0

When we mean e-mail payload, are we talking about the whole message provided after DATA command or just the Body part of the message (without headers like From, Subject, Message-ID etc)?

S: 220 smtp.server.com Simple Mail Transfer Service Ready
C: HELO client.example.com
S: 250 Hello client.example.com
C: MAIL FROM:<mail@samlogic.com>
S: 250 OK
C: RCPT TO:<john@mail.com>
S: 250 OK
C: DATA
S: 354 Send message content; end with <CRLF>.<CRLF>
C: <The message data (body text, subject, e-mail header, attachments etc) is sent>
C: .
S: 250 OK, message accepted for delivery: queued as 12345
C: QUIT
S: 221 Bye
Giri
  • 103
  • 1
  • 3
  • 4
    The normal meaning of "payload" is the data being transmitted, not any headers and such. I'd *expect* roughly the same to apply here, so it would mean the body text. – Jerry Coffin Feb 13 '17 at 19:57
  • I think this is an interesting question. The question shows an exchange between an email client and an email server. One of the things transmitted is the message, but that includes the body, subject, headers, and attachments. My intuition would say that the payload is everything after the "Send message content" message from the server and the "." sent by the client to indicate the end of the message and the rest is negotiation around sending the payload, but I'm not an SMTP expert. I'm curious if there is an accepted definition of what the payload of an email body is in SMTP. – Thomas Owens Feb 13 '17 at 21:57
  • I doubt the term payload is so strictly defined that there is a "right" answer. It could probably be both. However, I did not read all those RFCs about e-mail, so I could be wrong. – Doc Brown Feb 13 '17 at 22:01
  • Note that I did not see the use of the word "payload" in the Wikipedia article on SMTP. It's only used in one of the RFCs linked to on the Wikipedia article, and there's no definition for what it means by payload. – Thomas Owens Feb 13 '17 at 22:01
  • Possible duplicate of [What does the term "Payload" mean in programming](http://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/158603/what-does-the-term-payload-mean-in-programming) – amon Feb 15 '17 at 13:25

1 Answers1

4

19.1.1. email.message: Representing an email message

An email message consists of headers and a payload (which is also referred to as the content). Headers are RFC 5322 or RFC 6532 style field names and values, where the field name and value are separated by a colon. The colon is not part of either the field name or the field value.

The payload may be a simple text message, or a binary object, or a structured sequence of sub-messages each with their own set of headers and their own payload. The latter type of payload is indicated by the message having a MIME type such as multipart/* or message/rfc822.

In general, the payload is the part of transmitted data that is the actual intended message. The payload excludes any headers or metadata sent solely to facilitate payload delivery.

Community
  • 1
Robert Harvey
  • 198,589
  • 55
  • 464
  • 673
  • 1
    Ok, this is how the docs of Python's email package define "payload" for e-mails, and it is surely a good definition for their context, but is this a canonical reference? I have my doubts. – Doc Brown Feb 14 '17 at 06:29
  • @DocBrown" The Wikipedia article I linked is a suitable canonical reference. – Robert Harvey Feb 14 '17 at 16:25