-/* If there is no explicit key, use the sender_host_address. If there is no
-sender_host_address (e.g. -bs or acl_not_smtp) then we simply omit it. */
+/* Create the lookup key. If there is no explicit key, use sender_host_address.
+If there is no sender_host_address (e.g. -bs or acl_not_smtp) then we simply
+omit it. The smoothing constant (sender_rate_period) and the per_xxx options
+are added to the key because they alter the meaning of the stored data. */
+
+if (key == NULL)
+ key = (sender_host_address == NULL)? US"" : sender_host_address;