1 Topic by pbf343

  • pbf343
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-05-30
  • Posts: 247

Topic: Syntax in email addresses

==== REQUIRED BASIC INFO OF YOUR IREDMAIL SERVER ====
- iRedMail version (check /etc/iredmail-release):
- Deployed with iRedMail Easy or the downloadable installer?
- Linux/BSD distribution name and version:
- Store mail accounts in which backend (LDAP/MySQL/PGSQL):
- Web server (Apache or Nginx):
- Manage mail accounts with iRedAdmin-Pro?
- [IMPORTANT] Related original log or error message is required if you're experiencing an issue.
====

Hello,
Using IredAdmin-Pro on Linux and have a question about email address syntax.

I may be mixing the dot (.) notation in email addresses with other characters.  However, I think that dot (.) notation was always supported as valid characters in an email address per the RFCs (and accounts).  Going back to look the the RFCs up once I realized that Gmail is NOT supporting dots as a different email address (account).

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/ … ious-email

While it appears valid character - I always thought it was a valid separate account scenario - not some regular expression extraction, alias, etc. altering it. 

Example: 
   zhang.huangbin@iredmail.org
      vs
   zhanghuangbin@iredmail.org

Are these both the same accounts?   
Should email addressed to one be delivered to the other (Gmail appears to be doing this)?


So,
- Is dot (.) notation actually an acceptable character in the email syntax?
- How is iRedmail supporting dot (.) notation in the email address?  For example: it does not create an additional account on the file system.  I don't think it creates and alias account.

----

Spider Email Archiver: On-Premises, lightweight email archiving software developed by iRedMail team. Supports Amazon S3 compatible storage and custom branding.

2 Reply by Cthulhu

  • Cthulhu
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2019-06-04
  • Posts: 907

Re: Syntax in email addresses

Why you assume that Postfix (which iredmail uses) is the same as gmail?

Just because one provider (which for sure does not use postfix) ist handling their own mailboxes with custom bevaviour does mot mean that any other software has the same settings.

So, (.) notation is for sure an acceptable charname and desribes another mailbox

3 Reply by pbf343 (edited by pbf343 2022-07-01 23:17:33)

  • pbf343
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2013-05-30
  • Posts: 247

Re: Syntax in email addresses

Cthulhu wrote:

Why you assume that Postfix (which iredmail uses) is the same as gmail?

Just because one provider (which for sure does not use postfix) ist handling their own mailboxes with custom bevaviour does mot mean that any other software has the same settings.

So, (.) notation is for sure an acceptable charname and desribes another mailbox

Hello,
Thanks for the reply. 
No, didn't assume Postfix is the same as Gmail.   Actually the opposite in that I suspect there is code in Postfix that intentionally accepts the characters while Gmail has gone out of it's way to not support such.   Seems like a poor decision to not support it to me -- and some others online. 

The RFC (5322) implies the "period", "dot", "." is supported albeit a little confusing as to syntax scenario exactly.   

I had not heard of Gmail NOT supporting the Dots when the Gmail service first launched.  However, one article says it has been that way since launch.  Another implies the Gmail KB article has been online about 15 years and I can't say I really recall paying much attention to it. 

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/ … ious-email

The reason for the sudden acute concern and worry that I was NOT remembering the syntax accurately was due to a "security" scenario like this for a user on an iRedMail system where their address has a got.

https://jameshfisher.com/2018/04/07/the … mail-user/



Also a reference:  https://support.google.com/mail/answer/ … my-address


So yes, dots can be used in an email syntax per the RFC but more importantly they generally DO EQUATE to an actual different email/system account - EXCEPT in GMAIL - where people can pose a your address in attempts to scam you. 

Outlook.com and many others support DOTS in the syntax via separate accounts as well. 

Cheers

4 Reply by gpapaiko

  • gpapaiko
  • Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2020-11-06
  • Posts: 40

Re: Syntax in email addresses

Hi pbf343,

You are to some point correct, but have miss read the article.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/ … ious-email

The article stated that:

Note: If you use Gmail through work, school, or other organization (like yourdomain.com or yourschool.edu), dots do change your address. To change the dots in your username, contact your admin.

The this indicated that google for gmail.com account have put rules in place to automatically redirect any email with "." dots, to the one account holder regardless of how they have registered their account with gmail.

BUT if you user a work email (domain) that is hosted on gmail servers then the "." dots will create separate emails eg.
WORK Domain:
johnsmith@domain.com and john.smith@domain.com are two separate accounts

BUT on gmail.com:

If someone accidentally adds dots to your address when emailing you, you'll still get that email. For example, if your email is johnsmith@gmail.com, you own all dotted versions of your address:

john.smith@gmail.com
jo.hn.sm.ith@gmail.com
j.o.h.n.s.m.i.t.h@gmail.com

Hence for gmail.com account all accounts with a "." dot in them are "aliases" to the primary account.

In Iredmail or Iradadmin Pro they are treated in the default manner in which the system is designed every email with a "." dot in it is a separate address.

If you your looking to replicate the gmail.com functionally of the "." not counting, then you will need to look at some king of rule in postfix to do that - beyond my know hoew

5 Reply by ZhangHuangbin

  • ZhangHuangbin
  • ZhangHuangbin
  • iRedMail Developers
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2009-05-06
  • Posts: 31,082

Re: Syntax in email addresses

on iRedMail, Postfix/Dovecot is configured to treat a dot as, well, just a dot, like a, b, c, d, ..., x, y, z.