Knowledge (XXG)

Email forwarding

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380:— an optional list of hosts and a required destination-mailbox. When the list of hosts existed, it served as a source-route, indicating that each host had to relay the mail to the next host on the list. Otherwise, in the case of insufficient destination-information but where the server knew the correct destination, it could take the responsibility to deliver the message by responding as follows: 258:(SPF), the domain-name in the envelope sender remains subject to policy restrictions. Therefore, SPF generally disallows plain message-forwarding. In case of forwarding, the email is being sent from the forwarding server, which is not authorized to send emails for the original sender's domain. So the SPF will fail. 346:
and any attachment. Note that including all the headers discloses much information about the message, such as the servers that transmitted it and any client-tag added on the mailbox. The recipient of a message forwarded this way may be able to open the attached message and reply to it seamlessly.
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The term "virtual users" refers to email users who never log on a mail-server system and only access their mailboxes using remote clients. A mail-server program may work for both virtual and regular users, or it may require minor modifications to take advantage of the fact that virtual users
524:. The latter circumstance allows the server program to implement some features more easily, as it does not have to obey system-access restrictions. The same principles of operations apply. However, virtual users have more difficulty in accessing their configuration files, for good or ill. 426:
made source-routing unnecessary. In 1989, RFC 1123 recommended accepting source-routing only for backward-compatibility. At that point, plain message forwarding became the recommended action for alias-expansion. In 2008, RFC 5321 still mentions that "systems
327:.) The recipient of a message forwarded this way may still be able to reply to the original message; the ability to do so depends on the presence of original headers and may imply manually copying and pasting the relevant destination addresses. 434:
as needed", taking into consideration that not doing so might inadvertently disclose sensitive information. Actually, plain message-forwarding can be conveniently used for alias expansion within the same server or a set of coordinated servers.
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Email forwarding can also redirect mail going to a certain address and send it to one or more other addresses. Vice versa, email items going to several different addresses can converge via forwarding to end up in a single address in-box.
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A Mediator forwards a message through a re-posting process. The Mediator shares some functionality with basic MTA relaying, but has greater flexibility in both addressing and content than is available to
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When users change their email address, or have several addresses, the user or an administrator may set up forwarding from these addresses, if still valid, to a single current one, in order to avoid losing
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of the message. The envelope is lost when the message is delivered, although some of its fields may be saved by the receiving server in the message's headers. In particular, the envelope holds the
902: 48:, used for mail since long before electronic communications, has no specific technical meaning, but it implies that the email has been moved "forward" to a new destination. 419:
implied that the "envelope sender" information could not remain in its original form during forwarding. Thus RFC 821 did not originally allow plain message-forwarding.
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so it could impersonate any user whose mail it had to manage. On the other hand, users can access their own individual mail-files and configuration files, including
170:; there are also separate providers of mail forwarding services. This allows users to have an email address that does not change if they change mailbox provider. 156:
in email addresses. An organization may forward messages intended for a given role to the address of the person(s) currently functioning in that role or office.
415:(envelope sender) as a message got relayed from one SMTP server to another. Even if the system discouraged the use of source-routing, dynamically building the 511:. Client programs may assist in editing the server configuration-files of a given user, thereby causing some confusion as to what role each program plays. 470:, which have become a source of many security problems. Formerly only trusted users could utilize the command-line switch for setting the envelope sender, 946:
may refuse the message according to RFC 7208. In other words, one cannot formally distinguish plain message-forwarding from illegal domain-name abuse.
232:(which report a failure delivering a message to any list- subscriber) will not reach the author of a message. However, annoying misconfigured 129:, it is becoming increasingly difficult to reliably forward mail across different domains, and some recommend avoiding it if at all possible. 335: 243:
tout-court serves for mailing-lists. When additional modifications to the message are carried out, so as to rather resemble the action of a
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message-forwarding may break SPF even if they do not implement SPF themselves, i.e. they neither apply SPF checks nor publish SPF records.
618:, if the same term weren't used at the beginning of the same subsection with the opposite meaning. As a contributor to RFC 5321 agreed, 1090: 621: 1057: 1006:
Interoperability Issues between Domain-based Message Authentication, Reporting, and Conformance (DMARC) and Indirect Email Flows
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Plain message forwarding may disclose the final destination-address irrespectively of the user's intention. See sections 7.7
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files, which can store the target email-addresses for given users. This kind of server-based forwarding is sometimes called
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redirection complies with SPF as long as the relevant servers share a consistent configuration. Mail servers that practice
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to automatically perform forwarding or replying actions immediately after receiving. Forward files can also contain
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as a synonym for server-based email-forwarding to different recipients. Protocol engineers sometimes use the term
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the key difference between handling aliases (Section 3.9.1) and forwarding (this subsection) is the change to the
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from the points of view of the envelope-sender and of the recipient(s). The message identity also changes.
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facilities provide facilities to forward mail to another email address such as a mailbox at the user's
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Typically, plain message-forwarding does alias-expansion, while proper message-forwarding, also named
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which Email client software usually displays: it represents a field used in the early stages of the
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Franck Martin; Eliot Lear; Tim Draegen; Elizabeth Zwicky; Kurt Andersen, eds. (September 2016).
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originated in the 1970s, they did not become widely used until networks became quite common.
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quotes the message below the main text of the new message, and usually preserves original
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can sometimes mean re-sending the message and also rewriting the "envelope sender" field.
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Client forwarding can take place automatically using a non-interactive client such as a
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Email users and administrators of email systems use the same term when speaking of both
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Mechanism by which a mail server sends the emails of one of its users to another address
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in that it keeps the same message-identity. Concerns about the envelope-sender apply.
1107: 80: 38: 467: 308: 287:. Although the retrieval agent uses a client protocol, this forwarding resembles 17: 1027: 1004: 778: 753: 730: 659: 614:." That wording, new w.r.t. RFC 2821, could be interpreted as the definition of 575: 548: 543: 533: 400: 390: 377: 111:) provide a typical example of server-based forwarding to different recipients. 84: 72: 663: 558: 126: 969: 655: 501: 423: 88: 968:
MX record has been introduced with RFC 974. See the historical section in
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Plain message-forwarding changes the envelope recipient(s) and leaves the
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generically refers to the operation of re-sending a previously delivered
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header. This field holds the address to which mail-systems must send
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which run on the same machine. The sendmail daemon used to run with
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field untouched. The "envelope sender" field does not equate to the
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messages without changing any part of their envelopes. By contrast,
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for the corresponding class of addresses. A domain may also define
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provides for a generic forwarding mechanism compatible with SPF.
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architectures in the 1990s. Therefore, the distinction between
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seems necessarily forced. The original distinction contrasted
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it by changing some envelope addresses. ~/.forward files (see
477:; some systems disabled this feature for security reasons. 319:
as well as a choice of selected headers (e.g. the original
837:"How does email forwarding affect authentication result?" 658:
of the relevant domain usually publishes the name of the
342:) that contains the full original message, including all 804:"Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions" 251:
becomes deceptive and remailing seems more appropriate.
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that performs remailing to each list address. That way,
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furnish a typical example. Authors submit messages to a
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The concept at that time envisaged the elements of the
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Uses of server-based forwarding to different recipients
874: 209:— reporting delivery-failure (or success) — if any. 1080:
to describe its action on the envelope sender data.
862: 860: 858: 896: 374:for each recipient, in the form of, for example, 910:must not plainly forward a message from domain 897:{\displaystyle {\ce {\mathit {A->B->C}}}} 350:This kind of forwarding actually constitutes a 152:, and similar names can appear to the left of 8: 983:Information Disclosure in Message Forwarding 598: 596: 114:Email administrators sometimes use the term 679:of a message is the data transmitted in an 918:, unless it controls either the policy of 358:Historical development of email forwarding 41:to one or more different email addresses. 1018: 876: 875: 873: 744: 662:. Otherwise the domain name must have an 462:. One can configure some email-program 201:protocol, and subsequently saved as the 622:"English terms for forwarded addresses" 592: 1068:mentions no restrictions in using the 930:publishes an SPF policy that prevents 866:Consider the following forward path: 450:implementation in the early 1980s was 1093:range from the early 1990s. Although 108: 7: 1064:The current (version 8.708 of 2006) 683:transaction before transmitting the 643:a fuzzy (non-technical) term in SMTP 610:is used ambiguously. It notes that " 480:Email predates the formalization of 75:(the part appearing to the right of 431:remove the return path and rebuild 247:submitting a new message, the term 173:Multiple, or discontinued addresses 970:MX record#History of fallback to A 942:applies sender's policy-checking, 99:can deliver a message to a user's 25: 783:"Users Don't Like Forwarded Spam" 520:frequently share the same system 279:Automated client-based forwarding 122:to refer to a forwarding server. 376:@USC-ISIE.ARPA, @USC-ISIF.ARPA: 955:See the note in section 6.2.7 886: 880: 295:Manual client-based forwarding 236:autoreplies do reach authors. 1: 1050:TCP/IP Network Administration 411:(source route) moving to the 397:251Usernotlocal;willforwardto 364:Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 91:; they have no mailboxes and 957:Explicit path specification 554:Email subject abbreviations 307:forward a message using an 182:Forwarding versus remailing 1130: 1072:switch, and uses the verb 732:Internet Mail Architecture 725:Dave Crocker (July 2009). 1052:. O'Reilly. p. 606. 620:Tony Finch (2008-11-03). 566:(MUA) a.k.a. email client 168:Internet Service Provider 422:The introduction of the 382: 370:in 1982, provided for a 222:Electronic mailing lists 581:Sender Rewriting Scheme 539:Electronic mailing list 274:Client-based forwarding 268:Sender Rewriting Scheme 256:Sender Policy Framework 212:By contrast, the terms 67:Server-based forwarding 1095:remote procedure calls 1066:sendmail documentation 898: 806:, 1997, mentions also 606:of RFC 5321, the term 570:Message transfer agent 899: 454:, which provided for 83:) defines the target 1048:Hunt, Craig (2002). 922:or the filtering of 872: 496:and user-controlled 338:attachment (of type 285:mail retrieval agent 1013:. sec. 3.2.1. 164:domain name hosting 159:Pseudonym-addresses 1089:The book dates in 894: 707:) and one or more 368:Jonathan B. Postel 1091:client-server-faq 987:Trace Information 891: 885: 879: 602:In section 3.9.2 289:server forwarding 18:E-mail forwarding 16:(Redirected from 1121: 1098: 1087: 1081: 1071: 1063: 1045: 1039: 1038: 1036: 1034: 1022: 1020:10.17487/RFC7960 996: 990: 979: 973: 966: 960: 953: 947: 903: 901: 900: 895: 893: 892: 864: 853: 852: 850: 848: 843:. 6 January 2023 833: 827: 800: 794: 793: 791: 790: 775: 769: 768: 762: 760: 748: 746:10.17487/RFC5598 722: 716: 673: 667: 652: 646: 645: 640: 639: 630:. Archived from 600: 510: 476: 457: 441: 403: 396: 393: 386: 379: 31:Email forwarding 21: 1129: 1128: 1124: 1123: 1122: 1120: 1119: 1118: 1104: 1103: 1102: 1101: 1088: 1084: 1069: 1060: 1047: 1046: 1042: 1032: 1030: 998: 997: 993: 980: 976: 967: 963: 954: 950: 870: 869: 865: 856: 846: 844: 835: 834: 830: 801: 797: 788: 786: 777: 776: 772: 758: 756: 739:. sec. 5. 724: 723: 719: 674: 670: 653: 649: 637: 635: 619: 601: 594: 589: 564:Mail user agent 530: 517: 508: 471: 455: 444: 439: 405: 404: 398: 394: 388: 384: 375: 360: 297: 281: 276: 245:Mail User Agent 230:bounce messages 207:bounce messages 188:envelope sender 184: 135: 97:primary servers 69: 28: 23: 22: 15: 12: 11: 5: 1127: 1125: 1117: 1116: 1106: 1105: 1100: 1099: 1082: 1058: 1040: 991: 974: 961: 948: 905: 904: 888: 882: 854: 828: 795: 781:(2008-10-15). 770: 717: 693:bounce address 668: 647: 591: 590: 588: 585: 584: 583: 578: 573: 567: 561: 556: 551: 546: 541: 536: 529: 526: 516: 513: 460:dot-forwarding 446:The reference 443: 437: 383: 359: 356: 340:message/rfc822 296: 293: 280: 277: 275: 272: 218:redistribution 183: 180: 179: 178: 174: 171: 160: 157: 139: 138:Role-addresses 134: 131: 89:backup servers 68: 65: 26: 24: 14: 13: 10: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 1126: 1115: 1112: 1111: 1109: 1096: 1092: 1086: 1083: 1079: 1075: 1067: 1061: 1059:0-596-00334-X 1055: 1051: 1044: 1041: 1029: 1026: 1021: 1016: 1012: 1008: 1007: 1002: 995: 992: 988: 984: 978: 975: 971: 965: 962: 958: 952: 949: 945: 941: 937: 933: 929: 926:. Indeed, if 925: 921: 917: 913: 909: 868: 867: 863: 861: 859: 855: 842: 838: 832: 829: 825: 821: 817: 813: 809: 805: 799: 796: 784: 780: 774: 771: 767: 755: 752: 747: 742: 738: 734: 733: 728: 721: 718: 714: 710: 706: 702: 698: 694: 690: 686: 682: 678: 672: 669: 665: 661: 657: 651: 648: 644: 634:on 2008-12-11 633: 629: 628: 623: 617: 613: 609: 605: 599: 597: 593: 586: 582: 579: 577: 574: 571: 568: 565: 562: 560: 557: 555: 552: 550: 547: 545: 542: 540: 537: 535: 532: 531: 527: 525: 523: 515:Virtual users 514: 512: 506: 503: 499: 495: 491: 487: 483: 482:client–server 478: 475: 469: 468:shell scripts 465: 461: 453: 449: 438: 436: 433: 430: 425: 420: 418: 414: 410: 401: 391: 381: 378: 373: 369: 365: 357: 355: 353: 348: 345: 341: 337: 333: 332:as attachment 328: 326: 322: 318: 314: 311:. Forwarding 310: 306: 302: 294: 292: 290: 286: 278: 273: 271: 269: 265: 261: 257: 252: 250: 246: 242: 237: 235: 231: 227: 223: 219: 215: 210: 208: 204: 200: 196: 193: 189: 181: 175: 172: 169: 165: 161: 158: 155: 151: 147: 143: 140: 137: 136: 132: 130: 128: 123: 121: 117: 112: 110: 106: 102: 98: 94: 90: 86: 82: 81:email address 78: 74: 66: 64: 62: 58: 53: 49: 47: 42: 40: 39:email address 36: 32: 19: 1085: 1077: 1076:rather than 1073: 1049: 1043: 1031:. Retrieved 1005: 994: 989:in RFC 5321. 986: 982: 977: 964: 956: 951: 943: 939: 938:s name, and 935: 931: 927: 923: 919: 915: 911: 907: 845:. Retrieved 840: 831: 823: 819: 815: 811: 807: 803: 798: 787:. Retrieved 773: 764: 757:. Retrieved 731: 720: 712: 708: 704: 700: 696: 688: 684: 676: 671: 654:The primary 650: 642: 636:. Retrieved 632:the original 625: 615: 611: 607: 603: 549:Email Letter 521: 518: 479: 473: 459: 445: 432: 428: 421: 416: 412: 409:forward-path 408: 406: 372:forward-path 371: 363: 361: 351: 349: 339: 331: 329: 324: 320: 312: 309:email client 304: 298: 288: 282: 264:inter-domain 263: 260:Intra domain 259: 253: 248: 240: 238: 233: 225: 217: 213: 211: 202: 191: 185: 153: 149: 145: 141: 124: 119: 115: 113: 104: 96: 92: 76: 70: 63:forwarding. 61:client-based 57:server-based 54: 50: 45: 43: 30: 29: 934:from using 826:, and more. 779:John Levine 727:"Mediators" 711:(including 689:Return-Path 660:mail server 576:Email storm 544:Email alias 534:Chain email 417:return-path 413:return-path 334:prepares a 330:Forwarding 317:attachments 203:Return-Path 125:Because of 116:redirection 73:domain name 985:, and 4.4 959:of RFC 822 914:to domain 802:RFC 2142, 789:2008-11-07 785:. CircleID 709:recipients 699:argument, 664:IP address 638:2008-11-07 616:forwarding 608:forwarding 559:Email spam 509:~/.forward 505:privileges 456:~/.forward 440:~/.forward 249:forwarding 241:forwarding 150:postmaster 46:forwarding 887:⟶ 881:⟶ 824:webmaster 808:marketing 697:MAIL FROM 656:MX record 424:MX record 362:RFC 821, 352:remailing 226:reflector 214:remailing 177:messages. 85:server(s) 44:The term 1108:Category 1078:override 1033:14 March 847:16 March 841:ProDMARC 820:security 759:19 March 701:mailfrom 691:(a.k.a. 677:envelope 528:See also 498:programs 452:sendmail 325:Reply-To 305:manually 301:end-user 234:vacation 120:Mediator 1001:"Alias" 906:Domain 812:support 685:content 494:daemons 464:filters 387:RCPTTO: 344:headers 254:In the 105:forward 103:and/or 101:mailbox 93:forward 1056:  490:server 486:client 313:inline 195:header 79:in an 37:to an 1114:Email 816:abuse 766:MTAs. 705:mfrom 703:, or 587:Notes 572:(MTA) 442:files 366:, by 162:Most 146:sales 109:below 35:email 1054:ISBN 1035:2017 1028:7960 1011:IETF 849:2023 761:2013 754:5598 737:IETF 715:'s). 681:SMTP 675:The 627:IETF 604:List 502:root 488:and 448:SMTP 402:> 399:< 392:> 389:< 336:MIME 323:and 321:From 303:can 199:SMTP 192:From 142:info 127:spam 71:The 59:and 1074:set 1025:RFC 1015:doi 751:RFC 741:doi 713:Bcc 474:arg 472:-f 429:may 299:An 216:or 1110:: 1070:-f 1023:. 1009:. 1003:. 936:A' 857:^ 839:. 822:, 818:, 814:, 810:, 763:. 749:. 735:. 729:. 695:, 641:. 624:. 595:^ 522:id 395:R: 385:S: 148:, 144:, 1062:. 1037:. 1017:: 972:. 944:C 940:C 932:B 928:A 924:C 920:A 916:C 912:A 908:B 890:C 884:B 878:A 851:. 792:. 743:: 666:. 154:@ 77:@ 20:)

Index

E-mail forwarding
email
email address
server-based
client-based
domain name
email address
server(s)
backup servers
mailbox
below
spam
domain name hosting
Internet Service Provider
envelope sender
header
SMTP
bounce messages
Electronic mailing lists
bounce messages
Mail User Agent
Sender Policy Framework
Sender Rewriting Scheme
mail retrieval agent
end-user
email client
attachments
MIME
headers
Jonathan B. Postel

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