[Python-Dev] 2nd thought: fully qualified host names (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@beopen.com
Thu, 10 Aug 2000 11:14:20 -0500

Hi Guido!

After submitting the patch to smtplib, I got a bad feeling about only trying to get the FQDN for the localhost case. Shouldn't getfdqnhostname() try to get the FQDN for every argument passed? Currently it does so only for len(name) == 0 I think (but couldn't immediately find a reference) it is required by some RFC. There is at least an internet draft by the the ietf that says it is required and a lot of references (mostly from postfix) to some RFC, too. Of course, automatically trying to get the fully qualified domain name would mean that the programmer looses some flexibility (by loosing responsibility). If that is a problem I would make getfqdnhostname a public function (and choose a better name). helo() and ehlo() could still call it for the local host case. or-should-I-just-leave-things-as-they-are-ly y'rs Peter P.S.: I am cc'ing the list so everyone and Thomas can rush in and provide their RFC knowledge.

Good idea -- I don't know anything about SMTP!

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.pythonlabs.com/~guido/)