Please Whitelist This Site?

I know everyone hates ads. But please understand that I am providing premium content for free that takes hundreds of hours of time to research and write. I don't want to go to a pay-only model like some sites, but when more and more people block ads, I end up working for free. And I have a family to support, just like you. :)

If you like The TCP/IP Guide, please consider the download version. It's priced very economically and you can read all of it in a convenient format without ads.

If you want to use this site for free, I'd be grateful if you could add the site to the whitelist for Adblock. To do so, just open the Adblock menu and select "Disable on tcpipguide.com". Or go to the Tools menu and select "Adblock Plus Preferences...". Then click "Add Filter..." at the bottom, and add this string: "@@||tcpipguide.com^$document". Then just click OK.

Thanks for your understanding!

Sincerely, Charles Kozierok
Author and Publisher, The TCP/IP Guide


NOTE: Using software to mass-download the site degrades the server and is prohibited.
If you want to read The TCP/IP Guide offline, please consider licensing it. Thank you.

The Book is Here... and Now On Sale!

Searchable, convenient, complete TCP/IP information.
The TCP/IP Guide

Custom Search







Table Of Contents  The TCP/IP Guide
 9  TCP/IP Application Layer Protocols, Services and Applications (OSI Layers 5, 6 and 7)
      9  TCP/IP Key Applications and Application Protocols
           9  TCP/IP File and Message Transfer Applications and Protocols (FTP, TFTP, Electronic Mail, USENET, HTTP/WWW, Gopher)
                9  TCP/IP Electronic Mail System: Concepts and Protocols (RFC 822, MIME, SMTP, POP3, IMAP)
                     9  TCP/IP Electronic Mail System Overview and Concepts

Previous Topic/Section
TCP/IP Electronic Mail System Overview and Concepts
Previous Page
Pages in Current Topic/Section
1
2
3
Next Page
TCP/IP Electronic Mail Communication Overview: Message Composition, Submission, Delivery, Receipt, Processing and Access
Next Topic/Section

TCP/IP Electronic Mail System Overview and History
(Page 2 of 3)

The History of TCP/IP Electronic Mail

Like some other file and message transfer protocols, e-mail on TCP/IP actually goes back to before TCP/IP and the Internet formally existed. The first protocols for e-mail were developed during the days of the ARPAnet. Prior to the creation of e-mail, several Internet RFCs, such as RFC 95 (yes 95, two digits, we are going back a long way here!) and RFC 155 describe physical mailing lists that were used for distributing documents in the early 1970s. It was this need to send documents that likely made TCP/IP pioneers realize how useful an electronic messaging system would be using the technology they were themselves creating.

The first Internet document describing electronic mail was probably RFC 196, published in 1971. It describes something called A Mail Box Protocol, a very rudimentary message transfer method using the predecessors of TCP/IP. This protocol was designed for the specific purpose of sending documents for remote printing. In those days it was not as common for people to use computers at interactive terminals as it is today, but the idea of electronically mailing documents was the same. The Mail Box Protocol was revised several times in 1971.

In the mid-1970s, work began to develop a more comprehensive method of implementing electronic mail on the fledgling Internet. The technique was originally described using a number of then-existing application-layer transfer protocols, including the File Transfer Protocol (FTP). In 1980 the Mail Transfer Protocol (MTP) was published in RFC 772. This was the first precursor of today's TCP/IP e-mail, and was defined using principles from the Telnet remote access protocol as well as FTP.

During the time that e-mail protocols were being developed in the 1970s, mail was being exchanged between host systems using a variety of different techniques. One of the most common used the Unix-to-Unix Copy Protocol (UUCP), which was designed to allow files to be transferred between UNIX systems, moving them from one connected system to the next. UUCP was also used for communicating Usenet newsgroup articles and other files.

In 1981, the modern TCP/IP electronic mail era came into being with the definition of the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SMTP described in detail how mail could be moved directly or indirectly from one TCP/IP host to another without the need to use FTP or another file transfer method. It has its own detailed history and discussion in this Guide. Other complementary specifications were created at around the same time, which formalized or defined other components and elements of the system. We'll explore these pieces of the puzzle in the next two topics.


Previous Topic/Section
TCP/IP Electronic Mail System Overview and Concepts
Previous Page
Pages in Current Topic/Section
1
2
3
Next Page
TCP/IP Electronic Mail Communication Overview: Message Composition, Submission, Delivery, Receipt, Processing and Access
Next Topic/Section

If you find The TCP/IP Guide useful, please consider making a small Paypal donation to help the site, using one of the buttons below. You can also donate a custom amount using the far right button (not less than $1 please, or PayPal gets most/all of your money!) In lieu of a larger donation, you may wish to consider purchasing a download license of The TCP/IP Guide. Thanks for your support!
Donate $2
Donate $5
Donate $10
Donate $20
Donate $30
Donate: $



Home - Table Of Contents - Contact Us

The TCP/IP Guide (http://www.TCPIPGuide.com)
Version 3.0 - Version Date: September 20, 2005

© Copyright 2001-2005 Charles M. Kozierok. All Rights Reserved.
Not responsible for any loss resulting from the use of this site.