Re: JAMES::SMTPHandler

[Serge Knystautas <se...@lokitech.com>]

I've redirected your message on the projects' dev listserv, since as a
general rule, authors don't like to be contacted directly (if they have the
time and interest still, they'll be on the listserv.)

As for your question, James does currently require the FROM address.  This
was an early design flaw (by me) that we haven't yet addressed.  It is
systemic since much of the code is expecting a FROM address, and it is hard
to determine which code needs to change.

It's also unclear of the best way to support this... a sender is required to
put MAIL FROM: <> (the command is required) and this is in effect a
special-case email address.  Rather than allowing a null value for the
sender, it might be better to classify this as a special constant email
address.  How exactly to code and support this is also unclear.

If you have suggestions on how to address this, I would encourage you to
continue this discussion on this listserv.

Serge Knystautas
Loki Technologies
http://www.lokitech.com/
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joe Gulbronson" <ge...@qwest.net>
To: <se...@lokitech.com>; <sc...@systemy.it>; <jb...@javasense.com>;
<ma...@lokitech.com>
Cc: <gu...@principal.com>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2001 8:19 PM
Subject: JAMES::SMTPHandler


You guys are credited with being the authors of the SMTPHandler class in the
latest build of the Apache JAMES server.  I've looked for FAQs, etc., but
could not find anything to answer my question.  So... I'm turning to you for
your thoughts.

In a nutshell, I am using JAMES as a layer between our internal email
environment and a relational database-driven web application.  It provides
some really handy hooks for workflow engines, etc., and I can see the use of
JAMES exploding in our environment if I can prove its stability.  Everything
works perfectly, except....

We would very much like to use JAMES to handle "undeliverable" messages from
our Exchange servers.  The problem is, they are returned to JAMES with an
SMTP wrapper that omits the FROM attribute (technically, it is there, but it
is empty "<>").  Apparently, according to our email gurus, the FROM
attribute is optional in SMTP, and email clients should default to the MIME
content FROM header when the SMTP header is omitted or empty.

I'm hoping you can give me a little guidance, or at least a suggestion for
dealing with this.  Is it something that could/should be allowed in the
JAMES configuration?  Is it realistic to hope for this as an "enhancement"
in a future release?  Am I forever faced with the prospect of
making/supporting the change myself over time?  I am not averse to making or
supporting the change necessary, but would prefer it if I did not have to
deviate from the core JAMES server build.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Joe Gulbronson (mailto:gulbronson.joe@principal.com)
Senior Technical Analyst
Principal Financial Group



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