[lug] Email/User issue

[Walter Pienciak]

On Fri, 2 Feb 2001, Hugh Brown wrote:

> If it is anywhere it is in the rfc for mail (smtp maybe).
>
> Hugh
>
>
> "Timothy C. Klein"
> >
> > Justin,
> >
> > I seem to remember reading somewhere that not only are email address case
> > insensitive, but that the user name should NOT start with a capital.  Don't
> > remember where, or why, but it seems like I did.  If I can remember the
> > specific context I will post it.
> >
> > I bet the alias method mentioned would be the best bet.
> >
> > Tim
> >
> > On Fri, Feb 02, 2001 at 11:04:57AM -0700, Justin wrote:
> > > I have an odd one here and didn't really know how to set the subject. I
> > > recently added a user to my box that wanted a capital first letter for
> > > their login name (ie: 'User' as opposed to 'user'). Well everything
> >
> > [SNIP]
> >
> > > Justin

RFC 822 goes into some detail on this.  Here's the gist of it:

Fieldnames are case-insensitive.  The username part of e-mail addresses
are case-sensitive, technically, but the vast majority of systems aren't
anal about it when accepting mail for a local user.

  Somebody at yourcompany.com

is something described as a simple mailbox.  It can be broken down into

  Somebody   @ yourcompany.com

generically known as

  local-part @ domain

local-part IS case-sensitive.

Section 6.3 makes a specific exception for Postmaster, which must
exist and which must be matched case-insensitively.

That all being said, here's my advice:

1.  Kick your user in the rear and tell them they're not Special enough
    to merit uppercase when everyone else is lowercase.

or

2.  Set up the alias and forget it.

If anyone has to deal with this stuff regularly, I highly recommend
a very clear and readable book called "Internet Email Protocols: A
Developer's Guide" by Kevin Johnson.

Walter