Delivermail
Encyclopedia
The ancestor of sendmail
, delivermail is a mail transport agent that used the FTP
protocol on the early ARPANET
to transmit e-mail
to the recipient.
In 1979, when delivermail was first shipped with 4.0BSD and 4.1BSD, the ARPANET
was still using NCP
as its network protocol. When the ARPANET
switched to TCP/IP in 1982, the road was paved for MTA
s that no longer relied on FTP
for delivery. The new protocol for sending mail was SMTP, and after DNS
replaced hosts file
s, delivermail evolved into sendmail
, which is still the most widely used MTA on UNIX
systems today.
Sendmail
Sendmail is a general purpose internetwork email routing facility that supports many kinds of mail-transfer and -delivery methods, including the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol used for email transport over the Internet....
, delivermail is a mail transport agent that used the FTP
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
protocol on the early ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
to transmit e-mail
E-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
to the recipient.
In 1979, when delivermail was first shipped with 4.0BSD and 4.1BSD, the ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
was still using NCP
Network Control Program
The Network Control Program provided the middle layers of the protocol stack running on host computers of the ARPANET, the predecessor to the modern Internet...
as its network protocol. When the ARPANET
ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network , was the world's first operational packet switching network and the core network of a set that came to compose the global Internet...
switched to TCP/IP in 1982, the road was paved for MTA
Mail transfer agent
Within Internet message handling services , a message transfer agent or mail transfer agent or mail relay is software that transfers electronic mail messages from one computer to another using a client–server application architecture...
s that no longer relied on FTP
File Transfer Protocol
File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet. FTP is built on a client-server architecture and utilizes separate control and data connections between the client and server...
for delivery. The new protocol for sending mail was SMTP, and after DNS
Domain name system
The Domain Name System is a hierarchical distributed naming system for computers, services, or any resource connected to the Internet or a private network. It associates various information with domain names assigned to each of the participating entities...
replaced hosts file
Hosts file
The hosts file is a computer file used in an operating system to map hostnames to IP addresses. The hosts file is a plain-text file and is conventionally named hosts.-Purpose:...
s, delivermail evolved into sendmail
Sendmail
Sendmail is a general purpose internetwork email routing facility that supports many kinds of mail-transfer and -delivery methods, including the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol used for email transport over the Internet....
, which is still the most widely used MTA on UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
systems today.