"Meng" == Meng Weng Wong <mengwong(_at_)dumbo(_dot_)pobox(_dot_)com>
writes:
Meng> Excellent point. Proposed new text:
Meng> Some nameservers may split the data in the TXT record
Meng> into multiple strings due to length limitations. If the
Meng> single TXT record returned contains multiple strings, eg.
Meng> TXT "v=spf1 .... first" "second string..." then an SPF
Meng> client MUST concatenate those strings without adding spaces:
Meng> "v=spf1 .... firstsecond string..." to form the SPF record.
Meng> Does this make sense to people?
I don't really like this text, because it puts too much emphasis on
the (non-standard) behaviour of certain nameservers. Its perfectly
valid to explicitly list multiple strings. The nameserver behaviour
should be relegated to a footnote.
How about this:
An SPF record MAY consist of a single TXT record with multiple
strings. If such an TXT record is encountered, then an SPF client
MUST concatenate those strings without adding spaces, eg
TXT "v=spf1 .... first" "second string..."
MUST be treated as equivalent to
TXT "v=spf1 .... firstsecond string..."
TXT records containing multiple strings are useful in order to
construct more complex SPF records which would otherwise exceed
the maximum length of a string within a TXT record.
Note: Many nameserver implementations will silently split long
strings in TXT records into several shorter strings.