On Mon, 30 Jun 2008, Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 06:47:30PM +0100, Tony Finch wrote:
Trailing dots in email addresses are a syntax error.
In fact, Mutt (1.2.5) permits the trailing dot, and delivers the mail, and all the intervening MTAs (I only tested local mail on my machine, running Postfix) let the message through -- it came through apparently having been rewritten by Postfix to lose the trailing dot; there was an X-Original-To header.
Postfix corrects many syntax errors rather than rejecting erroneous messages.
Tony: what authority were you depending on for your assertion, and in which context do you make it?
It has been true of all internet email addresses since before dots were introduced into host names. RFC 2821 section 4.1.2 Command Argument Syntax Domain = (sub-domain 1*("." sub-domain)) / address-literal sub-domain = Let-dig [Ldh-str] Let-dig = ALPHA / DIGIT Ldh-str = *( ALPHA / DIGIT / "-" ) Let-dig Note that this does not permit a trailing dot. (It also doesn't permit single-component domains, but that's due to an editorial mistake.) Section 4.1.2 of RFC 821 also does not permit trailing dots. RFC 2822 section 3.4.1 Addr-spec specification domain = dot-atom / domain-literal / obs-domain dot-atom = [CFWS] dot-atom-text [CFWS] dot-atom-text = 1*atext *("." 1*atext) This also does not permit trailing dots. RFC 822 section 6 is similar. See also RFC 733, which allows no dots at all. Tony. -- f.anthony.n.finch <dot@dotat.at> http://dotat.at/ HUMBER THAMES DOVER WIGHT: EAST OR SOUTHEAST 4 OR 5, OCCASIONALLY 6 IN HUMBER, BECOMING VARIABLE 3 OR 4. SLIGHT OR MODERATE. THUNDERY SHOWERS. MODERATE OR GOOD, OCCASIONALLY POOR.