The RAW Message Specification v3.1
MDaemon Server v8 has inherent support for a simple and powerful mail message format known as RAW mail. This specification was developed in 1994 for a corporation that needed a custom MTA focusing on easy mail client development. The purpose of the RAW system is to provide a simple and standard format which software systems such as MDaemon can use to create the much more complex RFC-822 compliant message. Use of mail transport agents such as RAW allow client software to offload to the server all the complicated work of maintaining adherence to Internet mail standards.
RAW mail consists of a series of required and optional text headers followed by a message body. Most headers consist of a token followed by a value enclosed in <> symbols. Each header line ends with a <CRLF> combination of characters. All text, headers and body, are plain ASCII and are contained in a file which ends with the extension: RAW. Headers are separated from the message body by a blank line and are case insensitive. The from and to headers are the only ones which are required.
| From <mailbox@host.com> | This field contains the email address of the sender. |
|---|---|
| To <mailbox@host.com [, mailbox@host.com]> | This field contains the email address(es) of the recipient(s). Multiple recipients can be specified by separating each one with a comma character. |
| ReplyTo <mailbox@host.com> | An optional email address where replies to this message will be directed. |
| CC <maibox@host.com [, mailbox@host.com]> | An optional list of carbon copy recipients of this message. Multiple carbon recipients can be specified by separating each one with a comma character. |
| Subject <text> | An optional subject for the message. |
| Header <Header: Value> | Allows you to explicitly place Header/Value combinations into the message. |
| Special fields supported by RAW v3.1 | |
| File attachment and encoding: |
X-FLAG=ATTACH <filepath, method> [-X]
Example: X-FLAG=ATTACH <c:\utils\pkzip.exe, MIME> -x
This X-FLAG specifies the value "ATTACH" along with two parameters within the <> characters. The first parameter is a complete path to the file which should be attached to the message. The second parameter which is separated from the first by a comma character and specifies the method of encoding that is to be used when attaching the message. MDaemon Server v8 supports two values for this parameter. The method of MIME instructs the server to use the Internet standard Base64 method of message encoding. The method of ASCII instructs the server to simply import the file into the message. An optional -X parameter at the end of the string instructs the server to remove the file from disk once it has been attached.
Delivery Status Notification:
X-FLAG=CONFIRM_DELIVERY
When converting a RAW message which contains this flag into RFC-822 mail, the string is transformed to the "Return-Receipt-To: <sender@host.org>" construct.
Placing Specific Header/Value Combinations Into the RFC-822 Message:
If you wish to place a specific header/value combination into the RFC-822 message which will be generated from a RAW file, you will need to use the HEADER macro. For example, if you want the header "Delivered-By: mail-machine@domain.com" to be placed into the RFC-822 message you would place this: "header <Delivered-By: mail-machine@domain.com>" in the RAW message. Note that the "header" macro requires both the field and value. You can place as many "header" macros as you need into a RAW message.
Sample RAW mail messages:
1) from <mdaemon@altn.com> to <JohnSmith@somewhere.com>
Hello John!
2) from <JohnSmith@nowhere.com> to <President@Whitehouse.gov> subject <Secret FBI Files> X-FLAG=CONFIRM_DELIVERY X-FLAG=ATTACH <c:\secret\files\dole.zip, MIME> -X
Here are all those files you asked for.
