I'm getting this error generated by the local SMTP service on Win 2003. (We
use the local service to send emails, by connecting to our outbound mail
gateways using a smarthost entry.)

The following recipient(s) could not be reached:

emailaddress@hotmail.com. on 23/01/2006 4:01 PM
The format of the e-mail address is incorrect.  Check the
address, look up the recipient in the Address Book, or contact the recipient
directly to find out the correct address.
<server.domain.net #5.1.3>

Presumably this is getting dumped because of the trailing dot in the email
address.

Now I know strictly speaking, the SMTP RFC doesn't permit trailing dots, but
I've been assured that mail with a trailing dot can certainly be delivered i
n
practice.

Is this right? Is there someway to make the SMTP service send email
addresses with a trailing dot?

We are MSDN Universal subscribers. Our no spam address is
munter@computershare.com

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

"I've been assured that mail with a trailing dot can certainly be delivered
in
practice."

Really?  By whom? And why do you have trailing dots in the first place? How
are you confirming that you have trailing dots?

Further, what would be the point of that?  Is it worth spending time to find
out that some mailer might support this vs. rewriting your app to properly
submit messages?





"Muntz" <munter@computershare.com> wrote in message
news:B7A98394-A015-42D4-8E9F-B65CC9EA9207@microsoft.com...
> I'm getting this error generated by the local SMTP service on Win 2003.
> (We
> use the local service to send emails, by connecting to our outbound mail
> gateways using a smarthost entry.)
>
> The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
>
>      emailaddress@hotmail.com. on 23/01/2006 4:01 PM
>            The format of the e-mail address is incorrect.  Check the
> address, look up the recipient in the Address Book, or contact the
> recipient
> directly to find out the correct address.
>            <server.domain.net #5.1.3>
>
> Presumably this is getting dumped because of the trailing dot in the email
> address.
>
> Now I know strictly speaking, the SMTP RFC doesn't permit trailing dots,
> but
> I've been assured that mail with a trailing dot can certainly be delivered
> in
> practice.
>
> Is this right? Is there someway to make the SMTP service send email
> addresses with a trailing dot?
>
> We are MSDN Universal subscribers. Our no spam address is
> munter@computershare.com
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

We typically send mail to punters that enter their email addresses online, s
o
we get a fair few typos. I have an email address validation routine (thanks
for asking) but this code doesn't invalidate an address with a trailing dot
as our mail server team said they were "OK" in practice. If this isn't the
case, I'm happy to be corrected, which is why I posted my original question
as it happens. I can modify our code to strip away a trailing dot easily
enough, I was just hoping to learn more about the MS SMTP service and why it
would refuse to even try to send to a "hotmail.com." address.

"Al Mulnick" wrote:

> "I've been assured that mail with a trailing dot can certainly be delivere
d
> in
> practice."
>
> Really?  By whom? And why do you have trailing dots in the first place? Ho
w
> are you confirming that you have trailing dots?
>
> Further, what would be the point of that?  Is it worth spending time to fi
nd
> out that some mailer might support this vs. rewriting your app to properly
> submit messages?
>
>
>
>
>
> "Muntz" <munter@computershare.com> wrote in message
> news:B7A98394-A015-42D4-8E9F-B65CC9EA9207@microsoft.com... 
>
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:56:44 -0500, "Al Mulnick"
<amulnick_No_SPAM@ncDOTrr.com> wrote:

>"I've been assured that mail with a trailing dot can certainly be delivered
>in
>practice."
>
>Really?  By whom? And why do you have trailing dots in the first place? How
>are you confirming that you have trailing dots?
>
>Further, what would be the point of that?  Is it worth spending time to fin
d
>out that some mailer might support this vs. rewriting your app to properly
>submit messages?
>

A trailing dot is legimate in a URI. It indicates a fully qualified
URI.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Muntz wrote:
> this code doesn't invalidate an address with a trailing
> dot as our mail server team said they were "OK" in
> practice. If this isn't the case, I'm happy to be corrected...

Your mail server team is mistaken.  There probably is one MTA implementation
in existence somewhere that incorrectly permits it, but that doesn't make it
"OK" (nor a good idea if you like for your mail to not bounce).

You don't have to take my word for it.  Per RFC 1123 (
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1123.html ), section 5.2.18:

"Errors in formatting or parsing 822 addresses are unfortunately common.
This section mentions only the most common errors.  A User Agent MUST accept
all valid RFC-822 address formats, and MUST NOT generate illegal address
syntax.  [...] Some systems over-qualify domain names by adding a traili
ng
dot to some or all domain names in addresses or message-ids.  This violates
RFC-822 syntax."


--
Chris Priede

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Then use it for URI's.  This is SMTP however and you should not assume that
a trailing dot is valid for email syntax.  Most MUA's would clear that up
for you before you even submitted it.  In practice, you may find a MTA that
deals with it (Sendmail?) but that doesn't make it right nor does it help in
your mission of delivering email to the intended recipients.

See the previous poster's comments regarding the RFC perspective on this.
Not that that would be final word of course, but since it is used as a
guideline I highly suggest going with the guidelines.  That I believe, is
what the original poster was asking about.

Al

"PeterD" <peter2@hipson.net> wrote in message
 news:u59st1pt0cni75242ru1bm896b0pdk6s26@
4ax.com...
> On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 20:56:44 -0500, "Al Mulnick"
> <amulnick_No_SPAM@ncDOTrr.com> wrote:
> 
>
> A trailing dot is legimate in a URI. It indicates a fully qualified
> URI.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Cheers guys, appreciate the clarification. Curious that no MS guys weighed i
n
tho, I thought they were supposed to respond to all questions from MSDN
subscribers.

"Muntz" wrote:

> I'm getting this error generated by the local SMTP service on Win 2003. (W
e
> use the local service to send emails, by connecting to our outbound mail
> gateways using a smarthost entry.)
>
> The following recipient(s) could not be reached:
>
>       emailaddress@hotmail.com. on 23/01/2006 4:01 PM
>             The format of the e-mail address is incorrect.  Check the
> address, look up the recipient in the Address Book, or contact the recipie
nt
> directly to find out the correct address.
>             <server.domain.net #5.1.3>
>
> Presumably this is getting dumped because of the trailing dot in the email
> address.
>
> Now I know strictly speaking, the SMTP RFC doesn't permit trailing dots, b
ut
> I've been assured that mail with a trailing dot can certainly be delivered
 in
> practice.
>
> Is this right? Is there someway to make the SMTP service send email
> addresses with a trailing dot?
>
> We are MSDN Universal subscribers. Our no spam address is
> munter@computershare.com
>
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:36:26 -0800, "Muntz" <munter@computershare.com>
wrote:

>Cheers guys, appreciate the clarification. Curious that no MS guys weighed 
in
>tho, I thought they were supposed to respond to all questions from MSDN
>subscribers.
>

Not here they don't. You have to go to the MSDN forums for that.

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

Oh. I am accessing this through
http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...us/default.aspx so I
assumed this was one of their managed groups. No?

"PeterD" wrote:

> On Mon, 30 Jan 2006 22:36:26 -0800, "Muntz" <munter@computershare.com>
> wrote:
> 
>
> Not here they don't. You have to go to the MSDN forums for that.
>

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]

No, I believe that's the public newsgroups.
I think you're looking for this link:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/newsgroups/managed/

"Muntz" <munter@computershare.com> wrote in message
news:F9E04DC1-99C2-4380-87D0-56E273A0FF85@microsoft.com...[vbcol=seagreen]
> Oh. I am accessing this through
> http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...us/default.aspx so I
> assumed this was one of their managed groups. No?
>
> "PeterD" wrote:
> 

[ Post a follow-up to this message ]