diff --git a/smmapdfw/smmapd/smmapd.c b/smmapdfw/smmapd/smmapd.c
index 3171714..6eadae0 100644
--- a/smmapdfw/smmapd/smmapd.c
+++ b/smmapdfw/smmapd/smmapd.c
@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@
 #define CFG_SECTION_GLOBAL "global"
 #define CFG_NAME_ADDRESS "address"
 #define CFG_NAME_PORT "port"
+#define CFG_NETSTRING_DISABLED "netstring_disabled"
 
 #define DEFAULT_PORT "8888"
 
@@ -108,6 +109,8 @@ count_t thread_counter;
 
 cfg_t *cfg;
 
+int netstring_disabled = 0;
+
 #if ENABLE_STATS==1
 void * statser(void * arg) {
   int stdout_nice = atoi(findcfgx(cfg, "stats", "stdout_nice", "0"));
@@ -190,22 +193,29 @@ void * networker(void * arg) {
     else
       buffer[cnt] = '\0';
 
-    len = strtol(buffer, &input, 10);
-    if ((0 == len) && (buffer == input)) {
-      syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "networker: netstring unparsable, no length found: %s", buffer);
-      dispatcher_result = SMM_NETSTRING_UNPARSABLE;
-    } else if (*input++ != ':') {
-      syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "networker: netstring unparsable, no colon found: %s", buffer);
-      dispatcher_result = SMM_NETSTRING_UNPARSABLE;
-    } else if (strlen(input)-1 != len) {
-      syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "networker: netstring unparsable, length does not match: %s", buffer);
-      dispatcher_result = SMM_NETSTRING_UNPARSABLE;
-    } else if (input[strlen(input)-1] != ',') {
-      syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "networker: netstring unparsable, no terminating comma: %s", buffer);
-      dispatcher_result = SMM_NETSTRING_UNPARSABLE;
+    dispatcher_result = 0;
+    if (netstring_disabled) {
+      input = buffer;
     } else {
-      input[strlen(input)-1] = '\0'; /* strip off the comma */
-      
+      len = strtol(buffer, &input, 10);
+      if ((0 == len) && (buffer == input)) {
+	syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "networker: netstring unparsable, no length found: %s", buffer);
+	dispatcher_result = SMM_NETSTRING_UNPARSABLE;
+      } else if (*input++ != ':') {
+	syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "networker: netstring unparsable, no colon found: %s", buffer);
+	dispatcher_result = SMM_NETSTRING_UNPARSABLE;
+      } else if (strlen(input)-1 != len) {
+	syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "networker: netstring unparsable, length does not match: %s", buffer);
+	dispatcher_result = SMM_NETSTRING_UNPARSABLE; 
+      } else if (input[strlen(input)-1] != ',') {
+	syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "networker: netstring unparsable, no terminating comma: %s", buffer);
+	dispatcher_result = SMM_NETSTRING_UNPARSABLE;
+      } else {
+	input[strlen(input)-1] = '\0'; /* strip off the comma */
+      }
+    }	
+
+    if (!dispatcher_result) {
       answer[0] = '\0';
       dispatcher_result = containers_dispatcher(container_handle, input, answer);
       syslog(LOG_DEBUG, "networker: dispatcher result: %d, answer: %s", dispatcher_result, answer);
@@ -224,11 +234,15 @@ void * networker(void * arg) {
     if (NULL == answer_ptr)
       answer_ptr = answer;
 
-    snprintf(output, OUTPUT_BUFSIZE, "%d:%s%s%s,", 
-	     strlen(result_text) + strlen(answer_ptr) + ((strlen(answer_ptr) > 0) ? 1 : 0),
-	     result_text,
-	     (strlen(answer_ptr) > 0) ? " " : "",
-	     answer_ptr);
+    if (netstring_disabled) {
+      snprintf(output, OUTPUT_BUFSIZE, "%s\n", answer_ptr);
+    } else {
+      snprintf(output, OUTPUT_BUFSIZE, "%d:%s%s%s,", 
+	       strlen(result_text) + strlen(answer_ptr) + ((strlen(answer_ptr) > 0) ? 1 : 0),
+	       result_text,
+	       (strlen(answer_ptr) > 0) ? " " : "",
+	       answer_ptr);
+    }
 
     safe_write(thread->clientSock, output, strlen(output));
   }
@@ -259,6 +273,9 @@ int server() {
   
   char *cfg_address, *cfg_port;
 
+  netstring_disabled = atoi(findcfgx(cfg, CFG_SECTION_GLOBAL, CFG_NETSTRING_DISABLED, "0"));
+
+
   serverSock = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
   if (-1 == serverSock) {
     syslog(LOG_ERR, "server: failure when creating server socket");
diff --git a/smmapdfw/smmapd/smmapd.ini b/smmapdfw/smmapd/smmapd.ini
index 38d5a9d..6b63195 100644
--- a/smmapdfw/smmapd/smmapd.ini
+++ b/smmapdfw/smmapd/smmapd.ini
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ plugins = verifier
 enable_stats = 0
 enable_snmp = 1
 
+; disables the netstring codec, only for debugging in the development
+; phase, sendmail is unable to talk to smmapd if the codec is disabled
+; netstring_disabled = 1
+
 [snmp]
 agentx_socket = /var/agentx/master