Why is a To field made mandatory by Outlook 2002/XP?

[Vanguard]

According to RFC 2822
(http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cs/Services/rfc/rfc-text/rfc2822.txt), there
can be from 0 to 1 "To" headers in an e-mail. That means the To field is
optional. Outlook Express obeys this but not Outlook 2002.

If I use Outlook Express 6, I can leave both the To and CC fields blank and
list
the recipient(s) only in the BCC field. This ensures that *all* recipients
are hidden from each other. In the received message, the To header says
"Undisclosed-Recipient". This is okay. Since all recipients were in the
BCC field, and since this field is not normally displayed in the recieved
message, the recipients are hidden from each other.

However, if I do the same in Outlook 2002 (To and CC fields empty,
recipients only in BCC field), Outlook populates the To field with my email
address. I'm already listed in the From field in the recipient's
copy of my email. I did not send myself a copy nor did I send myself a copy
so the To field should not have gotten populated. Since OE6 works okay, it
isn't that my ISP is
populating the blank To field with my email address. Although the received
copy of my email shows my email address in the To field, no copy was sent
back to me, and I don't really want recipients thinking that I'm talking to
myself by sending myself copies of my outbound emails, it looks stupid, and
it violates the fact that the To field never was populated by me. The copy
in the Sent Items folder show the To field is blank. The To field gets
populated only in the recipients copy.

I suppose it is possible that my ISP's SMTP server mandates that the To
field be populated. OE6 inserts something, like Undislosed-Recipient,
whereas Outlook leaves it blank which makes my ISP's SMTP server populate
the To field with something (which is my email address, the sender). I've
enabled transport logging in both Outlook and OE6. The SMTP commands in the
logfile for Outlook are (and shortened to eliminate datestamps and call
function syntax):

SMTP PH: Connecting to SMTP server
SMTP: Finding host
SMTP: Connecting to host
SMTP: Connected to host
SMTP: <rx> 220 <mydomain> - <infotext>
SMTP: [tx] EHLO <myhostname>
SMTP: <rx> 250-<mydomain>
SMTP: <rx> 250-7BIT
SMTP: <rx> 250-8BITMIME
SMTP: <rx> 250-DSN
SMTP: <rx> 250-EXPN
SMTP: <rx> 250-HELP
SMTP: <rx> 250-NOOP
SMTP: <rx> 250-PIPELINING
SMTP: <rx> 250-SIZE 10485760
SMTP: <rx> 250-STARTTLS
SMTP: <rx> 250-VERS V04.61c++
SMTP: <rx> 250 XMVP 2
SMTP: Authorized to host
SMTP: Connected to host
SMTP: [tx] MAIL FROM: <[email protected]>")
SMTP: <rx> 250 ok
SMTP: [tx] RCPT TO: <them@theirdomain>
SMTP: <rx> 250 ok; forward to <them@theirdomain>
SMTP: [tx] DATA
SMTP: <rx> 354 ok
SMTP: [tx] .
SMTP: <rx> 250 ok ; id=<idnumber>

The smtp.log file for OE6 shows (without datestamps):

SMTP: [rx] 221 <mydomain>
SMTP: [rx] 220 <mydomain> - <someInfoText>
SMTP: [tx] HELO <myhostname>
SMTP: [rx] 250 <mydomain>
SMTP: [tx] MAIL FROM: <me@mydomain>
SMTP: [rx] 250 ok
SMTP: [tx] RCPT TO: <them@theirdomain>
SMTP: [rx] 250 ok; forward to <them@theirdomain>
SMTP: [tx] DATA
SMTP: [rx] 354 ok
SMTP: [tx] .
SMTP: [rx] 250 ok ; id=<idnumber>
SMTP: [tx] QUIT

For Outlook, the HELO command is mispelled EHLO and the QUIT command is not
sent. Outlook also gets a bunch of "[rx]" (received) messages from the SMTP
server, probably because of the mispelled HELO command. Otherwise, the log
files for Outlook and OE6 look to issue the same set of commands. So if the
commands sent between my e-mail client and the SMTP server are the same, why
aren't the headers in the received e-mail the same?

Is there some other later dated RFC that says a To header is mandatory? If
not, why does Outlook 2002 somehow end up popuplating a blank To field
(provided the CC field
is also blank) with my email address?

 

[Rich Cervenka]

According to RFC 2822
(http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/cs/Services/rfc/rfc-text/rfc2822.txt), there
can be from 0 to 1 "To" headers in an e-mail. That means the To field is
optional. Outlook Express obeys this but not Outlook 2002.

Just an observation:

I find that just the opposite is true. I can send mail with no problem
with the To: & CC: fields blank and all recipients listed in the BCC:
field in Outlook 2002. I cannot do the same with Outlook Express 6.
The EarthLink/MindSpring SMTP server will accept and deliver the
Outlook message without a glitch but will refuse the Outlook Express
message because the To: field is blank. And, NO, I will NOT put my own
address in the To: field! Why would I want to receive every message
that I send out?

This is one of the main reasons that I feel forced to use Outlook as
my mail client rather than Outlook Express and it is very aggravating!