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Re: mail headers for announce

2002-10-30 21:05:31
I see no Return-Path headers in some IETF traffic, including
<87znsvwlxa(_dot_)fsf(_at_)snark(_dot_)piermont(_dot_)com> as it appears in 
my mailbox.
Instead I see an old UNIX-style From_.

That's because Return-Path: is frequently added at final delivery. My
MTA adds that, some other don't. (Many Unix MTAs use the From_ line).

Note that the ones that don't add return-path are in violation of
over 20+ years of mail specificatons.  See RFC 821 (top of page 22), 
RFC 1123 (section 5.3.3 among others), and RFC 2821 (section 4.4).  

However there's no guarantee that Return-Path is either consistent
for all messages sent to a list, nor that it is uniquely associated
with a list.  The few standards that apply to lists only require that 
the return-path address serves the purpose of informing the list 
maintainer (perhaps a robot) of nondelivery reports. 

Keith



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