smtp/tcp

Description

smtp or Simple Mail Tranfer Protocol is the de facto email standard for the internet.

Protocol

Whole books have been written about the protocol. The simplest level may take the form of

  C: (connect)
  S: 220 myhostname sendmail version date
  C: HELO
  S: 250 pleased to meet you.
  C: MAIL FROM: triemer
  S: 250 triemer ... Sender Ok
  C: RCPT TO: whoever
  S: 250 whoever ... Recipient ok.
  C: DATA
  S: 354 Enter mail, end with "." on a line by itself.
  C: something
  C: .
  S: 250 Ok.

Notes

Implementation

There are many different versions of smtp daemons. The most well-known is the sendmail daemon, available via anon ftp from ftp.cs.berkeley.edu in the ucb/sendmail directory.

Mail readers are too numerous to count,

elm - see the ELM FAQ

RFCs

RFC-821 RFC-822

Other Mail RFCS can be found by reading the RFC-SETS

Reference Person

Jon Postel postel@isi.edu

Literature References

1. Costales, Bryan. Sendmail. (Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly & Associates, Inc.) ISBN 1-56592-056-2