Re: Fwd: Balsa default mail submission on TCP port 587, not port 25 [major@satx.rr.com]

[Brian Stafford <brian stafford uklinux net>]

On Mon,  9 July 17:10 balsa@microwave.com wrote:
> 
> Ok, perhaps not a 'port' field, but some indication of what a defaut value
> is. Perhaps if someone enters just "smtp.foobar.com", it should
> automatically add (not just internally, but in the displayed setting as
> well), the :587 (or whatever the official designator is)..

I disagree.  libESMTP, and hence Balsa, does the correct thing with a bare
domain name.

> I can think of no other MUA that both defaults to what is (irt current
> deployment) a non-standard port,

Er, sorry but RFC 2476 states that 587 is the standard port for mail
*submission*.  Port 25 is the standard port for mail *relay*.  Like it or
not these are different protocols, hence the different port numbers.
RFC 2476 is s standards track RFC so you are wrong about the non standard bit.

Non standard behaviour of other MUAs is not the issue here.  They will
eventually move to adopt the new standard.  One of the authors of RFC 2476
works for Qualcomm, so we can expect their products to be compliant.

> and ALSO gives no immediate indication
> that it has done so..

Um... read Balsa's docs or the README file.  Both explain the default.

When it comes to adopting new protocols or standards, someone has to take
the lead.  The argument that other programs don't do it yet hardly stands
up, especially considering that there are no issues with interoperability.

Brian Stafford