Bug in rfc822

[phil hunt]

Python Bug Report #437395 states: 
The rfc822 and smtplib modules need to be checked for 
conformance with RFC 2822, which obsoletes RFC 822. 
(Added this to the tracker so we don't lose track of this.) 

I have just found out that rfc822.py doesn't conform to 
RFC2822. As an example, when we have a field:

   From: From: A. N. Other <another at nowhere.org.ca>

then getaddr("From") returns ('', 'A.N.Other')
which is incorrect.

When the from line is changed to:

   From: From: A N Other <another at nowhere.org.ca>

then getaddr("From") correctly returns 
('A N Other', 'another at nowhere.org.ca')  

The relevant parts of the syntax specified in rfc2822
are:

from            =       "From:" mailbox-list CRLF

mailbox-list    =       (mailbox *("," mailbox)) / obs-mbox-list 

mailbox         =       name-addr / addr-spec

name-addr       =       [display-name] angle-addr

display-name    =       phrase

phrase          =       1*word / obs-phrase

obs-phrase      =       word *(word / "." / CFWS)

>From rfc2822, section 4.1:

   Note: The "period" (or "full stop") character (".") in obs-phrase is
   not a form that was allowed in earlier versions of this or any other
   standard.  Period (nor any other character from specials) was not
   allowed in phrase because it introduced a parsing difficulty
   distinguishing between phrases and portions of an addr-spec (see
   section 4.4).  It appears here because the period character is
   currently used in many messages in the display-name portion of
   addresses, especially for initials in names, and therefore must be
   interpreted properly.  In the future, period may appear in the
   regular syntax of phrase.
   

I have added a comment to bug #437395, to this effect. Do
I need to notify anyone else? The Bug Report says it was submitted 
by Fred Drake, and assigned to Barry Warsaw.

-- 
## Philip Hunt ## philh at comuno.freeserve.co.uk ##