Fix That Bug!

Sometime ago I wrote a custom high performance SMTP server that did all kinds of useful things: ordering outgoing email by hostname, about a zillion configuration options to support unit testing client applications and on and on.

A developer came up to me with the usual "Your software is broken, and I can't get any work done."

After a quick conversation, the problem was that server wasn't handling anywhere near the load it should. The culprit was the System.Net.Mail.SmtpClient class. I'd documented the bug in the user documentation and the test suite; but, just like me, he assumed the problem couldn't be in the .NET libraries, but had to be in my software.

This was one of those days when I wished the .NET libraries were open source. Check out the date on Microsoft Feedback site for this bug, June 26, 2006 and it's still not fixed.