Message-ID
Message-ID is a unique identifier for a digital message, most commonly a globally unique identifier used in email and Usenet newsgroups.[1]
Message-IDs are required to have a specific format which is a subset of an email address[2] (though Microsoft Outlook is known to generate invalid IDs with three parts[3]) and to be globally unique. That is, no two different messages must ever have the same Message-ID. A common technique used by many message systems is to use a time and date stamp along with the local host's domain name, e.g., 950124.162336@example.com.[4]
Message-IDs, if present, are generated by the client program sending the email (mail user agent, or MUA) or by the first mail server (mail submission agent, or MSA).[5]
A large number of mails to public mailinglists can be found via their Message-ID by using a link of the form http://mid.gmane.org/alpine.BSF.2.00.1004291655110.61392@x.fncre.vasb
See also
- RFC 822 (superseded by 2822)
- RFC 2111 Content-ID and Message-ID Uniform Resource Locators
- RFC 2822 (superseded by 5322)
- RFC 5322 Internet Message Format
- Recommendations for generating Message IDs
References
- ↑ Eoghan Casey (2004). Digital evidence and computer crime: forensic science, computers and the Internet. Academic Press. p. 506. ISBN 0-12-163104-4.
- ↑ RFC5322 – Internet Message Format
- ↑ SpamAssassin Bug 5666 – New Outlook Message-ID format causes FORGED_MUA_OUTLOOK FP
- ↑ RFC2392 – Content-ID and Message-ID Uniform Resource Locators
- ↑ RFC5322 – Internet Message Format