276395 - Can't have different MAIL FROM in envelope to From: in message

Status: NEW

(MailNews Core :: Networking: SMTP, enhancement)

Description

[David Anderson]

I'm trying to set up my dad's computer so that he can use his (business) vanity
domain to send mail. His ISP is AOL. To do this, we have to use SMTP AUTH to
smtp.aol.com port 587.

Unfortunately, AOL's server refuses the mail if the MAIL FROM: envelope line
does not contain the same content as was used for the SMTP AUTH authentication.
Of course, the SMTP AUTH username has to be the AOL username. That means that
the MAIL FROM: envelope must have the same. Unfortunately that means that he
can't use a vanity domain.

However, this is the only check that the AOL server applies. That is, it is
allowed to have MAIL FROM: <[e-mail]> but for the actual message itself
to have From: <[e-mail]>. I've verified this by manual conversation
with the SMTP server. It only cares about MAIL FROM = SMTP AUTH username - it
doesn't care what the From: header of the actual e-mail is.

However I can't find a way to configure Thunderbird to use a different e-mail
address in the MAIL FROM envelope to what it uses in the From: header. Hence at
the moment my dad can't use Thunderbird.

Comment 1

[David Anderson]

Having thought about it a bit more, here's a suggestion to implement it. 
 
It would be sufficient to have a user pref connected with the SMTP server 
specifying a customised string to send in the "MAIL FROM" line of the SMTP 
envelope. This need not be exposed in the UI if it was felt to be too 
esoteric/confusing, but could be hidden as an option for power users. 
I think this would be quite easy to code - just an extra pref to read and then 
utilise at the "MAIL FROM" stage. If I knew C, I'd send a patch myself, but 
sadly I don't... 

Comment 2

[OstGote!]

Should this be Core/Networking:SMTP?

Comment 3

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
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If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
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Thank you for your help in this matter.

The latest beta releases can be obtained from:
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Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.

Comment 5

[David Anderson]

I still think this would be useful; with AOL's present setup, lack of this ability means that AOL users can't use Thunderbird. (That's about 10% of Internet users, at least in the UK).

Comment 6

[David :Bienvenu]

Only AOL users who want to use a different domain as their From address can't use TB, right? Not all AOL users - you can also set your Reply-To address to a different address, and you can make your pretty name be whatever you want.

But wait, I'm all confused. Are you entering the username for the aol smtp server as [e-mail]? That has nothing to do with the From: header, which comes from the e-mail address for the identity. That can be whatever you want.

Comment 7

[David Anderson]

(In reply to comment #6)
> Only AOL users who want to use a different domain as their From address can't
> use TB, right? Not all AOL users - you can also set your Reply-To address to a
> different address, and you can make your pretty name be whatever you want.
>

Yes, that's right. AOL users who want to use vanity domains can't use TB. Sorry for saying that wrongly.
 
> But wait, I'm all confused. Are you entering the username for the aol smtp
> server as [e-mail]? That has nothing to do with the From: header, which
> comes from the e-mail address for the identity. That can be whatever you want.
> 

AOL use SMTP authentication, and require the envelope FROM to match the username for authentication. The issue preventing use of TB is that TB doesn't allow the envelope FROM to differ from the header From:. AOL doesn't mind what you use in the header, so you can use a vanity domain - it's just that TB doesn't allow you to use something different to the envelope FROM (which has to equal your @aol address to get past AOL's authentication). Whew!

Comment 8

[David :Bienvenu]

ah, I see. Perhaps an other way of slicing it would be to have a pref that says "send the username as the mail from envelope" - that feels a teeny bit less evil than allowing users to send whatever MAIL FROM envelope they want...

Comment 9

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

Per comment 8, this seems to be a valid RFE, confirming.