From d78b61e3efaea197a6e5b2b72bf2981a9ed69461 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Rob Funk Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2004 03:59:01 +0000 Subject: Add files from ESR's dev directory that weren't under version control svn path=/trunk/; revision=3881 --- RFC/rfc1894.txt | 2187 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 2187 insertions(+) create mode 100644 RFC/rfc1894.txt (limited to 'RFC/rfc1894.txt') diff --git a/RFC/rfc1894.txt b/RFC/rfc1894.txt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f1fc90d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/RFC/rfc1894.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2187 @@ + + + + + + +Network Working Group K. Moore +Request for Comments: 1894 University of Tennessee +Category: Standards Track G. Vaudreuil + Octel Network Services + January 1996 + + + An Extensible Message Format for Delivery Status Notifications + +Status of this Memo + + This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the + Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for + improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet + Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state + and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. + +Abstract + + This memo defines a MIME content-type that may be used by a message + transfer agent (MTA) or electronic mail gateway to report the result + of an attempt to deliver a message to one or more recipients. This + content-type is intended as a machine-processable replacement for the + various types of delivery status notifications currently used in + Internet electronic mail. + + Because many messages are sent between the Internet and other + messaging systems (such as X.400 or the so-called "LAN-based" + systems), the DSN protocol is designed to be useful in a multi- + protocol messaging environment. To this end, the protocol described + in this memo provides for the carriage of "foreign" addresses and + error codes, in addition to those normally used in Internet mail. + Additional attributes may also be defined to support "tunneling" of + foreign notifications through Internet mail. + + Any questions, comments, and reports of defects or ambiguities in + this specification may be sent to the mailing list for the NOTARY + working group of the IETF, using the address + . Requests to subscribe to the mailing + list should be addressed to . + Implementors of this specification are encouraged to subscribe to the + mailing list, so that they will quickly be informed of any problems + which might hinder interoperability. + + NOTE: This document is a Proposed Standard. If and when this + protocol is submitted for Draft Standard status, any normative text + (phrases containing SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, MUST, MUST NOT, or MAY) in + this document will be re-evaluated in light of implementation + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 1] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + experience, and are thus subject to change. + +1. Introduction + + This memo defines a MIME [1] content-type for delivery status + notifications (DSNs). A DSN can be used to notify the sender of a + message of any of several conditions: failed delivery, delayed + delivery, successful delivery, or the gatewaying of a message into an + environment that may not support DSNs. The "message/delivery-status" + content-type defined herein is intended for use within the framework + of the "multipart/report" content type defined in [2]. + + This memo defines only the format of the notifications. An extension + to the Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP) [3] to fully support + such notifications is the subject of a separate memo [4]. + +1.1 Purposes + + The DSNs defined in this memo are expected to serve several purposes: + +(a) Inform human beings of the status of message delivery processing, as + well as the reasons for any delivery problems or outright failures, + in a manner which is largely independent of human language; + +(b) Allow mail user agents to keep track of the delivery status of + messages sent, by associating returned DSNs with earlier message + transmissions; + +(c) Allow mailing list exploders to automatically maintain their + subscriber lists when delivery attempts repeatedly fail; + +(d) Convey delivery and non-delivery notifications resulting from + attempts to deliver messages to "foreign" mail systems via a + gateway; + +(e) Allow "foreign" notifications to be tunneled through a MIME-capable + message system and back into the original messaging system that + issued the original notification, or even to a third messaging + system; + +(f) Allow language-independent, yet reasonably precise, indications of + the reason for the failure of a message to be delivered (once status + codes of sufficient precision are defined); and + +(g) Provide sufficient information to remote MTA maintainers (via + "trouble tickets") so that they can understand the nature of + reported errors. This feature is used in the case that failure to + deliver a message is due to the malfunction of a remote MTA and the + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 2] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + sender wants to report the problem to the remote MTA administrator. + +1.2 Requirements + + These purposes place the following constraints on the notification + protocol: + +(a) It must be readable by humans as well as being machine-parsable. + +(b) It must provide enough information to allow message senders (or the + user agents) to unambiguously associate a DSN with the message that + was sent and the original recipient address for which the DSN is + issued (if such information is available), even if the message was + forwarded to another recipient address. + +(c) It must be able to preserve the reason for the success or failure of + a delivery attempt in a remote messaging system, using the + "language" (mailbox addresses and status codes) of that remote + system. + +(d) It must also be able to describe the reason for the success or + failure of a delivery attempt, independent of any particular human + language or of the "language" of any particular mail system. + +(e) It must preserve enough information to allow the maintainer of a + remote MTA to understand (and if possible, reproduce) the conditions + that caused a delivery failure at that MTA. + +(f) For any notifications issued by foreign mail systems, which are + translated by a mail gateway to the DSN format, the DSN must + preserve the "type" of the foreign addresses and error codes, so + that these may be correctly interpreted by gateways. + + A DSN contains a set of per-message fields which identify the message + and the transaction during which the message was submitted, along + with other fields that apply to all delivery attempts described by + the DSN. The DSN also includes a set of per-recipient fields to + convey the result of the attempt to deliver the message to each of + one or more recipients. + +1.3 Terminology + + A message may be transmitted through several message transfer agents + (MTAs) on its way to a recipient. For a variety of reasons, + recipient addresses may be rewritten during this process, so each MTA + may potentially see a different recipient address. Depending on the + purpose for which a DSN is used, different formats of a particular + recipient address will be needed. + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 3] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + Several DSN fields are defined in terms of the view from a particular + MTA in the transmission. The MTAs are assigned the following names: + + (a) Original MTA + + The Original MTA is the one to which the message is submitted for + delivery by the sender of the message. + + (b) Reporting MTA + + For any DSN, the Reporting MTA is the one which is reporting the + results of delivery attempts described in the DSN. + + If the delivery attempts described occurred in a "foreign" (non- + Internet) mail system, and the DSN was produced by translating the + foreign notice into DSN format, the Reporting MTA will still identify + the "foreign" MTA where the delivery attempts occurred. + + (c) Received-From MTA + + The Received-From MTA is the MTA from which the Reporting MTA + received the message, and accepted responsibility for delivery of the + message. + + (d) Remote MTA + + If an MTA determines that it must relay a message to one or more + recipients, but the message cannot be transferred to its "next hop" + MTA, or if the "next hop" MTA refuses to accept responsibility for + delivery of the message to one or more of its intended recipients, + the relaying MTA may need to issue a DSN on behalf of the recipients + for whom the message cannot be delivered. In this case the relaying + MTA is the Reporting MTA, and the "next hop" MTA is known as the + Remote MTA. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 4] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +Figure 1 illustrates the relationship between the various MTAs. + + ++-----+ +--------+ +---------+ +---------+ +------+ +| | | | |Received-| | | | | +| | => |Original| => ... => | From | => |Reporting| ===> |Remote| +| user| | MTA | | MTA | | MTA | ". + + A particular DSN describes the delivery status for exactly one + message. However, an MTA MAY report on the delivery status for + several recipients of the same message in a single DSN. Due to the + nature of the mail transport system (where responsibility for + delivery of a message to its recipients may be split among several + MTAs, and delivery to any particular recipient may be delayed), + multiple DSNs may be still be issued in response to a single message + submission. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 7] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +2.1 The message/delivery-status content-type + + The message/delivery-status content-type is defined as follows: + + MIME type name: message + MIME subtype name: delivery-status + Optional parameters: none + Encoding considerations: "7bit" encoding is sufficient and + MUST be used to maintain readability + when viewed by non-MIME mail + readers. + Security considerations: discussed in section 4 of this memo. + + The message/delivery-status report type for use in the + multipart/report is "delivery-status". + + The body of a message/delivery-status consists of one or more + "fields" formatted according to the ABNF of RFC 822 header "fields" + (see [6]). The per-message fields appear first, followed by a blank + line. Following the per-message fields are one or more groups of + per-recipient fields. Each group of per-recipient fields is preceded + by a blank line. Using the ABNF of RFC 822, the syntax of the + message/delivery-status content is as follows: + + delivery-status-content = + per-message-fields 1*( CRLF per-recipient-fields ) + + The per-message fields are described in section 2.2. The per- + recipient fields are described in section 2.3. + + +2.1.1 General conventions for DSN fields + + Since these fields are defined according to the rules of RFC 822, the + same conventions for continuation lines and comments apply. + Notification fields may be continued onto multiple lines by beginning + each additional line with a SPACE or HTAB. Text which appears in + parentheses is considered a comment and not part of the contents of + that notification field. Field names are case-insensitive, so the + names of notification fields may be spelled in any combination of + upper and lower case letters. Comments in DSN fields may use the + "encoded-word" construct defined in [7]. + + A number of DSN fields are defined to have a portion of a field body + of "xtext". "xtext" is used to allow encoding sequences of octets + which contain values outside the range [1-127 decimal] of traditional + ASCII characters, and also to allow comments to be inserted in the + data. Any octet may be encoded as "+" followed by two upper case + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 8] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + hexadecimal digits. (The "+" character MUST be encoded as "+2B".) + With certain exceptions, octets that correspond to ASCII characters + may be represented as themselves. SPACE and HTAB characters are + ignored. Comments may be included by enclosing them in parenthesis. + Except within comments, encoded-words such as defined in [7] may NOT + be used in xtext. + + "xtext" is formally defined as follows: + + xtext = *( xchar / hexchar / linear-white-space / comment ) + + xchar = any ASCII CHAR between "!" (33) and "~" (126) inclusive, + except for "+", "\" and "(". + + "hexchar"s are intended to encode octets that cannot be represented + as plain text, either because they are reserved, or because they are + non-printable. However, any octet value may be represented by a + "hexchar". + + hexchar = ASCII "+" immediately followed by two upper case + hexadecimal digits + + When encoding an octet sequence as xtext: + + + Any ASCII CHAR between "!" and "~" inclusive, except for "+", "\", + and "(", MAY be encoded as itself. (Some CHARs in this range may + also be encoded as "hexchar"s, at the implementor's discretion.) + + + ASCII CHARs that fall outside the range above must be encoded as + "hexchar". + + + Line breaks (CR LF SPACE) MAY be inserted as necessary to keep line + lengths from becoming excessive. + + + Comments MAY be added to clarify the meaning for human readers. + +2.1.2 "*-type" subfields + + Several DSN fields consist of a "-type" subfield, followed by a + semicolon, followed by "*text". For these fields, the keyword used + in the address-type, diagnostic-type, or MTA-name-type subfield + indicates the expected format of the address, status-code, or MTA- + name which follows. + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 9] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + The "-type" subfields are defined as follows: + +(a) An "address-type" specifies the format of a mailbox address. For + example, Internet mail addresses use the "rfc822" address-type. + + address-type = atom + +(b) A "diagnostic-type" specifies the format of a status code. For + example, when a DSN field contains a reply code reported via the + Simple Mail Transfer Protocol [3], the "smtp" diagnostic-type is + used. + + diagnostic-type = atom + +(c) An "MTA-name-type" specifies the format of an MTA name. For + example, for an SMTP server on an Internet host, the MTA name is the + domain name of that host, and the "dns" MTA-name-type is used. + + mta-name-type = atom + + Values for address-type, diagnostic-type, and MTA-name-type are + case-insensitive. Thus address-type values of "RFC822" and "rfc822" + are equivalent. + + The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) will maintain a + registry of address-types, diagnostic-types, and MTA-name-types, + along with descriptions of the meanings and acceptable values of + each, or a reference to a one or more specifications that provide + such descriptions. (The "rfc822" address-type, "smtp" diagnostic- + type, and "dns" MTA-name-type are defined in [4].) Registration + forms for address-type, diagnostic-type, and MTA-name-type appear in + section 8 of this document. + + IANA will not accept registrations for any address-type, diagnostic- + type, or MTA-name-type name that begins with "X-". These type names + are reserved for experimental use. + +2.1.3 Lexical tokens imported from RFC 822 + + The following lexical tokens, defined in [6], are used in the ABNF + grammar for DSNs: atom, CHAR, comment, CR, CRLF, DIGIT, LF, linear- + white-space, SPACE, text. The date-time lexical token is defined in + [8]. + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 10] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +2.2 Per-Message DSN Fields + + Some fields of a DSN apply to all of the delivery attempts described + by that DSN. These fields may appear at most once in any DSN. These + fields are used to correlate the DSN with the original message + transaction and to provide additional information which may be useful + to gateways. + + per-message-fields = + [ original-envelope-id-field CRLF ] + reporting-mta-field CRLF + [ dsn-gateway-field CRLF ] + [ received-from-mta-field CRLF ] + [ arrival-date-field CRLF ] + *( extension-field CRLF ) + +2.2.1 The Original-Envelope-Id field + + The optional Original-Envelope-Id field contains an "envelope + identifier" which uniquely identifies the transaction during which + the message was submitted, and was either (a) specified by the sender + and supplied to the sender's MTA, or (b) generated by the sender's + MTA and made available to the sender when the message was submitted. + Its purpose is to allow the sender (or her user agent) to associate + the returned DSN with the specific transaction in which the message + was sent. + + If such an envelope identifier was present in the envelope which + accompanied the message when it arrived at the Reporting MTA, it + SHOULD be supplied in the Original-Envelope-Id field of any DSNs + issued as a result of an attempt to deliver the message. Except when + a DSN is issued by the sender's MTA, an MTA MUST NOT supply this + field unless there is an envelope-identifier field in the envelope + which accompanied this message on its arrival at the Reporting MTA. + + The Original-Envelope-Id field is defined as follows: + + original-envelope-id-field = + "Original-Envelope-Id" ":" envelope-id + + envelope-id = *text + + There may be at most one Original-Envelope-Id field per DSN. + + The envelope-id is CASE-SENSITIVE. The DSN MUST preserve the + original case and spelling of the envelope-id. + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 11] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + NOTE: The Original-Envelope-Id is NOT the same as the Message-Id from + the message header. The Message-Id identifies the content of the + message, while the Original-Envelope-Id identifies the transaction in + which the message is sent. + +2.2.2 The Reporting-MTA DSN field + + reporting-mta-field = + "Reporting-MTA" ":" mta-name-type ";" mta-name + + mta-name = *text + + The Reporting-MTA field is defined as follows: + + A DSN describes the results of attempts to deliver, relay, or gateway + a message to one or more recipients. In all cases, the Reporting-MTA + is the MTA which attempted to perform the delivery, relay, or gateway + operation described in the DSN. This field is required. + + Note that if an SMTP client attempts to relay a message to an SMTP + server and receives an error reply to a RCPT command, the client is + responsible for generating the DSN, and the client's domain name will + appear in the Reporting-MTA field. (The server's domain name will + appear in the Remote-MTA field.) + + Note that the Reporting-MTA is not necessarily the MTA which actually + issued the DSN. For example, if an attempt to deliver a message + outside of the Internet resulted in a nondelivery notification which + was gatewayed back into Internet mail, the Reporting-MTA field of the + resulting DSN would be that of the MTA that originally reported the + delivery failure, not that of the gateway which converted the foreign + notification into a DSN. See Figure 2. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 12] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +sender's environment recipient's environment +............................ .......................................... + : : + (1) : : (2) + +-----+ +--------+ +--------+ +---------+ +---------+ +------+ + | | | | | | |Received-| | | | | + | |=>|Original|=>| |->| From |->|Reporting|-->|Remote| + | user| | MTA | | | | MTA | | MTA |") (so that no DSNs would be sent from a downstream + MTA to the original sender), + +(e) for messages forwarded to a confidential address, disabling delivery + notifications for the forwarded message (e.g. if the "next-hop" MTA + uses ESMTP and supports the DSN extension, by using the NOTIFY=NEVER + parameter to the RCPT command), or + +(f) when forwarding mail to a confidential address, having the + forwarding MTA rewrite the envelope return address for the forwarded + message and attempt delivery of that message as if the forwarding + MTA were the originator. On its receipt of final delivery status, + the forwarding MTA would issue a DSN to the original sender. + + In general, any optional DSN field may be omitted if the Reporting + MTA site determines that inclusion of the field would impose too + great a compromise of site confidentiality. The need for such + confidentiality must be balanced against the utility of the omitted + information in trouble reports and DSNs gatewayed to foreign + environments. + + Implementors are cautioned that many existing MTAs will send + nondelivery notifications to a return address in the message header + (rather than to the one in the envelope), in violation of SMTP and + other protocols. If a message is forwarded through such an MTA, no + reasonable action on the part of the forwarding MTA will prevent the + downstream MTA from compromising the forwarding address. Likewise, + if the recipient's MTA automatically responds to messages based on a + request in the message header (such as the nonstandard, but widely + used, Return-Receipt-To extension header), it will also compromise + the forwarding address. + +4.3 Non-Repudiation + + Within the framework of today's internet mail, the DSNs defined in + this memo provide valuable information to the mail user; however, + even a "failed" DSN can not be relied upon as a guarantee that a + message was not received by the recipient. Even if DSNs are not + actively forged, conditions exist under which a message can be + delivered despite the fact that a failure DSN was issued. + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 24] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + For example, a race condition in the SMTP protocol allows for the + duplication of messages if the connection is dropped following a + completed DATA command, but before a response is seen by the SMTP + client. This will cause the SMTP client to retransmit the message, + even though the SMTP server has already accepted it.[9] If one of + those delivery attempts succeeds and the other one fails, a "failed" + DSN could be issued even though the message actually reached the + recipient. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 25] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +5. Appendix - collected grammar + + NOTE: The following lexical tokens are defined in RFC 822: atom, + CHAR, comment, CR, CRLF, DIGIT, LF, linear-white-space, SPACE, text. + The date-time lexical token is defined in [8]. + +action-field = "Action" ":" action-value + +action-value = + "failed" / "delayed" / "delivered" / "relayed" / "expanded" + +address-type = atom + +arrival-date-field = "Arrival-Date" ":" date-time + +delivery-status-content = + per-message-fields 1*( CRLF per-recipient-fields ) + +diagnostic-code-field = + "Diagnostic-Code" ":" diagnostic-type ";" *text + +diagnostic-type = atom + +dsn-gateway-field = "DSN-Gateway" ":" mta-name-type ";" mta-name + +envelope-id = *text + +extension-field = extension-field-name ":" *text + +extension-field-name = atom + +final-recipient-field = + "Final-Recipient" ":" address-type ";" generic-address + +generic-address = *text + +last-attempt-date-field = "Last-Attempt-Date" ":" date-time + +mta-name = *text + +mta-name-type = atom + +original-envelope-id-field = + "Original-Envelope-Id" ":" envelope-id + +original-recipient-field = + "Original-Recipient" ":" address-type ";" generic-address + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 26] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +per-message-fields = + [ original-envelope-id-field CRLF ] + reporting-mta-field CRLF + [ dsn-gateway-field CRLF ] + [ received-from-mta-field CRLF ] + [ arrival-date-field CRLF ] + *( extension-field CRLF ) + +per-recipient-fields = + [ original-recipient-field CRLF ] + final-recipient-field CRLF + action-field CRLF + status-field CRLF + [ remote-mta-field CRLF ] + [ diagnostic-code-field CRLF ] + [ last-attempt-date-field CRLF ] + [ will-retry-until-field CRLF ] + *( extension-field CRLF ) + +received-from-mta-field = + "Received-From-MTA" ":" mta-name-type ";" mta-name + +remote-mta-field = "Remote-MTA" ":" mta-name-type ";" mta-name + +reporting-mta-field = + "Reporting-MTA" ":" mta-name-type ";" mta-name + +status-code = DIGIT "." 1*3DIGIT "." 1*3DIGIT + + ; White-space characters and comments are NOT allowed within a + ; status-code, though a comment enclosed in parentheses MAY follow + ; the last numeric subfield of the status-code. Each numeric + ; subfield within the status-code MUST be expressed without + ; leading zero digits. + +status-field = "Status" ":" status-code + +will-retry-until-field = "Will-Retry-Until" ":" date-time + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 27] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +6. Appendix - Guidelines for gatewaying DSNs + + NOTE: This section provides non-binding recommendations for the + construction of mail gateways that wish to provide semi-transparent + delivery reports between the Internet and another electronic mail + system. Specific DSN gateway requirements for a particular pair of + mail systems may be defined by other documents. + +6.1 Gatewaying from other mail systems to DSNs + + A mail gateway may issue a DSN to convey the contents of a "foreign" + delivery or non-delivery notification over Internet mail. When there + are appropriate mappings from the foreign notification elements to + DSN fields, the information may be transmitted in those DSN fields. + Additional information (such as might be useful in a trouble ticket + or needed to tunnel the foreign notification through the Internet) + may be defined in extension DSN fields. (Such fields should be given + names that identify the foreign mail protocol, e.g. X400-* for X.400 + NDN or DN protocol elements) + + The gateway must attempt to supply reasonable values for the + Reporting-MTA, Final-Recipient, Action, and Status fields. These + will normally be obtained by translating the values from the remote + delivery or non-delivery notification into their Internet-style + equivalents. However, some loss of information is to be expected. + For example, the set of status-codes defined for DSNs may not be + adequate to fully convey the delivery diagnostic code from the + foreign system. The gateway should assign the most precise code + which describes the failure condition, falling back on "generic" + codes such as 2.0.0 (success), 4.0.0 (temporary failure), and 5.0.0 + (permanent failure) when necessary. The actual foreign diagnostic + code should be retained in the Diagnostic-Code field (with an + appropriate diagnostic-type value) for use in trouble tickets or + tunneling. + + The sender-specified recipient address, and the original envelope-id, + if present in the foreign transport envelope, should be preserved in + the Original-Recipient and Original-Envelope-ID fields. + + The gateway should also attempt to preserve the "final" recipient + addresses and MTA names from the foreign system. Whenever possible, + foreign protocol elements should be encoded as meaningful printable + ASCII strings. + + For DSNs produced from foreign delivery or nondelivery notifications, + the name of the gateway MUST appear in the DSN-Gateway field of the + DSN. + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 28] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +6.2 Gatewaying from DSNs to other mail systems + + It may be possible to gateway DSNs from the Internet into a foreign + mail system. The primary purpose of such gatewaying is to convey + delivery status information in a form that is usable by the + destination system. A secondary purpose is to allow "tunneling" of + DSNs through foreign mail systems, in case the DSN may be gatewayed + back into the Internet. + + In general, the recipient of the DSN (i.e., the sender of the + original message) will want to know, for each recipient: the closest + available approximation to the original recipient address, the + delivery status (success, failure, or temporary failure), and for + failed deliveries, a diagnostic code that describes the reason for + the failure. + + If possible, the gateway should attempt to preserve the Original- + Recipient address and Original-Envelope-ID (if present), in the + resulting foreign delivery status report. + + When reporting delivery failures, if the diagnostic-type subfield of + the Diagnostic-Code field indicates that the original diagnostic code + is understood by the destination environment, the information from + the Diagnostic-Code field should be used. Failing that, the + information in the Status field should be mapped into the closest + available diagnostic code used in the destination environment. + + If it is possible to tunnel a DSN through the destination + environment, the gateway specification may define a means of + preserving the DSN information in the delivery status reports used by + that environment. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 29] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +7. Appendix - Guidelines for use of DSNs by mailing list exploders + + NOTE: This section pertains only to the use of DSNs by "mailing + lists" as defined in [4], section 7.2.7. + + DSNs are designed to be used by mailing list exploders to allow them + to detect and automatically delete recipients for whom mail delivery + fails repeatedly. + + When forwarding a message to list subscribers, the mailing list + exploder should always set the envelope return address (e.g. SMTP + MAIL FROM address) to point to a special address which is set up to + received nondelivery reports. A "smart" mailing list exploder can + therefore intercept such nondelivery reports, and if they are in the + DSN format, automatically examine them to determine for which + recipients a message delivery failed or was delayed. + + The Original-Recipient field should be used if available, since it + should exactly match the subscriber address known to the list. If + the Original-Recipient field is not available, the recipient field + may resemble the list subscriber address. Often, however, the list + subscriber will have forwarded his mail to a different address, or + the address may be subject to some re-writing, so heuristics may be + required to successfully match an address from the recipient field. + Care is needed in this case to minimize the possibility of false + matches. + + The reason for delivery failure can be obtained from the Status and + Action fields, and from the Diagnostic-Code field (if the status-type + is recognized). Reports for recipients with action values other than + "failed" can generally be ignored; in particular, subscribers should + not be removed from a list due to "delayed" reports. + + In general, almost any failure status code (even a "permanent" one) + can result from a temporary condition. It is therefore recommended + that a list exploder not delete a subscriber based on any single + failure DSN (regardless of the status code), but only on the + persistence of delivery failure over a period of time. + + However, some kinds of failures are less likely than others to have + been caused by temporary conditions, and some kinds of failures are + more likely to be noticed and corrected quickly than others. Once + more precise status codes are defined, it may be useful to + differentiate between the status codes when deciding whether to + delete a subscriber. For example, on a list with a high message + volume, it might be desirable to temporarily suspend delivery to a + recipient address which causes repeated "temporary" failures, rather + than simply deleting the recipient. The duration of the suspension + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 30] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + might depend on the type of error. On the other hand, a "user + unknown" error which persisted for several days could be considered a + reliable indication that address were no longer valid. + +8. Appendix - IANA registration forms for DSN types + + The forms below are for use when registering a new address-type, + diagnostic-type, or MTA-name-type with the Internet Assigned Numbers + Authority (IANA). Each piece of information requested by a + registration form may be satisfied either by providing the + information on the form itself, or by including a reference to a + published, publicly available specification which includes the + necessary information. IANA MAY reject DSN type registrations + because of incomplete registration forms, imprecise specifications, + or inappropriate type names. + + To register a DSN type, complete the applicable form below and send + it via Internet electronic mail to . + +8.1 IANA registration form for address-type + + A registration for a DSN address-type MUST include the following + information: + +(a) The proposed address-type name. + +(b) The syntax for mailbox addresses of this type, specified using BNF, + regular expressions, ASN.1, or other non-ambiguous language. + +(c) If addresses of this type are not composed entirely of graphic + characters from the US-ASCII repertoire, a specification for how + they are to be encoded as graphic US-ASCII characters in a DSN + Original-Recipient or Final-Recipient DSN field. + +(d) [optional] A specification for how addresses of this type are to be + translated to and from Internet electronic mail addresses. + +8.2 IANA registration form for diagnostic-type + + A registration for a DSN address-type MUST include the following + information: + +(a) The proposed diagnostic-type name. + +(b) A description of the syntax to be used for expressing diagnostic + codes of this type as graphic characters from the US-ASCII + repertoire. + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 31] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +(c) A list of valid diagnostic codes of this type and the meaning of + each code. + +(d) [optional] A specification for mapping from diagnostic codes of this + type to DSN status codes (as defined in [5]). + +8.3 IANA registration form for MTA-name-type + + A registration for a DSN MTA-name-type must include the following + information: + +(a) The proposed MTA-name-type name. + +(b) A description of the syntax of MTA names of this type, using BNF, + regular expressions, ASN.1, or other non-ambiguous language. + +(c) If MTA names of this type do not consist entirely of graphic + characters from the US-ASCII repertoire, a specification for how an + MTA name of this type should be expressed as a sequence of graphic + US-ASCII characters. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 32] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +9. Appendix - Examples + + NOTE: These examples are provided as illustration only, and are not + considered part of the DSN protocol specification. If an example + conflicts with the protocol definition above, the example is wrong. + + Likewise, the use of *-type subfield names or extension fields in + these examples is not to be construed as a definition for those type + names or extension fields. + + These examples were manually translated from bounced messages using + whatever information was available. + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 33] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +9.1 This is a simple DSN issued after repeated attempts + to deliver a message failed. In this case, the DSN is + issued by the same MTA from which the message was originated. + + + Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 17:16:05 -0400 + From: Mail Delivery Subsystem + Message-Id: <199407072116.RAA14128@CS.UTK.EDU> + Subject: Returned mail: Cannot send message for 5 days + To: + MIME-Version: 1.0 + Content-Type: multipart/report; report-type=delivery-status; + boundary="RAA14128.773615765/CS.UTK.EDU" + + --RAA14128.773615765/CS.UTK.EDU + + The original message was received at Sat, 2 Jul 1994 17:10:28 -0400 + from root@localhost + + ----- The following addresses had delivery problems ----- + (unrecoverable error) + + ----- Transcript of session follows ----- + ... Deferred: Connection timed out + with larry.slip.umd.edu. + Message could not be delivered for 5 days + Message will be deleted from queue + + --RAA14128.773615765/CS.UTK.EDU + content-type: message/delivery-status + + Reporting-MTA: dns; cs.utk.edu + + Original-Recipient: rfc822;louisl@larry.slip.umd.edu + Final-Recipient: rfc822;louisl@larry.slip.umd.edu + Action: failed + Status: 4.0.0 + Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 426 connection timed out + Last-Attempt-Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 17:15:49 -0400 + + --RAA14128.773615765/CS.UTK.EDU + content-type: message/rfc822 + + [original message goes here] + --RAA14128.773615765/CS.UTK.EDU-- + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 34] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +9.2 This is another DSN issued by the sender's MTA, which + contains details of multiple delivery attempts. Some of + these were detected locally, and others by a remote MTA. + + + Date: Fri, 8 Jul 1994 09:21:47 -0400 + From: Mail Delivery Subsystem + Subject: Returned mail: User unknown + To: + MIME-Version: 1.0 + Content-Type: multipart/report; report-type=delivery-status; + boundary="JAA13167.773673707/CS.UTK.EDU" + + --JAA13167.773673707/CS.UTK.EDU + content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii + + ----- The following addresses had delivery problems ----- + (unrecoverable error) + (unrecoverable error) + + --JAA13167.773673707/CS.UTK.EDU + content-type: message/delivery-status + + Reporting-MTA: dns; cs.utk.edu + + Original-Recipient: rfc822;arathib@vnet.ibm.com + Final-Recipient: rfc822;arathib@vnet.ibm.com + Action: failed + Status: 5.0.0 (permanent failure) + Diagnostic-Code: smtp; + 550 'arathib@vnet.IBM.COM' is not a registered gateway user + Remote-MTA: dns; vnet.ibm.com + + Original-Recipient: rfc822;johnh@hpnjld.njd.hp.com + Final-Recipient: rfc822;johnh@hpnjld.njd.hp.com + Action: delayed + Status: 4.0.0 (hpnjld.njd.jp.com: host name lookup failure) + + Original-Recipient: rfc822;wsnell@sdcc13.ucsd.edu + Final-Recipient: rfc822;wsnell@sdcc13.ucsd.edu + Action: failed + Status: 5.0.0 + Diagnostic-Code: smtp; 550 user unknown + Remote-MTA: dns; sdcc13.ucsd.edu + + --JAA13167.773673707/CS.UTK.EDU + content-type: message/rfc822 + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 35] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + [original message goes here] + --JAA13167.773673707/CS.UTK.EDU-- + + +9.3 A delivery report generated by Message Router (MAILBUS) and + gatewayed by PMDF_MR to a DSN. In this case the gateway did not + have sufficient information to supply an original-recipient address. + + + + Disclose-recipients: prohibited + Date: Fri, 08 Jul 1994 09:21:25 -0400 (EDT) + From: Message Router Submission Agent + Subject: Status of : Re: Battery current sense + To: owner-ups-mib@CS.UTK.EDU + Message-id: <01HEGJ0WNBY28Y95LN@mr.timeplex.com> + MIME-version: 1.0 + content-type: multipart/report; report-type=delivery-status; + boundary="84229080704991.122306.SYS30" + + --84229080704991.122306.SYS30 + content-type: text/plain + + Invalid address - nair_s + %DIR-E-NODIRMTCH, No matching Directory Entry found + + --84229080704991.122306.SYS30 + content-type: message/delivery-status + + Reporting-MTA: mailbus; SYS30 + + Final-Recipient: unknown; nair_s + Status: 5.0.0 (unknown permanent failure) + Action: failed + + --84229080704991.122306.SYS30-- + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 36] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +9.4 A delay report from a multiprotocol MTA. Note that there is no + returned content, so no third body part appears in the DSN. + + From: + Message-Id: <199407092338.TAA23293@CS.UTK.EDU> + Received: from nsfnet-relay.ac.uk by sun2.nsfnet-relay.ac.uk + id ; + Sun, 10 Jul 1994 00:36:51 +0100 + To: owner-info-mime@cs.utk.edu + Date: Sun, 10 Jul 1994 00:36:51 +0100 + Subject: WARNING: message delayed at "nsfnet-relay.ac.uk" + content-type: multipart/report; report-type=delivery-status; + boundary=foobar + + --foobar + content-type: text/plain + + The following message: + + UA-ID: Reliable PC (... + Q-ID: sun2.nsf:77/msg.11820-0 + + has not been delivered to the intended recipient: + + thomas@de-montfort.ac.uk + + despite repeated delivery attempts over the past 24 hours. + + The usual cause of this problem is that the remote system is + temporarily unavailable. + + Delivery will continue to be attempted up to a total elapsed + time of 168 hours, ie 7 days. + + You will be informed if delivery proves to be impossible + within this time. + + Please quote the Q-ID in any queries regarding this mail. + + --foobar + content-type: message/delivery-status + + Reporting-MTA: dns; sun2.nsfnet-relay.ac.uk + + Final-Recipient: rfc822;thomas@de-montfort.ac.uk + Status: 4.0.0 (unknown temporary failure) + Action: delayed + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 37] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + + --foobar-- + +10. Acknowledgments + + The authors wish to thank the following people for their reviews of + earlier drafts of this document and their suggestions for + improvement: Eric Allman, Harald Alvestrand, Allan Cargille, Jim + Conklin, Peter Cowen, Dave Crocker, Roger Fajman, Ned Freed, Marko + Kaittola, Steve Kille, John Klensin, John Gardiner Myers, Mark + Nahabedian, Julian Onions, Jacob Palme, Jean Charles Roy, and Gregory + Sheehan. + +11. References + +[1] Borenstein, N., Freed, N. "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions", + RFC 1521, Bellcore, Innosoft, September 1993. + +[2] Vaudreuil, G., "The Multipart/Report Content Type for the Reporting + of Mail System Administrative Messages", RFC 1892, Octal Network + Services, January 1996. + +[3] Postel, J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", STD 10, RFC 821, + USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1982. + +[4] Moore, K., "SMTP Service Extension for Delivery Status + Notifications", RFC 1891, University of Tennessee, January 1996. + +[5] Vaudreuil, G., "Enhanced Mail System Status Codes", RFC 1893, Octal + Network Services, January 1996. + +[6] Crocker, D., "Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text + Messages", STD 11, RFC 822, UDEL, August 1982. + +[7] Moore, K. "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part Two: + Message Header Extensions for Non-Ascii Text", RFC 1522, University + of Tennessee, September 1993. + +[8] Braden, R. (ed.) "Requirements for Internet Hosts - Application and + Support", STD 3, RFC 1123, USC/Information Sciences Institute, + October 1989. + +[9] Partridge, C., "Duplicate Messages and SMTP", RFC 1047, BBN, + February 1988. + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 38] + +RFC 1894 Delivery Status Notifications January 1996 + + +11. Authors' Addresses + + Keith Moore + University of Tennessee + 107 Ayres Hall + Knoxville, TN 37996-1301 + USA + + EMail: moore@cs.utk.edu + Phone: +1 615 974 3126 + Fax: +1 615 974 8296 + + + Gregory M. Vaudreuil + Octel Network Services + 17080 Dallas Parkway + Dallas, TX 75248-1905 + USA + + EMail: Greg.Vaudreuil@Octel.Com + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +Moore & Vaudreuil Standards Track [Page 39] + -- cgit v1.2.3