Hugh Sasse's Electronic Mail Related Information Page.

Hugh G. Sasse <hgs@dmu.ac.uk>

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Contents

including resouces for Exim and Fighting Spam.

General Information
Information most users will find useful including information on Internet security and anti-virus matters, and Hoaxes.
E-mail clients
The programs with which one reads and writes e-mail (Mail User Agents, MUAs)
Mailing Lists
Information sources related to mailing lists, how to find, join and leave them.
Web (etc) access by E-mail
E-mail can be used to access much of the WWW, and also ftp and gopher sites. There are mailing lists about this.
E-mail Administration
Information for those who set up and run servers including info on: See also Fighting Spam below.
Fighting Spam
Information about spam, unsolicited E-mail and the like, how to recognise it, prevent it, complain, and tools to assist in this.

General Information

The Internet Mail Consortium (IMC)'s
comp.mail.misc FAQS from Internet FAQ Consortium.
from the comp.mail.misc newsgroup.
IANA Root Zone Whois Information, indexed by TLD.
Top Level Domain name to country index.
Email Style.
Concise notes explaining how to format E-mail so that it can be read easily, and conveys maximum information.
"HTML Email: Whenever Possible, Turn It Off!"
Configuring Mail Clients to use Plain ASCII Text (geocities mirrorhas gone(07-oct-2003))
Explains when and why MIME and HTML should not be used in E-mail, and how to turn them off. Internet mail: formats from Greg Lehey's Using Internet mail pages, is an excellent document relating to this. Similarly, you may be interested in the GNU article We Can Put an End to Word Attachments ( English, French, Irish Mirrors).
Linux Mail Users HOWTO.
Internet security and anti-virus information
See also virus hoaxes below.
Symantec Ant-Virus Research Center,
F-Secure Virus Descriptions,
University of Michigan Virus Busters' page.
A Mail Virus Scanner ties your MTA to your commercial virus scanner to check attachments.
exiscan - a Perl Virus scanner for Exim.
The Anomy mail tools.
Network Associates Virus Information Library.
CERT Computer Emergency Repsonse Team
Security News by Chuck Upsdell.
SecurityFocus.com.
Georgi Guninski Security Research.
"Safe Hex" information from Sophos.
Inflex
A virus (etc) scanner to wrap around sendmail or Exim
Internet Hoaxes
There are various sorts of hoax on the internet.
CIAC's Internet Hoaxes page
Virus hoaxes
Good Times virus hoax (which has its own FAQ), etc., etc. See also Google Directory Computer Virus Hoaxes page, Symantec Hoax page, Sophos' "Don't fall for a virus hoax" and their Hoaxes and Scares page, McAfee Virus Hoax page, Network Associates' Virus Hoax Information page, Computer Virus Myths. vmyths.com. Network Associates, Inc Virus Hoaxes page.
General Hoaxes
Hoax Kill describes how to detect, and what to do about, hoaxes. The EFF Hoaxes Archive. The Don't Spread That Hoax page. Datafellows Hoax Warnings includes virus information, too, The Urban Legends Archive (a very slow site with far too many images). For further information about evaluating sources from the internet see Evaluating Internet Research Sources, Bibliography on Evaluating Internet Resources. April Fools on the net an archive of net.humor
Chain Letters
Chain letters are illegal in the USA apart from anything else. Chain Letters info from rutgers.edu is detailed. CIAC's Chain Letter site.
Email Forwards
Instead of forwarding wodges of text to people, send them to the copies held here.
Remote printing -- Email to Fax gateway information
To find out about this using e-mail alone send a message with no subject or body to tpcfaq@info.tpc.int. For a list of the places covered by the sercice send a blank message with no subject to tpccover@info.tpc.int.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
At the moment this covers the ones used in e-mail, or in newsgroups, and not computer jargon. Some of these contain strong language.
Dr Roney's Page of Acronyms.
Acronyms and Computer Jargon.
from the Utopia Software Web site.
The Canonical Abbreviation/Acronym List.
Oliver Clark's Acronym Dictionary.
Acronyms.
From the-eyes@geocities.com whoever that is.
A list of Texting abbreviatons.
These come from the mobile/cell phone texting culture, but may be of use.

E-mail Clients

There is a list of clients and other things at http://dir.penguinapps.com/Network/Mail/ but this has gone (08-OCT-2003). There is also a list at http://cws.internet.com/mail.html .

Configuring Mail Clients to use Plain ASCII Text (geocities mirrorhas gone 07-OCT-2003)
Explains when and why MIME and HTML should not be used in E-mail, and how to turn them off.
Arrow
X based Mail user agent.
Balsa.
A Gnome E-mail client with a Eudora-like interface.
BatMail
A command line driven mail program for PCs
Bloomba.
New (AUG-2003) mail client for the PC.
CSC Mail.
Eudora Light
See also Pete Beim's [Unofficial] Eudora FAQs & Links page has gone (08-OCT-2003). There is a UK distribution site at http://sunsite.org.uk/packages/eudora/.
Evolution.
from Ximian.
Glow.
A groupware client from The OpenOffice project.
Incredimail.
This is a multimedia E-mail client marketed on the basis that text e-mails are "dull". The Main page has more information.There is a more technical FAQ, covering more details about usage and installation.
KMail.
For KDE under Linux
Mahogany.
Mahogany is an OpenSource cross-platform mail and news client.
Mew.
a MIME mail reader for Emacs/Xemacs.
MH Message Handler
an MUA for Unix
Mozilla.
A web browser that includes a mail client, but see Thunderbird below, which this has spawned.
Mulberry
for Mac and Windows. Supports IMAP and POP.
Mutt.
Outlook Welcome FAQ from Slipstick Systems
See also Outlook FAQ.
Outlook Express FAQ.
See also Outlook Express 5 Howto Guide. There is also an Inside Outlook Express FAQ, and a PC Answers Outlook Express FAQ for which Firefox blocked a popup. Although much in the Loughborough University's Outlook Express FAQ is specific to that site, it contains useful information for everyone.
Pegasus Mail.
Phoenix Mail.
Pine (Mail program)
See also comp.mail.pine newsgroup. There is a guide to using Pine at http://www.uq.edu.au/pcc-factsheets/factsheet-5.html. There is a UK distribution site at http://sunsite.org.uk/packages/pine/.
Pocomail
A shareware client for PCs.
Popcorn.
"Popcorn is a freeware ultra-lightweight POP3/(E)SMTP e-mail client for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP." from their site.
Postilion
ProMail 1.21 is a Trojan Horse
See, for example, the Symantec info.
SGmail
a client based on Ruby and Tcl/Tk
Spruce.
a client in its early stages (25-JAN-2000) for the Gtk windows system 08-OCT-2003: The news page on the site says for 04-MAR-2001: "odds are the days of Spruce are coming to an end.".
Sylpheed.
a GTK+ client for X Windows on Linux.
TkRat (Ratatosk)
Thunderbird.
Mozilla project mail client.
VINE is not Pine has gone (08-OCT-2003)
For use with the Vim editor
XCmail.
XCmail is a MIME and multi POP3 server capable mailtool for X11 using the Xclasses layout library.
Ximian Evoloution.

Mailing Lists.

Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists search engine.
See also Liszt (which can be accessed by e-mail -- send a message to liszter@bluemarble.net with a body of:
search keyword
or
help
for more information) and AOL's Mailing list directory, the list of LISTSERV® lists at tile.net, and L-Soft's CataList list of LISTSERV® lists. You can search L-Soft's database by sending a message to listserv@lsoft.com with a body of:
list global /keyword
where string is in the title of the list you are searching for. For Mailbase lists, which are really for the UK academic community, send a message to mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk with a message body of
find lists keyword
or
help
for more information.

Web (etc) access by E-mail.

Accessing the Internet by Email FAQ (UK Copy has gone (08-OCT-2003))
this is the FAQ for the ACCMAIL list. It can be obtained by E-mail, as explained (in V 8.3): This document is now available from several automated mail servers. To get the latest edition, send email to one of the addresses below. To: mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu (for US, Canada & South America) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email To: mailbase@mailbase.ac.uk (for Europe, Asia, etc.) Enter only this line in the BODY of the note: send lis-iis e-access-inet.txt You can also get the file by anonymous FTP at one of these sites: Site: rtfm.mit.edu get pub/usenet/news.answers/internet-services/access-via-email Site: ftp.mailbase.ac.uk get pub/lists/lis-iis/files/e-access-inet.txt Note: I cannot find a version more recent than the data Gerry Boyd stopped maintaining this.
The ACCMAIL list
This is a mailing list about accessing the internet by e-mail.
To SUBscribe: Send a message with a body containing:
SUBSCRIBE ACCMAIL firstname lastname
to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
To UNSUBscribe: Send
UNSUBSCRIBE ACCMAIL
to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.AOL.COM.
Gerald E. Boyd's guides (Geocities mirrorhas gone 07-OCT-2003)
Including:
howto1 (Geocities mirrorhas gone 07-OCT-2003), howto2 (Geocities mirrorhas gone 07-OCT-2003), howto3 (Geocities mirrorhas gone 07-OCT-2003)
his "How To Do Just about Anything By E-mail" document in 3 parts
his list of Servers (Geocities mirrorhas gone 07-OCT-2003)
that provide services by e-mail.
his "Accessing the WWW by Email: User Guide to WWW search engines" FAQ
And he moderates the ACCMAIL list (above).
Bob Appleton's guides (NO LONGER MAINTAINED)
These have been dead for well over a year now, so they have been commented out.
Usenet Access by Uzi Paz ( Geocities mirror, )
"Usenet" here means Internet newsgroups

E-mail Administration

There is a list of tools and other things at http://dir.penguinapps.com/Network/Mail/.

The FAQS for the comp.mail.* groups
Linux Mail Administrator HOWTO.
The Exim Home Page.
Search Archives of the Exim list.
There is another search facility here.
Exim HOWTO - Using the RBL.
Exim HOWTO - Preventing Relaying.
My Exim Contributions page.
FAQ: Does Exim support DSN?(has gone (07-OCT-2003))
Exim Filter for blocking Windows executables.
The colondot.net: Matthew B-M: Mailfilter page
has many tips for blocking spam
fidonet.org.
MasqMail.
an MTA for systems which are not permanently connected to the net
The MMDF Users Group home page.
The Postfix Home Page (UK mirror 1, UK mirror 2)
The Qmail Home Page (UK mirror)
The Sendmail Home Page
The Anti-Spam page may be of particular interest. There is The Sendmail FAQ in HTML format.
The Smail FAQ.
dot UUCP.
XMail.
The ZMailer Home Page
See also this List of links to Email Related [Information].
Berkeley DB routines page, to go with Sendmail.
The Procmail FAQ
See also Infinite Ink's Processing Mail with Procmail.
Moronic Mail Autoresponders (A FAQ From Hell).
Related to this is a Procmail filter for including mail headers as a mime attachemt, due to Volker Kuhlmann message-id <20040203225912.GA3188 () paradise ! net ! nz> on bugtraq. Related internet RFCs include RFC3834 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ) (Recommendations for Automatic Responses to Electronic Mail)
IMAP Servers.
University of Washington IMAP Information Center.
Courier IMAP.
is a server that provides IMAP access to Maildir mailboxes.
POP Servers.
For details on the protocol, see: RFC1939 (UK text Copy, rfc.net )
Cucipop.
There seems to be no home page for this
GNU pop3d.
popa3d, from the Openwall Project.
A pop daemon designed with an emphasis on security.
qpopper.
The ftp site is ftp://ftp.qualcomm.com/eudora/servers/unix/popper/. For rate limiting on users who POP mail but leave it on the server see HAPPYMAIL.
tpop3d.
ZPOP
There seems to be no home page for this
zpop3d.
A Mail Virus Scanner
ties your MTA to your commercial virus scanner to check attachments.
Inflex
A virus (etc) scanner to wrap around sendmail or Exim
exiscan.
A Perl Virus scanner for Exim.
Converting Mailboxes:
Emailchemy the Email alchemist
Rewrite many proprietry mailboxes as mbox (RFC822) mailboxes. Also allows some cleanup of mail boxes.
Dbxconv.
Converts outlook express mailboxes into unix mbox format.
InterGuru Maibox Conversion, Other Utilities, and Links to Other Useful Sites.
RFC2822 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ) (obseletes RFC822 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ) ) and RFC2076 (UK text Copy, rfc.net )
These are about headers for internet mail. For other RFCs see RFC Index at cmu.edu, and those RFC sites listed on my home page. See also DRUMS (the Detailed Revision/Update of Message Standards) produced by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force).
RFC2142 Mailbox Names for Common Services, Roles and Functions (UK text Copy, rfc.net )
MIME FAQ
See also RFC2045 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ), RFC2046 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ), RFC2047 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ), RFC2048 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ), RFC2049 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ), and RFC989 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ), and RFC989 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ), section 5.2, for definition of base64. RFC1524 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ), "A User Agent Configuration Mechanism For Multimedia Mail Format Information" describes .mailcap files
SMTP and ESMTP
The Simple Mail Transfer Protocol.
RFC2505 (UK copy, rfc.net ) Anti-Spam Recommendations for SMTP MTAs
For an overview see: "Internet Email, How it Works: Check your Privacy and Security at the Door".
RFC2821 (definition of SMTP) (UK text Copy, rfc.net ))
obsoletes RFC821. (UK text Copy, rfc.net ))
RFC1869 (SMTP Service Extensions) [i.e. EHLO etc]
RFC1652 (SMTP Service Extension for 8bit-MIMEtransport) [8BITMIME]
RFC1845 (SMTP Service Extension for Checkpoint/Restart) [CHECKPOINT]
RFC1870 (SMTP Service Extension for message size declaration) [SIZE]
RFC1985 (SMTP Service Extension for Remote Queue Starting) [ETRN]
RFC2034 (SMTP Service Extensions for Returning Enhanced Error Codes) [ENHANCEDSTATUSCODES]
RFC2047 MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) Part Three: Message Header Extensions for Non-ASCII Text.
RFC2554 (SMTP Service Extension for Authentication) [AUTH]
See also this list of SMTP AUTH clients has gone (08-OCT-2003).
RFC2645 (On-Demand Mail Relay (ODMR)) [ATRN]
RFC2852 (Deliver By SMTP Service Extension) [DELIVERBY]
RFC2920 (SMTP Service Extensions for command pipelining) [PIPELINING]
Obsoletes RFC2197.
RFC3030 ( SMTP Service Extensions for Transmission of Large and Binary MIME Messages) [CHUNKING]
Obsoletes RFC1830.
RFC3207 (SMTP Service Extension for Secure SMTP over Transport Layer Security)
obsoletesRFC2487
RFC3461 (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) Service Extension for Delivery Status Notifications (DSNs))
obsoletesRFC1891
RFC3464 (UK text Copy, rfc.net ) (An Extensible Message Format for Delivery Status Notifications)
RCF3885 (SMTP Service Extension for Message Tracking)
updatesRFC3461
LMTP.
The Local Mail Transfer Protocol.
RFC2033.
QMQP and QMTP .
The JANET Mail Administrators Guide dated 1995
The up-to-date information may be found at JANET mail services now. (JANET is the UK's Joint Academic NETwork).
The Email/Sendmail page
from Stokely Consulting's Unix System Administrator's resources, which has a lot of good resources on it, an opinion I formed before their kind remarks about this page :-).
CMU's E-Mail Web Resource Index.
Oceanwave Consulting's Unix Mail page

Fighting Spam

This also covers unsolicited commercial e-mail, which is, strictly speaking, different from spam.

The Network Abuse Clearinghouse (www.abuse.net)
Forum for Responsible and Ethical Email(Seems to have gone 30-JAN-2002) ... or maybe not (13-MAY-2002).
The SpamCon Foundation.
UXN Spam Combat.
Mike Fleming's Anti-spam Page.
The "Death to Spam" page.
The spam.abuse.net site (NL mirror)
In particular see Tipa and Help for Regular Users (NL mirror) and Technical Help for systems Administrators (NL mirror) LINX Best Current Practice for combating Unsolicited Bulk Email, Where to complain about Frauds and Scams on the Internet from The Elsop Webmaster Resource Center, Get that spammer!, Net abuse FAQ[s]. The Spam FAQ, (UK copyhas gone (08-OCT-2003)), Sam Spade (.org) has various tools. Gerald Boyd has two articles Tracking E-mail - Part 1 and Tracking E-mail - Part 2 about how to read mail headers and the kind of damage spammers inflict on them. The Internet Mail Consortium has a page about Limiting Unsolicited Bulk Email. There are more FAQS about this whcih have gone (08-OCT-2003).
CanIT.
I have not tried this.
Related to this is the Usenet Death Penalty. See UDP FAQ for details.
Spam|Bar looks like an interesting solution for PC (Mac soon?) users has gone (08-OCT-2003).
There are various Exim related resources linked from this page.
The Sendmail Anti-Spam page.
RFC2505 (UK copy) Anti-Spam Recommendations for SMTP MTAs
RFC2635 (UK copy) DON'T SPEW: A Set of Guidelines for Mass Unsolicited Mailings and Postings (spam*)
RFC3098 (UK copy) How to advertise responsibly using E-mail and Newsgroups.
"Blackhole" lists
MAPS.VIX.COM no longer exists
IMRSS The Internet Mail Relay Services Survey Project
Was withdrawn in September 1999. See the IMRSS Obituary.
ip4r (DNSBL-style) DNS lookups from declude.com.
ORDB The Open Relay Database.
relays.osirusoft.com Has gone (08-OCT-2003).
Blars Block list.
Distributed Server Boycott List.
XBL.
Hugh G Sasse <hgs@dmu.ac.uk>

Last Modified: 09-MAR-2006

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