Yet another kmail mystery

[Scott Kitterman]

On Friday 16 February 2007 09:23, Derek Broughton wrote:
> John L Fjellstad wrote:
> > Derek Broughton <news at pointerstop.ca> writes:
> >> Vice versa actually.  But I don't think that can be why.  995 IS the
> >> standard port for pop3 over ssl (see /etc/services).  The proper port
> >> for ssmtp is 465, though.
> >
> > 587 is propert port for client submission of email. See
> > http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~rakerman/port-table.html
> > (Email ports).  From what I understand, only Evolution set this port by
> > default.
>
> Chebucto?  Local boy?  I'm on the Eastern Shore.
>
> You're right - 587 is the correct SSL port for smtp according to IANA and
> rfc2467.  465 according to /etc/services was added specifically for
> Debian - which makes me wonder why KMail automatically uses it if you
> specify SSL for SMTP.
> --

There are two different submission protocols at work here.  Port 465 is proper 
for ssmtp (also call SSL wrapped port).  From the server side my experience 
is that this is only needed to support Outlook/Outlook Express.  The 
submission port (587) uses the STARTTLS method and is the currently preferred 
approach.

Port 465/ssmtp is an old way of doing things, but may be needed in some cases.  
If you can use 587/STARTTLS, use that.

If you are on Port 465 you are doing SSL.  If you are on Port 587, you are 
doing TLS (a newer version of SSL), so if you select SSL (i.e. not TLS), then 
Port 465 is the right place to be.

Scott K