Re: lynx-dev lynx: are you getting spam like this one?:

[Bela Lubkin]

David Combs wrote:

> Maybe I'm using the wrong mail program.  I'm using plain
> old "mail", via ".mailrc", etc.
> 
> I know NOTHING about mail-sending, elm, pine, etc.

These are Mail User Agents (MUAs).

> O'Reilly has a book (thick!) "Sendmail".  Does that discuss
> this stuff?  Is what is in that book also apply to elm, pine,
> etc?  Again, I know NOTHING -- I learned "mail" back in
> 1986 when I got a sun3, have learned nothing new since then
> (about mail!).

Sendmail is a Mail Transport Agent (MTA).

For regular old snail mail, the MUAs are your local mail carrier, the
teller window at the post office, the different-but-similar teller
window at "Mailboxes Etc.", and the UPS guy who picks up and delivers
packages to your site.

The MTA is what goes on behind the scenes, after your letter disappears
through the slot.  All the details of cross-country mail flights, UPS
trucks, tracking databases, sorting by zipcode, etc.

If you want help with the mechanics of sending, receiving and reading
mail as a user, you won't get much out of the sendmail book.

>Bela<