Gmail “signature” and SMTP timeout (--nnnnnnnn--^@)

Question

I notice that recent emails from gmail come with some sort of automated final line of the style

--some_hex_code_here--^@

One specific example I just got is this:

--0016e642d36cedc73f0490b9738e--^@

I also notice, and can repeat this, that when I reply to this message with my mail client (alpine 2.00 OSX) it says it is sending the message and then times out with the message:

Waited 15 seconds for server reply.  Break connection to server [Y/N]? 

And when I press Y it says:

[>Mail not sent. Sending error: 421 SMTP connection broken (reply)<]

If I delete the hex code from the bottom of the message I am replying to, my reply is sent without a problem.

Does anyone know what this weird hex-ish signature is? And why is it stopping me from sending mail unless I delete it?

Answer 1

It's probably a mime boundary. A MIME message can contain more than one part, with a line like this splitting each part. Wikipedia has a good explaination