Re: The case for XML

> > [XML] requires an extra protocol adding to the complexity to develop 
> > SPF-aware products, and sounds like it might require a switch from 
> > UDP/DNS to TCP/HTTP.
> Using XML for SPF wouldn't require any new network protocol, nor TCP, nor 
> HTTP.  XML is quite agnostic in how it gets from one place to 
> another.  Even the dreaded 'external entities' (which no one is likely to 
> use in an XML version of SPF) are not tied to HTTP.
The "switch" part was just speculation.  From what you say, it sounds like 
TCP/HTTP that may not be necessary.
The "extra protocol adding to the complexity" part, however, was separate 
from TCP/HTTP.  XML is a protocol, and if SPF uses XML, people who design 
SPF-aware products are going to need to understand the XML protocol.
> > [too hard to have] someone delve into XML or work on licensing an XML parser.
> No one need do this: If you are writing in C or C++, James Clark's eXpat 
> parser is mature, widely used and tested.  It is open source with a 
> liberal BSD style license ("do want you want with it, commercial or 
> otherwise").  It is only three .c files, and adds less than 150k when 
> compiled (this number for PPC).
Still, that license must be analyzed, the parser integrated with the SPF 
code, and adds 150K when compiled.  :)
For those that are curious, our anti-spam software is written in C/C++, and 
uses no code that is not our own except for the code generated by the 
compiler or built into the OS.  The same goes for most of the software we 
have developed in the past, and even the http://www.DNSstuff.com website 
(that's right -- even the ping, tracert, and WHOIS tools do not use a 
ping.exe/tracert.exe/whois.exe or even a DNS library).  That's not to say 
that we won't do it, of course.  But it lowers the priority significantly.
                                                -Scott

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