PMDF System Manager's Guide

Configurable options relevant to the MIME to X.400 conversion process are specified in the channel option file mime_to_x400_option stored in the PMDF table directory, i.e., in the file PMDF_TABLE:mime_to_x400_option. on OpenVMS or the file /pmdf/table/mime_to_x400_option on UNIX.

The format of a channel option file is documented in Section 7.2. The available options are:

DELETE_HEADERS (0 or 1)

Message headers are normally deleted once they have been successfully mapped into corresponding X.400 information. To save headers that remain after all conversions have been completed, use the SAVE_HEADERS option described below. However, under some circumstances it is useful to be able to skip the deletion step, preserving all header information. The DELETE_HEADERS option provides such a facility. Its normal default value is 1, which means that headers are deleted once converted. If this option is set to 0 converted headers will not be deleted. If the SAVE_HEADERS option is then set to 1 all headers will be saved as a separate text body part. If SAVE_HEADERS is set to 0 the DELETE_HEADERS option will have no discernable effect on message conversion.

FROM_TO_AUTHOR (0 or 1)

The FROM_TO_AUTHOR option controls the optional mapping of the X.400 FROM field to the AUTHORIZINGUSERS field when no AUTHORIZINGUSERS field is specified. RFC 2156 specifies that when both the RFC 822 From: and Sender: headers are present the From: header be mapped into the AUTHORIZINGUSERS field while the Sender: header gets mapped to the FROM field, and if only a From: header is present it is mapped to the FROM field. The latter case causes problems with applications that incorrectly provide access to just the AUTHORIZINGUSERS field. When set to 1, the FROM_TO_AUTHOR duplicates the FROM information in the AUTHOR field in an attempt to work around this problem. The default value is 0, which inhibits this duplication.

GENERATE_EIT (0 or 1)

This option controls whether or not an EncodedInformationTypes field is generated in the X.400 P1 information. This is an optional field that rarely provides any useful information. However, some X.400 software requires its presence. The default is 0, which means no such field is generated.

RETURN_ORIGINAL_CONTENT (0 or 1)

This option affects the transformation of NOTARY DSNs into X.400 reports. The default is 0, meaning that the entire NOTARY DSN is returned inside an X.400 report, not just the original message content; this is what RFC 2156 specifies. Setting this option to 1 causes the DSN structure to be stripped, leaving only the original message content returned inside the X.400 report.

RHS_ORDER (0 or 1)

The RHS_ORDER option controls the direction in which attribute value lists are read out of the mailbox part of RFC 822 addresses. The default is 1, which means that attributes are read from right to left. This corresponds to the ordering specified by RFC 2156. In some cases, however, the opposite ordering is required. Note that the read order only affects repeated attributes like Organizational Units.

SAVE_HEADERS (0, 1, or 2)

The SAVE_HEADERS option controls the disposition of message headers that cannot be mapped into corresponding X.400 information. The default value is 2, which causes such header information to put into a heading extension in accordance with RFC 2156. Setting the value to 0 causes such header information to be discarded. A value of 1 will store such information, if present, in a special text body part whose format conforms with RFC 2156.

SINGLE_ASN1 (0 or 1)

Specifying SINGLE_ASN1=1 tells PMDF-X400 to use the single ASN.1 type encoding, rather than the default octet-aligned encoding, for FTBP external objects. While use of either encoding is legal for embedded ASN.1 objects, the initial EMA profile for FTBP usage specified using octet-aligned encoding, the PMDF-X400 default. Though this requirement was removed from the final EMA profile, PMDF-X400 still generates octet-aligned by default as it seems to maximize interoperability. However, some X.400 MTAs can be happier with the single ASN.1 encoding (as it is easier to implement).

TO_X400_DATABASE (string)

The name of the database file containing address mapping rules can be changed on a per-channel basis by using the TO_X400_DATABASE option in the MIME_TO_X400 channel options file. By default the database is referenced via the PMDF_TO_X400_DATABASE logical name (OpenVMS) or tailor file option (UNIX).