spf-discuss
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Re[2]: Re: Changing the meaning of "mail from" is stillborn

2004-01-20 13:59:23
Again,  the  SPF  checking may or may not be done on the information
given  on  the  MAIL  FROM command. It could just as easily be given
information  that  has  been  cleaned  up  after the obsolete source
routing has been removed.

Yes, and this is not only a theoretical issue: I can think of at least
one  mass-market  MTA that honors some obsolete source-routing syntax,
but "massages" the source-routing information in a non-pluggable (i.e.
not exposed via the developer API) part of the message flow.

But  the primary issue with recommending source-routing syntax remains
that  it  is _expressly_ deprecated! We can't realistically expect the
adoption  of known-obsolete technology--especially not with the pretty
twisted  direction "use it *because* it is obsolete and will often not
be otherwise interpreted by the MTA."

Interestingly,  one  of  V.  Schryver's  visceral  _objections_ to the
technical  soundness of SPF, IIRC, was that it supposedly proposes its
own  source  routing,  in  supposed  ignorance of a supposed standard.
Source  routing  is  inevitably  going  to be summoned up whenever one
discusses "embedding" information in the MAIL FROM:. Though we need to
be aware of the association, IMO, neither the SR specification nor its
obsolescence should have any direct bearing on SPF.

--Sandy


------------------------------------
Sanford Whiteman, Chief Technologist
Broadleaf Systems, a division of
Cypress Integrated Systems, Inc.
e-mail: sandy(_at_)cypressintegrated(_dot_)com
------------------------------------

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