I got almost identical responses within a couple of minutes after my
query, thanks to all and glory to SMTP. I'll just quote a text coming
from DEC and sent by Terje Sten Bjerkseth <tsb_at_admintec.no> which sums it
all:
<<< AOSG::$1$DIA3:[NOTES$LIBRARY]ALPHA_OSF_IFT.NOTE;1 >>>
-< DEC OSF/1 AXP V1.2 and beyond -- field test, etc. >-
================================================================================
Note 1375.1 sendmail 8bit clean 1 of 1
UNXA::WU "I'm available for only 15% more!" 61 lines 9-APR-1993 16:49:54.15
-< Latent support >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sorry for the tardy reply. The issue of 8-bit mail has been a very hot
topic of late, and Digital should be careful with the message that we
present to our customers. I wanted to discuss this with others before
I replied.
The Silver release of sendmail has latent user-configurable support for
8-bit mail embedded in it. However, by turning it on, it breaks
RFC-822 compliance. It also flies in the face of the recently issued
RFCs specifying the use of MIME "Content-type" fields to encode 8-bit
mail. The release of an 8-bit sendmail at this time definitely sends a
poor message about standards compliance to our customer.
After discussion, documentation for the use of 8-bit sendmail will be
included within the localization kits of Sidecar. We hope that this
positions its use more clearly:
- It is not a recommended solution
- It breaks RFC Compliance
- Support for problems does not reside with the OS mail group.
FYI, long-term, the mail group intends to pursue 8-bit and I18N mail.
We are still assessing and planning how to do this with limited
resources. As for now, if you wish to experiment with the code, the
following are notes from the original author (T. Kaehler) describing
how to enable 8-bit sendmail:
Using DEC OSF/1 8-bit sendmail
You can configure sendmail to always allow 8-bit mail or you can
select 8-bit mail by the mailer (the M lines in sendmail.cf).
To configure sendmail to always allow 8-bit mail set the "8" option.
To do this you add the line "O8" to your /var/adm/sendmail/sendmail.cf
file or startup sendmail with the "-o8" flag.
If you wish to only allow 8-bit mail to selected mailers, add an "8"
to the flags of all mailers you wish to allow 8-bit mail. For example,
if you wish to allow 8-bit mail to your local mailer and mail to
your local domain change the following lines in your sendmail.cf file:
Mlocal, P=/bin/mail, F=rlsDFMmn, S=10, R=20, A=mail -d $u
Mprog, P=/bin/sh, F=lsDFM, S=10, R=20, A=sh -c $u
Msmtpl, P=[IPC], F=mDFMuX, S=11, R=21, A=IPC $h, E=\r\n
To:
Mlocal, P=/bin/mail, F=rlsDFMmn8, S=10, R=20, A=mail -d $u
Mprog, P=/bin/sh, F=lsDFM8, S=10, R=20, A=sh -c $u
Msmtpl, P=[IPC], F=mDFMuX8, S=11, R=21, A=IPC $h, E=\r\n
Mail to all other mailers will be 7-bit clean. Remember that the "O8"
option always allows 8-bit so if you are sending by mailer, the "O8"
option should not be set.
Remember, whenever you modify sendmail.cf you need to run the
"/sbin/init.d/sendmail restart" command.
Side-effect: when the 8-bit options are enabled, the single character
quoting mechanism may not function correctly.
/Bob
----
Thanks to all,
Michael
--
WWW: http://www.ircam.fr (IRCAM)
http://www.cnac-gp.fr (Centre Georges-Pompidou)
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Received on Wed Jul 12 1995 - 10:10:49 NZST