GoodMessaging Glossary

Glossary of GoodMessaging terms and acronyms.

Table of Contents

  1. Programs
  2. Protocol types
  3. Misc
You may find it easier to understand this page if you already Understand the Mail System as it is today.

Programs

Acronym Meaning

(Mail x Agent)

Location Receives mail from/via Delivers mail to/via Examples
MA A Mail Agent; the generic term for any of the items listed below
MTA Transfer Server
  • MSA/internal
  • Other MTA/MTP
* Other MTA servers/MTP
  • MDA/internal
  • Postfix, Exim, Sendmail, qmail
    MDA Delivery Server MTA/internal Mailbox/internal procmail (most MTAs alsohave a default MDA built in)

    MUA User Client * MAA/MAP
    • User/External
  • User/external
  • MSA/MSP
  • Pine, Outlook Express, Emacs, Netscape Mail
    MAA Access Server Mailbox/internal MUA/MAP UW IMAP, Cyrus IMAP, various other POP3 and IMAP servers
    MSA Submission Server MUA/MSP MTA/internal (Currently I think the only ones are those built into MTAs)

    Protocol types

    Acronym Meaning (Mail x Protocol) Receives mail from Sends mail to Examples
    MP Mail Protocol; a generic term for any of those listed below
    MTP Transfer MTA MTA SMTP
    MAP Access MAA MUA POP3, IMAP
    MSP Submission MUA MSA SMTP

    Misc

    • Internal: Transfer within the machine
    • External: I/O (ie. user interaction)
    • Mailbox: Place on the server where the mail waits until it is ready to be picked up