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Re: [ietf-smtp] New Mailing List to discuss email canonicalization?

2016-04-15 14:09:21


--On Saturday, April 16, 2016 04:40 +1000 Mark Andrews
<marka(_at_)isc(_dot_)org> wrote:

verify != canonicalization.  One checks existance the other
doesn't.

If SMTP servers provided a canonicalization service

Case insensitive
CANON loCal(_at_)eXamPle(_dot_)CoM 
200 local(_at_)example(_dot_)com

Google's remove dots + case insensitive would result in

CANON lo(_dot_)C(_dot_)al(_at_)eXamPle(_dot_)CoM 
200 local(_at_)example(_dot_)com

Case insensitive base w/ plus suffix
CANON loCal+IETF(_at_)eXamPle(_dot_)CoM 
200 local+IETF(_at_)example(_dot_)com

independent of whether local(_at_)example(_dot_)com exists or not

But, as an email provider, I might refuse to tell you about how
I would interpret addresses that don't exist because I might
have different rules for different mailboxes (especially when
non-ASCII local parts are concerned).  On the other hand, if I
refused to tell you about _any_ addresses that didn't exist,
we've have the VRFY problem all over again.

In addition, as Ned and others have pointed out, 

   CANON local+IETF(_at_)example(_dot_)com

Might be just
   local(_at_)example(_dot_)com
(or not, depending on one's actual purpose and what is going on
in the server and maybe the client -- whether those two are
equivalent might depend on the day of the week.)   And there are
reasons to think that

   EQU loCal+IETF(_at_)eXamPle(_dot_)CoM  local+ietf(_at_)example(_dot_)com

might be a better idea than your hypothetical CANON command.

I'm _not_ making a proposal, only trying to suggest that anyone
who thinks this is an easy and straightforward situation, even
if the question is posed to the delivery SMTP server rather
than, e.g., coded as rules in the DNS, just hasn't thought
deeply enough about the issues (or doesn't understand them).

    john


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