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RFC 574 UNKNOWN EMAIL · SERVICES

Announcement of a Mail Facility at UCSB

Announcing network mail capability at a new server.

On rfc-editor.org ↗
PUBLISHED
September 1973
AUTHORS
M. Krilanovich
STREAM
Legacy
SERVER SOCKET
3
FTP COMMANDS IMPLEMENTED
MAIL, BYE
VALID MAIL RECIPIENTS
6 users plus GRIPE
DOI
10.17487/RFC0574

RFC text

Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗ 
Network Working Group                                     M. Krilanovich
Request for Comments: 574                                           UCSB
NIC: 19144                                             26 September 1973


                Announcement of a Mail Facility at UCSB

   There now exists a server program at UCSB, resident under socket 3,
   which supports that subset of the File Transfer Protocol necessary
   for mail delivery.  Only the MAIL and BYE commands are implemented at
   this time.

   Mail may be sent to an individual at UCSB by specifying his local
   user name in the MAIL command.  The following is a list of those
   individuals currently defined as valid recipients of Network mail,
   each with their respective user name:  Ed Faeh (FAEH), Jim Guyton
   (GUYTON), Mark Krilanovich (KRILANOV), Curtis Mosso (MOSSO), John
   Pickens (PICKENS), and Ron Stoughton (STOUGHTN).  In addition, any
   general comments or complaints about UCSB services may be sent to
   user name GRIPE.


         [ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
          [ into the online RFC archives by Dave Bachmann 1/98 ]

AI ELI5

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PROBLEMBefore this announcement, it was difficult to send mail to users at UCSB over the ARPANET.
MECHANISMUCSB set up a server on socket 3 that implements just enough of the FTP protocol to support mail delivery: the MAIL and BYE commands.
WHAT WAS ENABLEDMail could now be sent to six specific UCSB users and a general complaints address (GRIPE), using FTP's simple mail delivery mechanism.

§1The UCSB Mail Server

UCSB has set up a mail server program listening on socket 3 that implements the minimal subset of the File Transfer Protocol needed for mail delivery. Instead of implementing the full FTP specification, the server supports only two commands: MAIL (to send a message to a recipient) and BYE (to end the connection). This simplified approach makes mail delivery straightforward and reliable.

UCSB created a special computer program that accepts mail sent over the network. It only understands two commands: deliver this mail, and goodbye.

§2How to Send Mail to UCSB

Mail may be sent to an individual at UCSB by using the MAIL command and specifying their local user name. Six individuals are defined as valid recipients: Ed Faeh (FAEH), Jim Guyton (GUYTON), Mark Krilanovich (KRILANOV), Curtis Mosso (MOSSO), John Pickens (PICKENS), and Ron Stoughton (STOUGHTN). In addition, any general comments or complaints about UCSB services may be sent to the special user name GRIPE.

You can send mail to any of six specific people at UCSB, or to a general feedback address called GRIPE.

§3Significance

This service represents an early example of cross-network mail delivery using a minimal subset of FTP. By implementing only the essential MAIL and BYE commands, UCSB created a simple, robust mail gateway. This approach contrasts with full FTP server implementations while still providing useful mail functionality to ARPANET users wanting to contact specific individuals at the institution.

This was a simple way to let people on the network send mail to UCSB without having to set up a complicated system.