Header option file format

Simply put, the contents of a header option file are formatted as a set of message header lines. Note, however, that the bodies of the header lines do not conform to RFC 822.

The general structure of a line from a header options file is then: Header-name: OPTION=VALUE, OPTION=VALUE, OPTION=VALUE, ... where  is the name of a header line  that the MTA recognizes. (Any of the header lines described in this manual may be specified,  plus any of the header lines standardized in RFC 822, RFC 987,  RFC 1049, RFC 1421, RFC 1422, RFC 1423,  RFC 1424, RFC 2156, and RFC 2045.   More generally, see the file   in the MTA   include directory.)

Header lines not recognized by the MTA are controlled by the special header line name Other:. A set of options to be applied to all header lines not named in the header option file can also be given on a  special Defaults: line. Use of Defaults: guards against the inevitable expansion of the MTA&#x27;s known header line table in future releases.

Various options may then be specified to control the retention of the corresponding header lines. The available options are:

ADD (quoted string)
The ADD option creates a completely new header line of the given type. The new header line contains the specified string. The header line created by ADD will appear after any existing header lines of the same  type. The ADD option cannot be used in conjunction with the Defaults: header line type; it will be ignored if it is specified as part of an  Other: option list.

FILL (quoted string)
The FILL option creates a completely new header line of the given type if and only if there are no existing header lines of the same type. The new header line contains the specified string. The FILL option cannot be used in conjunction with the header line type; it will be ignored if  it is specified as part of an Other: option list.

FOLDITEMS (integer)
This option takes an integer that specifies the maximum number of "items" that can appear on a line before folding. "Items" are normally defined as comma-separated sets of tokens, but if FOLDITEMS is set to a negative value, then encoded words  are also considered to be "items".

This option can be useful, for instance, when dealing with Netscape 4.7&#x2a; clients which have a bug  whereby they will insert an extra space between successive encoded  words, unless there is a CRLF between the encoded word items.

GROUP (integer 0 or 1)
This option controls grouping of header lines of the same type at a particular precedence level. A GROUP value of 0 is the default, and indicates that all header lines of a particular type should appear  together. A value of 1 indicates that only one header line of the respective type should be output and the scan over all header lines at  the associated level should resume, leaving any header lines of the  same type unprocessed. Once the scan is complete it is then repeated in order to pick up any remaining header lines. This header option is primarily intended to accomodate Privacy Enhanced Mail (PEM) header  processing.

LINELENGTH (integer)
This option controls the length at which to fold headers. See also the discussion of the    channel  option.

MAXCHARS (integer)
This option controls the maximum number of characters which may appear in a single header line of the specified type. Any header line exceeding that length is truncated to a length of MAXCHARS. This option pays no attention to the syntax of the header line and should never be  applied to header lines containing addresses and other sorts of  structured information. The length of structured header lines should be controlled with the    and    channel options.

MAXIMUM (integer)
This option controls the maximum number of header lines of this type that may appear. This has no effect on the number of lines, after wrapping, each individual header line might consume. A value of -1 is interpreted as a request to suppress this header line type completely.

MAXLINES (integer)
This option controls the maximum number of lines all header lines of a given type may occupy. It complements the MAXIMUM option in that it pays no attention to how many header lines are involved, only to how  many lines of text they collectively occupy. As with the MAXIMUM option, headers are trimmed from the bottom to meet the specified  requirement.

PRECEDENCE (integer)
This option controls the order in which header lines are output. All header lines have a default precedence of zero. The smaller the value, the higher the precedence. Thus, positive PRECEDENCE values will push header lines towards the bottom of the header while negative values  will push them towards the top. Equal precedence ties are broken using the MTA&#x27;s internal rules for header line output ordering.

Note that prior to MS 6.3, the MTA&#x27;s header line precedence processing was always applied. As of MS 6.3, the MTA by default does not do header line re-ordering, and so header line re-ordering only takes place if  header trimming is enabled. (This change was made to improve interoperability with poorly designed message signing mechanisms.)

RELABEL (header name)
This option changes a header line to another header line; that is, the name of the header is changed, but the value remains the same. For instance, X-MSMail-Priority: RELABEL="Priority" X-Priority: RELABEL="Importance"

See also:
 * headerlinelength Option
 * maxheaderaddrs Option
 * maxheaderchars Option
 * Header option file location
 * Header option files