
       commonly ‘‘.’’:

	    "Eric P. Allman" <eric@monet.berkeley.edu>

   Abbreviation.
       Many mail systems let users abbreviate the domain name.	For instance,
       users at berkeley.edu may get away with ‘‘eric@monet’’ to send mail to
       Eric Allman. This behavior is deprecated.

   Route-addrs.
       Under  some  circumstances  it  may  be	necessary  to route a message
       through several hosts to get it to the  final  destination.   Normally
       this  happens automatically and invisibly, but sometimes not, particu-
       larly with old and broken software.  Addresses which show these relays
       are termed ‘‘route-addrs.’’  These use the syntax:

	    <@hosta,@hostb:user@hostc>

       This specifies that the message should be sent to hosta, from there to
       hostb, and finally to hostc.  Some  hosts  disregard  route-addrs  and
       send directly to hostc.

       Route-addrs occur frequently on return addresses, since these are gen-
       erally augmented by the software at each host.  It is generally possi-
       ble to ignore all but the ‘‘user@hostc’’ part of the address to deter-
       mine the actual sender.

   Postmaster.
       Every site is required to have a user or user alias designated ‘‘post-
       master’’ to which problems with the mail system may be addressed.  The
       ‘‘postmaster’’ address is not case sensitive.

   FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
       rtfm.mit.edu and many mirrors store a collection of FAQs.  Please find
       and  use a nearby FAQ archive; there are dozens or hundreds around the
       world.  mail/inter-network-guide explains how  to  send	mail  between
       many  different	networks.   mail/country-codes	lists  the  top level
       domains (e.g. ‘‘no’’ is Norway and ‘‘ea’’ is Eritrea).	mail/college-
       email/part*  gives some useful tips on how to locate e-mail addresses.

FILES
       /etc/aliases
       ~/.forward

SEE ALSO
       binmail(1), mail(1), mconnect(1), forward(5), aliases(5), sendmail(8),
       vrfy(8),	 RFC822	 (Standard  for the Format of Arpa Internet Text Mes-
       sages).



4.2 Berkeley Distribution	  1995-06-24			  MAILADDR(7)