Why dot is not available?

Agx · 19 Jan 2015, 04:31 AM

Hi,

why Fastmail don't support dot in the username?

Adrian Bell · 19 Jan 2015, 05:10 AM

It's because the Cyrus IMAP mail server software uses a dot as a folder separator (ie. instead of the backslash in Windows).

Once you have your account, you can create an alias with a dot in the name however.
https://www.fastmail.com/help/accoun...in=fastmail.fm
https://www.fastmail.com/help/receive/aliases.html

Agx · 19 Jan 2015, 07:57 AM

Very nice to know!

lane · 19 Jan 2015, 10:03 PM

I think it is also because of sub-domain addressing. This is a feature that allows the user username@fastmail.com to receive email at anything@username.fastmail.com. However, if the username is compound, say firstname.lastname@fastmail.com, then the corresponding subdomain has more levels, anything@firstname.lastname.fastmail.com.

This also interacts with sub-folder filing, as mentioned by Adrian.

n5bb · 20 Jan 2015, 02:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lane

I think it is also because of sub-domain addressing. ... the corresponding subdomain has more levels, anything@firstname.lastname.fastmail.com.This also interacts with sub-folder filing, as mentioned by Adrian.

I respectfully disagree, since aliases with dots work exactly the same as other aliases when using subdomain addressing.

If the alias target is your account address (such as user@fastmail.com), then subdomain messages are delivered to the local-part folder name. So if the alias is a.b, email to test@a.b.user.fastmail.com is delivered to user+test@fastmail.com (your test folder).
If the alias target is your account address +* (such as user+*@fastmail.com), then subdomain messages are delivered to the alias+local-part folder name. So if the alias is a.b, email to test@a.b.user.fastmail.com is delivered to user+a.b.test@fastmail.com (your test subfolder under your b subfolder under your a folder, if it exists).
I tested this to confirm that this subdomain addressing worked exactly the same as with non-dotted aliases. So this can't be the reason for the limitation on the main address, and I'm sure that the Cyrus server separator is the reason.

Bill

robn · 20 Jan 2015, 04:46 AM

Yeah, its entirely because of the Cyrus name separator. '.' still has some magical properties in Cyrus. There's a plan to remove that but its a way off - there's more important Cyrus work ahead of it and not many Cyrus devs to go round

19 Jan 2015, 04:31 AM	#1
Agx Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 164	Why dot is not available? Hi, why Fastmail don't support dot in the username?

19 Jan 2015, 05:10 AM	#2
Adrian Bell Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Darlington, UK Posts: 938	It's because the Cyrus IMAP mail server software uses a dot as a folder separator (ie. instead of the backslash in Windows). Once you have your account, you can create an alias with a dot in the name however. https://www.fastmail.com/help/accoun...in=fastmail.fm https://www.fastmail.com/help/receive/aliases.html

19 Jan 2015, 07:57 AM	#3
Agx Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 164	Very nice to know!

19 Jan 2015, 10:03 PM	#4
lane Cornerstone of the Community Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Kars, NB, Canada Posts: 702	I think it is also because of sub-domain addressing. This is a feature that allows the user username@fastmail.com to receive email at anything@username.fastmail.com. However, if the username is compound, say firstname.lastname@fastmail.com, then the corresponding subdomain has more levels, anything@firstname.lastname.fastmail.com. This also interacts with sub-folder filing, as mentioned by Adrian.

20 Jan 2015, 04:46 AM	#6
robn Master of the @ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Melbourne, Australia Posts: 1,007 Representative of: Fastmail.fm	Yeah, its entirely because of the Cyrus name separator. '.' still has some magical properties in Cyrus. There's a plan to remove that but its a way off - there's more important Cyrus work ahead of it and not many Cyrus devs to go round