Acceptance & failure reports
09A positive completion after DATA means the receiver accepts responsibility to deliver, relay, or report a later failure.
Related RFCs and changes
“Updates” changes part of an earlier RFC. “Obsoletes” replaces it. This list shows selected related documents.
DIAGRAM§ 6.1 ↗
RFC 5321 · § 6.1EXAMPLE
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04
Report a later failure safely.
A notification goes to the reverse-path and uses MAIL FROM:<> to suppress loops.
Protocol participantThreat or exceptionProtocol controlSimplified drawings · precise section references
Read the updated RFC section ↗
Do not accept responsibility casually.
- After accepting a message, a receiver must arrange delivery or a failure notification under the protocol rules.
- Later delivery failures are reported to the envelope reverse-path, not simply to the visible From header.
- Failure notifications use a null reverse-path to prevent endless errors about errors.
A final 250 is not proof that a human read the message. Lost connections around the completion reply can leave uncertain outcomes and cause duplicate deliveries.
Read the RFC section ↗Diagrams simplify the RFC. Read the linked sections for complete requirements.
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