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Re: OT: why I don't want CCs



On Wed, Jul 16, 2003 at 05:08:04PM -0600, Jamin W. Collins wrote:
> > Now, I know I have oversimplified the process.  I also know that there
> > are a lot of steps left out which would not nor should not EVER be
> > placed in a mail client.  Far more steps that I've glossed over.  It
> > doesn't invalidate that the client sould (must) speak enough to do one
> > thing.  "Here, deliver this."
> 
> And leave out key parts of the protocol, no.  Implement the entire
> protocol or don't do it.  And as far as I'm concerned an MUA shouldn't
> speak SMTP at all, there is absolutely no need for it.  

Many people these days want to send mail through a smarthost. They
retrieve mail from a remote POP or IMAP account and have no need for the
receiving part of an MTA (they don't receive mail locally). If you
receive mail remotely (at the POP or IMAP server) then it only makes
sense to have a remote machine handle your outgoing mail as well (SMTP
smarthost).

> 
> > And a mail *client* should implement the protocols needed to perform
> > its function in the server/CLIENT setup.  Those protocols are
> > SMTP/POP/IMAP.
> 
> There is no need for the MUA to implement SMTP.  That fact that many do,
> is very sad.  The MUA simply needs to be able to pass the message on to
> another tool for proper delivery.  If you still think SMTP transmission
> is as simple as piping it to a command line utility and checking the
> return code, you're sorely mistaken.

SMTP transmission to a smarthost is pretty simple. I think the patch to
mutt is pretty small.

IMHO if a MUA (client) implements POP it is already doing much more than
you think it should be doing. If MUAs doing POP is logical then MUA
sending mail through SMTP to a smarthost is also logical.

Basically the POP server receives mail through SMTP and delivers it
through POP. The SMTP smarthost receives the messages directly through
SMTP (very simple SMTP stuff) and does the real work (rest of SMTP)
itself.

If logic and/or Unix philosophy were the only important things around,
mutt would remove all POP and IMAP support and have it be performed by
an external utility like fetchmail (sucky) or add SMTP to smarthost (win
win).

Bijan

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