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1.\" Copyright (c) 1983, 1987 The Regents of the University of California.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
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4.\" @(#)mailaddr.7 6.5 (Berkeley) 2/14/89
5.\"
6.\" Extensively rewritten by Arnt Gulbrandsen <agulbra@troll.no>. My
7.\" changes are placed under the same copyright as the original BSD page.
8.\"
9.\" Adjusted by Arnt Gulbrandsen <arnt@gulbrandsen.priv.no> in 2004 to
10.\" account for changes since 1995. Route-addrs are now even less
11.\" common, etc. Some minor wording improvements. Same copyright.
12.\"
7c576f45 13.\" %%%LICENSE_START(PERMISSIVE_MISC)
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14.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted
15.\" provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
16.\" duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation,
17.\" advertising materials, and other materials related to such
18.\" distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed
19.\" by the University of California, Berkeley. The name of the
20.\" University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived
21.\" from this software without specific prior written permission.
22.\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
23.\" IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED
24.\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
8ff7380d 25.\" %%%LICENSE_END
fea681da 26.\"
05eabe65 27.TH MAILADDR 7 2004-09-15 "Linux" "Linux User's Manual"
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28.UC 5
29.SH NAME
30mailaddr \- mail addressing description
31.SH DESCRIPTION
32.nh
33This manual page gives a brief introduction to SMTP mail addresses, as
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34used on the Internet.
35These addresses are in the general format
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36.PP
37 user@domain
38.PP
39where a domain is a hierarchical dot-separated list of subdomains.
40These examples are valid forms of the same address:
41.PP
42 eric@monet.berkeley.edu
43.br
44 Eric Allman <eric@monet.berkeley.edu>
45.br
5a6194a4 46 eric@monet.berkeley.edu (Eric Allman)
fea681da 47.PP
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48The domain part ("monet.berkeley.edu") is a mail-accepting domain.
49It can be a host and in the past it usually was, but it doesn't have to be.
50The domain part is not case sensitive.
fea681da 51.PP
18701562 52The local part ("eric") is often a username, but its meaning is
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53defined by the local software.
54Sometimes it is case sensitive,
55although that is unusual.
56If you see a local-part that looks like
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57garbage, it is usually because of a gateway between an internal e-mail
58system and the net, here are some examples:
59.PP
60 "surname/admd=telemail/c=us/o=hp/prmd=hp"@some.where
61.br
62 USER%SOMETHING@some.where
63.br
64 machine!machine!name@some.where
65.br
66 I2461572@some.where
67.PP
68(These are, respectively, an X.400 gateway, a gateway to an arbitrary
69internal mail system that lacks proper internet support, an UUCP
70gateway, and the last one is just boring username policy.)
71.PP
72The real-name part ("Eric Allman") can either be placed before
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73<>, or in () at the end.
74(Strictly speaking the two aren't the same,
75but the difference is beyond the scope of this page.)
75b94dc3 76The name may have to be quoted using "", for example, if it contains ".":
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77.PP
78 "Eric P. Allman" <eric@monet.berkeley.edu>
79.SS Abbreviation.
80.PP
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81Many mail systems let users abbreviate the domain name.
82For instance,
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83users at berkeley.edu may get away with "eric@monet" to send mail to
84Eric Allman.
85.I "This behavior is deprecated."
86Sometimes it works, but you should not depend on it.
87.SS Route-addrs.
88.PP
2f5ef9ca 89In the past, sometimes one had to route a message through
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90several hosts to get it to its final destination.
91Addresses which
92show these relays are termed "route-addrs".
93These use the syntax:
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94.PP
95 <@hosta,@hostb:user@hostc>
96.PP
97This specifies that the message should be sent to hosta, from there
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98to hostb, and finally to hostc.
99Many hosts disregard route-addrs
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100and send directly to hostc.
101.PP
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102Route-addrs are very unusual now.
103They occur sometimes in old mail
104archives.
105It is generally possible to ignore all but the "user@hostc"
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106part of the address to determine the actual address.
107.SS Postmaster.
108.PP
109Every site is required to have a user or user alias designated
110"postmaster" to which problems with the mail system may be
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111addressed.
112The "postmaster" address is not case sensitive.
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113.SH FILES
114.I /etc/aliases
115.br
116.I ~/.forward
47297adb 117.SH SEE ALSO
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118.BR binmail (1),
119.BR mail (1),
120.BR mconnect (1),
121.BR aliases (5),
122.BR forward (5),
123.BR sendmail (8),
124.BR vrfy (8)
125
331da7c3 126RFC\ 2822 (Internet Message Format)