in the forward-path, and sends it the mail.

      The first host in the reverse-path should be the host sending the
      SMTP commands, and the first host in the forward-path should be
      the host receiving the SMTP commands.

      Notice that the forward-path and reverse-path appear in the SMTP
      commands and replies, but not necessarily in the message.  That
      is, there is no need for these paths and especially this syntax to
      appear in the "To:" , "From:", "CC:", etc. fields of the message
      header.

      If a server-SMTP has accepted the task of relaying the mail and




 

                                                                        
RFC 821                                                      August 1982
                                           Simple Mail Transfer Protocol



      later finds that the forward-path is incorrect or that the mail
      cannot be delivered for whatever reason, then it must construct an
      "undeliverable mail" notification message and send it to the
      originator of the undeliverable mail (as indicated by the
      reverse-path).

      This notification message must be from the server-SMTP at this
      host.  Of course, server-SMTPs should not send notification
      messages about problems with notification messages.  One way to
      prevent loops in error reporting is to specify a null reverse-path
      in the MAIL command of a notification message.  When such a
      message is relayed it is permissible to leave the reverse-path
      null.  A MAIL command with a null reverse-path appears as follows:

         MAIL FROM:<>

      An undeliverable mail notification message is shown in example 7.
      This notification is in response to a message originated by JOE at
      HOSTW and sent via HOSTX to HOSTY with instructions to relay it on
      to HOSTZ.  What we see in the example is the transaction between
      HOSTY and HOSTX, which is the first step in the return of the
      notification message.




























 

                                                                        
August 1982                                                      RFC 821
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol                                           



      -------------------------------------------------------------

            Example Undeliverable Mail Notification Message

         S: MAIL FROM:<>
         R: 250 ok
         S: RCPT TO:<@HOSTX.ARPA:JOE@HOSTW.ARPA>
         R: 250 ok
         S: DATA
         R: 354 send the mail data, end with .
         S: Date: 23 Oct 81 11:22:33
         S: From: SMTP@HOSTY.ARPA
         S: To: JOE@HOSTW.ARPA
         S: Subject: Mail System Problem
         S:
         S:   Sorry JOE, your message to SAM@HOSTZ.ARPA lost.
         S:   HOSTZ.ARPA said this: