On Mon, Sep 09, 2013 at 09:00:01AM -0700, Todd Lyons wrote:

> > > [email protected]
> > >    <-- [email protected]
> 
> I think it's a terminology issue.  It's not exim "rewriting" the email
> address.  I believe a more technically correct phrase would be
> "normalizing".  A domain is not supposed to have an MX record set to a
> CNAME.

You're mistaken.  The illegal configuration is:

        example.com.      IN MX    0 mail.example.com.
        mail.example.com. IN CNAME smtp.example.com.
        smtp.example.com. IN A     192.0.2.1

However, the below (which is the OP's situation) is valid (since
April 2001, RFC 2821):

        example.com.      IN CNAME example.net.
        example.net.      IN MX 0 smtp.example.net.
        smtp.example.net. IN A     192.0.2.1

More than a decade ago (prior to RFC 2821), envelope recipient
addresses of the form [email protected] (with example.com as
above) were expected to be canonicalized (normalized if you will)
to [email protected] since RFC 821 requires primary names in
all contexts where domains are used.  This was relaxed in RFC 2821
with the express purpose of allowing <[email protected]> in
MAIL FROM: and RCPT TO:.

MTAs are now expected to not automatically canonicalize the domain
part of envelope recipient addresses based on the presence of a
DNS CNAME alone.  Of course explicit rewriting rules in the MTA
configuration can rewrite local addresses at will, and remote
addresses at their peril.

> Behavior when such an event occurs is undefined.  Some MTA's
> merely fix the sending domain from the (invalid) CNAME to the
> (standards compliant) A record.  I *know* sendmail does this as I'm a
> list owner on a mailing list machine which has this particular
> configuration.  Read on for exim behavior in this scenario:

Sendmail (in best-practice and default configurations) no longer
automatically canonicalizes the domain part of envelope recipient
addresses.  The same is true of Postfix.

> Yes it has been changed, but no it's not incorrect (IMHO).

Your opinion is contrary to long established standards.

-- 
        Viktor.

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