FAQ / General Debugging / Q0016
Q0016
Question
I've set verify = header_syntax in my ACL, but this causes Exim to complain about header lines like To: Work: Jim <jims@email>, Home: Bob <bobs@email> which look all right to me. Is this a bug?
Answer
No. Header lines such as From:, To:, etc., which contain addresses, are structured, and have to be in a specific format which is defined in RFC 2822. Unquoted colons are not allowed in the “phrase” part of an email address (they are OK in other headers such as Subject:). The correct form for that header is
To: "Work: Jim" <jims@email>, "Home: Bob" <bobs@email>
You will sometimes see unquoted colons in To: and Cc: headers, but only in connection with name lists (called “groups”), for example:
To: My friends: X <x@y.x>, Y <y@w.z>;,
My enemies: A <a@b.c>, B <b@c.d>;Each list must be terminated by a semicolon, as shown.
FAQ / General Debugging / Q0016