This refers to a bug that was reported in detail on the Mercury mailing list several years ago, but still seems to be present in the current version (4.01). Specifically, if a header line exceeds 253 characters, Mercury splits it by inserting a CR/LF after the 253rd character. The split is not done correctly, causing two undesirable side effects:
(a) if the header line has more than 253 printable characters, then the characters after the split start immediately at the beginning of the next line, without any preceding whitespace, so the part after the split is regarded as a new (and most likely unrecognisable) header, rather than as a continuation.
(b) If the header line has exactly 253 printable characters, the CR/LF is inserted immediately before the header line's own CR/LF. This effectively results in the insertion of a blank line after the header, which causes all following headers to be regarded as being part of the email body.
My setup is: email picked up from a POP3 account with MercuryD, and distributed to two user mailboxes from where the users pick up the mail via MercuryP. Outgoing mail is sent via MercuryC, though I am not aware of any issue with headers on outgoing mail.
This bug never troubled me before. Unfortunately, I have just changed my DNS host and the new hosting service adds a Received-SPF: header to forwarded emails, which just happens to be generally between 250 and 260 characters long. This means that around 10% of my incoming mails, when the line is exactly 253 printable characters long, are being corrupted. This isn't really very acceptable.
I can provide more information if required. Is there any likelihood of this bug being fixed in the near term, and is there any formal bug tracking system where I should enter it so that it doesn't get forgotten (as seems to have been the case so far)?
Thanks
Tony
<p>This refers to a bug that was reported in detail on the Mercury mailing list several years ago, but still seems to be present in the current version (4.01).&nbsp; Specifically, if a header line exceeds 253 characters, Mercury splits it by inserting a CR/LF after the 253rd character.&nbsp; The split is not done correctly, causing two undesirable side effects:</p><p>(a) if the header line has more than 253 printable characters, then the characters after the split start immediately at the beginning of the next line, without any preceding whitespace, so the part after the split is regarded as a new (and most likely unrecognisable) header, rather than as a continuation.</p><p>(b) If the header line has exactly 253 printable characters, the CR/LF is inserted immediately before the header line's own CR/LF.&nbsp; This effectively results in the insertion of a blank line after the header, which causes all following headers to be regarded as being part of the email body.</p><p>My setup is: email picked up from a POP3 account with MercuryD, and distributed to two user mailboxes from where the users pick up the mail via MercuryP.&nbsp; Outgoing mail is sent via MercuryC, though I am not aware of any issue with headers on outgoing mail.&nbsp;</p><p>This bug never troubled me before. Unfortunately, I have just changed my DNS host and the new hosting service adds a Received-SPF: header to forwarded emails, which just happens to be generally between 250 and 260 characters long.&nbsp; This means that around 10% of my incoming mails, when the line is exactly 253 printable characters long, are being corrupted.&nbsp; This isn't really very acceptable.
</p><p>I can provide more information if required.&nbsp; Is there any likelihood of this bug being fixed in the near term, and is there any formal bug tracking system where I should enter it so that it doesn't get forgotten (as seems to have been the case so far)?
Thanks
Tony</p><p>&nbsp;</p>