Glossary (e-mail/sendmail and related areas)

Sorry, this is incomplete. Does anyone have a better reference list?

class w

class w contains in a sendmail configuration file all names that are treated as local. These names are placed automatically by sendmail at startup time into the class. Further entries can be made by

LOCAL_CONFIG
Cwmy.domain my.other.domain yet.another.domain

or with

FEATURE(`use_cw_file')

See cf/README in your sendmail distribution.

LDA: Local Delivery Agent

A local delivery agent is used by Message Transfer Agent to deliver mail to the local mail store. Typical LDAs are mail.local, /bin/mail, and procmail.

LHS: Left Hand Side

this refers to the left part of entries in maps or rulesets.

MDA: Mail Delivery Agent

A mail delivery agent is used by Message Transfer Agent to deliver e-mail. In most cases, it is a Local Delivery Agent to deliver mail to the local mail store.

MHS: Message Handling System

A message handling system is the compound of MTAs and MUAs to compose, deliver, and store messages.

MIME: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

MIME is defined by RFC 1341 et.al. It contains mechanisms for specifying and describing the format of internet message bodies. By this it is possible, to send not just 7 Bit ASCII, but also audio, graphic, video (e.g., multimedia) mails.

MTA: Mail Transfer Agent

A mail transfer agent is part of a Message Handling System. It interacts with other MTAs and with MUAs. MTAs are the part of the MHS which is responsible for transferring messages (e-mails). Typical MTAs are sendmail, qmail, smail, and several others.

MUA: Mail User Agent

A mail user agent is part of a Message Handling System. It is the connection between a user and a MTA. MUAs are ELM, mutt, PINE, and many more.

SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

SMTP is defined in RFC 821.

RHS: Right Hand Side

this refers to the right part of entries in maps or to the middle part of rulesets.

UBE: Unsolicited Bulk E-Mail

one name for unwanted e-mail.

UCE: Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail

another name for unwanted e-mail.

Terms related to X.509

CA

Certificate Authority

CN

Common Name

The CN of this DN example
/C=US/ST=California/O=endmail.org/OU=private/CN=Claus Assmann (Cert)/Email=ca+cert@sendmail.org
is
CN=Claus Assmann (Cert).

DN

Distinguished Name

For example:
/C=US/ST=California/O=endmail.org/OU=private/CN=Claus Assmann (Cert)/Email=ca+cert@sendmail.org