Re: [Sheflug] Sendmail and line limits

[Richard Stevenson <xxxxx [at] xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, 4 Feb 2002, Craig Andrews wrote:

> I've got a problem with sendmail (I know, use postfix/exim/qmail/royal
> mail etc etc)

Actually, this one's a problem with an RFC :)

> The header line length limit is set to 2K. This is fine, until it gets
> to delivering to the local machine. It then applies the length limit to
> ALL lines, not just header lines.

The line length limit for SMTP transactions is 1000 characters, including
the CRLF that terminates each line.  Anything that sends lines longer than
that is broken, but I'm old-fashioned ;-)  Headers can get longer than
this by "wrapping", so the SMTP stage doesn't see lines longer than 1000
chars.

>From RFC2822 (Format of Internet Mail Messages):

3.5 Overall message syntax

   A message consists of header fields, optionally followed by a message
   body.  Lines in a message MUST be a maximum of 998 characters
   excluding the CRLF, but it is RECOMMENDED that lines be limited to 78
   characters excluding the CRLF.  (See section 2.1.1 for explanation.)
   In a message body, though all of the characters listed in the text
   rule MAY be used, the use of US-ASCII control characters (values 1
   through 8, 11, 12, and 14 through 31) is discouraged since their
   interpretation by receivers for display is not guaranteed.


It's also mentioned in RFC2821 (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), section
4.5.3.1.


Cheers

R

-- 
Richard Stevenson, Systems Specialist, Xtra Limited
Phone: +64 9 355 5231   Mobile: +64 25 290 3101   Pager: +64 26 100 155

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