RFC 974 · HISTORIC · 1986
MON · 27 JUL 2026
Mail routing and the domain system
Overview
RFC 974, “Mail routing and the domain system”, is a Historic document published in January 1986 by C. Partridge. It has been obsoleted by RFC 2821 — refer to the newer document for the authoritative version. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.
Abstract
This RFC presents a description of how mail systems on the Internet are expected to route messages based on information from the domain system. This involves a discussion of how mailers interpret MX RRs, which are used for message routing.
What “Historic” means
A specification that has been superseded or is otherwise no longer recommended for use.
Read this RFC
The canonical text of RFC 974 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.
Relationships to other RFCs
Other RFCs from 1986
- RFC 973 Domain system changes and observations
- RFC 975 Autonomous confederations
- RFC 972 Password Generator Protocol
- RFC 976 UUCP mail interchange format standard
- RFC 971 Survey of data representation standards
- RFC 977 Network News Transfer Protocol
- RFC 978 Voice File Interchange Protocol
- RFC 979 PSN End-to-End functional specification