ietf-mxcomp
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Re: Choice of SMTP headers

2004-03-23 13:14:32

On Tue, Mar 23, 2004 at 02:20:04PM -0500, Alan DeKok wrote:

"Mark C. Langston" <mark(_at_)bitshift(_dot_)org> wrote:

For that reason, it'd be better to come up with a recommendation whose
impact is largely, or completely, server-side, and transparent to the
client and end-users.

  Such as...?


(NOTE:  This is NOT meant as advocacy for any particular proposal.  I'm
merely offering an example to answer the question.)

SPF is an example of a server-side solution, with minimum impact on the
client and transparent to the end-user.  I say "minimum impact" rather
than "zero impact" because in certain cases, it would be necessary to
change the client authentication method, and for certain classes of use
(e.g., cellphones), that's not a trivial prospect, particularly if the
deployed base doesn't currently support that authentication method (or,
if the cellphone example has been played out -- and given that I bring
it up all the time, it probably has -- non-MUA software that originates
email without going though the localhost MTA (perhaps due to a lack of
localhost MTA, or perhaps just due to poor coding)).

"Entities sitting at desks, in front of desktop computers, using an MUA
to originate email, which will be sent to the sender's MX prior to being
sent by that MX to the recipient's MX" is the archetype that seems to
underly some of the assumptions thæat we're making.  I'm trying to avoid
that archetype, because it leads to the assumption that end-user and MUA
impact is easy to deal with. 

  This is the problem I've seen on ASRG for over a year now.
"Solution X doesn't satisfy criteria A, so we should wait for a
solution which does satisfy it".  But no one proposes such a system.

  After a year of this, that argument starts to look like a polite way
of refusing to deploy anything, ever.

Perhaps when we reach the point in the agenda where we're discussing
potential solutions, we should start by coming to agreement on the
criteria the solution should meet, and stick to working within those
constraints.


-- 
Mark C. Langston                                    Sr. Unix SysAdmin
mark(_at_)bitshift(_dot_)org                                       
mark(_at_)seti(_dot_)org
Systems & Network Admin                                SETI Institute
http://bitshift.org                               http://www.seti.org


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