Internet Email Protocols: A Developer's Guide (Paperback)

Internet Email Protocols gathers, in one comprehensive and convenient resource, the key technologies that form the underlying mechanics of Internet email. It provides developers and networking professionals with in-depth explanations of essential concepts and a framework for understanding how and why these technologies fit together to provide cohesive email services. This book shows how to troubleshoot and solve email problems, how to evaluate different implementations of the standards and protocols, and how to be better equipped when faced with the challenge of writing programs that process email. For each chapter, the author presents an overview of the material, detailed information, and any important extensions and advanced uses of the protocols being discussed. You will find in-depth descriptions of: *Message formats, covering the structure of message headers, the various fields, and the intricacies of email addresses, as well as a detailed treatment of MIME *Mail transport technology, focusing on the SMTP protocol *The most current versions of the POP and IMAP protocols *The mechanics of filtering email, with an emphasis on applying this knowledge to blocking unsolicited bulk email *The mechanics of mailing list processing, with an emphasis on applying information from earlier chapters *Security details, covering authentication, digital signatures, encryption, and anonymity In addition, the appendices provide example folder formats, a discussion on UNIX folder locking, and an overview of the languages commonly used for email development. The accompanying CD-ROM contains all the RFCs referenced in the book, as well as the source code for several popular email packages, including Sendmail and Procmail. Bringing together information that is scattered among many RFCs, software packages, and lore, this one detailed book is an important resource for anyone developing email applications. 0201432889B04062001