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Why SMTP still matters today
- mathewpregasen 3y agoI think the real question is if you ever see SMTP ever getting replaced by a newer protocol
- zenorocha 3y agoI don't think so, at this point SMTP is more than just a protocol for sending - it's how you integrate multiple email services into one single interface.
- necrophcodr 3y agoSMTP is as much a protocol for sending as it is for receiving. IMAP isn't a "receive emails" protocol, as much as it is a "manage mails on a server" protocol. I'm not sure if people working with these protocols have built applications implementing their specifications before, but they should. It affords you a much better picture of why these protocols are designed as they are, good and bad.
- kjs3 3y agoI'd guess it will evolve and/or accrete bolt-ons to meet new use cases (e.g. MIME), much like HTTP and any number of protocols have.
- codetrotter 3y agoIf JMAP catches on for client-to-server, maybe that could inspire a replacement server-to-server mail protocol. https://www.ietf.org/blog/jmap/ https://www.ietf.org/blog/jmap/
- tough 3y agosmap?
- Ekaros 3y agoIt could, I don't think there is really that many big players. If those agree to something and then start moving towards it others might follow.
- gjvc 3y agoin part, this is a chicken-and-egg question. To effect this kind of change, there needs to be a reference implementation of sufficiently high quality to get and keep people's interest, and there needs to be sufficient force of will to complete this to get people using it.
- taneq 3y ago“Why roads still matter today” sure they’re not super secure but they work and get everything from A to B.
- raspyberr 3y ago>We want email to feel like the web, modern and cutting edge. Chill down my spine.
- lloydatkinson 3y agoFollowed by: > This is why we support modern technologies like React for email building and Serverless for sending. They are referring to the generation and sending of emails not suggesting some radical change. Serverless for email and DSLs (like React) for email temples are not new concepts either.
- notorandit 3y agoWhile email is an application that is, for example, tightly tied to DNS (check the SOA record), SMTP is a protocol that has got a lot of improvements, addenda, enhacements and the likes. But, IMHO, it is far from being comparable in features and security with other (modern) communication protocols like XMPP.
- necrophcodr 3y agoSMTP and XMPP do not exactly accomplish the same goal, nor have the same intentions. Sure, they both overlap in areas, but they're both interfaces (protocols) for implementation of tools. Tools that are suited for certain jobs.
- citrin_ru 3y agoModern XMPP solved problem of loosing messages silently when a TCP connection is broken only with one of later added XEPs extensions while ancient SMTP did it from the beginning (a messages will be retried unless there was a response to dot command). Probably SMTP authors better understood how TCP works. Modern is not automatically implies that lessons of the past was learned.
- qwertox 3y ago> Today, we are announcing SMTP with Resend. Thank you for this ad. Other than that, the article adds nothing of value.
- NoboruWataya 3y agoYes - an actual article on SMTP in 2023 would be interesting. This isn't even an article that pushes a product - it's just an ad with a couple of paragraphs for background.
- qwerty456127 3y agoWho cares if the title is enough to trigger a discussion on the subject, facilitate sharing of opinions and bring some useful insights to some participants at least (which is often the case for the news in the HN top)? As for me I rarely even go by the title links to see the actual articles :-)
- snapplebobapple 3y agoThat's not true about the nothing of value, It helps keep my flagging finger strong and nimble through lots of use....
- qwerty456127 3y agoI don't even understand why do email clients have to use a dedicated protocol (let alone SMTP) for email sending. If I were developing an email client and didn't care about established conventions, I would just make it put outgoing email to a dedicated folder via IMAP and let the server pick it there and go on sending it to recipients servers over SMTP.
- stbenjam 3y agoAversion to standards is why the internet has become this closed hellscape.
- qwerty456127 3y agoWe also had a dedicated protocol for file transfer, you know, FTP, and now it appears nobody needs it anymore as HTTPS is enough for everything.
- PedroBatista 3y agoCareful with the generalizations, the ability to drag&drop a bunch of files to the browser and upload them to some server in a reliable way across all major browsers is very recent. Also, try to create a web app that mimics a FTP server. ( a real production one ) you’ll see how much FTP does and you didn’t know.
- qwerty456127 3y agoI personally wish FTP would have stayed or replaced by a better yet direct successor dedicated for its function. Because I don't like all these "cloud drives" implemented as browser+native apps instead of an open protocol everyone could implement.
- yetanotherloss 3y agoSFTP exists but never really took off for anonymous usage modes as people were already being conditioned to use browsers and cramming everything into HTTP.
- keepamovin 3y agoFunny i just created an expect tcl script to do SMTP sends. I’ll add these folks to my relay list! I discovered how much i like expect/tcl. There’s no need to use a library. A simple 100 line script does what i need.
- qwerty456127 3y agoWhy do we even use SMTP and IMAP when we could be using XMPP instead? I know there are some caveats preventing XMPP from becoming the one protocol to rule all the chats, but why not use it for email exchange?
- secstate 3y agohttps://smtp.cheogram.com/ https://smtp.cheogram.com/